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Crispy Bean Tots Recipe

56 Comments

Crispy, high-protein, dippable tots made from chickpeas instead of potatoes! Just blend up the dough in your food processor, form it into tots, and bake for a fun and nutritious snack.

Crispy Bean Tots Recipe. Perfect for toddlers and packed with protein and fiber!

Tater tots.  Classic cafeteria lunch food right?  The reality is, they really are not very different from french fries: potatoes, fried in oil. But kids love them! Our version is made from garbanzo beans which are high in fiber, protein, and B vitamins. We bake them instead of fry and they still turn out crispy, but are healthy and delicious.

Garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) are so versatile, and they make great kid food. They are super nutrient dense, which we love because sometimes kids don’t eat a lot at a time.

Why Bean Tots are Healthy for Kids

They literally have at least double the nutrition that a regular tater tot has! This is how they stack up against potatoes:

Chickpeas (1/2 cup)  Potatoes (1/2 cup) 
Calories
Fat 2g 0.1g
Fiber 6.5g 2.4g
Protein 7.2g 2.2g
Potassium 238mg 448mg
Vitamin A 22 IU 2 IU
Vitamin C 1g 21mg
Calcium 105mg 13mg
Iron 2.4mg 0.85mg
Vitamin B 6 0.22mg 0.3mg
Magnesium 39mg 24.5mg

Chickpeas are seriously a powerhouse food. And there are so many kid-friendly ways to prepare them! Some of our other favorite recipes using them:

How to Make Crispy Bean Tots

This Crispy Bean Tots Recipe is super easy to make. Combine your ingredients in food processor until relatively smooth. Then form the dough into a long roll. Slice it up into small pieces and shape into tots by rolling them between your hands, and then flattening the ends. Spray generously with oil.  I LOVE my Misto oil sprayer.  You can fill it with any kind of oil you want, and then use it as a spray! Genius. Bake and then serve warm! My kids like to dip in ketchup (every kid loves ketchup right?)

Crispy Bean Tots Recipe. Perfect for toddlers and packed with protein and fiber!

Serve these with a sandwich and some veggies as a yummy lunch, or a fun after school snack!

Crispy Bean Tots Recipe. Perfect for toddlers and packed with protein and fiber!

Crispy Bean Tots Recipe. Perfect for toddlers and packed with protein and fiber!
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3.7 from 43 votes

Crispy Bean Tots Recipe

Crispy, high-protein, dippable tots made from chickpeas instead of potatoes! Just blend up the dough in your food processor, form it into tots, and bake for a fun and nutritious snack.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 227kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.
  • Drain and rinse beans. In food processor, combine all ingredients. pulse until smooth.
  • Remove from food processor, and form into a roll. Slice into small pieces. Form tots by rolling into between your hands, and then flattening the top and bottom.
  • Spray the tops with cooking spray or a little bit of oil. Bake tots for 10 minutes on one side. Turn the tots over and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until they are golden and crispy.
  • Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 227kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 7g | Sodium: 712mg | Fiber: 7g
Keyword : chickpeas, Crispy Bean Tots, gluten-free, vegetarian

www.superhealthykids.com

 

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

Learn More about Natalie

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56 Comments

I would never have thought of using chickpeas like this!
I’m a huge HUGE potato fan – but the carb load doesn’t do nice things for my blood sugar.
What a cool alternative to try!

I bet if you use Daiya “cheese” it would work for a dairy free option. My question is what can I use instead of Panko, because I need a gluten free option.

My daughter has a severe peanut allergy and cannot tolerate garbanzo beans as it is a cousin to the peanut – will any white bean stand up in this recipe?

Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb. Panko is coarsely ground into airy, large flakes that give foods a light, crunchy coating. The flakes tend to stay crispier longer than standard breadcrumbs. You can try regular breadcrumbs.

Excellent blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any tips? Thank you!

This is genius.
We are egg free also. Do you think we could substitute a little chia “egg” for the egg in this recipe? Or just leave it out all together and maybe use dairy free mayo or something like that? Just trying to figure out what would help to make it bind besides eggs.

We made these super easy took me about 15 minutes start to the oven and I LOVED them (also tested by babysitter and another friend who both couldn’t stop eating them). Was like an oven baked hummus fry. The kids have never had these before and weren’t all about trying them but did take a bite. These you feel good eating!! Will definitely make them again.

Yes I definitely think you could use dairy free mayo, or chia ‘egg’, or even flax ‘egg’. It really is a small amount of binder, and so won’t change the recipe very much.

made these without the cheese , loved em but my kids tooted the roof off lol also subbed panko for brown bread crumbs homemade

I accidently added one can of beans without draining them. Now the mixture is super wet. I already added all the ingredients, including the crumbs.
I placed the mixture in the fridge in hopes it will firm up. Should I add additional crumbs? I have a feeling this might be a loss. 🙁

I accidently added one can of beans without draining them. Now the mixture is super wet. I already added all the ingredients, including the crumbs.
I placed the mixture in the fridge in hopes it will firm up. Should I add additional crumbs? I have a feeling this might be a loss. 🙁

DRAIN the beans!! I just drained it out of the can and it came out to sticky. I added more bread crumbs to it until I got the right constancy. My 16 month old liked them my 3 year old not so much 🙁

Tried this today but mixed the chickpeas with red lentils as well and didn’t process half the amount of red lentils to give the tots a bit of texture. My 10 month old girl seemed to like it but then smashed the rest of them.. but then she does that with all her food these days! 🙂 Mummy on the other hand loved them! Guess if she doesn’t want them, I have a healthy snack on hand to eat. 😛

Just made these with beans and had the seame problem, very sticky. I out olive oil on my hands to help form little balls of these and baked for the time stated. They are soft, so how can I be sure the egg is fully coked?

i used two eggs instead of one cuz i wasn’t paying attention (thanks to my toddler). do you think i can salvage it still? it’s more hummus like texture rather than dough-y. :-/

this looks like a fabulous idea!! I’m loving all the great toddler food ideas on this site! I do have a question though- all the cans of chickpeas I’ve ever bought say that a 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans has about 7 g of protein. Where does the data come from that you provide? I’d be happy to find a more protein packed bean, as a vegan lol

Wow Natalie!! This snack is GREAT!! I just made them and they turned out amazing!! I can’t promise I’ll save some for my kids, since I already ate half the bunch 😉 For sure will make this again, fun to make, quick and easy!!

Looks like a great idea. I noticed the part about spraying oil on the tots isn’t written in the recipe summary

I tried making this with some substitutions since I’m vegan, but it turned out super sticky like a dip and didn’t cook all they way through due to that :/ I used a flax egg instead of an egg, and a little vegan havarti cheese (not 1/2 cuz bc I didn’t want that much). I thought using pieces of bread instead of breadcrumbs would work but it didn’t help make it less sticky even though I added 4 pieces of bread. I ended up having to stir in a ton of garbanzo bean flour which helped a little but over all I had to just plop some balls into a cookie sheet and hoped for the best. I should have put oil down before hand as it stuck and even though I looked them for 13 minutes on the first side it wasn’t all the way cooked through. They still turned out yummy but next time I’d probably use 1/4 cup applesauce instead of the flax egg and more bread crumbs.

Is the recipe supposed to say 2 *cups* of chickpeas? Or two cans? Just wanted to be sure since it says “2 can” and then later specifies (again?) that you use canned. Thanks!

I just made these with one can of mixed beans and one can of chick peas. I also added a whole shredded carrot. They were delightful!

Made these little nuggets and was so excited that they turned out so well and tasted even better. My kids were a little hesitant at first to try them, but then nibbled them up. They kind of remind me of little baked tofu bites but with a better consistency or little biscuit bites. 🙂 I didn’t dip mine, instead I put a tiny pat of butter on each one.

I made the dough ahead of time and formed it into logs. I put it in my fridge for about two hours, and they were really easy to cut into pieces.

Next time, I may increase the amount of cheese or try flavored bread crumbs.

Hi there, these look great! I’m a little confused about the amount of chickpeas, though. The Ingredients list says “2 can drained chickpeas”. Should that be “2 cups”? Or if it’s 2 cans, maybe the size of the can should be added to the recipe? Thanks!

Hi Mike, thanks for reaching out. Each can has 1.5 cups of beans in it, so two cans = 3 cups. I hope this helps!