Tater Tots With Cheese Sauce

Ingredients

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk (you can substitute 2% if you want less cream)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh grated cheddar cheese (do not use pre-packaged shredded cheese as it is coated to prevent it from sticking together and will not melt into the sauce the same way)
• salt and pepper to taste
• (Makes 2 cups of cheese sauce)

Other Ingredients

• 2 cups tater tots (packaged)
• 6 strips of bacon
• (Makes 2 servings of tater tots, but there will be extra cheese sauce)

Directions

1. Tater tots
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Line a baking dish with parchment paper and spread the tater tots in one layer.
4. When cooking larger amounts, if you want them to be crispy, don’t stack them, only do a single layer.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, check them at this point and stir them around a little. Bake longer if necessary. We baked ours for 30 minutes.Remove from the oven when done.

Bacon

1. While the taters are baking, cook the bacon bits.
2. Chop the bacon sliced into pieces about 1/4 inch wide and place them into a frying pan.
3. Cook over medium then low heat.
4. While they are cooking, use a wooden spoon or tongs to stir and separate all the bits.
5. Watch they don’t burn. When they are crispy use tongs to move them onto a plate that is lined with paper towels to absorb the fat. Set aside.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

1. While the bacon and tater tots are cooking make the cheese sauce.
2. Shred the cheddar cheese.
3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook about one minute.
4. Slowly whisk in the milk. Stir and cook until the sauce thickens. This will take about 4-5 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and add the grated cheese. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.
6. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
7. This make a very thick sauce, if you want it thinner, just a little more milk.

Assembly

1. Transfer the cooked tater tots into a serving dish.
2. Spoon on a generous amount of cheese sauce.
3. Sprinkle the bacon bits on top.