It’s a common thing these days: People find themselves feeling a bit down and all they want are potatoes. They want them hot and they want a lot of them. We understand your pain, and we just want to help you live out your totally tuber-ular dreams. Why? Because we’re your best spuds. Okay, I’ll stop. Or will I?!?! Either way, here is our list of the five best frozen potato products you can buy.
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I mean. It’s a tot—can you really go wrong? The answer is, no, you cannot, BUT you can go more right, and these tater tots are the rightest ones we could find. In the scheme of frozen potatoes, there are a lot of options but none quite capture the crispy surface area-to-creamy potato ratio of a perfectly cooked tater tot. And these tots really are perfect. Managing editor Gwynedd Stuart said that these tots have such a crispy coating and creamy center that she “wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Ore-Ida’s Extra Crispy tots and tots that just emerged from a restaurant’s fryer.” And when it comes to Gwynedd’s food opinions, I t-russet them. Hehe.
- Lamb Weston Grown in Idaho Hand Cut Style Fries
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Of course, we had to have a frozen fry on this list. It certainly would not be a complete list of the best frozen potatoes without them, plus, I mean…fries are just good. And when you try these fries, hmmmm boi, you’ll see that the team over at Lamb Weston really smashed it (smashed potatoes are a thing I think?). According to Sporked contributor Danny Palumbo, these fries are “golden and delicious, well-seasoned, crispy, and fatty. They use modified food starch (potato, corn, and tapioca) to achieve an extra layer of crust.” Truly the platonic fry-deal.
Related: It’s the 7 Best Frozen French Fries
- Great Value Shredded Seasoned Potato Hash Brown Patties
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I’m of the firm belief that hash browns are just tater tots when they’re all grown up and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. That being said, hash browns are absolutely in the S tier of frozen potatoes, and these hash browns are in the S tier of hash browns. Senior writer Jordan Myrick even went as far as to say that, compared to these hash browns, “All other forms of frozen hash browns are inferior.” And they taste food for a living, so maybe just take their word for it and don’t try to re-hash this one.
- TGI Fridays Cheddar & Bacon Loaded Potato Skins
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Yes, you could very easily bake some potatoes, scrape out their innards, and make your own potato skins. But, seriously, why would you when TGI Fridays is willing to do the dirty work? “These loaded potato skins are so cheesy and bacon-y and perfectly greasy,” Jordan wrote when they tasted all the TGI Fridays frozen apps. And, I’m sorry, but we just can’t argue with cheese, bacon, and grease. Load them up with sour cream and chives, and we think you’ll fall skin love with these. (Sorry, that was a stretch.)
- Cappello’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi
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Lastly, we’ve got some gnocchi, a word I cannot read, think, or say without thinking of Giada De Laurentiis for some reason. But no matter how you pronounce it, this stuff tastes like heaven and is perhaps one of the fancier forms frozen potatoes can come in. Danny called this gnocchi “deliciously sweet and almost nutty,” and continued by saying that the “sweet potato flavor really shines here.” So grab some browned butter and the herb of your choice, throw them in the pan with these puppies, and enjoy the pure deliciousness that follows, because whether or not you are ready to take on this level of mind-blowing potato magic, I know I yam. Good lord, I promise that’s the last one, I will see myself out.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!