These lightly seasoned pan-fried butternut tots will satisfy all your tot cravings, with a bonus velvety sweetness you get only from fall butternut squash.

Looking at my post lineup for the coming weeks, it appears I’ve gotten a bit excited about fall. I’m sure by January I’ll be sick as heck of winter squash and root veggies, but for now I’m all about it.

Butternut squash is something I’d gladly eat all year, and I totally could. If you’ve been reading for a while, you might remember I went a little crazy with the butternut squash recipes last fall, blaming a coworker of my husband’s who repeatedly offloaded his home-grown butternut squash on us.

When that happened I decided growing butternut squash was just about the coolest thing a person could do, so I saved the seeds from a couple of last year’s harvest…and they’re still sitting in an envelope in my kitchen drawer. It’s okay. I turned out to be a really bad vegetable gardener, so my home grown butternut squash probably wouldn’t have been that great anyway.

Fortunately, butternut is everywhere. And it’s cheap. And the squashes are often huge. And I live in a two-person household. All this means that every time I purchase one, you get a bunch of recipes out of it, and believe me, I’ll be loading up on butternut squash.

It seems like everyone’s getting down with tots lately. I’ve seen recipes for tots floating all over the web, and have been slobbering over these in particular for a few weeks now. If summer squash makes a good tot, I had to imagine butternut would as well.

Eat these and you get the satisfaction of classic tots, with that wonderful butternut sweetness. I flavored my tots up with some smoked paprika, but was tempted to try a half-dozen other things, curry powder, cinnamon, and hot chili powder among them. I’m sure they’d all be good, and feel free to try whatever you’re feeling. The spicy maple mustard is a must if you go with my smoked paprika tots.

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4 from 1 vote Print Butternut Tots with Spicy Maple Mustard These lightly seasoned pan-fried butternut tots will satisfy all your tot cravings, with a bonus velvety sweetness you get only from fall butternut squash. Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 25 minutes Total Time 35 minutes Servings 4 Calories 276 kcal Author Alissa Ingredients For the Butternut Tots 1 lb. butternut squash about 1/2 of a medium squash, cut into 1 inch cubes

1-2 tbsp. olive oil divided

1/2 medium onion quartered

1 garlic clove minced

3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup chickpea flour

1/2 tbsp. smoked paprika

1/4 tsp. salt plus extra for sprinkling

1/4 tsp. black pepper For the Spicy Maple Mustard 1/4 cup yellow mustard

2 tbsp. maple syrup

2-3 tsp. sriracha or to taste Instructions Make the Butternut Tots Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the butternut squash cubes with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and arrange them in an even layer on baking sheet.

Bake until piercable with a fork, but still pretty firm, 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Place the butternut squash into food processor bowl with the onion, garlic, panko, chickpea flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Pulse until ingredients are well blended, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Roll the mixture into tot-shaped cylinders.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place over medium heat. Working in batches if needed, arrange tots in an even layer in skillet. Cook until browned on bottoms, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on opposite sides, about 4 minutes more.

Make the Spicy Maple Mustard Remove from heat and sprinkle with salt, if desired.

Stir all ingredients together in small bowl. Nutrition Facts Butternut Tots with Spicy Maple Mustard Amount Per Serving Calories 276 Calories from Fat 84 % Daily Value* Fat 9.3g 14% Saturated Fat 1g 5% Sodium 364mg 15% Potassium 641mg 18% Carbohydrates 43.6g 15% Fiber 7.3g 29% Sugar 11.5g 13% Protein 7.9g 16% Calcium 100mg 10% Iron 3.1mg 17% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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