A delicious, and simple meal the whole family will love. Crispy, salty tater tots, topped with well seasoned ground beef, and your favourite toppings. Make your favourite tex-mex drive thru meal at home. These mexi-fries can be baked in the oven, deep fried or made with an air fryer!
Mexi-Fries Recipe
Last year my sister-in-law told me about these crispy, golden delicious morsels called mixi-fries from Taco Time and Jade and I had to try them. We fell in love, hard, and there was a time we were eating these every week for date night hah.
I have been wanting to try and recreate this recipe at home for a while now, because although I love me some drive-thru Taco Time, it can get expensive, and I thought surely there has to be a way to make these a smidge healthier.
By no means is this a health food recipe, but around here we live by the motto “everything in moderation.” To make these mexi fries healthier, you can bake the tater tots in the oven, or use an air fryer. Deep frying them in oil the traditional way is fine too!
Things to keep in mind
Here are a few tips to keep in mind to get the most authentic tasting maxi-fries at home.
- Fast food tex-mex beef is always well ground. No large chunks of hamburger will do. Blend cooked beef with taco seasonings in your blender for that tex-mex consistency.
- Although you can use real cheddar, we like to use store bought Queso to really bring home the drive thru flavour.
Recipe Ingredients for Easy Mexi-Fries:
To make these crispy and delicious mexi-fries you will need.
- 1 bag of tater tots
- 1 lb on ground beef
- vegetable oil
- seasoning salt
Toppings
- store bought queso (usually found in the chip isle at your local grocer)
- cherry tomatoes chopped
- sour cream
- shredded romain or iceberg lettuce
- pickled peppers (optional of course)
Instructions for Easy Mexi-Fries:
First I like to cook my ground beef. I am not great at having thawed meat in the fridge. My favourite way to cook frozen ground beef is in the instant pot. I put in 1 lb of frozen ground beef, and a cup of water. I cook mine for 30 min and usually let it naturally release the air unless I am in a time crunch.
Once your ground beef is cooked, blend it in a blender with 1 tbsp of your favourite taco seasoning. When your ground beef has about 10-15 min left in the pressure cooker, you can start your tater tots in the air fryer.
I like to toss my tots with vegetable oil and sprinkle literally with seasoning salt. Cook them in the air fryer in two batches so they are not crowded and crisp up nicely, for 12 min at 390 degrees. No need to preheat the air fryer.
Alternatively you could bake these per the tater tot instructions on the bake of the bag or deep fry them in oil until golden brown.
Once your beef and tater tots are cooked all you need to do is assemble! I usually set all the toppings out for every family member to decide what they like one their mexi-fries.
Our girls tend to stick with tots, ground beef, ketchup and lettuce …
Jade and I like to top ours with store bought queso, chopped cherry tomatoes, sour cream and lettuce. I like a little extra spice so I also eat mine with pickled peppers on the side.
And thats it! We made these the other night and everyone went nuts for them! They tasted just like fast food Taco Time Mexi-Fries but maybe even a little better 😉
Air Fryer Mexi-Fries
Ingredients
- 1 bag of tater tots
- 1 lb ground beef
- seasoning salt
- vegetable oil
- cherry tomatoes chopped
- store bought Queso usually found in the chip isle at your local grocer
- shredded romain or iceberg lettuce
- pickled peppers optional of course
- sour cream
Instructions
- First I like to cook my ground beef. I am not great at having thawed meat in the fridge. My favourite way to cook frozen ground beef is in the instant pot. I put in 1 lb of frozen ground beef, and a cup of water. I cook mine for 30 min and usually let it naturally release the air unless I am in a time crunch.
- Once your ground beef is cooked, blend it in a blender with 1 tbsp of your favourite taco seasoning. When your ground beef has about 10-15 min left in the pressure cooker, you can start your tater tots in the air fryer.
- I like to toss my tots with vegetable oil and sprinkle literally with seasoning salt. Cook them in the air fryer in two batches so they are not crowded and crisp up nicely, for 12 min at 390 degrees. No need to preheat the air fryer.
- Alternatively you could bake these per the tater tot instructions on the bake of the bag or deep fry them in oil until golden brown.
- Once your beef and tater tots are cooked all you need to do is assemble! I usually set all the toppings out for every family member to decide what they like one their mexi-fries.Our girls tend to stick with tots, ground beef, ketchup and lettuce … Jade and I like to top ours with store bought queso, chopped cherry tomatoes, sour cream and lettuce. I like a little extra spice so I also eat mine with pickled peppers on the side.And thats it! We made these the other night and everyone went nuts for them! They tasted just like fast food Taco Time Mexi-Fries but maybe even a little better 😉
Pin Mexi-Fries Recipe for later
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