Gluten Free Burger and Fry Bites

News flash!  Just because you want to (or have to) eat gluten free, doesn’t mean you can’t eat totally indulgent, super tasty food every once in a while.  I made these Gluten Free Burger and Fry Bites this weekend to munch on while we watched football and they tasted like a really good fast food burger.  This got the “This might be the best thing you’ve ever made” seal of approval from my husband.  I don’t think he even realized that they were gluten free.

I will say, these were a little bit of a process to make, but they were totally worth it.  For real.  Even though there are like 27 steps and two separate, but very similar sauces to make.  I mean, I’m not going to make them for supper on a weeknight, but a fun night of football watching deserves a little something special, no?  And if you have a special person in your life who has to stick to a gluten free diet, these would be such a treat!

Gluten Free Burger and Fry Bites

***I used a mini muffin pan for these.  If you want bigger bites, you can use a normal size muffin pan, but you’ll need more tater tots – about 3 per muffin hole.

24 Tater Tots – Make sure they are gluten free. I’ve not seen any that are not gluten free, but check your labels, just in case.

1 lb. Ground Beef

1/2 a red onion

2 T each – Ketchup, Mustard, Relish, Mayo – again, check your labels, gluten can sneak into things like Mustard

3-5 slices American Cheese to top your mini burger bites

Salt & Pepper to taste

Sliced Green Onion – Blogger confession:  You don’t really need these on top of your bites.  They taste good, but they are mostly for the picture.  There, I’m glad I got that off my chest.

Special Sauce:

1/2 c Mayo

1/4 Ketchup

2 T each Relish and Mustard

1 t chili powder

1 t onion powder

1 t garlic powder

  1.  Preheat oven to 425.

  2. Dice the 1/2 onion.

  3. Brown the ground beef with salt and pepper.

  4. Drain off the excess fat from the pan and add in the onions.  Cook until onions are softened.

  5. Grease your mini muffin pan.  Add 2 tater tots to each muffin hole and cook for 10 minutes.

  6. While the tater tots are cooking, mix together the 2 T each of Ketchup, Mustard, Relish and Mayo and add to the cooked ground beef and onions.

  7. After 10 minutes, take the tater tots out of the oven and use a rounded something to smoosh them into a cup.  (I’m on a crusade to make “Smoosh” a genuine cooking term.  I add it to every recipe that it applies to).  I used the back of my cookie scoop to smoosh the tots.  Say smoosh the tots out loud.  You know you want to.  Who cares if you’re at work right now?  Just do it.

  8. Fill the newly smooshed tater tot cups with the ground beef mixture.

  9. Take your American cheese slice and fold it in half.  And in half again.  And one more time.  Maybe one more time.  You basically want to get a mini piece of cheese to top your burger with.  It’s super cute.

  10. Pop those back in the oven for 15 minutes.

  11. While those are cooking, mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce. I know this seems like an extra, unnecessary step, but do not skip this.  This is where the magic happens.

  12. Take the burger bites out of the oven and LET THEM COOL!  DO NOT even think about taking them out of the muffin tin for a good ten minutes.  Once you have waited patiently with drool going down your chin, gently, coax the burger bites out of the muffin tin.  Use a fork or a knife or pixie dust to ease the bites from their happy home in the muffin tin.  If you go in there all willy nilly and just pry them out of the muffin tin, you will destroy the precious tater tot cup.  It will still taste delicious, but you will have to eat it with a fork instead of your fingers and that’s not fun for anyone, amiright?

  13. Drip some of the magical sauce over the bites and serve them to your guests who should be honored to be in the presence of such a fine hostess.

A lot of steps, right?  13.  That might be the most steps in anything I’ve ever posted.  Anyone want to go back through everything I’ve made and check?  No?  Fine.  I know it’s kind of labor intensive, but these are so yummy.  And there’s smooshing involved and that’s always fun, right?  Make these for that crazy football game that’s coming up in a few weeks.  You won’t be sorry!

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