The Worst Frozen Tater Tots Come From This Grocery Brand

Tater tots are a rightfully treasured side. Crispy exteriors surrounding soft and fluffy bits of potato, with salty flavor carried on the fatty oil they were fried in, a good tot is a magical bite. Emphasis on the "good." Bad tots are made worse by what they could have been. Our reviewer tried five different brands of store-bought, frozen tater tots to find the best and the worst. One brand landed at the bottom as a bag to avoid: Signature Select Seasoned Tater Puffs.

These cheaper tater puffs did achieve a slightly crispy exterior, but that's where the half-compliments end. Inside was a mushy potato mess akin to baby food. The flavor profile was mildly potatoey with dominant artificial notes. For a product with "Seasoned" in the name, our reviewer tasted no seasoning. Signature Select is the store brand for markets owned by the Albertsons Companies. You can find, and avoid, these tots at grocery stores owned by the company, including Albertsons, Vons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, and Acme.

You may wonder why Signature Select calls its tater tot "tater puffs." Ore-Ida, the Oregon-based company that invented the humble tater tot, has the trademark on the name. Not only does the brand sell the only snack named tater tots, but it also came in first in our ranking of tater tots, tater puffs, and tasti taters (whatever the brands named them to evoke the original product). The Ore-Ida winner nailed the texture — crispy exterior, soft (not mushy) interior — and taste — potato earthiness, salt, pepper, and a nice hit of savoriness from the oil.

Comparing the winning tot's ingredients with the losing version shows mostly similarities. The Signature Select version has added dehydrated potatoes, which could account for the mushiness. The Ore-Ida version has 450 milligrams of sodium, 130 milligrams more than the losing tot. While Ore-Ida has 20% of your daily recommended sodium — eating one-fifth of your sodium in a side dish is a lot — that would explain why it tastes better. However, if making them at home is too much, you can always follow Reba McEntire's recipe for her favorite fast food item: driving to Sonic and placing an order.