The comfort food of choice: Loaded Tots

How in the world do you make tots, the little potato-packed stars of Midwest comfort food, even better? You smother them in cheese and meat.

That’s what a growing number of restaurateurs are doing, and the variety of flavors can be as unique as they are.

There can be an Upper Midwest version with beer cheese and bacon, a Southern barbecue version with pulled pork, or a nod to consumers’ growing love of Latin/Mexican flavors with queso fresco and meat al pastor.

All that’s needed is some of those classic potato rounds and some imagination, and consumers will eat them up.

Market research firm Datassential reports that loaded tots are currently found on 1.4% of U.S. menus, up 127% over the past four years.

Click through the gallery to learn more about this Flavor of the Week and see how one restaurant is using loaded tots on its menu.