Totchos (Tater Tot Nachos)

Elevate your nacho game to legendary status by swapping out the tortilla chips for crispy tater tots topped with juicy pulled pork and all your favorite fixings!
Thanks to Utah Pork for sponsoring this post!

There’s really no wrong way to make nachos, but there are ways to make nachos better and to me one of those ways is to swap out the tortilla chips for tater tots!

Sure, the shape of tortilla chips makes them perfect for scooping up toppings, but if you don’t eat your nachos fast enough you’re left with a soggy mess, which defeats their main purpose. Tater tots on the other hand are thicker and sturdier than tortilla chips, which allows them to hold up much better under the weight of the toppings.

Granted, tater tots aren’t as easy to scoop as tortilla chips are, but that’s perfectly fine with me since I’m a fan of spreading my nachos out nice and wide on a pizza pan or baking sheet to distribute the toppings more evenly vs. just piling them as high as possible where you might get a mouthful of toppings in one bite and almost no toppings at all in the next one.

Why top them with pulled pork? Because pork is loaded with protein! Every three ounces of pork is packed full of 22 – 24 grams of protein depending on the cut and since eating 20 – 30 grams of protein per meal helps you feel fuller longer not only do these tater tot nachos taste great, but they’ll definitely fill you up! Plus, when you buy pork at any grocery store across the United States you’re supporting family farms in Utah and all across the entire country.

I included a super easy slow cooker pulled pork recipe below where all you need is a pork shoulder, your favorite BBQ seasoning and your preferred BBQ sauce. A typical pork shoulder will weigh 12 – 15 pounds, but most butcher shops or grocery stores — at least where I live — will sell them in two to three pound portions, which is about the size that I used when I made these totchos.

Pork shoulder is sold both bone-in and with the bone removed and depending where you buy it from you might not have a choice in the matter, but either one will work perfectly for pulled pork. Boneless pork shoulders are obviously a little easier to deal with, but with bone-in you’ll typically get a little more flavor.

If you want to save some time or don’t necessarily need that much pulled pork you can always just buy some fully cooked pulled pork from the grocery store but man, there’s really just nothing quite like homemade pulled pork fresh out of the slow cooker!

Totchos are also the perfect idea if you’re having a group of friends or family over and want a simple way to feed them all. Just cook up a bunch of tater tots, keep the pulled pork warm in your slow cooker and set up a nacho bar on your kitchen counter with all your toppings and everyone can assemble their own plates of nachos. Trust me, your guests will love it!

Plus, if you have leftover pulled pork you can always use it to make some Pulled Pork Crunch Wraps, Pulled Pork Taquitos, Pulled Pork Flatbreads or even Pulled Pork Sandwiches With Deep Fried Macaroni and Cheese Buns.