A Tater Tot Makeover? Yes, Indeed

There are certain foods that simply shouldn’t be remade to fit the healthy lifestyle mold—french fries are one, nachos are another, and doughnuts, well, c’mon! After all, part of the fun in eating these items is the sense of treating yourself. So when a box of RollinGreens’ frozen Millet Tots landed on my desk, I was skeptical. Tots, it seemed, fit firmly in the category of junk food.

But RollinGreens’ snacks, which are crispy on the outside and almost custard-y on the inside, skip the potato altogether in favor of millet. And, I dare say, they surpass the original.

“There’s nothing on the market like it—there’s nothing with whole grain,” RollinGreens’ co-founder Lindsey Cunningham says. Although perfect for the hyper-healthy age we live in, the recipe is actually from the 1980s, maybe even before. Lindsey’s husband Ryan grew up eating them at dinner.

From 1980 to 1982, Ryan’s family ran RollinGreens, the first organic and local food truck catering company in Boulder. Lindsey and Ryan brought the truck back to life in 2011 to serve healthy dishes made with five ingredients or less. The tots (which also contain five simple ingredients: millet, onion flake, granulated garlic, onion, and sea salt) first appeared on the menu a couple years ago.

They were an immediate hit—so much so that in May, the Cunninghams launched a frozen version that is available at Whole Foods in the Rocky Mountain region.

Millet Tots have become such big business that the Cunninghams have ceased operating the truck in order to concentrate on product innovation. “Our focus is to do one thing and do it really well,” Lindsey says. And since they’ve mastered the original recipe, the Cunninghams are currently working on new flavors. Look for those to launch by the end of 2016.

Take that junk food.