Crispy Fried Plantains Recipe (2024)

Recipe: $1.00 | Per Serving: $0.50 | Yield: 4

Easy, crispy, perfectly fried plantains are the fastest and most delicious starch you didn't know you needed. SERIOUSLY, fried plantains are so super good!

These crispy bites of salty starchy goodness are the perfect accompaniment to taco night, burgers, salads, sandwiches, and are faster to make than french fries!

I first had fried plantains when our Ecudoran roommate in Peru, who also happened to be a chef, made tostones for us one night. They're so crispy and delicious and incredibly addictive. He taught me how to make traditional tostones (and also how to cut a plantain properly), and I'm so glad he did!

I think we're all craving comfort foods these days, and my addictive comfort foods are salty, crispy, creamy, or chewy. So that means things like plantain chips, mac & cheese, chewy chocolate chip cookies, salted dark chocolate brownies.

Since I can plow through plantain chips like nobody's business, I'm using quarantine time to make fried plantains from scratch so I can appreciate them more, savor them more, and eat them a little less.

What are Tostones?

Tostones are double-fried green plantains. They require thick-cut plantains since they will be fried, smashed, and fried again. Tostones are always made from green plantains, which are high in starch. They're super delicious.

However, I don't typically feel like frying, smashing, and frying again. Instead, I like to make really basic fried plantains without the double fry and while they're not traditional, they're certainly:

• fast
• easy
• crispy
• salty
• delicious!

What Plantains Are Best For Frying?

For tostones, which are double fried,you definitely want to to use green plantains.

Maduros refers to fried ripe plantains. For maduros, you can use riper, dark brown plantains. They're delicious caramelized in a little butter or coconut oil, but they will not get crispy because the sugar content is too high. It's more of a caramelized plantain than a fried plantain.

Since there's no smashing and no double frying for this recipe, you can use a wider variety of plantains - from green to spotted yellow.

If you use plantains with a lot of brown for this recipe, they'll be much sweeter, less firm, and more likely to burn, so just be careful.

How to Make Fried Plantains

1. First, carefully peel your plantains. Chop off the ends and then run your knife along a few of the corner "seams" of the banana, going the full length of the the banana, to score the skin. Be sure to only insert your knife into the peel and not into the flesh of the banana. Place a spoon or the edge of your thumb underneath and carefully peel back the plantain.
   1. Do NOT use your nails here! Use a spoon, or a paring knife if necessary!
   2. (See video for a visual!)
2. Chop your plantains into ¼-inch thick pieces. I like to cut diagonally (on a bias) to increase the surface area for frying.
3. Heat some high-heat coconut or avocado oil in a large skillet until just shimmering but not smoking.
4. Place plantains in the oil in an even layer. Once browned on one side, flip and brown on the other side.
5. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and dust with high quality salt.
6. Eat!

Can You Eat Raw Plantains?

Yes, technically, but it isn't recommended. They're hard to digest in their raw state, but they're not considered toxic. As a nutrition practitioner, I would not recommend you eat raw plantains because there's a good chance they'll disturb your gut.

Can You Fry Bananas Like Plantains?

Yes, you certainly can; however, they won't respond the same way. Plantains are high in starch and low in sugar. Bananas are the opposite - higher in sugar and lower in starch.

Bananas, due to their higher sugar content, do tend to get caramelized rather than crispy, which is also delicious, but completely different. (And more similar to platanos maduros.)

For more information about different plantains, I like this blog post!

Are Plantains Healthier Than Potatoes?

Plantains and white potatoes (with the skin ON) are actually pretty similar, but have different levels of vitamins and minerals. They're both nearly 100% starch, but plantains are typically denser than white potatoes, and therefore are more energy dense (ie higher in calories). Both have some micronutrients, like potassium, vitamin C, and some B vitamins like folate, and green plantains are highest in fiber.

Green (starchy) plantains have a glycemic index of 40, while white potatoes range from about 50-100. So while plantains are less likely to cause a blood sugar spike, you want to make sure you're balancing them both with fat, fiber, and protein, especially if you have sensitive blood sugar. (Might I recommend Magic Green Sauce here?)

(Also Remember: there's more to food than calories, and there's more to food than nutrition. 😉)

Can You Reheat Fried Plantains?

Yes! They're absolutely best when fresh, but I have successfully reheated leftover plantain chips in the toaster oven. Just set it to toast until they start to get hot and crisp up again, 5-10 minutes.

That is, if you manage to have any left over!

Paleo: Yep! As long as you use a minimally processed high-heat oil like avocado or coconut. (I have not tried this with lard or ghee.)
Vegetarian: Yep!

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