Hi Friends!
Happy Monday! I have a fun little post for you this today that involves a Cuban meal the hubby and I cooked up last week!
Confession: I’d never had a plantain until last fall when we spent a weekend in Miami (click here if you need a little mental break to enjoy some beach pics) and a friend cooked some up for us!
In case you’re not familiar, plantains look like bananas, and you can buy green plantains or sweet plantains. They’re cooked, instead of eaten raw like bananas…and most often they’re fried. That’s how we enjoyed them the first time. Last week we were shopping at a different grocery store than we normally do and we found some plaintains! Hubby snatched them up and we brought them home. Then we had to figure out what to do with them.
I didn’t necessarily want to eat them fried, so we decided that I would bake some and hubby would fry some so we could compare!
I’m not really sure the proper way to peel a plantain, but I found that if I sliced the top and bottom off, I could pretty much just peel them like a banana. Once peeled, I sliced them into 1/2 inch slices, tossed them in olive oil and placed them on a baking sheet with a silpat. I sprinkled them with some seasonings and stuck them in the oven. After about 10 minutes, I took them out, smashed them flat with the bottom of a glass, flipped them over and put them back in the oven.
Baked Plantains
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Keywords: bake appetizer snack side healthy vegetarian plantain Cuban
Ingredients (Serves 2)
- 2 green plantains
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- pinch of salt
Instructions
1. Peel the plantains and slice into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Toss in olive oil and place on a greased baking sheet.
3. Sprinkle with seasonings and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
4. Remove pan from oven, smash slices down with the bottom of a glass.
5. Flip the slices over and return to the oven to bake for 10-15 more minutes until golden brown.
While mine were baking, hubby took a few of the slices and fried them in some canola oil. Meanwhile, I set to work making a quick dinner of red beans and rice to accompany our plantains. I just sauteed some garlic, onion and green pepper in a skillet. I added a can of no-salt-added kidney beans, some brown rice and some cayenne pepper and mixed seasoning that’s similar to McCormicks.
Here are the baked and fried plantains side-by-side:
The verdict? I really liked the baked ones. They got really crunchy and kinda tasted like potato chips. We dipped them in ketchup and then when we ran out of ketchup, we tried dipping them in buffalo wing sauce. Hubby liked the fried ones because they were thicker slices, not smashed. He said they were meaty enough that they would make a good substitute for boneless wings!!
SO, we bought some more plantains and we’re going to bake them again after tossing them in buffalo sauce and then not smash them down! I’ll let you know how it turns out 🙂 Hubby always says that he doesn’t miss eating meat, except for wings…so this could be the substitute we’re looking for!
Here’s the whole meal. It was delicious and a fun departure for the Mexican route we usually go with rice and beans.
So tell me…have you ever had plantains? What’d ya think?!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Today’s Workout:
28 Min Tabata Workout
This workout was challenging. Hubby remarked multiple times that he “hates Dr. Tab” 
Loved it! Another option would be to do all the exercises once and then start over and do the whole cycle 8 times.
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I’ve never tried plantains but they sound tasty! The rice dish looks awesome too! 🙂
We love plantains!!
*prints for later*
I love plantains! I think I like the sweet ones better but the green ones are tasty as well.
I have never tried plantains but generally love banana ANYTHING. This looks great. Good inspiration to try something new…. 🙂
I LOVE plantains…especially caramelized. Yum!
I have never thought to bake them, though…and this might be a VERY yummy way to enjoy without some of the fat.
i had plantains at a cuban restaurant when i was in orlando in october. they were delicious (and definitely fried)! let us know how your second trial works out – we LOVE buffalo sauce over here & i bet brad would like them!
I do love plantains… but never thought to bake them! I’m going to have to try that out. They are so good on sandwiches too!
never thought to put them on sandwiches!!
I have never tried plantains. But, I am always curious about them. This looks like a great, easy recipe to try with them.
The boyfriend and I love the fried plantains from this Mexican restaurant from our undergrad. I always see them but never think to buy them. I totally will now!
awesome!!! can’t wait to see what you make
I always see plantains at the store, but haven’t been brave enough to try them yet! They do look really good with that rice dish though!!!
I’ve never used plantains but am going to do now. This looks great!
let me know what you think if you try them!
totally!! And I’ll link it back to your blog 🙂
Plantains are my FAVORITE FAVORITE food in the entire world!!! Seriously. In the entire world. I like sweet plantains so I wait until they’re very ripe and then fry them up in coconut oil…mmm so good. This baked version sounds really good–when they’re still green plantains definitely do taste like potatoes!
yum, trying this next time we get sweet ones!
I absolutely love plantains, and am lucky that they are very easy to find at my neighborhood grocery stores. I’ve had plantains fried and steamed, but never baked. I will definitely have to try out this method next time I buy plantains.
yay! let me know what you think!
I love plantains! I’ve never tried making them myself though…must get on that!
give it a try! so easy!
I love plantains!
Oh yum those sound really good! I’d never heard of plantains before…now I’m really curious about them! I would probably prefer them baked!
they’re fun to have everyone once in a while to change things up!
The first time I had plantains was in the Dominican Republic! They tasted like fried bananas, but less sweet, in my opinion! They were good though! 🙂
My bf’s mom makes plantains (they’re venezuelan). She usually makes the sweet ones in strips and fries them and calls them platanos. But she also makes the green ones, slices them like you and actually has a special wooden smasher thing specifically for it LOL. those get fried too but i’m glad to know they can turn out just as good baked!
i’ve heard about the special smasher!! i just may need one of those!
Oh my! That looks so good! Plantains are popular in India as well. I’ve only ever had them fried, but the next time I have the opportunity to buy some, I’ll try baking them!
definitely try it! just as good i think!
fried plantains were a favorite snack when i studied abroad in cameroon. you could buy them on the street…. they were so good! i’ll have to have them again soon 🙂
oooh what an awesome place to study abroad!
we have plantains at explorer’s club. is that an incentive for you and hubby coming to visit me!??! love your blog lady 🙂 my how you’ve blossomed webly.
yes indeed it is! love you!
I am Dominican and we mostly eat Plantains. We have many ways to cook plantains. One of them is actually grilling the plantain until crispy. Then mashing it with olive oil and crushed garlic while it’s hot and some Celtic salt to taste. The garlic is a great addition to the plantain! 🙂
Awesome flavor and super crispy. Definitely pairs well with ketchup and is a great replacement for potato chips or french fries!
I’ve been making these for the past 8-10 months on a fairly regular basis. Normally I don’t smash them down flat, I like them a bit thicker around 1/2 inch or maybe 1/4 inch. Normally I make them on the stovetop in a nonstick pan and instead of frying them in oil, I just fry them in a little bit of water and let them cook that way. Sometimes, I’ll give them a light mist in some olive oil with my oil mister, usually toward the middle of the cooking process just so they aren’t as dry. Honestly, they turn out just fine a bit thicker, and I love them with just a bit of salt and ketchup. I’ve also tried baking them as well, and they turn out just fine too. 🙂