These crispy tostones made with green plantains are shallow fried to golden perfection. This tostone recipe is the quick easy appetizer you need in your life!
Shopping for plantains
Let’s start with picking plantains. You want to get plantains that are green because the more yellow they are, the more ripe. Yellow ripe plantains are great for making soft cooked plantains, but the sweet flavor doesn’t lend itself well for fried tostones.
Prepping the plantains
Once you have your green plantains, you want to cut the tips off and make a cut down the skin of the plantain. The skin is thick, but be careful not to insert the knife too far and cut into the fruit. Using a spoon or finger, peel the skin off the plantain. It might be a little difficult to loosen it up since it’s not ripe, but using a spoon should assist in peeling. Then you want to cut them into 1-inch pieces.
Shallow frying plantains
Using a frying safe skillet (cast iron, dutch oven, etc.) add a 1/2 inch of canola oil (or your preferred frying oil) and heat over medium/high heat. I say 1/2 inch of oil because it depends on the size of your skillet for how much oil you’ll be adding.
Pictured above is my 12 inch cast iron skillet for reference, It should cover half of the plantains. Fry them on each side for 3-4 min until slightly golden. Remove from the oil and place on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil.
Pressing plantains into tostones
After you have removed the plantains from the oil, it’s time to press them (obviously my favorite part, see smashed potatoes for more smashing fun).
You’ll be using the oil again, so you can temporarily lower the heat or keep it on if you’re flattening while the other plantains are still cooking. (I’m not so great at multitasking so I lowered it). Just remember to bring it back up to temperature before the 2nd cook.
If you have a tortilla/tostone maker you can use one of those, but I used the top to my salt jar (true MacGyver over here…). You just want a flat surface to press them down.
Once they are flat we are going to crisp them up just a little bit more. Add them back to the oil and cook about 1 minute each side. When done, place on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb any excess oil and sprinkle kosher salt on them.
Next we are going to make a garlic dipping sauce. What I did was take 3 tbsp of butter, grated 4 cloves of garlic (or use garlic press), kosher salt, and freshly chopped parsley. You might scare some vampires away, but it goes so well with the tostones!
There you have it, easy crispy tostones!
Things you’ll need: Cast iron skillet or dutch oven to fry, a flat item to flatten plantains, tongs, plate with paper towels, small saucepan to heat up dipping sauce.
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Looking for other easy appetizers?
- Prosciutto wrapped stuffed jalapeños
- Blistered shishito peppers with soy garlic sauce
- Baked coconut shrimp
Crispy Tostones
These homemade crispy tostones with garlic butter dipping sauce are the best snack or appetizer! So easy to make and so delicious!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Snack/Appetizer
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Caribbean/Latin American
Ingredients
- 3 Green Plantains, peeled and chopped into 1-in slices
- Canola Oil (or choice of frying oil), enough for 1/2 inch coverage in skillet (about 2 cups, depends on skillet size)
- Kosher Salt
Garlic Dipping Sauce
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, grated or pressed
- 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Prep the plantains: Cut the stems off the end and carefully slice down the skin. Using a spoon or your finger, peel the plantain from it’s skin and cut into 1-inch slices.
- In a cast iron skillet or dutch oven, fill with frying oil about 1/2 inch (quantity will vary depending on skillet size). Heat over medium/high heat, when oil is hot and shimmering, place plantain cut side down and fry for 3-4 minutes till golden. Flip and repeat on the other flat end. Remove from oil and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Repeat until all plantains have been done. Lower the heat to low.
- Using a plate or a flat surface item, carefully press plantain until it flattens. Once you have pressed all the plantains, bring the heat back up to medium/high. Add the pressed plantains back into the oil and cook for 1 minute on each side until crisp. Remove from oil and place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil. Sprinkle kosher salt on top once on paper towel.
- For the garlic butter sauce: Add butter and garlic ingredients to a small skillet or small pot over medium heat cook stirring for 3-4 minutes or until butter has melted and garlic is fragrant. Pour into a bowl, add parsley and kosher salt to taste.
- Serve tostones warm with garlic butter sauce on the side
Notes
- Plantain skin is tough, use care when cutting through the skin, but not to cut through the plantain inside. Use a spoon when peeling the plantain to help loosen the skin
Keywords: tostones, plantains
Love this recipe, finally something I can do with my green plantains. A great, crispy, easy appetizer or snack!
★★★★★
I am so glad you loved them Carl! They are such a delicious app!
So simple yet so so good!
If I need to make a large amount for a party, how would you recommend to keep them warm and crisp?
★★★★★
If you’re going to make them ahead, I would warm them back up in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes or until they are heated through again.
Just made these, so simple and rewarding to make. Put on some reggae, have rum drink and pretend you’re in the islands!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them Bobby! Reggae is highly recommended when making these!