Plantains, my sweet little loveys! ♡
Is this not the most perfect Friday food?
These golden brown, crispy, salty tostones are my favorite of all the favorites. French fries – yes. Onion rings – okay, twist my arm. But tostones – GIMME NOW. There is never a wrong time for tostones. So much good happens when you fry those little rounds of plantain, smash them into edgier, flatter chip-like pieces, and dip them into your favorite sauce (MAGIC GREEN SAUCE duh). They are everything crispy, salty, and wonderful that a Friday should be.
And homemade! In 20 minutes! Gluten free vegetarian vegan like everyone can eat these! You win! 🏆✨🏆✨🏆
I’m not even sorry to say that tostones kind of remind me of the potato oles that I used to eat back in the day when I grew up in a tiny little Minnesota town whose only Mexican restaurant was a Taco Johns. Anyone? I mean, as much as we want to be above it, we can’t lie to ourselves here: these little fried potato nuggets might be one of the tastiest types of fast food ever created. God bless those potato oles.
But surprise! I’m an adult – er, “adult” – now and I generally don’t eat potato oles anymore except when desperate times call for desperate measures but just, you know, no one needs to know about that. But I DO MAKE TOSTONES. And those homemade tostones are far superior to fast food fried potatoes *food snob nose in air* and more importantly: provide yet another per-fect way to consume that Magic Green Sauce.
Get ON it.
HOW TO MAKE OUR CRISPY TOSTONES (1.5 MIN):
So there are many ways to enjoy tostones, but this post is primarily dedicated to the original way which is plain, with a little of your fave dipping sauce.
Throwing it back, though 👇
I’ve made these tostones a few times – you can find them making a few variations here on the blog, like in this post for Garlic Tostones with rice and beans – the lovely recipe concept from my Puerto Rican friend Maureen – or just regular tostones tucked nicely in the Brazilian Burrito Bowls covered with that amazingly yummy creamy cilantro lime slaw. Dreamy.
But the real question: why have I not made more than two recipes featuring these crispy bites of heaven? There is no good answer.
You guys need to start holding me accountable here.
Make it happen. 👏
Crispy Salted Tostones
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6–9 servings 1x
Description
Crispy Salted Tostones – super easy recipe for golden brown bites of perfection with just one ingredient: PLANTAINS! video demo in the post.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 green plantains
- 1–2 cups vegetable oil
- sea salt to taste
- Magic Green Sauce for dipping
Instructions
- Peel the plantains by making a vertical cut through the skin and peeling it back with your hands or the edge of a spoon (see video).
- Cut the plantains into 1-inch thick pieces. Heat a layer of oil in a heavy bottomed pan (see video to eyeball the amount).
- Fry the plantains in batches. When the plantains are starting to turn light golden brown, remove from the oil and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Smash each piece with the back of a wooden spoon – this gives you a flatter shape with rougher edges. Return to the frying pan and fry for an additional 4-5 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Transfer back to a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil.
- Sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately, dipped in some kind of yummy sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Keywords: tostones, salted tostones, tostone recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy appetizers. Check it out!