Today I’m answering your Top Five Burning Questions about Garlic Tostones aka Puerto Rican Fried Plantains. Cause you wake up wondering about things like fried plantains, right? Yeah, that’s why we go together.
1. What are they? And why are you making Puerto Rican food?
So garlic tostones are basically fried plantains that have been pre-soaked in a garlic water to give them extra flavor. Imagine TJs potato oles but 100 times better. And yes, I’m referring to the TJs that is Taco John’s. I grew up in small town Minnesota, okay?
Bjork and I recently had dinner with our incredibly sweet friends Bjorn (Bjork and Bjorn, BFF, not a joke) and Maureen, and since Maureen is Puerto Rican, she made us the most amazing Puerto Rican dinner: tostones, chicken, rice, and beans. I watched her make the tostones and we talked about life while she dipped them in the garlic water and transferred them to the frying pan where they became their golden brown little selves. I could not get the image/taste/texture and just like that, an addiction was born.
2. This is weirding me out because WHAT ARE PLANTAINS?
No worries. I wouldn’t really know if I hadn’t a) had a Puerto Rican friend, or b) been to Puerto Rico where I stuffed my face with plantains of all kinds for five days straight. A plantain is kind of like a big greenish colored banana, but it has more starch and less sugar. It’s not the kind of thing you’d want to eat raw; it’s only meant to be eaten after cooking it. Or in this case, frying it into beautiful golden perfection and topping it with sea salt and don’t look at me because I am drooling.
You can buy plantains that are green, yellow, or black. For this one, I’d go with a more greenish (less sweet) plantain because we’re soaking them in garlic. Oh yes we are.
3. Is this authentically Puerto Rican?
Well, I did watch her make them and then basically copied her every move for this recipe. And I did eat them when I was IN Puerto Rico. But I always sorta do my own thing in the kitchen, too. So yes/maybe/mostly.
4. How do you make them?
EASY, you guys. Seriously. Follow the steps: chop, fry once, smash, soak, and fry one more time. I’m not even going to comment on the double fried part. Just let your mouth imagine the beauty.
5. When would I make this and what would I eat it with?
Well, if you’re like me, you’ll make it when your husband is gone for the evening and you have the whole Christmasy house to yourself, and you’ll put on your slippers and some comfy music, and you’ll soak up the amazingness that is hot rice, spicy beans, and golden crispy salted plantains to kind of round it all out. And you’ll feel like a queen.
The texture, the simple flavors, I JUST LOVE THIS SO MUCH. And one more thing: I JUST LOVE THIS SO MUCH.
These would also be great for a fun dinner party, or for your family, or on Friday night for your dinner and movie date night at home. Which reminds me, today is Friday, which reminds me: this. For dinner.
Once you make them, you’ll crave them all the time. The salty crunch with the softness of the rice and beans? Yeah, it becomes a very real need.
Garlic Tostones: Puerto Rican Fried Plantains with Rice and Beans
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2-4 1x
Description
These simple garlic tostones are Puerto Rican fried plantains with a little sea salt are the perfect golden crispy addition to a plate of rice and beans.
Ingredients
- 2 plantains
- 1–2 cups oil for frying
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup water
- sea salt
Instructions
- Peel the plantains and cut them into 1-inch thick disks. Place the garlic in a bowl with the water and set aside.
- Heat enough oil in a large skillet so that the disks will be half way submerged in the oil. When the oil is shiny and a drop of water sizzles across the top, add the plantains. Fry for 3-5 minutes on each side until the plantains are lightly softened and browned. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.
- Place the plantains on a cutting board, smash with the back of a wooden spoon to make them half as thick, and let them soak in the garlic water for about a minute.
- Remove, dab them dry and wipe off garlic pieces so they don’t burn, and return to the frying pan. Fry for another 2-3 minutes on each side or until they take on a deep golden color and a crispy texture. Drain again on paper towels, sprinkle with ground sea salt, and serve with rice and beans.
Notes
Just so you know, THEY ARE SO GOOD. Also, choose plantains that are firm and mostly green. The yellow and black ones are sweeter, which is also good and is usually called “Fried Ripe Plantains”, but we don’t want the sweet with all that garlic. This recipe is really for the less ripe plantains. Here’s a nice visual showing the colors of plantains and different stages of ripeness.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Keywords: tostones, garlic tostones, rice and beans, fried plantains
One last thing: I am working on my rice and beans recipe but today I just wanted to focus on the fried plantains. For your rice and beans if you want some more direction, check out this recipe!
It’s almost Chrissssstmas! Have a great weekend eating all the delicious things.
This is the best recipe ever due to the soak between frying. I tweaked it by adding salt to the garlic water. I don’t salt afterwards. Thank you
I love patacones and I’m looking for a way to serve them to my vegan friends. So your dish looks fitting. Could you provide me with the recipe for the rice+spicy beans? The one you linked below seems more like rice-and-beans-together kind of recipe instead of having these saucy-spicy beans which is exactly what I’m looking for. So I would appreciate a recipe for that very much 🙂
Hi Meike! I’m not able to find the recipe at the moment. It’s possible we never got around to posting it. But here’s a similar saucy black bean recipe that might work!
hi. just wondering how to prepare “garlic water”
Just putting 1 tablespoon of minced garlic in 1 cup of water should work. 😉
this dish is fantastic!
So happy to hear you enjoyed this, Kathy! 🙂
Would you want to serve these right away? Or is is something I could fry at home then bring to dinner at a friend’s house?
Thanks!
Turned out great, thanks for the recipe!
I can’t find your bean and rice recipe on your website. What’s in your beans, or on top of your beans? Looks YUM. 🙂
I’m a native PR married to a Greek & living in Greece. I so much miss the food of my country I’ve tried to improvise but it’s just not the same. I appreciate that you’ve posted about one of our most beloved recipies….there are many more and I hope pinners try some of them. Our food is exotic, rustic & delicious. Thanks for finding our cuisine pinteresting! GLORIA
Wow, thank you for the wonderfully detailed photos to show how you made the tostones. These look wonderful! I can’t wait to try these out.
Hope you enjoy them! 🙂
We were in Puerto Rico a couple of years back and loved everything plantain there. Of course, come back, back to craziness and I forget all about them until I read this. So delicious, can’t wait to try this soon.
I’m anxious to try this method as I’ve been frying plantains for years now, but never soaked in garlic. Love the idea – and garlic is so good for you!
Always wanted to try plantains.
Looks amazing but where do I find the bean and rice recipe in the photo! 🙂
We’d recommend this one! https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_black_beans_and_rice/
but where’s the meat?
I made these and they are super quick and easy, even with the soak and double fry — you see, they only soak a minute which when you’re watching a hot cast iron of shimmering oil, the time flies by lol! Also, make SURE TO PAT COMPLETELY DRY. the garlic in the soak water is wonderful. I will add a homegrown chile next time. What a nice & crispy and gluten free base to have. I used chimichurri sauce along with rice and avo. Hubby dis not miss the meat. Thank YOU!
Great to hear, Libby!
Fried plantain slices are not necessarily a thing of the ‘Puerto Rican’ cuisine per se. This is a very popular dish in many Latin American countries. They’re called tostones in PR, patacones in Colombia, platanos verdes fritos in Dominican Republic, in Cuba they are call chatinos and bananes pesee in Haiti. In Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and in most of Venezuela, they are also known by the name of tostones. So there. I suggest you change the name of this Latin American plate to just simply “tostones” and leave out the “Puerto Rican” words.
My parents are from the Dominican Republic and they definitely call them tostones…my mother always makes them this way as well and squirts some lime in the garlic water. Great recipe!
Thank you for your feedback.
Hi Kristin! I loved the recipe and photos of the styling done. I am definitely going try this one especially, because here in India, we have lot of plantains but very less recipes to try differently. I have gone through frying it though, but I sense that soaking in garlic-water will give me a different taste altogether. Thank you so much for sharing this lovely recipe 🙂
Great, Tara! Hope you enjoy it!
these look so simple and delicious! did you ever end up posting the recipe for these beans? the spicy sauce looks yum!
Hi, Beth! The recipe for the rice and beans actually ended up in one of Lindsay’s ecookbooks. Otherwise, the link at the bottom of the tostones recipe has a great (and similar) recipe for rice and beans. Hope that helps! 🙂
I’m Glad to see such great response to trying to stones and other puertorrican meals. It’s always good to try new things. If you want an easy version of mofongo, you have on this recipe completed all but one last step. For it though, you need one very important kitchen gadget. I’m talking about a “pilón y maceta” aka mortar and pestle. After the second fried, put some of the tostones into the mortar and mash them with the pestle and ta-da!!! You have mofongo. You can make little balls of the mashed mofongo and eat them as with regular tostones or you can make little bowl by scooping the mofongo out of the mortar (as you mash it, it takes the shape of the mortar) and you stuff it with just about anything like garlic shrimp, chicken or cut up steak. The possibilities are endless. Bueno provecho!!!
Love that! I might try it with steak! Thanks Mayra!
You are so very welcome!!! If you want a family recipe for the most delicious rum cake, email me. I’ll be glad to pass it on. It’s my version of my husband’s granny recipe. For me a good meal always ends with a good dessert!!!
I meant “tostones ” not to stones. Lol sometimes I hate spell correction.
Thanks so much for this! It’s the PERFECT recipe (I wd have my Peurto Rican mother in law but I’d rather eat my fried SHOES than ask her) lol.
Btw, I didn’t get to read ALL the comments so you may know this already but….. You need the dipping sauce! It’s Mayoketchup! YUP, I said it. Mayo-ketchup! In you can even get it in any supermercado there. Or, you can make your own…mayo….ketchup. Lol
Hi! Thanks for the recipe, I’m gonna make this tonight! As for the mayo–ketchup recipe: add some sriracha! Sriracha has a bit of garlic flavour in it, and should be wonderful mixed in w/ the other two ingredients. Don’t ya think!??
Fun! thanks for the comment Allison!
OMG I’m so thrilled to read about this…I’m gonna make it today itself! 🙂
Lindsay- you are fantastic for recommending the plantain + garlic combination. The gentleman and I made some with your recipe in mind and the results were to die for. As it turns out, yellow (sweet) plantains also work for this recipe- I recommend grinding some sea salt on top after the second dip to balance out the sweet. I worked in a kitchen with some amazing Puerto Rican chefs who fried up some yellow plantains every Sunday for me (and themselves!). Next time, I’m going green to see the difference, though. Thank you for the culinary inspiration!
That’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear that. Thanks so much Kat!
There was a reply about what to serve with them if you don’t like bean n rice. Ive done an appetizer with them and have topped with a shrimp ceviche and fresh avocado….Ive also just smeared them with guacamole and topped with cilantro and tomatoes.
Linday….now you need to attempt fried yucca 😉
I’ll add it to my list! Thanks Stephanie!
Hi!
Have been excited to try out this twist on plantains and finally did for guests and they were good but I think for our taste I would double the garlic next time as I really wanted to notice it more.
Thx for sharing these!
Thanks for the feedback Rachel!
Mine turned out a little bland and I burnt the first batch because I let them cook a minute or so too long. I mixed them with the Green Mexican Rice and also cooked up some shrimp but it all tasted a bit bland. Not sure what I did wrong. I was thinking maybe a garlic aioli sauce would go well with the tostones.
Yep – and did you sprinkle with some sea salt? Much like french fries, a good sprinkle of salt goes a long way.