Chef Lupita
Arroz Jarocho con Plátanos Fritos
Veracruz's Gulf-side white rice, toasted with garlic and onion, cooked until each grain stands apart, then crowned with ripe plátano macho fried in lard.
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Tostones de Plátano Verde Veracruzanos
Created by
Veracruz's Sotavento tostones are green plantain rounds fried twice in manteca de cerdo, salted hot, and served beside black beans, fish, or a sharp salsa macha.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
18 min cook•28 min total
Yield4 servings
Veracruz, especially the Sotavento and Los Tuxtlas, is where these tostones belong on the Mexican map. The green plantain grows in the humid lowlands, where the kitchen looks toward the Gulf and the Caribbean as much as toward the highlands. This is not a potato side. This is the tropical Veracruz table speaking in its own accent.
The technique is plain and exact: fry the green plantain once to soften it, smash it while it is still hot, then fry it again until the edges turn crisp and the center stays tender. The fat is manteca de cerdo. In Veracruz, lard carries the refried black beans, the platanos, the yuca. La manteca es el sabor. Use neutral oil if you must, but understand what you are losing.
I learned this version from a woman near Catemaco who served the tostones on banana leaf with frijoles negros refritos and a small jicara of salsa macha. She salted them the second they came out of the fat and looked at me like I should already know why. Salt sticks to hot fat. Wait two minutes and it falls off. Así se hace y punto.
Cada estado, su propia cocina. Veracruz has the Totonac and Huastec base, the Spanish hand, and the African line that put plantain, yuca, and malanga into the everyday pot. These tostones are quick food, yes, but quick does not mean careless. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Plantains arrived in Mexico through Spanish colonial trade routes that carried African and Caribbean foodways across the Gulf, and Veracruz became one of the places where that exchange stayed visible in daily cooking. In the Sotavento and Los Tuxtlas, plantain dishes sit beside yuca, malanga, black beans, and coastal fish, marking the Afromestiza vocabulary of the region. The twice-fried method is shared across the Caribbean, but the Veracruz table makes it its own with manteca de cerdo, frijoles negros, and salsa macha from the Gulf pantry.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
green plantains
Quantity
3 large
firm and unripe
pork lard (manteca de cerdo)
Quantity
2 cups
or enough to come 1 inch up the pan
kosher salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
divided
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
finely grated
warm water
Quantity
1/4 cup
lime (optional)
Quantity
1
halved
salsa macha veracruzana (optional)
Quantity
for serving
made with chile de arbol, chile morita, garlic, peanuts, and sesame seeds
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| green plantainsfirm and unripe | 3 large |
| pork lard (manteca de cerdo)or enough to come 1 inch up the pan | 2 cups |
| kosher saltdivided | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| garlic clovesfinely grated | 2 |
| warm water | 1/4 cup |
| lime (optional)halved | 1 |
| salsa macha veracruzana (optional)made with chile de arbol, chile morita, garlic, peanuts, and sesame seeds | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy cast iron skillet or wide clay cazuela suitable for frying
- •Tostonera, tortilla press, or flat-bottomed glass for smashing
- •Wire rack set over a tray
- •Thermometer for checking frying temperature
Instructions
- 1
Peel the plantains
Cut off both ends of each green plantain. Score the peel lengthwise in two or three places, just deep enough to reach the fruit. Pry the peel away with your thumb or the back of a spoon. Green plantain fights you a little. That is normal. If it peels like a banana, it is too ripe for tostones.
- 2
Cut thick rounds
Slice the plantains into rounds about 1 inch thick. Keep them even so they fry at the same pace. Thin slices turn into chips. Thick rounds become proper tostones, crisp outside and tender in the middle.
- 3
Make garlic water
Stir the grated garlic, warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. This is not a marinade. It is a quick seasoning dip used after the first fry, just enough to season the plantain before the second fry. Do not soak the plantains or they will spit badly in the hot fat.
- 4
First fry
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy skillet or wide cazuela over medium heat until it reaches 325F. Add the plantain rounds in one layer. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until pale yellow and tender enough to press, but not browned. The first fry cooks the starch. Browning comes later.
Do not crowd the pan. Crowding drops the heat and gives you greasy plantain. Fry in two batches if your pan is small. - 5
Smash while hot
Lift the plantains onto a paper-lined tray. While they are still hot, press each round between two pieces of banana leaf, parchment, or a clean plastic bag using the bottom of a glass, tortilla press, or tostonera. Flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. Press straight down, not at an angle, or the edges split.
- 6
Season lightly
Brush or quickly dip each flattened plantain in the garlic water, then shake off every extra drop. You want a kiss of garlic and salt, not a wet plantain going back into hot lard. No me vengas con atajos here. Water and hot fat need respect.
- 7
Second fry
Raise the heat to 375F. Return the flattened plantains to the lard in batches. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the edges are crisp, the surface is golden, and small blisters show across the plantain. Drain on a rack, not a pile of paper towels, so the bottoms stay crisp.
- 8
Salt and serve
Salt the tostones immediately with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt while the fat still glistens on the surface. Serve hot on banana leaf with lime halves and salsa macha veracruzana, or beside frijoles negros refritos. The salt, the fat, the crunch. That is the dish.
Chef Tips
- •Buy plantains that are fully green and heavy for their size. Yellow plantains are for sweet frying, not tostones. Black plantains are for maduros or rellenitos. Wrong ripeness, wrong dish.
- •Manteca de cerdo is the Veracruz choice for fried sides. If you use neutral oil, the method works, but the flavor thins out. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Serve these with black beans, not pinto beans. Veracruz kitchens know the black bean. The pinto belongs more to the north. This is a 32-state cuisine.
- •Salsa macha is right here because Veracruz claims that chile-oil language strongly: chile de arbol, chile morita, garlic, cacahuate, ajonjoli. Keep the salsa on the side so the tostones stay crisp.
Advance Preparation
- •Tostones are best eaten immediately after the second fry. Make them close to the meal, not hours ahead.
- •You can peel and slice the green plantains up to 2 hours ahead. Hold them covered with a barely damp towel so they do not darken.
- •The first fry and smashing can be done up to 30 minutes ahead. Keep the flattened plantains in a single layer, then do the second fry right before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 170g)
Calories
475 calories
Total Fat
29 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
18 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
970 mg
Total Carbohydrates
56 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
4 g
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