This is one of my all-time favorite Caribbean snacks and if you are from the Caribbean, then you must surely recognize these chips. Growing up, plantain chips was a staple in my house. Whether guests were over or we just had extra plantains that we didn’t want to get ripe, my mother had no problem frying up a batch of these chips. I used to always love eating these with ketchup and hot pepper sauce, some people like theirs with different types of condiments like garlic sauce or mango chutney. They are also just as tasty without any sauce.
If you are from the Caribbean then you know our foods are very carbohydrate intensive. Everything we eat is either served with rice or some type of heavy carb like roti or fried dough. It’s sometimes difficult to make our favorite dishes healthy without compromising the taste, but since we are all moving towards a more healthy America, then the least we could do is try right? Well today I decided that as much as I love fried plantains, I really want to bake them to see how different they would taste.
So what’s the verdict? Bake or fry?
Baked plantain chips are a great substitute for those who want to avoid the calories from deep frying. The taste is the same, however the texture is very different. The baked version is much crispier and drier. You see when you fry a plantain chip, you get a nice golden crust while keeping the moisture inside the chip. When you bake a plantain chip, you are drying out the entire chip resulting in a crisp chip all the way through. If you can get past this one textural difference, then you are on your way to having a healthy version of one of your most favorite fried snacks!
What type of plantains should I buy?
This is my favorite dipping sauce to eat with plantain chips
Plantain Chips: Baked or Fried?
Ingredients
For baking:
- 2 green plantains
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- dash of cayenne pepper
For Frying:
- 2 green plantains
- dash of salt
- dash of black pepper
- canola oil for frying
Instructions
For baking:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice plantains and place in mixing bowl.
- Mix olive oil, black pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper together, pour over raw plantains.
- Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, checking after 8 minutes.
- You may not be able to fit all the plantains on one baking sheet, so you can bake these in 2 separate batches.
For Frying:
- Heat oil on low-medium in a deep frying pan while you are slicing the plantains.
- Peel and slice plantains and place into a mixing bowl.
- Once the oil is hot, drop batches of plantains in the oil stirring frequently in the beginning so that they don't stick together.
- When the first batch is done, toss with the salt and pepper mixture.
- Sprinkle a little salt and pepper after every batch is done the frying.
Jay says
This looks so great. Thanks for the details.
Food Storage
Freeze Dried Food
Daily Bread
Pru says
I think I'll try this!
Cynthia says
This is an outstanding post.
Listen girl, you can't have people drooling like this so early in the morning.
I will definitely link to many of your pages from the Tastes Like Home Facebook page when things have sorted themselves out.
Really, this is an excellent post.
I prefer frying because it is faster. I use a mandoline slicer so I get wafer thin slices so my gets crisp all the way through. Also, I shallow/fry instead of deep frying. Now all this talk makes me want to have plantain chips.
Ms. Gourmet Express says
Hey Cynthia!
Thanks! I love frying mine as well. My mom used to use a mandolin, but I don't have one so I had to go the traditional route! My friends have been asking for healthier alternatives to their favorite Caribbean foods recently so that's part of my new endeavor with the blog.
Jonel says
My family is Jamaican and growing up I hated plantain…within the past five years or so I have loved eating plantain…thanks for the tips
BlogODCY says
Thank you for this! I have tried to fry plantains never to the result I was looking for. You're break down of the difference tween frying and baking made it simple to figure out what I wanted. The baked kind. Now I have to try it.
Question : how do you hold the plantain while trying to use the mandolin? Lol
BlogODCY says
So I tried this baking process. They came out chewy/hard. What I am trying achieve is something like my favorite store bought plantain chip from Chifles plantain chips. I lived near Spanish Harlem so cuban and puerto rican influences were abundant. Perhaps I used too much oil? Or perhaps I didn't cut them thin enough.?
Alica says
Hi there,
Everyone's oven temperature varies so it could be possible that the heat was too high and the slices were too thick. That would result in the inside of the chips getting soft while the outside looks like it is golden brown and done. Next time try cutting them slightly thinner 🙂 Hope this helps!
Alica
Fish Sauce says
Hello,
I made the chips as you suggested. They are crispy but too hard. I can't even bite into them without hurting my teeth. Are they suppose to be cripy but not so hard that I can only eat 1 at a time. Any idea on where I went wrong?
When I baked it, the 12minutes baking time, the chips were still soft. I baked until it was hard. My baking time was more like 40 minutes. Any ideas on where I went wrong?
Thanks!
Funadoy's Kitchen says
This is nice
Priscilla raines says
Love plantains chips, but scare of palm oil .