These crispy ripe plantain fritters stuffed with cheese are delicious and easy to make. You can serve aborrajados de plátano as an appetizer or side dish.
What are Aborrajados de Plátano?
It is a typical dish from the Valle del Cauca region in Colombia. To make Colombian Aborrajados, ripe sweet plantains are cut in thick pieces, fried, flattened, filled with cheese, covered with a batter and fried again.
I love serving these aborrajados as a side dish with grilled meats during the summer. They are also the perfect appetizer or snack, and even served as a dessert stuffed with guava paste.
Where Can I Find Plantains?
In the United States plantains are sold in most grocery stores and Latin markets. To make this aborrajados recipe you need ripe plantains (yellow). If you only find unripe (green) plantains, just let them ripe for a couple of days in a brown paper bag in your kitchen counter, cabinets or pantry.
This delicious Colombian dish can be prepared in different ways. If you like, you can add some guava paste (bocadillo) between the plantains to go along with the cheese.
What do You Need to Make this Recipe
You can find the printable recipe card with exact amounts and directions below.
Plantains: Use very ripe plantains (yellow with black spots) to make this recipe.
Oil: Vegetable or canola oil are good options to fry these aborrajados.
Cheese: I like using mozzarella cheese, but queso blanco or your favorite melting cheese will work too.
To make the batter you will need whole milk, flour, eggs, salt and sugar. You can add a pinch of ground cinnamon if you want.
Aborrajados is one of those recipes I watched my grandmother make throughout my life. As you’ve probably noticed, there are a lot of plantain recipes in Colombian cuisine and this one is very traditional and absolutely delicious.
How to Make Aborrajados
- Peel the plantains and cut cross-wise into 8, 1 ½” chunks.
- Fill a large pot one-third full with vegetable oil and heat to 360°.
- Add the plantain chunks into the hot oil and fry them about 3 minutes or until golden.
- Meanwhile, make the batter: mix the flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add the eggs. Gradually, stir in the milk to make a smooth batter. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Remove the plantains with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
- Place the plantain chunks onto pieces of parchment paper or plastic and flatten them to ¼” thickness.
- Place 1 cheese slice in the center of one plantain pattie and cover with another pattie, like making a sandwich, and press the edges of the plantain sandwich to enclose the cheese completely.
- Dip the sandwich in the batter and add to the oil, in batches. Fry for 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve warm.
More Recipes with Ripe Plantains
Ripe Plantains Stuffed with Chorizo and Cheese
Ripe Plantains Stuffed with Cheese and Guava Paste
Ripe Plantains with Brown Sugar Syrup
Aborrajados de Plátano Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large very ripe plantains
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 8 mozzarella cheese slices about 2” x ½” and ½ “thick
For the batter:
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Peel the plantains and cut cross-wise into 8, 1 ½” chunks.
- Fill a large pot one-third full with vegetable oil and heat to 360°.
- Add the plantain chunks into the hot oil and fry them about 3 minutes or until golden.
- Meanwhile, make the batter: mix the flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add the eggs. Gradually, stir in the milk to make a smooth batter. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Remove the plantains with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
- Place the plantain chunks onto pieces of parchment paper or plastic and flatten them to ¼” thickness.
- Place 1 cheese slice in the center of one plantain pattie and cover with another pattie, like making a sandwich, and press the edges of the plantain sandwich to enclose the cheese completely.
- Dip the sandwich in the batter and add to the oil, in batches. Fry for 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve warm.
Dianne
I can't believe I ran across this website. I was looking for the Pandebonos recipe when this recipe caught my eye. When I was very young, a lady lived with us and made something similar to this only using fresh ripe bananas. It had an unbelievable center of melted cheese and as an adult many years later I tried to duplicat the recipe with no success. I used grated cheese in the batter and couldn't figure out how to get that melted cheese center. Not even my mother knew. Well, now I know and I'm sure these are even more incredible than the ones I had when I was young. I'm going to make these tonight for my husband's aunt and uncle who are discovering how incredible Colombian food is. They absolutely love fried plantains!!!
Claudia
I will cook this for a side dish for tomorrow Christmas Eve! =]=]=] Thank you for the wonderful tasty idea! <3
HannahBanana aka Amanda
I had the thrill of spending a month in South America last March...the flavors and meals I had were unreal!! And I had these fritters! Close to them anyways, and I thank you so much for the recipe!
nora@ffr
yummmyyy.. i love the filling inside these fritters.. totally drool worthy.
History of Greek Food
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your fabulous posts.
And I like very much this fruit - cheese combination!
Pocky
That's it!!! No more messing around. I really need to buy some plantains and soon. The drool factor on this is off the hook!
Caitlin
I LOVE THESE! I am a huge maduros fan, but have never had them with cheese like this, it looks AMAZING : )
oysterculture
I would be in deep trouble if I had ready access to thes beauties, I think its better if I admire from afar.
Kim
You have great pictures and I love these dishes. I've never made plantains at home before. My husband loves them....I should give these a try. They look delicious!!
Joan Nova
Sort of like an arepa in concept...though I don't think you really need any guayaba since the platanos are sweet. Very nice.
Juju
OMG
This looks amazing!
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie
Yum! I love how cheesy inside these fritters are! Delicious!
foodcreate
Mouth watering! Great recipe for my Sunday brunch ~
Thanks for sharing your recipe:)
Welcome~~~
https://foodcreate.com
Have A great Monday!
Erica
Rebecca,
Thank you!
Marta.
Esa lasagna suena riquisima!
Marta
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Estos aborrajados se ven espectaculares!!!! Que maravilla de platillo! no puedo creer que no los descubro sino hasta ahora: suenan como algo que yo adoraria!
Ultimamente he encontrado platanos muy bueno, lo cual es inusual en estas partes del mundo. Ayer justamente hice un platanon: que es como una lasagna, pero con platanos fritos en vez de pasta. Jajajaja no light en lo absoluto, pero delicioso 100%!
Cary Bonetti
Si queries puedes Hervir los platanos, así lo haces "más" saludables". Salen igual de ricos....
rebecca subbiah
these look too good to be true