Patacones also known as tostón is a popular dish in Latin America made with green plantains. Serve as a side dish or appetizer with your favorite topping sauce.
What are Patacones?
They are also known as Tostones are made with unripe green plantains. To make them you peel and cut cross-wise the plantains and fried them twice. They are popular in Latin American cuisine and Caribbean cuisine. They are versatile and absolutely delicious.
How to Serve Patacones
They are served in restaurants and homes all over Colombia as a side dish for fish dishes or as an appetizer with pink sauce, guacamole, hogao (tomato and onion sauce) or ají (hot salsa).
This fried green plantain recipe is the perfect side dish for any meal. Some of my favorite main dishes to serve with Patacones are fried whole fish, fish with creole sauce and braised beef.
Ingredients you'll Need
Plantains: You need green plantains to make this recipe.
Oil: I recommend using vegetable or canola oil to fry patacones.
Salt: For extra flavor.
How to Make Patacones
Peel the plantains and cut cross-wise into ½” slices.
In a medium heavy pot, add enough oil to cover the plantain slices and heat the oil over medium high heat.
Add the plantain slices to the heated oil in a single layer. Fry for about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Carefully remove the plantains with a slotted spoon, and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.
Let the patacones cool for 3 minutes. Then, place the plantains on a piece of plastic wrap and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. With a flat pot cover, press well on the pieces of plantain, flattening them to ¼” thickness.
Dip each slice in salted water. Then using tongs add them back in the hot oil in a single layer (you may need to work in batches) and fry for an additional 3 minutes on each side. Be careful when you fry the soaked plantains, as droplets of water will cause the oil to splatter.
Remove the patacones with slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb oil and sprinkle with salt.
More Green Plantain Recipes
Fried Green Plantain Soup (Sopa de Patacones)
Green Plantain Arepas (Arepas de Plátano)
Patacones Recipe (Fried Green Plantains)
Ingredients
- 2 Large green plantains
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel the plantains and cut cross-wise into ½” slices
- In a medium heavy pot, add enough vegetable oil to cover the plantain slices and heat the oil over medium high heat.
- Add the plantain slices to the heated oil in a single layer. Fry for about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Carefully remove the plantains with a slotted spoon, and place them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.
- Let the patacones cool for 3 minutes. Then, place the plantains on a piece of plastic wrap and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. With a flat pot cover, press well on the pieces of plantain, flattening them to ¼” thickness.
- Dip each slice in salted water. Then using tongs add them back in the hot oil in a single layer (you may need to work in batches) and fry for an additional 3 minutes on each side. Be careful when you fry the soaked plantains, as droplets of water will cause the oil to splatter.
- Remove the patacones with slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb oil, sprinkle with salt, to taste, transfer to a serving plate and serve hot with guacamole, tomato sauce or salsa.
Claudia
I love patacones. Moreover, I love this website! I've been looking for Colombian recipes for so long. Miss my moms cooking. Your at a blessing. Thank you.
chela
Erica. What is the purpose if dipping the Patacones in salted water? My mom makes patacones all the time but she never dips them in salted water. My mom is from Colombia. By the way I love your website.
Chip
I am from the USA but live in Barranquilla Colombia. Here the most common cooking method does not include dipping in salted water. We just do the first deep fry, flatten, second deep fry, then salt, let the excess oil get soaked up, and eat. They are delicious!
Anonymous
good
Wendy
Hello:
I love your recipes, thank you. I live in AZ, my mom (colombian) lives in NY and my abuelita lives in Colombia, so I don't have anyone out here to show me the recipes I love and remember, so thank you!
I do remember my mom making patacones and instead of dipping them in salted water, she would smash them on garlic salt and fry them, it definitely avoids the oil splatter. Thank you.
DINA
Patacones are my favorite! I am from Colombia too, but at home my mom usually dips the slices in garlic salted water. That makes the patacones taste much better!
Peter
Erica,
We returned back to Sweden in september after having adopted a 4 year old girl from Cali, Colombia. We were in Colombia for six weeks and really liked the food culture and all the nice people we met. Back home we almost immidiately missed the patacones and the empanadas snacks, so we were really happy when we found your blog and all the fantastic recipies. Now we have a "colombian afterwork" every friday with patacones and aji - and our daugeter loves it!! This friday we will try the empanadas recipie for the first time - after finally finding the masarepa in our local special grocery store.
Thanks / Peter
Chris
Man I am loving your site Erica, I was just explaining how to make these in another post! LOL Fried twice, OMG I can't believe I didn't think of that! I knew something i was doing was wrong but didn't know what, I only remember watching my aunt make them never realized till now she fried them twice.
ace car
make sure the water for dipping the plantin is warm and salt, minced garlic and cuming for the perfect taste.
Jorge
Love it is great, i remember back in Colombia ace muchos anos los patacones con chorizo huevos para el desayuno en fines de semana sabados e domingos toda la familia. Good job u r great love your recipies.
Thanks
Jorge
Jackie at PhamFatale.com
What a great, fast and easy dish? I'm replicating this dish for my next dinner party. Love the fact that you just need plantain, salt and pepper. Need to make a bunch side condiments and all is good
roberto
Hi, my mom dips them in salted water as well but adds minced garlic to the water..
Erica
Hi Roberto,
Thank you very much for your comment!
That sounds delicious.
Luz Adriana
My mom in Medellin add garlic to the water too.
peachkins
I love plantains and this is an interetsing way of eating it..
redkathy
I love plantains. This Puerto Rican woman I knew years ago introduced me to them. She prepared them a bit different that you explain here. I'm going to try this sometime.
Erica
Thank you for your comment. This recipe can be served with many kinds of seafood: fish stew, fried fish, grilled fish, shrimp in coconut sauce and many more and you can find really good plantains in the United States too.
Slann Tonic
I always called patacones as flat fried bananas, since you can make it from bananas too, not necessarily plantains
Sapuche
This looks delicious! I've had plantains before in Asia, but they were nothing like what you share here. What kind of fish dishes does this recipe go well with? And can you get the same kinds of plantains where you live now, or are they a different variety from what you had in Colombia? I've never heard of hogao or aji, though the latter is probably familiar to me. Thanks for sharing this!
Dave
Ecuatoriano Ceviche is perfect with them!
Mary
We had them in Panama City with grilled sea bass and a garlic and parsley olive oil and also with curried pickled vegetables, coconut rice, and another puréed vegetable sauce. They are very neutral in flavor. Delicious!