Cuban plantain soup — green plantains simmered in a broth with onion, garlic, and cumin until they break down and thicken the soup. Comforting, starchy, and deeply Cuban.
Plantains are fundamental to Cuban cuisine — they arrived via the African slave trade and became Cuba's primary starch after rice. This soup uses green (unripe) plantains, which are starchy and neutral in flavor, similar to potatoes.
A thick, pale green soup with soft plantain pieces. The flavor is mild, earthy, slightly sweet from the plantain. The texture is between a broth and a porridge. Drizzled with lime, it's intensely comforting.
Green plantains' starches (amylose and amylopectin) gelatinize during the long simmer, naturally thickening the soup without flour. Their neutral flavor makes them the perfect carrier for the sofrito's aromatics.
Variations
Some add chicken or pork; some blend the soup smooth; garnished with cilantro.
On the Palate
Where Sopa de Platano sits in the Cuban flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
6 steps · 45 min active + 15 min waiting
- 15 min
Peel green plantains; cut into chunks.
- 25 min
Sauté onion, garlic in oil.
- 35 min
Add plantain chunks, cumin, and stock.
- 430 min
Simmer 30 min until plantains are very soft.
Watch outSimmer until the plantain is fork-soft all the way through — its starch has to break down fully or the soup won't thicken on its own.
- 53 min
Optionally blend partially for a thicker texture.
- 61 min
Season with salt; serve with lime and Cuban bread.
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