Plantain Tart is a Jamaican pastry — sweet, ripe plantain cooked with sugar and spices, encased in a flaky pastry shell, and baked until golden. It is the Jamaican answer to a fruit tart, using the island's most abundant fruit, found at every bakery and home kitchen.
Plantain Tart is a traditional Jamaican pastry that uses ripe plantain (sweet and soft) as a tart filling, similar to how other cultures use apple or berry. The plantain is cooked with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sometimes vanilla, then enclosed in a pastry shell and baked. It reflects the Jamaican tradition of making desserts from locally available ingredients — plantains are everywhere in Jamaica, and this tart transforms them into something elegant. It is found at bakeries, especially in rural areas, and is made at home for Sunday dessert.
A slice of golden pastry tart, the crust flaky and buttery, the filling soft, sweet, and caramelized — like a banana tart but richer and more complex, with the warm notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. It is the most Jamaican of Jamaican pastries.
The plantains should be very ripe (black skin, soft) for maximum sweetness. They are cooked with sugar and spices until soft and jammy, then cooled. The pastry is a standard shortcrust. The tart is baked until the pastry is golden and the filling is set.
Variations
Some add coconut to the filling; some add rum; some use a lattice top; the plantain ripeness varies.
On the Palate
Where Plantain Tart sits in the Jamaican flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
8 steps · 40 min active + 20 min waiting
- 132 min
Make pastry: rub 250 g flour, 125 g butter, 50 g sugar, and 1 pinch salt to crumbs; bind with 1 egg; rest 30 minutes.
- 25 min
Peel and slice 4 very ripe plantains.
- 38 min
Cook the plantain with 100 g brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tbsp water 8 minutes until soft and jammy; cool.
Watch outCook the plantain until it's soft, dark and jammy enough to mound on a spoon — watery filling makes the pastry base go soggy.
- 45 min
Roll the pastry; line a 24-cm tart tin.
- 55 min
Fill with the plantain mixture.
- 630 min
Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes until golden.
Watch outIt's done when the pastry is golden and the filling looks set, not wet — a pale crust means the bottom is still raw.
- 715 min
Cool 15 minutes; slice.
- 81 min
Serve warm or at room temperature.
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