Tostones Puerto Rican
“Twice-fried green plantain coins, smashed flat and crisped golden, salted hot and dipped in garlic mojo — the crunchy backbone of nearly every Puerto Rican plate.”
Where it comes from
Plantains reached the Caribbean from the Canary Islands in 1516, brought by the friar Tomás de Berlanga, and they took to Puerto Rico's soil so completely that the island made them a staple. Tostones, whose name comes from the Spanish tostar, to toast, became the everyday way to cook the unripe green fruit — fried, flattened with a wooden tostonera, and fried again. Sold at every roadside kiosk and family table, they are the salty counterpoint to stews, fried fish, and roast pork across the island.
On the plate
The first bite shatters at the edges into shards of crisp plantain, then gives way to a dense, starchy, faintly sweet interior. Salt clings to the oily surface, and a dip in cool garlic mojo brings sharp allium and lime that cut the richness. Eaten hot, they are addictively crunchy; cold, they turn leathery, so they never wait long.
How it works
Double frying is the whole trick: the first low-temperature fry gelatinizes the starch and cooks the plantain through without coloring, while smashing it flat maximizes the surface area exposed to oil. The second, hotter fry drives off surface moisture and crisps the exterior via the Maillard reaction without overcooking the dense center.
Variations
Tostones rellenos shape the smashed plantain into cups stuffed with shrimp or ground beef; some dust them with garlic powder instead of mojo; sweeter ripe plantains fried whole become amarillos (a separate dish); maduros are the ripe, sweet counterpart.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
7 steps · Show ↓25 min active
How it's made
7 steps · Show ↓- 112 min
Peel 3 green (unripe) plantains and cut crosswise into 3cm-thick coins. Soak the pieces in salted water for 10 minutes to season and remove sap, then drain and pat thoroughly dry.
- 28 min
Heat 1L vegetable oil in a deep skillet to 165C. Fry the plantain coins in batches for about 4 minutes per side until pale golden and softened, but not browned.
- 32 min
Remove the coins with a slotted spoon and let them rest 1 minute until cool enough to handle but still hot inside.
- 45 min
Place each coin in a tostonera (or between two sheets of parchment) and press flat to about 1cm thick. Crushed edges and a few cracks are normal and good.
- 54 min
Raise the oil temperature to 185C. Return the flattened plantains and fry a second time for 2-3 minutes, turning once, until deeply golden and crisp at the edges.
- 61 min
Drain on paper towels and immediately sprinkle generously with sea salt while still glistening with oil.
- 73 min
Make a quick mojo: mash 4 cloves garlic with a pinch of salt, stir in 4 tbsp olive oil and a splash of lime juice. Serve the tostones hot with the garlic mojo for dipping.
