Baked Plantains
Perfect Baked Plantains Recipe – An “oven fry” baked plantain recipe for ultra moist and tender plantain slices, perfect to serve as a side dish or enjoy as a healthy snack with dipping sauce!
Oven Fried Plantains
Are you as obsessed with plantains as we are?
We recently made Magic Plantain Tortillas and Paleo Chinese Dumplings with a green plantain (underripe plantain) dough as the base. This is a fool-proof (and delicious) method for creating starchy, carb-like foods for paleo and grain-free diets.
However, today I want to show you the absolute best way to prepare ripe sweet plantains. Which, in my humble opinion, is simply to bake them to perfection.
Baked or “oven fried” plantains are not the same as plantain chips or tostones. While chips are thin and crispy, these baked plantain slices are thick and tender. However, they can be used for dipping in a variety of delectable sauces.
Our Perfect Baked Plantains are thicker than plantain chips, allowing the soft sweet centers to stay tender, while the exterior surfaces turn golden and crispy around the edges.
They make an easy and addictive gluten-free snack or a unique appetizer to dunk in salsa and creamy dips.
Plus, these sweet and starchy plantains make a comforting side dish to pair with Caribbean, South American dishes, as well as those from Southeast Asia and Africa!
What You Need to Make “Oven-Fried” Plantains
This healthy and delicious plantains recipe only requires 3 simple ingredients:
- Ripe plantains
- Olive Oil – or melted coconut oil
- Salt
You will know your plantains start to ripen when the skins turn from green, to bright yellow, to dark yellow with black spots.
Once the spots start to show up and the skin darkens, the starches have turned to sugars, so the black and yellow plantains are now sweet and perfect for baking.
How to Cook Plantains
- First, carefully peel off the skins, making sure not to squish the plantains. Then slice them into 1/4 to 1/3 inch strips.
- Next, coat the plantains strips with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Finally, bake the plantains in preheated 425-degree oven. Baking at this high heat will ensure that they become crispy around the edges before absorbing all the oil. Bake until they are golden brown.
- Once the Perfect Baked Plantains come out of the oven, just try to keep your hands out of them. You won’t be able to do it!
The sweetness of the ripe plantains creates the perfect salty-sweet snack.
See the Full Printable Baked Plantains Recipe (Oven Fried Plantains) Below. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Does This Side Dish Last?
We love baked plantains warm, but they also taste great at room temperature, so don’t be afraid to make them ahead of time.
They will keep well stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. You can reheat easily by baking for a few minutes at 350 degrees F, until the cooked plantains have become slightly hot.
What Additions or Substitutions Can I Make?
Want to spice things up? Try adding cinnamon and nutmeg to the plantains. Or make a spicy-hot version with a sprinkling of cumin, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.
What Can I Serve This Recipe With?
Here are some recipes that are great to pair with this dish…
- Easy Mofongo
- Latin Carne Guisada with potatoes
- Cheese Enchilada Rice
- Adobo Grilled Pork
- Instant Pot Black Beans Soup
Looking for More Healthy Baked Snacks?
- Healthy Baked Banana Chips
- Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing
- Easy Margherita Baked Polenta Recipe
- Oven Baked “Fried” Pickles
- Healthy Baked Carrot Chips
- Baked Turnip Fries (+ AirFryer)
- Crispy Baked Veggie Chips by Wholefully
Check out the printable recipe card for the nutrition information including calories, carbohydrates, protein, potassium, fiber, vitamin a, and vitamin c percentages.
Perfect Baked Plantains Recipe
Video
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the ends off each plantain and score the peels from end to end, making sure not to cut through the plantains. Pull the peels off and discard.
- Slice the plantains on an angle to make longer pieces, 1/4- to 1/3-inch thick.
- Pile the plantain slices on the baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Toss to coat all the plantain strips on both sides. Lay them out in a single layer. Then sprinkle generously with salt.
- Bake the plantains for 10 minutes. Then flip and bake another 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
We enjoyed these. I used olive oil, salted and added sprinkling of cajun seasoning. Next time I will try with Lawry’s seasoning salt and the melted coconut oil. Loved that they were baked instead of fried and turned out so crispy.
Thanks! This is just what I wanted and it was delicious. I used a pastry brush and greased the parchment paper, laid down the thickly cut slices, brushed the tops of them, and put them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, no turning necessary. Super fabulous.
Easy and very tasty🙂
My go to recipe. I’ve made them several times.
I used parchment paper, but they still stuck to the paper not sure what I did wrong . But they were still delicious.
I followed this baked recipe with one exception, I used coarse kosher salt so super yummyv😋
what a healthy way and delicious way to prepare. sweet salty and good.
Turned out great!! I used a little coconut oil. Had much better luck with these as opposed to trying to fry them, then being soaked in oil. I let my plantains sit a week after buying, so they were pretty ripe and dark. They turned out very sweet! Give it a try!
Thanks!
I was out of parchment paper, so cooked them on aluminum foil which was a mistake, as they stuck big time. Was still able to flip them and cooked another 4 minutes, on side 2, so they were at least edible. Not using my head, should’ve at least cooked them on the no-stick foil I have. They were VERY brown around the edges, almost burned, but still incredibly sweet in the center. In the future, I’ll cook on parchment paper and start checking for doneness at about 7 minutes first side (oven temps can vary). Looking at the photo, I can see these were cut a bit thicker than mine, so that’ll be another thing I need to pay attention to. This was a nice side dish to Arroz a la Cubana, rice, and a fried egg. Also, so very quick and easy to make with minimal clean-up…a definite plus!
So fantastic! I brushed coconut oil onto 3 soft, yellow plantains and flipped after 10 minutes and brushed oil on the other side. They were not very toasted looking after 10 minutes when I flipped them but had some nice crispy browning after the full 20 minutes. They were sliced as pictured in recipe. Will definitely make again.
Great recipe
This recipe is simple and fantastic! The plantains came out soft and tender, and crispy around the edges because of the oil. The suggested cook time was perfect for my oven, because they didn’t get tough at all. To go with the plantains, I made a garlic and lime crema with a little bit of cayenne and some fresh cilantro mixed in, and it was delicious! I heavily suggest keeping the seasoning of the plantains themselves simple with just salt, and then pairing it with a delicious spicy or garlicky crema or aioli for more flavor.