Are Plantains Good for You?
It all depends on how you serve them
Plantains are a staple in Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and African cuisines where they are used like potatoes—as a filling and delicious starchy side dish. They look like overgrown bananas, but unlike their botanical cousins, plantains are eaten cooked and often before they’re fully ripe. Green plantains have practically no sweetness. As they ripen to yellow, then black, they become sweeter, but they’re not as sweet as bananas. Nutritionally, they’re better for you than you might think, as long as you prepare them in a healthy way.
Plantain Nutrition
A cup of boiled green plantains has 166 calories, 40 grams of carbohydrates, and 3 grams of sugars. By contrast, a cup of cooked white rice, another starchy food that’s a staple in many cuisines, has 242 calories, 53 grams of carbs, and zero sugars.
Healthy Ways to Eat Plantains
As with many starchy foods, the problem with plantains isn’t the fruit itself—it’s the way it’s prepared.
Tostones or patacones, twice-fried slices of green plantain, and maduros or tajadas, fried ripe plantains, are popular in Latin American and Caribbean countries. And Puerto Ricans love mofongo, mashed, pan-fried green plantains mixed with garlic and pork rinds or chicharrones. These are very greasy, because "plantains absorb a lot of the fat from the oil that you’re frying them with," Ferrari says.
Yellow plantains are often served for dessert, with added sugars (such as a syrup) and cinnamon and cloves.
"Although a tasty cultural experience, fried preparations and those with added sugars should not be consumed frequently," says Michelle Schelske-Santos, PhD, professor of the Nutrition and Dietetics Program at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. "They add calories that may result in weight gain or obesity, and have metabolic effects that increase the risk of developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer." If you love fried plantains, try cooking them in an air fryer, and you can get the crispy texture without a lot of oil.
And then there are plantain chips. "Claims like gluten-free, organic, and no GMOs on packages of plantain chips may give you the impression that they’re a healthy snack choice, but like potato chips, they’re usually fried and salted," says Ferrari. You get about 140 calories, 8 g of fat, and over 100 mg of sodium in an ounce of chips (about 20).
Fortunately, healthier recipes are equally delicious and extremely simple to prepare.
Green plantains are best boiled like potatoes. Slice off the tips of the plantain, cut the fruit in three or four chunks, and remove the skin. Boil in just enough water to cover the chunks for 20 to 30 minutes, until soft. Add a pinch of salt when the plantain is beginning to soften.
You can top them with a mix of minced olives, peppercorns, onions, and peppers sauteéd lightly in a little bit of olive oil. Or mash the plantains, adding a little olive oil, onion powder, and a small amount of the water you boiled them in. You can also cook slices of green plantains, along with onions and peppers, in a low-sodium chicken broth and serve like a soup.
Another way to serve plantains is to make a slit in the cooked chunks and add a little bit of mozzarella or queso fresco (fresh white cheese used in Hispanic cuisine) in the pockets.
A simple way to cook yellow plantains is to slice the ends off and wrap the fruit, still in its skin, in aluminum foil. Bake at 350° F for 20 minutes. Or wrap it in a paper towel or waxed paper and microwave it on high for 2 to 3 minutes. This preparation requires no seasoning because it brings out the plantain’s natural sugars.
