How to Make Perfectly Crispy Tostones, According to a Puerto Rican Chef

Tostones are one of my favorite snacks to make when introducing friends to Puerto Rican food. These twice-fried plantain slices are great solo, with sauces, or as an accompaniment to various meals. They even make a great chip for hearty dips, ceviches, and salsas, or as the base for building phenomenal nachos.

To make tostones, unripe green plantains are peeled and cut into slices, fried until golden and tender, smashed with a tostonera (plantain press) or other heavy implement such as a drinking glass, then fried again until crisp on the outside. A quick toss with kosher salt and some garlic powder and these golden morsels are irresistible. 

How to Serve Tostones

In Puerto Rico, tostones are typically served with a dipping sauce called mayoketchup, aka salsa rosada, that—you guessed it—is a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup, plus a variety of spices. While they're delicious this way, I prefer my tostones simple and without sauces—to scoop up rice and beans or for dunking into saucy stews. Another—what I consider fancier—option for serving tostones is making tostones rellenos, which are stuffed twice-fried plantains made by using a different curved press called a tostonera rellena (instead of a flat tostone press) to form a small cup that holds meat sauces, dips, or salsas.

Tostones vs. Maduros

These savory snacks are one of the many fritura—deep-fried fritters or treats—that are a common street foods in Puerto Rico. They differ greatly from their relative maduros (aka amarillos) which are another style of fried plantain slices. Both tostones and maduros can be found across the Caribbean and Latin America, including in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, and more, with the names varying based on where you find them: patacones, plátano frito, bannann peze. 

While both tostones and maduros are deep fried plantain slices, the key difference is in the ripeness of the plantains used. Tostones use very green unripe plantains, which are starchy and similar in texture to a potato that you would use for french fries. Maduros, on the other hand, are made with very ripe plantains. When the plantain starts to ripen and turn yellow and then black, it softens in texture and sweetens in flavor as its starches turn into sugar. The result is a sweeter, very tender fried plantain. While I enjoy both styles of fried plantains, I favor savory, garlicky, crisp tostones over sweet maduros.

How to Fry Tostones

Frying tostones is fairly straightforward. As noted above, it’s always important to start with green, firm, unripe plantains. While many recipes call for deep-frying tostones, I prefer shallow-frying them in a skillet. It requires less oil, which means less mess and an easier clean up.

The key to achieving their golden and crisp exterior and tender interior is a double-fry technique: The sliced plantains are first fried at a lower temperature until light golden, then they’re smashed thin while still warm with a tostonera (plantain press) before being fried a second time at a slightly higher temperature until crisp. If you don’t have a tostonera, no worries—you can also use a tortilla press or even a heavy-bottomed glass or mug to flatten the plantain slices. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of force when flattening—they should be very thin, about a quarter inch in thickness.

When smashing the tostones thin before their second fry, keep a close eye on the temperature of the cooking oil. The oil can easily overheat, so you might need to reduce the temperature on your stove between frying sessions.

Once you've twice-fried your plantains, be sure to set them on a wire rack set inside a baking sheet to allow any excess oil to drip off. Then serve them while they're still piping hot. This recipe makes a big batch of tostones so there will be plenty to share with others. They’re so good they tend to disappear before making it to the plate.