This post is also available in:
Platanitos fritos are Guatemalan fried sweet plantains: very ripe plantains sliced, fried until golden and the edges caramelize. You serve it warm, sprinkled with sugar or a spoonful of Mexican crema on the side. They are one of the easiest Guatemalan recipes: three ingredients and about 15 minutes. Growing up, they were on the table constantly. Next to the eggs and refried beans at breakfast, as a side at the barbecue at family gatherings, or on their own with sugar when my kids want something sweet without having to cook for hours. They sit somewhere between a side dish and a dessert, and honestly, they work either way!
This article contains affiliate links. If you buy something through one of my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products and services I have personally used or vetted.
What Are Platanitos Fritos?
Platanitos fritos (or plátanos maduros fritos) are ripe plantains fried until golden and sweet, one of the most ordinary everyday foods in Guatemala. Diners put them next to breakfast in Antigua, hotel buffets set them beside the eggs in Guatemala City, and home cooks in Quetzaltenango fry them exactly the same way. There is no regional version to argue about, which is unusual for a country where almost everything else has one.
In Guatemala, plátanos are used in many dishes, including soups, stews, and main courses. They are a staple food in many Guatemalan households and are an important part of the country’s culinary heritage. It is one of those things I always have when I travel to Guatemala. But since this dish is s simple and is ready in minutes, it is one that I make at home at least once a week.
The sweet flavor of the plantains, combined with their ease of preparation, makes them one of my favorite Guatemalan foods. I always eat them, whether I’m having huevos rancheros for breakfast in Antigua or as a side dish with frijolitos when I order churrasco (barbecue) or carne adobada at a restaurant in Guatemala City.
Where Do Platanitos Fritos Come From?
The dish is Guatemalan, but the fruit is not. Plantains originated in Southeast Asia, reached Africa, and arrived in the Caribbean on Spanish and Portuguese ships in the 1500s. They then spread quickly through Central America because they grow easily in the lowlands and keep for weeks. Frying them ripe is what Guatemala did with them.
Five centuries later, the plantain is embedded deeply enough in Guatemalan cooking that one of its dishes carries official status: plátanos en mole, fried ripe plantains under a sweet chocolate recado, is one of four dishes the Ministry of Culture has declared Patrimonio Cultural Intangible de la Nación (Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Nation), and the only dessert on that list. The plantain you fry for platanitos is the same plantain that dish is built upon.
What’s the Difference Between Plantains and Bananas?
Plantains are starchier, larger, and much less sweet than bananas, and they are cooked rather than eaten raw. That is the short answer, and it is the part that matters at the stove.
The longer answer: a banana is bred to be eaten straight off the peel. A plantain behaves like a starchy vegetable when green, slowly converting starch to sugar as it ripens from green to yellow to spotted to nearly black. A black plantain has not gone bad; it’s finally sweet enough to fry. Plantains are also larger and more elongated than bananas. Plus, they also have a firmer, denser texture and are less juicy than bananas.
Most people in the USA are familiar with bananas but are not used to eating or cooking plantains. Bananas are typically eaten raw or used in desserts, smoothies, and other sweet dishes. Meanwhile, plantains are used more like a vegetable, often fried or boiled as a side dish or snack. You can also mash them up and use them in savory dishes, such as stews and soups.
The confusion is not only an English-language problem. In Spain, plátano usually means the sweet eating banana, and the frying plantain is sold as plátano macho. If you are cooking from a Spanish-language recipe and the picture looks like a supermarket banana, it probably is one.
How Ripe Should Plantains Be for Frying?
For sweet platanitos, you want a plantain that is mostly black with a little yellow left, still firm when you squeeze it gently, about the give of a ripe peach. Plenty of people look at that plantain and think it is rotten. That’s when they’re at their sweetest!
A fully black plantain is sweeter still, just soft enough that the slices want to fall apart in the pan. Handle those gently and cut them a little thicker. Green or barely yellow plantains will fry but will not caramelize, and you will end up with something closer to a starchy chip than a platanito.
There is a line, though. If the skin has split open and the fruit is leaking, if there is mold at the stem, or if it smells fermented, that plantain is done. Black skin on its own is fine. The test is the flesh underneath, which should still hold its shape when you press it.
Where to Find Ripe Plantains in the US
Most supermarkets sell green plantains, which need time to ripen at home, so buy them 4 or 5 days before you plan to cook. Leave them on the counter, not in the fridge, and check the give rather than the color. A Latin or Asian market is the better bet if you want them ready the same day, because those stores turn plantains over fast enough to keep ripe ones in stock.
If your plantains overripen and go completely soft, do not throw them out. That is exactly the state you want for rellenitos de plátano, where the fruit gets boiled and mashed anyway.
How to Make Guatemalan Platanitos Fritos
There are many slight variations in how to fry ripe plantains, including how they are sliced, their level of ripeness, and whether they are shallow- or deep-fried. My method? Add oil about half an inch, enough that the slices sit in it rather than swim. I learned to make platanitos fritos at an early age. For me, the key to making the best platanitos fritos is making sure they are very ripe, because the riper the plantains are, the sweeter they are. When frying them, they should come out slightly caramelized on the outside and soft on the inside, but still firm.
Aside from being popular in Guatemala, platanos maduros fritos is also a beloved dish in other Latin American countries, including Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. In these countries, the dish is often served as a side dish for savory dishes such as rice and beans, or as a dessert.
Whether you prefer your plantains firmer or softer, or like me, very ripe and fried until slightly caramelized on the outside, chances are you either love platanitos already or are about to fall in love with them!
Ingredients for Platanitos Fritos
- 2 large very ripe plantains
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- Sugar for sprinkling (optional)
How to Make Plátanos Fritos
- In a pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
- Peel the ripe plantains and slice them into slightly diagonal 1/2 inch rounds.
- Add them to the pan. Cook each side of the plantain until golden and slightly caramelized, for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Using a spider skimmer, remove them from the oil onto a plate covered with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Serve hot, sprinkled with sugar, or drizzled with Mexican crema, and add sugar, or serve without adding anything at all as a side dish or as an appetizer.
Tips for Making the Best Plátanitos Fritos
- Use plantains and not bananas: In Spain, bananas and plantains are used interchangeably as if they were the same fruit. This also sometimes happens in English. Make sure you are buying plantains (plátano macho) and not bananas.
- Use ripe plantains: I cannot stress this enough. Plantains must be very ripe, almost black, to make the best platanitos fritos.
- Cut them diagonally: instead of cutting them into round slices, place the knife at a slight diagonal angle to the plantain so that the slices are slightly more elongated. This helps the plantain slices cook more uniformly and gives the platanitos fritos their signature look.
- Cook them at medium-low heat: don’t rush your platanitos. When frying them, be patient and let them caramelize on the outside while cooking through without burning.
- Watch closely so they don’t burn: If the oil is too hot, the plantains can burn quickly, so keep an eye on them.
What’s the Secret to Crispy Fried Plantains?
There isn’t one because platanitos fritos aren’t supposed to be crispy. They are soft in the middle with caramelized edges, and if yours come out crisp all the way through, the plantains were not ripe enough, or the oil was too hot.
The crispy fried plantain is a different dish. In Guatemala, it is called “plataninas”: green plantains sliced paper-thin and fried until they snap, sold in bags at every tienda and eaten like potato chips. They are often served as a snack or as a side dish with sandwiches, soups, or stews. Same fruit, opposite end of the ripeness scale, different technique.
Plantain chips are a popular snack food in many Latin American countries. So if crispy is what you came for, you want plataninas, and the easiest way to get them without a mandoline and a pot of oil is to buy a bag of plataninas at a Latin grocery store or online.
Make Ahead of Time
Can you make platanitos fritos in advance? Well, you can fry them a few hours ahead, but they will not be the same. Platanitos are at their best within about ten minutes of leaving the pan, while the caramelized edges are still firm and the middle is still hot. After that, the sugars continue to work, and the slices go soft.
If you have to make them early, fry them, drain them on a paper towel, and leave them uncovered at room temperature. Covering them traps steam and turns the edges to mush. Reheat in a dry skillet over medium for a minute on each side, or in an air fryer at 350°F for three or four minutes, which crisps the edges back up better than an oven does. Skip the microwave.
Cooked platanitos keep in the fridge for two days. They do not freeze well; the texture collapses on thawing.
How to Serve Plátanitos Fritos
Plátanos fritos are used as a side dish for many meals. They always accompany most breakfast dishes, such as huevos rancheros and other egg dishes, as well as frijolitos (refried beans). They are also a great side for dishes like churrasco (steak) or chicken dishes, along with rice.
You can also eat platanitos fritos on their own as a dessert or snack. I love to sprinkle some sugar or drizzle them with honey. But my favorite way to have them is drizzled with crema (Mexican cream will do) and sugar. Honestly, though, they are amazing just on their own.
Platanitos Fritos with Black Beans and Crema
Black beans underneath, plantains on top, crema over both, and a little crumbled queso seco if you have it. In Guatemala, that combination is breakfast, not dessert, and the distinction confuses people who assume anything with sugar on it belongs at the end of a meal. It does not. It belongs next to your eggs at seven in the morning.
Platanitos Fritos: The Parts Nobody Explains
What does “platanitos fritos” mean in English?
Platanitos fritos translates to fried little plantains. Platanito is the diminutive of plátano, and in Guatemala it refers specifically to ripe plantains fried until sweet and caramelized, not to green plantains or plantain chips.
What oil is best for frying plantains?
Any neutral oil with a high smoke point works: vegetable, canola, corn, or sunflower. Guatemalan cooks mostly use plain vegetable oil. Avoid olive oil, which burns before the plantains caramelize, and skip butter on its own for the same reason. But if you still want that buttery flavor, add a small cube at the very end after the slices are already golden.
Do I have to boil plantains before frying?
No. Ripe plantains go straight into the pan raw. Boiling is a step for green plantains in dishes like tostones or rellenitos, where the fruit is mashed afterward. For platanitos fritos, the plantain is already soft enough that boiling would collapse the slices.
Are fried plantains healthy?
They are fried in oil and usually finished with sugar, so treat them as you would any fried side. What the plantain brings is real: it is a starchy fruit rich in fiber, potassium, and vitamin A. And the riper it gets, the more of its starch has turned to sugar. The one thing you actually control is the oil. Plantains dropped into oil that is not hot enough sit there and absorb it, which is the same mistake that leaves them pale instead of caramelized. Medium heat and an uncrowded pan get you better plantains and less oil.
The Best Platanitos Fritos I’ve Had
The best platanitos fritos I’ve ever tasted weren’t even made by me. They came on a plate next to churrasco at a comedor in Guatemala City and on a hotel breakfast plate in Antigua next to eggs I did not have to cook. That is the version worth chasing, and you cannot get it from a recipe. If you want to eat your way through the food Guatemalans actually eat on a Tuesday, my guide to where to eat in Guatemala City is the place to start.
And if you would rather do it in person than at your stove, I build custom Guatemalan trips around exactly this kind of food!
More Guatemalan Plantain Recipes
Guatemalan cooking does more with plantains than fry them. The same fruit gets mashed and stuffed, simmered under a chocolate recado, dropped whole into a coconut seafood stew on the Caribbean coast, and boiled down into a hot drink. There is also plátanos en gloria, ripe plantains stewed in butter, sugar, and cinnamon until the syrup thickens. If you already bought a bunch and only two of them turned black in time, here is where the rest can go.
Rellenitos de Plátano
One of the most beloved Guatemalan plantain dishes is rellenitos de plátanos. Mashed plantain balls are stuffed with a sweet-and-savory mixture of black beans and sugar, with some versions adding chocolate. The stuffed plantains are then fried until golden brown, creating a delicious contrast between the soft, sweet filling and the slightly caramelized exterior.
Plátanos en Mole
Looking for a dessert that’s both sweet and savory? Look no further than plátano en mole, a beloved Guatemalan food that’s sure to satisfy any craving! Featuring ripe plantains smothered in a rich, aromatic mole sauce, this dish is a true feast for the senses. Whether you’re a seasoned foodie or just looking to try something new, Platano en Mole is a must-try dessert that’s sure to leave a lasting impression!
Tapado
On the savory side, Tapado is a traditional seafood soup that is typically made with plantains. Tapado is a hearty and flavorful soup that features a mix of seafood, including fish, shrimp, and crab. The soup also includes a variety of fresh vegetables. Plantains are added to the soup to give it a sweet, slightly starchy flavor that balances the seafood and vegetables.
Atol de Plátano
No roundup of Guatemalan plantain recipes would be complete without something you can sip. Atol de plátano closes the list on a warm, comforting note. Made with ripe plantains, cinnamon, sugar, and water, this traditional Guatemalan drink has a smooth, creamy texture and enough body to fall somewhere between a drink and a light meal.
Platanitos Fritos (Plátanos Maduros Fritos)
Aprende a preparar platanitos fritos guatemaltecos con solo 3 ingredientes. ¡Dulces, dorados y listos en minutos!
Ingredients
- 2 plátanos machos grandes, bien maduros (casi negros)
- 1 taza de aceite vegetal (suficiente para cubrir un centímetro del sartén)
- Azúcar para espolvorear, al gusto
Instructions
- Calienta el aceite en un sartén a fuego medio-bajo.
- Pela los plátanos y córtalos en rodajas diagonales de aproximadamente un centímetro y medio de grosor.
- Fríelos sin amontonarlos, de 2 a 3 minutos por lado, hasta que estén dorados y caramelizados en las orillas.
- Retíralos del aceite y colócalos en un plato cubierto con una toalla de papel para eliminar el exceso de aceite.
- Sirve calientes con azúcar espolvoreada, con crema y azúcar, o solos como acompañamiento.
Notes
- Usa plátanos y no bananas: En algunos lugares de Latinoamérica, plátano y banana se usan de manera intercambiable como si fueran la misma fruta. Asegúrate de que estás comprando plátanos macho, no bananos.
- Usa plátanos maduros: No puedo enfatizar esto lo suficiente. Los plátanos deben estar muy maduros, casi negros, para lograr los mejores platanitos fritos.
- Córtalos en diagonal: En lugar de cortarlos en rodajas redondas, coloca el cuchillo en un ligero ángulo respecto al plátano para que las rebanadas sean un poco más alargadas. Esto ayuda a que las rebanadas de plátano se cocinen de manera más uniforme y a que los platanitos fritos adquieran su aspecto característico.
- Fríelos a fuego medio-bajo: No te apresures con tus platanitos. Cuando los frías, ten paciencia y dales tiempo para que se caramelicen.
- Observa cuidadosamente para que no se quemen: Si el aceite está demasiado caliente, el plátano se puede quemar rápidamente. Así que debes estar pendiente de ellos en todo momento.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 464Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 12mgCarbohydrates: 75gFiber: 6gSugar: 34gProtein: 2g
Los valores nutricionales son estimados, calculados con bases de datos estándar. Los valores reales pueden variar según los ingredientes y marcas que uses
Beyond Plantains: More Guatemalan Desserts to Try
Plantains are only one corner of Guatemala’s dessert table. My collection of traditional Guatemalan desserts runs from sweet tamales and market candy to creamy puddings and fruit simmered in rich syrup. Here are a few more of my family’s favorites.
Arroz con Leche
In this yummy rice pudding recipe, you will taste the flavors of Guatemala melting in your mouth. It is an easy dish you will surely enjoy. Arroz con leche is the perfect Guatemalan dessert to make with the whole family on a rainy day. I hope you enjoy this quick and delicious Guatemalan recipe as much as I do.
Buñuelos
Buñuelos are bits of fried wheat-based dough, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Throughout Latin America, there are different versions of buñuelos; they can be round, flat, or even twisted strips of dough. In Guatemala, the buñuelos are covered in powdered sugar and served in a light syrup with a hint of anise.
Empanadas de Manjar de Leche
Empanadas de manjar de leche are hand-pie-like pastries filled with a milk-based creamy filling. If you want to surprise your loved ones with this delicious Guatemalan dessert, here is a quick recipe to try.
Champurradas
Champurradas are big flat sesame cookies, crisp rather than sweet, made to be dunked. This is the everyday Guatemalan cookie: with coffee in the morning, with hot chocolate in the afternoon, and at the bottom of a school bag somewhere in between. There is always one that will not fit in the cup.
Bocado de Reina
Bocado de reina is a delicious Guatemalan cake made with leftover bread. It is remarkably similar to bread pudding but has a more cake-like consistency. It is an amazingly easy, quick dessert that pairs well with any meal!
Tamalitos de Cambray
Small sweet tamales, pink from the recado, with raisins, almonds and prunes folded into a masa enriched until it reads as cake. Tamalitos de Cambray show up in December and are gone by January.
Guatemalan Cocadas
Chewy coconut cookies, piped into little rosettes and baked until the edges go dark and the middle stays soft. Guatemalan cocadas cookies turn up at bakeries and at fairs, usually sold loose by the bag. Not to be confused with cocadas reales, which are candy and a different thing entirely.
How Do You Eat Your Platanitos?
Everybody has a position on this one. Sugar or no sugar. Cream or no cream. With the eggs or after dinner. Almost black and falling apart, or a little firmer so the slices hold. In my kitchen, it is very ripe, sprinkled with sugar, sitting next to the beans, and I know that is close to a fighting stance for some people.
Tell me how you eat your platanitos. And if you grew up with platanos fritos on the table, tell me what they came with, because that is the part that changes house to house and country to country. I am always curious which version people take with them after they leave.
Through her writing, Paula helps travelers discover Guatemala beyond the typical tourist route with practical advice, local recommendations, and authentic experiences that connect visitors with the country’s people, culture, and traditions.
Planning a trip to Guatemala? Paula offers personalized Guatemala itinerary planning and trip consultation services tailored to your interests, travel style, and budget. Contact her at [email protected] to learn more.
- San Lucas Tolimán Guatemala: Lake Atitlán’s Best-Kept Secret - September 24, 2026
- Hotel Tolimán Lake Atitlán: A Special Stay in San Lucas Tolimán - September 24, 2026
- Guatemala Dreams in San Lucas Tolimán: A Boutique Stay on Lake Atitlán - September 23, 2026
