Caramelized Plantains: sweet and easy comfort food

Try these delicious caramelized plantains, made with simple ingredients, ready in 15 minutes. 

Do you have a couple of ripe plantains in your pantry, and you’re not sure what to do with them? 

Let me guide you to a wonderful comfort food recipe we make in Panama.

Caramelized sweet plantains are a staple for special events and holidays or even your everyday meal.

This sweet side dish will have the whole family was asking for more after they finished their first bite. By the end of the meal, they ask if they could have some to take home.

What ingredients do we need to make this recipe?

For this recipe, we’re looking for ripe plantains. These must be yellow with a lot of black spots. They should be soft but not mushy—the more black spots they have, the better (like the ones in the photo. We want them to be sweet.

To cook these sweet plantains, you will need the following ingredients:

• Ripe plantain

• Ghee or butter

• Brown sugar

• cinnamon

• Apple sauce

As for utensils, you will need a chopping board and knife, and a frying pan.

Tip: I prefer using ghee because it has a higher smoking point, so it won’t burn fast as regular butter would. In case you don’t have ghee, you can use half butter and half oil, so it prevents the butter from burning.

Butter gives it a rich and decadent flavor to this side dish.

Sugar will help the caramelization process.

The traditional recipe only uses butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Other variations have cloves, but I’m not a fan, so I left it out.

How to make caramelized plantains? Step by step

To prep the plantains, you would need to cut both ends and score lengthwise the plantain to remove the peel (photo 1). It is easy when they are ripe, and you can peel it off with your fingers as you do with bananas.

I usually prefer to cut them in 4 or 5 pieces depending on how long your plantain is. (photo 2)

Other people prefer to cut it in half lengthwise and then cut them in 4, that is another option too.

You can even cut them smaller, like coins; this will reduce the cooking time by half.

Now that you have prep the ingredients, let’s get cooking!

Let’s get ready for cooking.

Step 1: Heat the frying pan on medium heat. Add the ghee or butter and the plantains. Fry them up, so they brown on all sides. (3 min) 

Step 2- Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and apple sauce. Keep mixing until you coat all the plantains with the sauce. (5 minutes) Your kitchen will swell heavenly with the mixture of ghee, sugar, and cinnamon smells heavenly. (Photo 3)

Tip: Keep your eyes on the stove, since the sauce will create a caramel consistency, it can burn easily and quickly.

Step 3- Add a little water and cover for a few minutes or until the sticky apple caramel sauce has thickened. Approx (3 minutes) (Photo 4 and 5)

Step 4- Serve and enjoy! Warm is always the best way to eat it.

Can you double the recipe?

You can double the recipe by adding ½ TBSP of butter and 1 TBSP of brown sugar for each new plantain. 

Flavor Variations

• Make it fancy, put them in a small baking dish and top with marshmallows. You can use the big ones or small ones. Broil for 3 minutes or until the marshmallows are golden brown. These turn out so good—perfect side dish for a holiday.
• You can change the apple sauce for any jam you have on hand. The apricot one gives it a great taste too. You could even use strawberry jam. Depending on how sweet your jam is, you can reduce the amount of sugar by half.
• Traditionally in Panama, we use red-colored soda to give it a reddish color.
• Want it less sweet, reduce by half the brown sugar.

Serving suggestions for caramelized plantains

We usually serve these plantains with our meal, arroz con pollo, rice with beans, rice with pigeon peas and meat or chicken. It is part of the Panamanian side dish, perfect for lunch or dinner.

How to store leftovers? If you have any!

You can store it in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To heat it, you need to add a little water, so the glaze loosens up. Cook on low heat on the stove for a couple of minutes, and it should be ready to be enjoyed.

I hope you give this a try and let us know in the comments if you like it as much as my family did.

We love seeing what they are preparing in your kitchens.

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