Me, your friend, the sloth
Now, listen. These oven baked tostones aren’t here to proclaim they’re better, more “guilt-free” (we don’t tie guilt or shame to food around here ya hear me?) or anything else in comparison to traditionally fried tostones. Nope. You know the main reason I wanted to see if I could bake a good tostone?
LAZINESS. PURE LAZINESS.
While I love a food that has been fried, and there’s no morality that’s ever going to be tied to food around these parts, I typically find myself slothing in the kitchen when it comes to frying. Using up more quality oils? Splatters? Keeping an eye on the oil temperature? Listen–that’s good and fine for a party, but honestly, I wanted to see if I could manage a one temperature, one sheet pan tostone extravaganza for a weekday and it happened prettttty readily.
What’s in the key of easy?
Really the only thing you need to keep in mind with these tostones is to keep the initial slice pretty thin–about 1/2 to 1/4 of an inch per slice. This is what helps the tostones crisp up while a bakin’. If you do prefer a thicker and chewier tostone, by all means, slice them from between 1/2 to 1 full inch per initial slice! Then when you go to smash them halfway through baking, they’ll retain their heftiness.
The starch solution
I still find that the best way for me to make up different dishes throughout the week is to keep their preparation super simple. These tostones? Aside from sea salt and black pepper, they’re not spiced any other way. What’s a human to do? Dip! Sprinkle! Juice! Sauce! All the options for flavors come after the fact, so that if you happen to make a few big batches of these to last you throughout the week–well, now you’ve got a variety of neighbors who make up flavortown. Here are some ideas for ya:
Not the worst array of flavors to get your tastebuds through the week, right? Or if all else fails, top them with your favorite salsa:
Oven Baked Tostones
Want a more hands-off and easy clean up style of making tostones? Baking them at a high heat yields big batches quickly!
Ingredients
- 2 green plantains unripe
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 425.
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Peel the plantains by chopping off the ends, then making a shallow split lengthwise through each plantain, essentially scoring the skin without cutting too deeply into the plantain itself. Once you've made your score, take your thumb and gently coax the peel off of the plantain. Typically once you get this going, the peel comes off pretty readily. Try leaving your plantains out on the counter at room temperature in general if you have issues peeling them.
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Slice each plantain into 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch slices. Arrange the slices between two sheet pans.
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Drizzle half the coconut oil or olive oil over one tray, then the remaining half over the other. Toss the plantain slices gently so that all sides are covered, then take a minute to arrange the slices so they each have about an inch circumference around them for now.
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Sprinkle generously with sea salt and pepper, then bake the plantains for 10 minutes.
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After 10 minutes, take the trays out, flip each plantain slice, and then using the flat bottom of a cup, gently press down on each slice to create the the traditional tostone shape. If you find the bottom of the cup is sticking to the tostones while you're trying to remove it, let it sit on them for an extra two seconds. The steam from the hot tostone will help release the bottom of the cup, you just gotta give it a sec!
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Place the trays back in the oven for 5-10 additional minutes (depending on how thickly sliced the plantains were), or until browned.
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Remove the trays from the oven, place the tostones in a serving dish and sprinkle with additional sea salt, black pepper, lime juice, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, or just wait for the inevitable dips to flavor these tasty tostones.
