If you have been intimidated by cooking plantains, but love eating them, this Baked Plantains recipe will make you happy. It is the easiest recipe for cooking to enjoy plantains as a snack. You can get it done from start to finish in less than one hour, and it only requires one ingredient, plantains–nothing else!.

Plantains have a reputation for being on healthy food menus. They are so good in curry, and especially in south african excotic dishes. As a fruit, they are in the same family as bananas, but starchier, and larger. Plantains are not good to consume raw as they are too starchy, but tasted great when they are fully ripe.

Because of their size, they are not easy to peel and eat like normal bananas. That’s probably the reason why mostost people are intimidated by eating or cooking them, and I was one of those people. I finally overcame my fear, and now enjoy them very much, and always make sure to have them in my daily fruit selections.

Starting out by buying a few green plantains without a clue of how to cook, or eat them. I left them on my counter until they turned yellow, then dark yellow with some brown spots, and until all the spots turned really black and the whole plantain was very soft– but I still didn’t know what to do with them.

They looked like they were all bad and I was  afraid to eat them then. However, before tossing them in my compost bin, I decided to cut one open. The flesh was bright – gold, and still looked too healthy to throw away, so I had a taste of it. It was SO delicious and I ate the whole thing. I let my husband and daughter try them next, and we have all come to like them a lot. In fact, it’s the quickest way to satisfy ourselves when craving something both sweet and filling.

As I got comfortable eating them that way, I began to experiment with other ways to enjoy them, and baking is one of my favorite ways to enjoy them. For me, Baked Plantains is the second quickest method to eat them. The only thing you need is plantains.

However, to make Baked Plantains, you need to plan ahead. The plantains have to be ripe enough, not green or soft. If they are too green and hard, they turn out too starchy, with a potato-like flavor and not tasty. If they are overripe and too soft, they turn out too mushy and are not easy to eat as a snack.

Hmm. . . are you ready to try baking your own.

Here is what you need to make Baked Plantains:

1. 2 perfectly ripe plantains. If they are still green, let them ripen for a few days until they become yellow and feel soft but firm when touched.
2. 1 cookie sheet, and a piece of parchment paper to lay over the cookie sheet. It makes the Baked Plantains come off the sheet easily when done.

Note: from my experience 2 plantains are perfect to fill 1 cookie sheet.

How:

1. Clean the plantains by washing them and dry them with a towel, or using a wet washcloth to clean them.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. degrees, and prepare the cookie sheet with the parchment paper on top.
3. Discard both ends of the plantains, and cut them in half.
4. Peel and cut them into another half, then cut them into strips like french fries.
5. Lay the strips on the cookie sheet in a single layer.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
7. They should come off easily and be perfect when done.
8. Enjoy.

Have you done Baked Plantains before? Share it with me, I’d like to hear about it!