Plantain Puff Puff recipe (Buñuelos de Platano) is a fluffy, sweet fried dough made with overripe plantains. Never throw away overripe plantains again! Use them to make this delicious fritter and top with your favorite topping. Sugar, confectioners sugar, honey or chocolate.
For some time now, I’ve been wanting to share this recipe, Buñuelos de Platano, finally I get to share it with you!
This recipe is made with the ULTIMATE, MOST RIPEST PLANTAINS YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. The kind that are so ripe, normally people just throw them away!
This is why I have been waiting so long to share this recipe because plantains in my home never make it to that kind of ripeness! But finally here it is!
As you may already know, I make a lot of plantain dishes like pasteles al caldero, mofongo, sango, and mangu. So of course its really, really rare I ever have overly ripe plantains on hand.
But this time I purposely added a note to my refrigerator and made sure to set aside two plantains to blacken quite nicely!
Today, I am going to show you what to do with those black plantains on your counter, you think you have to throw away. Never get rid of overripe plantains again!
What is Plantain Puff Puff?
Puff puffs are fluffy deep fried dough fritters that originated in Africa. These sweet fritters are made from flour, yeast, sugar and water. Adding ripe plantains to the batter, adds extra yumminess and makes for the perfect use of overripe plantains.
These are usually served as a snack or dessert and truly are best enjoyed when they’re still hot.
If you have ever had Italian zeppoles, that’s what these remind me of. I love zeppoles, that is probably why I enjoy these so much too!
Ingredients
The ingredients for this yummy recipe are quite simple and you may even have all of them in your pantry!
- 2 overripe plantains (black skin)
- 1 packet active dry yeast or 2 ¼ teaspoons
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ cups warm water
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- vegetable oil for frying
Toppings:
- granulated sugar
- confectioners sugar
- honey
- chocolate fudge
- hot sauce (traditional topping in Africa)
How to Make Plantain Puff Puff
Yeast: Add ½ cup of warm water to a small bowl with yeast, set aside.
Plantains: Cut the ends off plantains. Using a knife, score down the back of plantain just underneath the skin. (Because they are so ripe, they will be really easy to peel)
Peel skin and place in a blender.
Blend: Blend plantains until pureed.
Mix: Add a cup of warm water to a medium size bowl with one cup flour, mix well with fork or whisk.
Add the other two cups of flour, plantain puree and yeast.
Combine: Mix all ingredients together until a sort of stiff mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 to 40 minutes.
Frying: Add 2 cups of oil to a saucepan or deep pan. Heat oil over medium high heat.
When oil is hot, fill a tablespoon with batter and drop into hot oil.
Repeat procedure and add more tablespoons of batter to oil.
Cook: Cook batter until golden brown on one side and flip with a fork.
Drain: Drain balls on paper towels. Let sit for 2 minutes before adding topping.
Toppings: Top with whatever topping you like or enjoy plain. Serve immediately.
Note: I love mine with confectioners sugar!
Enjoy these with coffee, tea, juice or even wine!
For more delicious plantain dishes, you will also love these:
Garlic Tostones (Fried Garlic Plantains)
Platanos Fritos (Puerto Rican Sweet Plantains)
Bolon de Verde (Green Plantain Fritters Stuffed with Cheese)
Canoas de Platano (Stuffed Plantains)
📖 Recipe
Plantain Puff Puff Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 overripe plantains with black skin
- 1 packet active dry yeast or 2 ¼ teaspoons
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ cups warm water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- vegetable oil for frying
Toppings
- confectioners sugar
- granulated sugar
- honey
- hot sauce
- chocolate fudge or syrup
Instructions
Yeast
- Add ½ cup of warm water to a small bowl with yeast, set aside.
Plantains
- Cut the ends off plantains. Using a knife, score down the back of the plantain just underneath the skin. Peel the skin and place plantains in a blender. Puree until smooth.
Mix Ingredients
- Add a cup of warm water to a medium size bowl with one cup flour, mix well with fork or whisk.
- Add the other two cups of flour, plantain puree and yeast. Mix all ingredients together until a sort of stiff mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 to 40 minutes.
Frying
- Add 2 cups of oil to a saucepan or deep pan. Heat oil over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, fill a tablespoon with batter and drop it into the hot oil. Repeat the procedure and add more tablespoons of batter to the oil.
- Cook batter until golden brown on one side and flip with a fork.
- Drain balls on paper towels. Let sit for 2 minutes before adding topping.Top with whatever topping you like or enjoy plain. Serve immediately.
DPhoenix says
I’ve tried fritters before, but they didn’t come out well. THIS recipe, however, did. The fritters were so flavorful and crispy, with just the right hint of sweetness. Definitely a keeper!
Elgie says
Delicious! This recipe is going straight to my Favorited. Someone gave me a lot of ripe plantains and I didn’t know what to do with them. Then I saw this recipe, it looked easy and I had all the ingredients. Oh my goodness, these puff puffs came out so delicious we can’t stop eating them. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Catherine Arena says
Hi Elgie! So happy to hear you really enjoyed them! 🙂
Sam says
Shared with friends, we were all having for the first time and were amazed by these! But I must have done something wrong because mine didn’t turn out as airy and light as your pictures. but tasted great nonetheless! Gracias!!! Now I don’t have to be too disappointed when I forget to make the tostones I wanted.
Cathy says
Hi Sam! This is so great to hear! Thank you for trying out this recipe and sharing it with your friends! It’s wonderful having a recipe we can go to when our plantains get a little “too” ripe! I love it! As far as them not coming out as airy, two things, next time you make these, make sure the packet of dry yeast is good and not past its expiration date…also make sure to let batter rest at least 30 minutes, even an hour is good. Let me know how they turn out next time! Thank you for taking the time to let me know how much you enjoyed these and giving it 5 stars!