Dinner, Food, Lunch, Pork, Recipes

Tostones con carnitas y pico de gallo!! (Translates to DELICIOUS!)

Ok, I’ll confess. I’m not entirely sure if all three of these things are supposed to go together, but the combination tastes like heaven so BAM there you have it.  Tostones con carnitas y pico de gallo was born when my brother Mark’s Venezuelan friend, Eva, came to town for a visit.  I cooked her dinner and for dessert we had fried ripe plantains.  She told us how her mom used to make tostones (which are made with green plantains) and they would top them with meat and sauce or various other options. The way she described the tostones sounded to me like what I know as tostadas. I wanted to make them IMMEDIATELY but we only had ripe plantains, and we had eaten them all, not to mention we were stuffed from dinner.

Since the fateful night that we discussed tostones, I have traveled to Thailand, launched my new Italian Cuisine book, amongst other various activities like taking care of three kids, three dogs and nine chickens.  So, last week I finally made them and they were awesome, fun, and delicious. We also made a spicy aioli to top them off with which you don’t have to include but I highly encourage you to take that extra step.

Below are the directions that will take you to a tasty paradise; now go have fun in the kitchen!

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Tostones con carnitas y pico de gallo

In the morning, make your carnitas!  Recipe found by clicking here.

When the carnitas are done, prepare the pico de gallo

Pico de gallo

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 small red or white onion, diced

1/2 cup finely diced fresh cilantro leaves

1 jalepeno or serano chile, seeds removed and minced

1 tsp sea salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste

1 garlic cloves, minced

Juice from 1 lime

1. Mix all of the above ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl and place in the refrigerator to keep fresh.

Next make the aioli: (if you want to)

Easy Spicy Aioli

1 cup homemade mayo (recipe found here)

1 tablespoon hot chili sauce of your choice like Tapatio or my new favorite is the Jalepeno Pepper Hot Sauce from Trader Joes (ingredients are jalepenos, vinegar, and salt).

A couple squeezes of lime juice.

1 garlic clove, minced

1. Gently mix all of the above ingredients together in a small bowl and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Now time to make the Tostones!!

Tostones

2-3 GREEN plantains, peeled and cut into 2 inch long round pieces

1 cup coconut oil for frying or other cooking oil of your choice such as lard or tallow

1. In a deep frying pan, melt the cooking oil over medium high heat.

2. Once the oil is hot, add the plantain slices into the hot oil standing on one end.

3. Fry until the one side is golden brown, flip and fry the other side until golden brown.

4. Carefully remove from the oil and one at a time, place on a cutting board and using the bottom of a dinner plate, flatten the fried plantain.

5. Add the flattened plantains back into the hot oil for about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side, watch carefully and do not burn!

6. Remove the tostones from the oil and they are ready to serve!

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To assemble the tostones, top each one with a big spoonful of carnitas, a bit spoonful of pico de gallo, and drizzle with the aioli.  I also strongly suggest you serve them with sliced avocado and even some shredded cabbage or other salad greens of your choice.

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Eat, enjoy, be happy.

Sarah Fragoso

Sarah Fragoso is an international best selling author of 6 books, co-owner of the Chico, CA based gym JS Strength and Conditioning, and founder of the Everyday Paleo franchise. Sarah is the co-host of the popular Sarah and Dr. Brooke Show podcast and she also conducts workshops and retreats on the subjects of nutrition, lifestyle and fitness.

Her message is from the heart and she carries a genuine desire to help other families looking for guidance. These attributes have contributed to her successes and provide the drive to keep the discoveries coming.

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19 Comments

  1. Eliza! :D says:

    YESSSSS! I’m trying to get a set of finger food-ish hors d’ouerves type things for a tea party and this is perf!

  2. Wow, how tasty do these tostones look!! Simple to make also. You could top them with anything. I’m thinking some chocolate coconut butter would go down a treat!!!
    Glad I checked my feedly this morning. I know what I’m having for breakfast

  3. Judith says:

    Wow…these look delicious Sarah! :o) Curious – do you think substituting bananas for the plantains would work? Plantains are not part of the SCD, but bananas are…

    1. Hmmmm, I haven’t tried them but if I did, I would use green bananas; however on SCD of course, very RIPE bananas are suggested. When you use ripe plantains (or bananas I presume as well because they are less starchier than plantains), you run the risk of the tostone falling apart. However, I would say it would be worth a try!! : ) Let me know if you use bananas and if it works!!

  4. I’ve got to try these recipes… sometimes raw eggs bother my GI system. Any suggestions on getting around this…. would buying farm fresh eggs from the farmers market be the right thing?

    PS- maintaining my 70+ pound weight loss for 1.5 YEARS now. I attended your Laguna Beach workshop with Jason Seib in Feb 2012- transitioned to Paleo and I haven’t looked back. I feel 27 instead of 47. Thank you, Thanks to Jason and I can’t wait to read your new cookbook. 🙂 Karen P.

  5. Janis says:

    Hi Sarah,

    Thank you for a delicious recipe! I made these the other night and my husband and I enjoyed them immensely! I also passed on the recipe to my son who I thought would enjoy them as well. The plantains and aioli were definitely an added bonus. Will definitely make again!

    Janis

  6. tostones cannog be made from any type of banana. They are made from plantains only. Also they would be horrible with chocolate as they are savory used to cook much like you would a potatoe.!would you put chocolate on your french fries ?? Yuck with all that said this recipes looks delicious 🙂

  7. Jennelle says:

    I made these for a group of our friends this evening and they were amazing! Everyone was raving about how good they were 🙂 Thanks for the awesome recipe!

  8. I can’t say enough about this meal. . I made these exactly as written and every component of this dish complimented one another… First time I ever cooked plantains and wow these tastones were yum, yum ,yum. Never thought I could cook something as delicious as your carnitas. I will be making more of your dishes Thank you for making a real bonafide cook out of me today. One other thing, I made your mayo and it came out perfect.

  9. Hi Sarah, I made this for dinner tonight. I put the pork in the slow cooker overnight as I don’t have a 6 hour setting for high and my workday is much longer that that. I also made one batch of your mayo last night. After cooking, I put the pork pieces in a container in the fridge until I got home from work. Tonight I assembled the other components and fried the plantains. Everything was delicious. It was relatively quick to pull together for dinner. I simply forgot to serve avocado slices. Oh well, I can have them with my carnitas tostones lunch tomorrow. Thanks for the delicious recipe! I think it is a great one for serving guests.

  10. Try using a lime squeezer to flatten the fried plantain. They will shape like a small cup that can hold your toppings even better.

  11. I found your blog through Pinterest and I love to see Paleo recipes that include plaintains. I’m from Venezuela and plantains are a staple in our meals. Baked, broiled, fried, in tostones, we eat them almost daily as a side or as a light meal (I.e baked with butter and white cheese).

  12. I already am a HUGE fan of plantains with guacamole… This now gives me yet another option to enjoy plantains! Looking forward to trying this for possibly an upcoming Superbowl party!

    1. Hope you enjoy! We love these!!

  13. Robert Quinones says:

    Sarah, my wife and I really wanted to change our eating style and we came across the Paleo diet, and your book Everyday Paleo. We just want to thank you on showing us that it can be done, and anything is possible if you try! This recipe was AMAZING!! It’s a dish like this that I want to make for my family. My wife loved this, and so did I. Please keep on posting these recipes, we enjoy them very much!

  14. We love plantains and this sounds like a perfect recipe. I love this type of food and the fact it is paleo! Can’t wait to try this…tonight!

  15. Michele says:

    Made these for my family on Saturday and my picky 15 year old said it was the best meal ever…..I agree,

  16. My husband and I have been on a Whole30 for 24 days and this meal has been our absolute favorite! We’ve missed eating out at our favorite Latin Fusion restaurant and this made us feel like we were there. Absolutely incredible!

    You’re recipes/books have been our go-to resource during this…..we have two little ones (2 and 5) and both work full time. While cooking Paleo is still time consuming, you’ve made it a lot easier. Thank you!

    1. Thank you so much for the feedback Jodi! So glad the recipes and books have been helpful!!

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