Fried green plantains dropped into a broth of onion, bell pepper, garlic and cumin with potato, where they soften without falling apart. Thirty-five minutes, five servings, and the best thing to do with patacones left over from another meal.
Patacón and tostón are the same word
This soup turns up under two names. In Colombia and Panama the fried green plantain is a patacón; in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic it is a tostón. Same plantain, cut into thick rounds, fried, squashed flat and fried again.
So sopa de patacón and sopa de tostones are the same soup, and which one you call it depends on where you learned to cook. This page had been calling it neither, which is why nobody arriving here recognised it.
Ten minutes and no longer
The plantains are already cooked when they go in. They are not there to cook, they are there to soften and to soak up broth, and ten minutes is the window.
Leave them longer and they surrender. The pieces break apart, the starch goes into the broth and what was a soup with plantain in it becomes a thick beige purée. It is still edible. It is not this dish.
Stir gently for the same reason, which is what the third step means when it says to be careful.
It is a soup that will not wait
Plantain keeps drinking liquid after the heat is off. Serve it immediately and it is a broth with soft plantain in it. Leave it twenty minutes and it is noticeably thicker; leave it an hour and it is close to a stew.
Neither is wrong, but if you want the soup you saw in the photograph, have the bowls ready. When reheating, add broth or water and expect to add more than seems necessary.
Leftover patacones are the point
Patacones are best in the first ten minutes after frying and turn hard and dry not long after. Everyone who makes them ends up with a plate of stiff ones.
This is what to do with them. The broth softens what has gone hard, and a soup made with day-old patacones is no worse than one made with fresh ones. If anything it holds together better, because drier plantain takes longer to disintegrate.
A note on the pepper
The list used to call for half a cup of red paprika, which would be half a cup of ground spice. The Spanish word was pimentón, which in Colombia means the fresh red bell pepper, and the method confirms it by asking for it cut into small squares.
It goes into the pot at the very start with the onion, garlic and cumin, and cooks for three or four minutes before any liquid arrives.
More plantain
- Patacones — the fried green plantains this soup needs.
- Creamy plantain soup — the smooth version.
- Guineo soup — with green bananas instead.
- Fried ripe plantain slices — the sweet counterpart.
Plantain Soup FAQ
A Colombian soup in which already fried green plantains are dropped into a seasoned broth near the end and left to soften. The same dish is called sopa de tostones in parts of the Caribbean, because tostones and patacones are two names for the same thing: green plantain fried, flattened and fried again.
Nothing except the word. Patacón is what Colombia and Panama call twice-fried green plantain; tostones is the name used in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Same plantain, same method, same result.
That is the usual reason to make this. Patacones go hard within a few hours of frying and become difficult to eat on their own. Dropped into hot broth they soften again and turn back into something worth eating.
Because they dissolve. Ten minutes is enough to soften them through while they still hold their shape. Left in longer they break down, the pieces disappear and the soup turns cloudy and thick.
The plantain keeps absorbing broth even off the heat. A bowl served straight away is a soup; the same pot an hour later is closer to a stew. Add broth or water when you reheat it.
The recipe allows broth or water. Broth gives more depth, but with eight cups of it the plantain, bell pepper, garlic and cumin carry the flavour either way.
Twelve fried green plantains for five servings, which is roughly three whole plantains depending on how you cut them.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 cups beef broth or water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ cup onion (chopped)
- ½ cup red bell pepper (pimentón: the fresh vegetable, not paprika powder)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ lb potatoes (diced or sliced)
- 12 fried green plantains (patacones, see the recipe)
- Cilantro (chopped)
- Salt and pepper
Notas
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, the finely chopped garlic, the red bell pepper cut into small squares and the cumin, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often.
- Pour in the beef broth or water along with the potatoes and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes more.
- Add the fried green plantains and let them simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring carefully so they do not break up. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir in the chopped cilantro, taste and adjust the salt, and serve immediately.
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