Chorizo & Queso Tostones – Crispy fried plantains are topped with mayoketchup, crumbled chorizo, and queso fresco to make for an incredible appetizer or tailgate food
Alright guys, we’re in Week 3 of Hispanic Heritage month and I’ve got a fun snack recipe to share with you guys. But first, have you been keeping up with the recipes so far?
Week 1 – Mexico – Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad
Week 2 – Peru – Electric Orange Pisco Sour
Week 3- Puerto Rico- Tropical Red Bull Margaritas
Which has been your favorite? Have you tried any at home? Make sure to tag me in your social media posts so I can see what creations you’ve made!
As I’ve mentioned in the previous posts, to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Kroger is highlighting remixed dishes from a particular Hispanic country each week. As you noticed above, we’ve covered dishes from Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico so far.
And today, we’re continuing our celebration of Puerto Rico. Living in Florida for much of my life, I have enjoyed many traditional dishes from Puerto Rico. I’ll never forget the now-defunct Puerto Rican spot across from my college campus that made the best chicharrón de pollo. RIP, Fritanga – I’ll never forget you.
But today, I wanted to share with you my favorite Puerto Rican dish of all time: tostones.
I didn’t fall in love with tostones until later in life. I was a fan of the more-crispy plantain chips but I hadn’t yet had tostones that could match them…until I visited an authentic Puerto Rican restaurant that had the crispiest, most flavorful tostones ever. Now, I can’t get enough of them!
Today’s recipe is a remixed version is the perfect snack for any party or tailgate this season. I added a little Mexican flair to the tostones, with the help from Cacique Chorizo and Queso Fresco.
Check out these Chorizo & Queso Tostones!
Tostones are suuuuper simple to make at home. You don’t need a lot of ingredients – just oil, salt, and green plantains. But to ensure these tostones come out super crispy you need to follow these two rules:
- Use the greenest plantains you can find – no yellow ones!
- Make sure the frying oil is the right temperature
To keep the oil at the right temp, I use a cast-iron skillet, which helps insulate heat, and I use a candy thermometer to watch the oil temp. If you have a deep fryer with a thermometer, that works great too.
To make tostones, all you do is peel the plantains and cut them into large chunks. Then you fry them until cooked, smash them into patties, and then fry again until crispy.
As you can see below, I like using a flat-bottomed glass to help smash my tostones.
In Puerto Rico, they looooove a condiment called mayoketchup. It’s a combination of…you guessed it…mayo and ketchup. So it only seemed right to serve these tostones with it.
I topped each crispy tostone with mayoketchup, made with my favorite, Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise, a little cooked Mexican chorizo, and queso fresco. I loooove the texture and taste of queso fresco. It’s super crumbly but still moist – kind of like mozzarella.
You can find queso fresco and all the other Mexican cheeses from Cacique in the dairy aisle at Kroger.
To help you make this recipe exactly right the first time, here are a couple more tips:
- If you’re having a tough time smashing the plantains into disks after the first fry session, it’s because you didn’t cook the plantains all the way. Cook them until a fork pierces the skin pretty easily.
- When you buy Mexican chorizo, it comes raw. So you have to cook it in a skillet to cook it through and make it crumbly like you see in the photos. But it takes a little longer than, say, breakfast sausage. I cooked mine for almost 20 minutes to remove most of the moisture so don’t be surprised if yours takes this long too.
- Don’t crowd the pan when frying, or else the frying temp will drop.
And that’s it! You’re going to want to serve this treat at tailgates or as an appetizer for a holiday party – the opportunities are endless!
For more ideas on how to remix your Hispanic recipes this month, check out Kroger’s hub for Hispanic Heritage Month, Sazon Remix. You can also find coupons for many of the Hispanic ingredients you need!
This concludes all the Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations here at CPA, but don’t worry – next week, we’re rolling straight into fall recipes! Get excited!!
Chorizo & Queso Tostones
Ingredients
- 9 ounces Cacique Pork or Beef Chorizo
- 4 green plantains
- 3 cups canola oil
- 4 ounces Cacique Queso Fresco crumbled
- 1/2 cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- salt (for seasoning)
- cilantro (for garnish)
Instructions
- Heat medium skillet to medium heat. Empty chorizo from casing into hot pan. Cook until most of the moisture is cooked out, about 15-20 minutes and the sausage is crumbled. Drain and set aside.
- Place canola oil in cast-iron skillet and heat oil until it reaches 325 degrees. I heat mine on medium and it takes about 10 minutes to reach that temp. A candy thermometer is very helpful for this step, though, because it can be hard to tell the exact temperature without one.
- While the oil heats, peel the plantains by slicing the skin with a knife. Be careful not to cut through the flesh of the plantain. Slice plantains into 1 1/2 inch chunks - not any larger! If they're too big, they won't flatten into a circle when we get to that part.
- Place chunks into hot oil and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until cooked on the inside and golden on the outside. Don't cook too many at once or the oil temperature will decrease. It should take you 2-3 batches to fry them all. Remove with metal tongs or a metal slotted spoon. Place on paper towels to drain excess oil. Raise oil temperature to 375 degrees.
- Once they've cooled a little and are safe to touch, grab a plantain and place on piece of parchment paper or paper bag with a cut side facing up. Press down on the fried plantain to smash it into a disk. Repeat with rest of the plantain chunks.
- Place plantain disks into hot oil and fry again, this time for 3 minutes. They should be deep golden brown. Remove from oil and dry on paper towels.
- Prepare your mayoketchup sauce by mixing together ketchup and mayo. Top each plantain with a little mayoketchup (about 1/4 teaspoon) and then follow it up with cooked chorizo and crumbled queso fresco (about a pinch of each). Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve immediately. Serve leftover mayoketchup alongside tostones for dipping.
Nicole Parise says
This looks so cool! I have never seen anything quite like it, but it looks amazing 🙂
Nicole | nicoleparise.com
Sharon says
Thanks Nicole!
Joan Cajic says
Never had tostones before but this makes me want to try some so bad, they really look delicious.
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
Whoa! This is a fabulous little party dish! Great flavors! I’ve only made plantains once, and it wasn’t a very successful attempt. BUT…it was a long time ago, so maybe I would have a better touch with it now!
Francesca says
This is such a delicious appetizer! I’m definitely trying these out asap!
Denay DeGuzman says
I have a jar of Hellmann’s Mayo and Queso Fresco cheese in my fridge right now! I just attended the IFBC17 International Food Bloggers Convention this past weekend, and your delicious Chorizo Queso Tostones would have been an absolute perfect fit in one of the gourmet menus we enjoyed. Thanks for sharing this fabulous recipe!
Joanie @ One Dish Kitchen says
What a wonderful appetizer. They look so crisp and delicious, perfect for a party!
Tasia B says
Wow! This recipe blows me away! The photos are STUNNING
Sharon says
Thanks so much! So glad you like it 🙂
Kari says
This looks delicious! I’ve never made anything like it, but I’m trying to explore new foods weekly. Pinning the recipe now to make in the future.
Sharon says
Thanks! Let me know when you try it!
Rochelle says
Wow – what a unique pairing! I would have never thought of mixing these flavors but it looks amazing.
Sharon says
Thanks so much!
Julie Hoag says
I’ve never heard of this before! Looks very interesting and very good!
Sharon says
Thanks Julie!
Jenny says
This looks so yummy! Making me hungry over here.
Sharon says
Yay! Thank you!
Kate says
I’ve never had tostones before but I’ve also never met a chorizo recipe i didn’t love These look delish!
Sharon says
Omg they’re the best! You can also buy them frozen, if you don’t want to go through the whole process of making them from scratch.
Lisa says
you can’t go wrong with chorizo and queso!
Sharon says
You really can’t!