How To Give Plantains A Sweet Boozy Twist With Tequila

Fried plantains are an iconic island-style snack, a dippable appetizer served alongside a perfect Cuban sandwich, or with rice, beans, and fresh ceviche. They're popular in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia as well, where they're chopped or sliced and then oven-baked, fried, or flambéed (like bananas foster) until they're crispy on the outside and mushy, almost pudding-like on the inside.

Sometimes chefs boost the sweetness of plantains by drenching them in honey before throwing 'em in the oven. Others roll them in brown sugar, maple syrup, citrus zest, and maybe a bit of cinnamon before cooking. And cookbook author Yvette Marquez douses her fried plantains in tequila for a decadent-tasting snack with a kick.

Marquez gave us some great ideas when we spoke with her about 11 creative ways to use tequila in desserts, and her recipe for fried plantains was one of them. Tequila shows up in the finishing steps of her recipe, after ripe plantains have been coated in brown sugar and sautéed until they are caramelized. Then, Marquez glazes her fried plantains with a honey-tequila sauce that enhances all the fruity, sweet flavors, including the telltale, almost custard-like taste of caramelized ripe plantain.

The sauce Yvette Marquez uses for her tequila-honey plantain glaze is spicy, sweet, boozy, and altogether a perfect way to add a twist on a classic plate of fried plantains. It's made from butter, honey, tequila, and cinnamon — all whisked together and then poured over the fried plantains just before serving (that means they'll contain alcohol!). Other chefs flambé plantains in tequila for a show-stopping dessert paired with vanilla ice cream.

Any kind of tequila enhances the caramel, toasty, banana-like flavors of fried plantains and adds its own sharp and earthy notes. But if you want to put the spotlight on the undertones of vanilla in fried plantains, use reposado tequila. Silver tequila will enhance fruit flavors, whereas aged añejo tequila will bring more of a butterscotch and custard-like flavor to the friend plantains. As for Marquez, she uses almond tequila in her fried plantain sauce. If you don't have any almond tequila on hand, add some almond extract to whatever tequila you use for an even wider range of flavors in your fried plantains.