Interest in plantains is growing as people realize that they make a more digestible alternative to grains not just in savory dishes, but for baking too! The trouble is, plantain recipes are few and far between, so if you want to get started baking with plantain flour, some trial and error are likely necessary.
I’ve really been working to incorporate more meals high in resistant starch into my family’s diet in recent months. Plantains are one of the foods richest in this nutrient, so a tasty breakfast biscuit seemed a good place to start. Plantain waffles are another tasty option.
More scientific research is showing this type of specialty carbohydrate to be extremely beneficial for maintaining gut health. While indigestible to humans, it nonetheless serves as an excellent food for beneficial bacterial colonies in the intestinal tract. Keeping these critters happy and healthy is key to a high functioning immune system and avoiding the development of auto-immune disease.
Resistant starch is also important for maintaining a trim waistline, which is a bit ironic given that popular belief is that all starch and belly fat go hand in hand. Despite being very high in carbs and starch in general, the Western diet is actually very low in resistant starch.
While resistant starch is negatively affected by the heat of baking and cooking, once a dish cools, the starch reforms. Hence, it is very important to eat these biscuits after they have cooled to room temperature to obtain the maximum prebiotic benefits.
Serve grass-fed beef stew over these biscuits for satisfying evening comfort food.
Grain Free Plantain Biscuits Recipe
Delicious grain free recipe for plantain biscuits loaded with healthy fats that are excellent served for dinner with soup or stew or slathered with butter and jam for breakfast on the go.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbl coconut oil
- 2 ripe plantains
- 1/4 cup grass-fed butter melted
- 3 eggs
- 1 Tbl heavy cream
- 3 Tbl plantain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1-2 Tbl date syrup optional
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 F/ 177 C. Peel plantains, cut in half lengthwise and crosswise.
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In a large skillet, add the oil, and over medium heat, fry the plantains until they are just golden — about 3-4 mins per side.
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After the plantains are cooked, add them to a food processor and puree until they begin to clump together. Add the melted butter, eggs and cream and puree until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and pulse one last time to combine everything well.
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Drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a cast iron biscuit pan. Bake for 25-30 min or until slightly brown and cooked through. Let cool to room temperature before eating.
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We cut these biscuits in half and enjoy with grass-fed butter and jam on top. These biscuits would also be excellent instead of bread with soup or stew.
Recipe Notes
Substitute pastured lard or avocado oil for the coconut oil if desired.
The article I’m referring to is titled “A Peak Inside a Busy Woman’s Fit Kitchen (+Plantain Biscuits Recipe) by Paula Jager and begins with the quote I posted previously… really would like to read that article. It is the second result that shows up if you type “biscuits” into the search bar but when clicking on the link it leads to this article (which is the first result that shows up). Thanks for your help.
That article is no longer on this site.
Hi, i was looking for an article by Paula Jager. I searched biscuits in the search box and one of the results had two pictures of rows of mason jars filled with liquid at various stages of development I’m guessing. I would really like to read this article but the link just sends me to the recipe. This is the quote shown on the search screen so you can identify which article I’m talking about:
Fall is here, no doubt about it even here in sunny Florida, and I am getting into the swing of the seasonal shift in culinary pleasures in my personal fit kitchen. It was an enjoyable but extremely busy summer. If you follow the fitness posts on this blog, you may know we moved our CrossFit box to a new location and have experienced some serious growing pains along with the trials and tribulations of the construction process.
I’m intrigued by the pictures of mason jars and would like to read that article if you could possibly post a working link. I did try searching for the words in the article separately to see if it would pull up another result but each time it just links to this article. Thanks so much!
Not sure what picture you are talking about. Sorry.
I tried these with chia eggs (3 Tbs of chia seeds mixed with 9 Tbs of water) and they turned out great. I added a few more Tbs of liquid because the batter was a little thick. My daughter just ate 3 in a row!
Fantastic! Thank you for letting us know! Did you add plain water to think out the batter or some other liquid?
Can you blend up the plaintains and skip the skillet portion of the recipe? If so, does it effect the resistant starch in any way?
Thanks for your help.
You can certainly blend up the plantains instead of cooking on the skillet if you like, but I’m not sure how this would affect the taste/texture of the biscuits. It would not harm the resistant starch in any way. Cooking temporarily reduces resistant starch, but once the biscuits cool, it reforms according to the scientific literature.
I love love your Plantain articles! You are changing lives!!! please keep plantain recipes coming! I think i may have to try plantain in meatloaf! 😛
Let us know how it works out if you try it! That sounds like a very cool idea.
What do I look for in plantains to know they are ready to use for the recipe? Green ones, yellow, spotted brown (like a banana)? Plantains are a bit confusing… Thanks.
See the picture above of the ones in the recipe that I cut up? I use semi-ripe ones. This way there is still plenty of resistant starch in them but they are a bit sweet too. If you prefer to use even less ripe ones to max out the resistant starch (green ones), then I would suggest using the optional date syrup in the recipe. You can also use very ripe (black) plantains with no optional date syrup. It is really up to you and what your goal is nutritionally for the recipe 🙂
Is lovely
I just try one myself
Is yummy
Would these work with flax or chia eggs? I”m allergic to chicken eggs and I can only get duck eggs occasionally.
I haven’t tried using an egg substitute for this recipe. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out!
How long to cool?
Do you have the nutrition facts for this recipe?
There are about 142 calories per biscuit with about 9 grams of healthy fats, 4 grams of protein and 10 carbs (much of it indigestible but prebiotic resistant starch).
Can these be frozen?
I haven’t tried it yet! They hold together quite well, so I’m feel pretty confident it would work ok though.
Baking powder is toxic because it has heavy metals
Not all brands!