Get your healthy snack on with this quick & easy recipe for airfryer plantain chips. Also known as chifles, these chips made from green plantains are traditionally fried in hot oil. By using your air fryer to make them, you get all of the crunch of a deep fried plantain chips without all of the fat.
If you haven’t peeled a plantain before, don’t be fooled by the soft banana-like appearance. Grab a knife, chop off both ends and score it along the side before you remove the peel. Because this recipe uses green plantains rather than ripe ones, the resulting flavor is like eating a slightly sweeter version of potato chips.
In order to get a crispy chip, you must slice your plantains very thin. If you slice them too thick, they will turn out more like fries than chips. Use your mandoline slicer if you have one handy!
How To Make Plantain Chips In Air Fryer
For this recipe, you’ll only need a few ingredients–plantains, salt, and a small amount canola oil. Beyond the crunch, plantains also bring fiber, potassium, and vitamin C for an antioxidant boost. With nutritional benefits like these, feel great about munching on them.
We prefer to use green plantains in the air fryer because we love them on the starchy side. If you prefer a sweeter chip, choose a riper plantain. The riper the plantain, the sweeter the chip! But, if you like salty snacks like we do, go for the green ones.
Slice Those Plantains
First, we start by peeling our plantains. Then, using a mandoline slicer, we thinly slice our plantain to 1/8” thickness. We highly recommend using a mandoline slicer for this task because we’re aiming for thin, even slices. Whether you choose strips or coins depends on how you plan to use them. Strips work best for dipping, and coins are best for snacking.
That said, your favorite knife will also do the trick.Just realize that your plantain slices may not achieve the proper thickness and they won’t likely cook at an even pace. So, you’ll need to remove individual dried plantain pieces from the air fryer as they’re ready. The thicker the slice, the longer it will take to become dry and pliable.
Once we have a nice stack of plantain slices, we’re ready to move onto the our next step.
Slice your plantains into very thin strips.
Prepare Your Air Fryer
Next, we coat the fryer basket with a little canola oil and lay our plantain slices along the bottom. We then brush or spritz a little canola oil on top of our slices for even coverage. We like to season them with just a bit of sea salt before we start cooking.
Lay plantain strips into prepared airfryer basket & brush with canola oil.
We’ve learned that we need to be a bit flexible on air fryer timing, as the timing really depends on how thick we’ve sliced our plantains. We air fry our plantain chips at 350°F. And, this process for air frying chifles generally takes between 15 and 20 minutes.
We shake our basket a couple of times during our air frying process to be sure they are evenly cooked. If we notice our chifles starting to stick to the bottom, we just lift them off with a pair of tongs and give the basket a good shake. Because the timing is variable, we watch them closely after about 10 minutes to prevent burning.
If you used a knife to slice these rather than a mandoline slicer, your rounds may be uneven in thickness. So, you may need to pick a few out each time you check in. Thinner slices will finish faster than those thicker ones.
Let’s get our airfryer on!
We’re Ready To Eat!
Get your appetites ready because our air fried plantain chips are ready to eat. Serve these chifles warm right out of the fryer, or let them cool to room temperature for extra crunch. Enjoy them plain or serve with your favorite condiment!
Eat those fresh plantain chips!
If you’re looking for more tasty snacks, check out these recipes:
Recipe Card for Airfryer Plantain Chips
Here’s the recipe card for Plantain Chips in the Airfryer. Print, share or save!
Plantain Chips in the Airfryer
Equipment
- Mandoline slicer
Ingredients
- 1 medium plantain green
- 1 teaspoon canola oil or canola cooking spray
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Peel the plantains, cut them in half and slice into very thin coins or strips. NOTE: Use a mandoline slicer if you want consistent, ultra-thin slices. This is best for crispy results.
- Coat the fryer basket with 1/2 tsp of canola oil and lay the plantain slices along the bottom. Brush the remaining canola oil on top of the slices. Season with sea salt to taste.
- Air fry your plantain chips at 350 ° F for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your slices. Be sure to shake your basket once or twice during the air frying process to be sure they are evenly cooked. Watch them closely after about 10 minutes to prevent burning. If you've sliced them unevenly, you may need to pick a few out each time you check in. NOTE: If your plantains start to stick to the bottom, just lift them off with a pair of tongs and give the basket a good shake.
- Nosh on your airfryer plantain chips right out of the fryer, or serve with your favorite condiment. Enjoy!
