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I've found a Mole recipe that I'd very much like to try. It's by Chef Saúl Montiel and can be found on the Epicurious Youtube channel.

The problem is though, one of the ingredients is fresh, ripe Plantains. Which would be very difficult and / or expensive for me to source in my part of the world. So I was wondering whether I could use a bag of Plantain chips instead?

Chef Montiel specifies ripe Plantains for their sweetness. I've found Plantain chips that are unflavoured but advertised as being naturally sweet. Given that one of the other ingredients he uses is Vanilla cookies, I'm think using dried Plantain might not be so outlandish but I'd be grateful for some input on the question.

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    Where are you generally? Someone may know your area/region, and have a suggestion for a substitute for the Plantain. Commented Aug 19, 2025 at 15:57
  • I had to look up mole because I thought you were cooking a small, subterranean mammal. Commented Aug 21, 2025 at 10:11
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    @Philipp In case you hadn’t made the connection, mole (or molé) comes via Spanish from the Nāhuatl word mōlli which just means ‘sauce, stew, broth’. Combining this with ahuācatl ‘avocado’, you get ahuāca-mōlli ‘avocado sauce’ which, again through Spanish, came into English as guacamole. Commented Aug 21, 2025 at 19:48
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Thank you, I really hadn’t made the connection, but of course, we find the word in guacamole. Commented Aug 22, 2025 at 8:12

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It might require a little experimentation, but you can try to rehydrate the plantain chips. You could put them in warm (or boiling) water for a period of time before using them, or add more liquid to your mole sauce and let them rehydrate there. Note that when they take on water, their weight and volume will increase, so you have to adjust the amount to fit your recipe. Rehydration is fairly common with dried fruits such as raisins and dates. I get confusing results on a google search for doing this to bananas or plantains; you probably had the same search results.

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  • I hadn't actually considered rehydrating the chips. At least not separately. All the solid ingredients in the sauce get blended into a smooth paste and then the sauce is thinned down using chicken stock. So I don't think pre-hydration is strictly necessary but the question of quantity is worth considering. Thank you. Commented Aug 20, 2025 at 17:41
  • It also might be worth rinsing the chips first or changing the water once, as many plantain chips are salted. Commented Sep 10, 2025 at 12:23
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Banana chips are usually fried rather than just dried. I think this cooking step would change the cooking behaviour in any subsequent dishes. The chips are usually made from starchier varieties of banana and sometimes from cooking bananas (AKA plantains). You can get dried bananas, but they tend to be brown and chewy rather than crisp and yellow. I have no idea how well it might re-hydrate or cook, but I suspect not very well.

Most of what people call plantains are actually just a starchy variety of banana. True plantains are a different group within the banana genus (Musa), and largely only found in Africa, though most people would struggle to distinguish between plantain and cooking banana varieties. Bananas tend to have more sugar in them than cooking bananas, and true plantains are almost all starch I believe.

So, what the recipe calls for is probably essentially just a banana variety. As such, you could probably just substitute a banana for the plantain. You would want to use an slightly unripe banana (i.e. still a bit green/just turned yellow) so as to avoid the full flavour and sweetness of the banana coming through.

Having said that, when I have cooked with well ripened cooking bananas, I found them very sweet (comparable to a ripe banana), though not as flavourful as a normal banana.

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    The Mole recipe calls for all the solid ingredients to by fried in lard anyway. So commercially produced banana / plantain chips being deep fried is actually a plus. I've also looked back at the video and to my eyes, it looks more like a plantain, in terms of shape and size, and how firm the flesh is despite the skin being almost totally black. It may not be a true plantain but I would bet it's not a regular banana either. Commented Aug 20, 2025 at 18:07
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    @HollisHurlbut Good to know regarding the frying; in which case, the answer from Wastrel is a good one (I see you've accepted it as such). I think you'll need to powder/blend them to get the consistency right, as I don't know that they would break down upon further frying. Mexican "plantains" are "cooking bananas" rather than true plantains AFAIK. Cooking bananas will go black/brown completely when very ripe, but are still usable and similar in flavour to a mild regular banana variety. Commented Aug 21, 2025 at 2:50

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