When you want the flavors of sweet plantain, savory beef picadillo and cheese, trying making Puerto Rican Piononos. These bite sizes treats are a cute cousin to the Pastelon, that are shaped like cupcakes. They are fried and then bake until perfectly firm.
Piononos – Stuffed Plantain Cups
The key to mastering Puerto Rican Piononos is making sure your plantains are extra ripe. Don’t confuse this recipe for a toston style plantain cup. Piononos are all about a savory and sweet combo. You won’t need green plantain (even though the idea sounds delicious).
Look for sweet plantains that are mostly yellowish in color with several black marks.
Ingredients
Now that we covered the importance of ripe plantains for piononos. You are also going to need:
- Homemade picadillo. Here’s my recipe: https://www.nataknowsbest.com/puerto-rican-picadillo/
- Large eggs
- Shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
- Cilantro for garnish
Make sure your beef picadillo mixture is well seasoned. It’s literally one of the stars of this dish. It’s savory component to the sweet maduros. My picadillo recipe includes fresh sofrito, tomato sauce, ground cumin, sazon, garlic powder, dried oregano, olives and some potatoes (which are optional).
Preparing Piononos
To make these stuffed sweet plantains into cups, you first have to peel and slice your plantains into long strips. The key is to slice the plantains horizontally, following the shape of the plantain. Depending on how thick the plantains are, you can expect 4-5 strips from ONE plantain.
Next, fry the sweet plantains until a golden, caramel color. Traditionally these bite sized treats are fried twice. But to simplify this recipe, I opted to assemble the piononos in a cupcake baking pan.
It’s super easy to construct. Just wrap one plantain strip inside the cupcake mold. Then, tear a small piece of plantain and place it in the center – as a base. Repeat and now you’re done! Just fill, top and bake.
Puerto Rican Piononos
Equipment
- cupcake baking sheet/molds
Ingredients
- 1 cup homemade beef picadillo recipe in the text
- 3 large sweet plantains the riper, the better
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese optional
- fresh cilantro garnish
Instructions
- Begin, by peeling and slicing the sweet plantains. Slice each plantain horizontally into thin strips. One large plantain should yield 4-5 strips.
- In a shallow fry pan with hot oil, fry the plantains for 4 minutes on each side. Color should resemble a golden, caramel color.
- Remove plantains from oil and cool on a plate lined with paper towel sheets.
- Grab a cupcake baking pan and wrap the plantain strips around individual cupcake molds. Tear a small piece of plantain and press into each cupcake mold. This small piece with act as a base.
- Next fill each mold with the cooked beef picadillo. Generously fill each cup to the rim.
- In a small bowl, beat eggs and then pour a small amount of the mixture over each plantain cup. Allow the egg mixture to soak in. This will bind the pionono together as one solid cup.
- Top each pionono will a sprinkle of cheese (optional) and bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
- Serve with a garnish of cilantro and enjoy!
