A raw plantain contains about 122 calories per 100 grams, which is roughly half a cup of sliced fruit. That’s about 35% more calories than a regular banana, mostly because plantains pack more starch into each bite. The total calorie count depends heavily on how you cook them, since plantains soak up oil like a sponge when fried.
Calories by Cooking Method
Raw calorie counts only tell part of the story with plantains, since almost nobody eats them raw. One cup of boiled green plantains (about 137 grams) comes to 166 calories with just 0.1 grams of fat. Boiling keeps the calorie count close to the raw baseline because no fat is added during cooking.
Frying changes things dramatically. Plantains absorb oil readily, and a cup of fried sweet plantains (maduros) or twice-fried green plantains (tostones) can easily double the calorie count compared to boiled. The plantain itself doesn’t gain calories, but the oil it soaks up adds 9 calories per gram of fat absorbed. If you’re watching calories, boiling, baking, or roasting are the leanest options.
One cup of baked yellow plantains (139 grams) falls in a similar range to boiled, making it another lower-calorie preparation. Roasting with a light brush of oil splits the difference between boiling and deep frying.
Plantains vs. Bananas
Per 100 grams, plantains contain 122 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates. Bananas contain 89 calories and 23 grams of carbohydrates for the same weight. The calorie gap comes down to carb density: plantains simply have more carbohydrate packed into the same amount of fruit.
The type of carbohydrate differs too. More of the carbs in bananas come from sugars, while more of the carbs in plantains come from starch. This is why a green plantain tastes starchy and bland rather than sweet, and why plantains are treated more like a potato than a fruit in most cuisines.
How Ripeness Changes the Nutrition
The total calorie count of a plantain stays roughly the same as it ripens, but what’s happening inside changes significantly. In a green plantain, most of the carbohydrate is locked up as starch, including a type called resistant starch that your body can’t fully digest. Unripe plantain flour has been found to contain about 10 grams of resistant starch per 100 grams. This starch passes through your small intestine undigested, functioning more like fiber than a typical carbohydrate.
As the plantain ripens from green to yellow to black, that starch converts into sugar. A ripe plantain has about 18 grams of sugar per serving. The calories are similar on paper, but your body processes them differently. Green plantains raise blood sugar more slowly, with a glycemic index around 44 to 46 depending on cooking method. Ripe plantains score higher, around 54 to 56, putting them in the medium range. For context, pure glucose scores 100 on this scale. So if blood sugar management matters to you, greener plantains are the better pick.
Cooking also destroys much of the resistant starch in green plantains, converting it into digestible starch. This means even a boiled green plantain won’t retain all of its resistant starch advantage, though it still performs better on the glycemic index than a ripe one.
Macronutrients and Key Vitamins
Plantains are almost entirely carbohydrate. A cup of boiled green plantains delivers about 40 grams of carbs, 1.5 grams of protein, and virtually no fat. They contain about 2 grams of dietary fiber per serving.
Where plantains stand out is in their micronutrient profile. One cup of baked yellow plantain provides 663 milligrams of potassium, which is more than a banana and about 14% of the daily recommended intake. That same serving delivers 23 milligrams of vitamin C, 63 micrograms of vitamin A, and 0.29 milligrams of vitamin B6. Potassium supports healthy blood pressure, B6 plays a role in brain function and metabolism, and vitamin A contributes to immune health and vision.
Keeping the Calorie Count in Check
The single biggest factor in how many calories your plantain dish contains is cooking fat. A plate of tostones from a restaurant can deliver two or three times the calories of the same amount of plantain boiled at home. If you enjoy fried plantains but want to manage calories, a few practical swaps help: bake sliced plantains on a lightly oiled sheet pan until caramelized, use an air fryer for a crispy exterior without submerging in oil, or boil green plantains and mash them (mangú style) with just a small amount of butter or olive oil.
Portion size matters too. A single whole plantain before peeling can weigh 200 grams or more, putting the raw calorie count for one whole fruit somewhere around 240 calories. That’s a reasonable side dish, but two or three fried plantains alongside a meal adds up quickly.