Fry plantains that have ripened until the peel is black, and the surface caramelizes while the inside turns soft and sweet. Line a baking dish with them, then add ground beef with olives and capers, melting cheese, and more plantains. Pour beaten egg over the top, bake, and you have a casserole of layered sweet and salty. In Puerto Rican homes it is said that every family has its own recipe for pastelón. Swap the plantains for pasta and it is almost a lasagna.
Every Puerto Rican Family's "Big Pie"
The name pastelón means "big pie" in Spanish. David Pazmiño, who presented this recipe in the American magazine America's Test Kitchen, starts from his grandmother's version, in which she layered fried ripe plantains with picadillo (a stewed ground-meat filling) and baked it. His article says that every Puerto Rican family has its own pastelón.
The plantain is a crop that originated in Asia and reached the Americas in the 1500s by way of Africa. Pazmiño's article says that people brought from Africa spread the crop across the Caribbean islands. Today it is indispensable on the Puerto Rican table: fried green as tostones, or sweet and baked when ripe as maduros. Pastelón is a dish that puts the sweetness of the ripe side front and center.
Puerto Rico also has a dish very like pastelón called piñón. José Hernández, who researches the history of Puerto Rican cooking, explains that the main difference is that piñón layers sliced ripe plantains, while pastelón uses mashed plantains. In practice, versions made with sliced plantains are often also called pastelón, and how the two names are used varies by household and era.
Pastelón in Cookbooks, and the Egg Layer
Hernández notes that a recipe for pastelón appears as a "baked pie" in the 1948 English-language Puerto Rican Cookbook. So by at least the middle of the twentieth century it was already known as Puerto Rican home cooking. The same article points out that recipes for piñón appear repeatedly in the island's standard cookbooks, such as Cocina criolla from 1954.
A step common to many recipes is pouring beaten egg over the layers to set them. The egg seeps into the gaps between plantain and meat, and when baked it binds everything together so it holds when cut. Some recipes use no egg at all; how much egg to use is one more thing that differs from home to home.
The biggest challenge is the ripe plantain. In many places you will need to buy green plantains at an international grocery or online and let them ripen at room temperature until the peel turns black. Ordinary eating bananas are too soft and sweet and fall apart when fried, so they are no substitute.
Ingredients (serves 8, one 20 cm square baking dish)
This is based on the recipe published by the American supermarket Metropolitan Market, converted to metric measures.
For pastelón, the ideal plantain is so black that almost no yellow is left on the peel. The America's Test Kitchen article also insists on fully ripe plantains. To ripen yellow ones faster, put them in a paper bag at room temperature.
Ripe plantains are high in sugar, so they spatter in the oil and burn easily. Don't let the oil get too hot, and use tongs to turn them. The dish contains egg and dairy, so take care when serving anyone with allergies.
How to Make Pastelón
Allow about 30 minutes of prep, and about 55 minutes to fry the plantains, make the picadillo, layer, and bake. Preheat the oven to 180°C before you layer.
The baking dish is very hot when it comes out. Use oven mitts, and let it rest about 10 minutes before cutting. If the egg has not completely set, bake it 5 minutes more at a time.
Balancing Sweet and Salty
The appeal of pastelón is the alternation of the ripe plantains' sweetness with the saltiness of the olives and capers. If the plantains are under-ripe, they have no sweetness and the dish is little more than a layered starch bake. Choosing fully ripe plantains is the surest shortcut.
Salt the plantains while they are hot from the oil; it brings out their sweetness. If you forget, the baked casserole tastes dull.
The trick with the picadillo is to season it a little strongly. Sandwiched between sweet plantains and cheese, it tastes milder than it does on its own. Cut the olives and capers on the large side so they stay noticeable and give a salty accent in each bite.
You can make the picadillo the day before and refrigerate it. Metropolitan Market's recipe says it can be made up to 2 days ahead in the refrigerator, and if you do, it recommends adding about 10 minutes to the baking time so the center is heated through.
Mashed or Sliced: Variations
If you'd rather not fry, you can boil ripe plantains in their skins for about 20 minutes, or peel and steam them, then mash until smooth in a food processor. Spread half of the mashed plantain, add the picadillo in the middle, top with cheese, and bake for a moist, puréed-layer pastelón. By Hernández's description, this is the more typical form of pastelón.
You can make it with ground pork or chicken as well as beef. Adding raisins, as in Cuba's picadillo a la habanera (in Japanese), gives a taste with even more layered sweetness.
Serving
Cut the baked pastelón into squares and serve on plates. Clean layers of plantain, meat, and cheese in the cross-section are the sign it baked well. A light salad on the side goes well with the sweet, rich casserole.
For another Puerto Rican dish, set it beside mofongo (in Japanese), made by mashing green plantains with garlic. Ripe plantains and green plantains turn the same ingredient into completely different dishes. Pernil (in Japanese), slow-roasted pork shoulder, is another dish essential to Puerto Rican celebration tables.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make it with green plantains?
Green plantains have no sweetness and are starchy and hard, so they don't suit pastelón. Let them ripen at room temperature until the peel is almost black before using. It takes time depending on the season and room temperature, so get them ready early.
Can I use frozen ripe plantains?
Some recipes use frozen ripe plantains. Thaw them and pan-fry as above, or mash them in a food processor.
What if I don't have an oven?
You can make it in a skillet, but you will need to cover it and cook slowly over low heat so the egg and cheese cook through. The toasty flavor is better when you bake it in the oven.
Can I make it ahead?
Let baked pastelón cool, cut it, and refrigerate it. Reheat in a microwave or oven until hot in the center. We cannot give a firm storage time, so finish it soon.
Sources
- Metropolitan Market, "Pastelón (Puerto Rican Beef and Plantain Casserole)." Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://www.metropolitan-market.com/recipes/pastelon-(puerto-rican-beef-and-plantain-casserole)
- David Pazmiño, "Plush, Meaty Pastelón," America's Test Kitchen, published 3 August 2021. Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/3514-plush-meaty-pastelon
- José Hernández, "El piñón que no es pastelón," Gastronomía puertorriqueña, published 22 January 2025. Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://jhr7139.substack.com/p/el-pinon-que-no-es-pastelon
