This unique, Caribbean-inspired recipe is easy to make and has a delicious blend of sweet and savory flavors. We like to serve it with shallow-fried chunks of ripe plantain (maduros) and white rice combined with black beans and fresh cilantro.
Key Ingredients for This Recipe
In addition to staples like breadcrumbs, egg, milk, and oil for frying, you’ll need:
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Ripe plantains (1 for the chicken, 1 or 2 more as a side dish)
- Ground cumin
- Ground coriander
Quantities and full instructions are in the printable recipe below.
How to Make Plantain Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- Trim the chicken breasts and pound them to an even thickness of about 1/4-inch.
- Lay out 4 sheets of plastic wrap, place a piece of chicken on each and season with salt and pepper.
- Peel the plantain, cut it in half crosswise, then slice it lengthwise into quarters.
- Place one plantain “spear” in the center of each piece of chicken, mash it slightly with a fork and sprinkle with a little ground cumin.
- Fold the narrower end of the chicken breast over the plantain, then roll into a cylinder.
- Keeping the seam side on the bottom, pull the edges of the plastic wrap up around the chicken and twist tighly to seal. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm the chicken and keep the roll together.
- Whisk the egg and milk together in a shallow dish.
- Spread the breadcrumbs in another dish or on a sheet of wax paper and combine with ground cumin, coriander, salt and black pepper.
- Carefully dip each piece of chicken in the egg mixture, then roll in the breadcrumbs to coat.
- Add about 1/8-inch of oil to a large frying pan and heat over medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken in a single layer and cook, turning carefully, until lightly golden on all sides, about 2 minutes total.
- Transfer the chicken to the prepared baking sheet seam side down.
- Bake until the chicken is cooked through, 18 to 20 minutes.
What You Need To Know About Plantains
If you’re not familiar, plantains are a large, firm variety of bananas and a popular staple in both Caribbean and Latin American cuisine. Also known as cooking bananas, plantains are starchier than regular bananas and are typically cooked before eating. They also vary in texture and sweetness depending on their stage of ripeness.
Plantains can be found in the produce department of most major grocery chains. Most often you will find them still green (unripe), but for this recipe, you need to let them come to full ripeness which can take up to a week.
Unripe (or green) plantains are quite firm and not sweet. Similar to potatoes, they can be sliced and fried or baked, or cut into chunks, boiled, and mashed. Ripe plantains are soft and mildly sweet. Fully ripe plantains are mostly black with a few yellow spots showing through and the most popular (and delicious) way to prepare ripe plantains is to simply slice and sauté or shallow-fry them until golden (called maduros).
Plantain Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 to 1-1/4 lbs)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ripe plantain, see notes
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin, plus more to season the plantains
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and coat a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- If your chicken breasts have the tenderloins attached, remove them and reserve for another use.
- Place each piece of chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and gently pound to an even thickness of about 1/4-inch.
- Lay out 4 fresh sheets of plastic wrap, place 1 piece of chicken on each and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Peel the plantain (see notes), cut it in half crosswise, then slice it lengthwise into quarters. Place one plantain "spear" in the center of each piece of chicken, mash it slightly with a fork and sprinkle with a little ground cumin.
- Fold the narrower end of the chicken breast over the plantain, then roll into a cylinder. Keeping the seam side on the bottom, pull the edges of the plastic wrap up around the chicken and twist tighly to seal. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. This helps to firm the chicken and keep the roll together. If you’d rather not take the extra time, simply secure the roll at the seam with a couple of toothpicks.
- Whisk the egg and milk together in a shallow dish (a pie plate works well for this).
- Spread the breadcrumbs in another dish or on a sheet of wax paper. Add the cumin, coriander, 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt and a few grinds of black pepper and combine.
- Carefully dip each piece of chicken in the egg mixture, then roll in the breadcrumbs to coat.
- Add about 1/8-inch of oil to a large frying pan and heat over medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken in a single layer and cook, turning carefully, until lightly golden on all sides, about 2 minutes total.
- Transfer the chicken to the prepared baking sheet (seam side down) and bake until the chicken is cooked through, 18 to 20 minutes.
Shawn Burrowes says
Do you stuff the chicken breast with the raw plaintain or pre cook it ?
Lynne Webb says
Hi Shawn,
We’ve used very ripe, raw plantains that have the same texture as ripe bananas. That being said, there’s no reason why you couldn’t pre-cook them if you like, particularly if you think the texture of the plantains you have is a little too firm.