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Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo)
Green plantains shaved lengthwise into long, paper-thin ribbons, fried in small batches until crisp and curled, salted at once and dipped in garlicky lime mojo.
Cuban · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~352 cal · 1g protein · 32g carbs · 26g fat · 3g fiber · 15g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Mariquitas are green shaved into long, wafer-thin ribbons and fried until crisp. They are the snack of the Cuban takeout window and lunch counter, sold in brown paper cones and eaten on the move, and they are also served as an appetizer, with a bowl of mojo for dipping. Depending on who is cooking they are also called chicharritas or platanitos; the round, coin-cut ones are sometimes given those names instead.
They are made from starchy, unripe , so they fry up crisp and savoury rather than sweet. The whole secret is thinness: Cuban cooks say a mariquita should be thin enough to read through, and a mandoline or a sharp vegetable peeler is the easiest way to get there. The ribbons go into hot oil a few at a time, curl and crisp within a minute or so, and are salted the moment they come out.
The mojo is Cuba's everyday sauce: garlic crushed with salt and loosened with sour orange or lime juice and olive oil, sometimes with cumin and oregano.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 2 large green (unripe) , the greener and firmer the better
- 4 cups vegetable oil, for frying
- to taste fine salt
- 4 cloves garlic (for the mojo)
- 1/2 tsp salt (for the mojo)
- 1/4 cup sour orange juice or lime juice (for the mojo)
- 1/4 cup olive oil (for the mojo)
- a pinch ground cumin, optional
- a pinch dried oregano, optional
Instructions
- 1Make the mojo: mash the garlic to a paste with the salt, then stir in the citrus juice, olive oil, and cumin and oregano if using. Set aside.
- 2Trim the ends of the plantains, score the peel lengthwise along the ridges and pry it off with your thumb. If the flesh has darkened, drop it into cold salted water until you are ready.
- 3Shave the plantains lengthwise into long ribbons as thin as you can, using a mandoline or a sharp vegetable peeler. Pat them dry.✎ Chef’s noteThin enough to see light through them. Thick slices turn out chewy, not crisp.
- 4Heat the oil in a deep pot to 185C (365F). Fry the ribbons a handful at a time for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, separating them with tongs, until crisp and pale golden. Lift out onto paper and salt at once. Repeat with the rest, letting the oil come back to heat between batches.
- 5Serve warm or cooled, with the mojo for dipping. Kept airtight, they stay crisp for a day or two.
Cuban street and home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Havana. Havana has a Chinese quarter that the rest of the island does not. Contract labourers arrived from southern China from the middle of the nineteenth century, and the Barrio Chino and the restaurants around it left a mark on the capital's cooking you will not find out in the provinces.
🗺️
Cuba. Cuban cooking blends Spanish, African, and Caribbean roots into ropa vieja, slow-roast pork, and rice and beans (moros y cristianos). Sofrito, citrus-garlic mojo, and plantains flavor a warm, unfussy island cuisine.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cuba
Ropa ViejaBeef braised and shredded into a rich tomato-pepper sofrito, Cuba’s national dish, named "old clothes."
Moros y CristianosBlack beans and white rice cooked together in one pot with a cumin-scented sofrito until every grain turns dusky and savory, the everyday soul of the Cuban table.
Tostada Cubana con Café con LecheButtered Cuban bread pressed flat and crisp, cut into batons for dunking into sweet, milky espresso, the quintessential Havana breakfast.
Browse all Cuba recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Cuba meal
MojitoDrink
Pastelitos de GuayabaDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo)?
Green plantains shaved lengthwise into long, paper-thin ribbons, fried in small batches until crisp and curled, salted at once and dipped in garlicky lime mojo.
Where does Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo) come from?
Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo) is a Cuban dish from Havana, Cuba.
Can Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Mariquitas (Cuban Green Plantain Chips with Mojo) take to make?
About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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