Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Rellenitos de Plátano
Sweet fried plantain dumplings stuffed with spiced black bean paste, a Guatemalan treat.
Guatemalan · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 20 min
~323 cal · 8g protein · 76g carbs · 0g fat · 7g fiber · 38g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Rellenitos are one of Guatemala's most distinctive sweets, a surprising and delicious marriage of ripe and black beans. What sounds like an odd pairing is a small revelation: the beans, cooked down sweet and spiced, taste almost chocolatey.
Ripe are boiled and mashed into a soft dough, then wrapped around a filling of refried black beans sweetened with sugar and cinnamon. Shaped into little ovals, they are fried until the outside caramelises and crisps.
Rolled in sugar and served warm, they are sold from street stalls and made in home kitchens across Guatemala. Sweet, soft, and a little smoky, they are that the humblest ingredients can make the most memorable dessert.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- 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 6
4 very ripe
1 cup refried black beans
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar, for rolling
for frying oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Boil the whole ripe plantains until very soft, then peel and mash to a smooth dough.
2
Cook the black beans down with the sugar and cinnamon until thick and paste-like, then cool.
3
Take a piece of plantain dough, flatten it, add a spoon of bean paste, and seal into a small oval.
✎ Chef’s note
Wet your hands to shape the sticky plantain dough, and make sure the filling is fully enclosed so it does not leak in the oil.
4
Fry the rellenitos until golden and crisp, drain, and roll in sugar while warm.
Guatemalan street-sweet tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sacatepéquez (Antigua). Sacatepequez is colonial Antigua under its volcanoes, where pepian, a stew thickened with toasted seeds and dried chiles, is cooked for saints' days and family gatherings. Corn tortillas, black beans, and tamales wrapped in banana leaf are the everyday foundation.
🗺️
Guatemala. The recados are the point. Pepian is thickened with pumpkin and sesame seeds toasted dark before grinding and is usually named as the national dish; jocon is the green one, built on tomatillo and coriander; and kak'ik, the Q'eqchi' turkey soup, is on Guatemala's own list of national intangible heritage. All three start with dry-roasting rather than frying.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Guatemala
Pepián de PolloChicken in a deep, toasty sauce of charred tomatoes, chiles, and ground seeds, Guatemala’s Mayan-rooted national stew.
Desayuno ChapínThe full Guatemalan breakfast plate: eggs, soupy black beans, fried sweet plantain, fresh cream, and warm corn tortillas.
Tostadas GuatemaltecasCrisp fried tortillas topped three ways, with guacamole, tomato salsa, or black beans, a light Guatemalan street lunch.
Browse all Guatemala recipes →
Good to know
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 Guatemala meal
Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup)Dinner
Atol de EloteDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Rellenitos de Plátano?
Sweet fried plantain dumplings stuffed with spiced black bean paste, a Guatemalan treat.
Where does Rellenitos de Plátano come from?
Rellenitos de Plátano is a Guatemalan dish from Sacatepéquez (Antigua), Guatemala.
Can Rellenitos de Plátano be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Rellenitos de Plátano recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Rellenitos de Plátano 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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 Rellenitos de Plátano take to make?
About 50 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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