• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

A Seasoned Greeting

  • About Catherine
  • Recipes
  • Main Dishes
  • Printables
  • Let’s Connect
Home Β» Mangu

Mangu

March 22, 2020 by aseasonedgreeting 7 Comments

Sharing is caring!

379 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

When I met my husband, I was introduced to the amazing breakfast dish called mangu. Pronounced “mon-goo“, this is a traditional Dominican breakfast item of mashed green plantains and topped with pickled red onions. This would typically be eaten with a fried white cheese and fried salami, but you can also eat this as your side dish to bacon or sausage and eggs.

Recipe at a Glance

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Notes: I recommend making the mangu texture the way you like mashed potatoes. You ca keep this firmer with chunks of plantains, or add water to smooth it out.

A close shot of mangu with pickled red onions on a white plate with fried cheese and salami.

My favorite part about mangu is the pickled red onions on top. This is a step you definitely do not want to skip. This seriously makes the dish! The mashed plantains is a heavy dish, and you really need the acidity that the pickled red onions provide. It helps cut through the heaviness and light then bite. Once you have these pickled red onions you’ll be thinking of all the recipes that can use some pickled red onions on them! You can find the recipe for them here!

Green Plantains vs Yellow Plantains

So you’ll notice at the grocery store you’ve got your green and yellow plantains. What’s the difference?

Essentially, they are the same fruit just at different stages of ripeness. A green plantain is the immature fruit, and as it ripens the green husk turns yellow and voila! We now have a yellow sweet plantain.

The green and yellow are used for different types of recipes. Green plantains you use for dishes like this mangu or fried tostones. And yellow you use for recipes like maduros, which are fried pieces of yellow plantain. Isn’t everything better fried?

If you’re wondering if the two are interchangeable for this recipe, the answer is no. You cannot use a yellow plantain and get the same flavors and textures as needed for mangu.

Three green plantains on a beige granite counter.

Recipe Tips

  • As noted above, you want to buy the green plantains, not the yellow. They don’t have the same flavors and aren’t interchangeable in this recipe.
  • Since green and yellow plantains are the same fruit, just at different stages of ripeness, when you buy the green plantains eventually they will turn yellow and sweet. I suggest using them within 2 days of buying them, they turn fast!
  • Make sure you boil them long enough to make the mashing easier. Test the chunks with a fork before turning off the fork. Like with mashed potatoes, they should be easily pricked with a fork.
  • Add the water in stages. As mangu cools it hardens and gets stiff, so if it first it looks like too much water, trust me just let it sit and it would absorb and harden up.
  • The best consistency for mangu is a thing of personal taste! Think about mashed potatoes, some people like them totally smooth and some people like them to have some potato pieces. The same goes for mangu. Personally, I like my smoother and softer so I can a little more water. My husband on the other hand, likes is firmer with more pieces of plantain.
Overhead view of a circular white plate with mangu, fried cheese, and fried salami.
Print

Mangu

Close shot of mangu with pickled red onions and fried cheese and fried salami.
Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Mangu is a traditional Dominican breakfast item of mashed green plantains and topped with pickled red onions. This would typically be eaten with a fried white cheese and fried salami, but you can also eat this as your side dish to bacon or sausage and eggs.

  • Author: aseasonedgreeting
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 25
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Boil
  • Cuisine: Dominican

Ingredients

4 green plantains
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup of reserved water from the pot
Salt

Instructions

1. Peel the plantains and cut into pieces about 1/2 inch thick. Boil in salted water for 20 minutes, until a fork easily pierces the pieces.

2. As the plantains finish cooking, reserve 1 cup of the water from the pot, then drain the rest and pour the plantain pieces into a large bowl over the butter. Begin mashing, adding the 1 cup water in increments. You can add it a little at a time, but remember mangu thickens as it sits so you should use the whole cup of water. Mash to the consistency you desire. Let sit for a few minutes before serving to allow it to “set”, season with salt. Top with pickled red onions.

Notes

While traditionally this is eaten with fried queso de frier and fried salami, this is wonderful with eggs and bacon or sausage as well!

Keywords: mangu

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @aseasonedgreeting on Instagram

« Breakfast Shot
Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies »

Filed Under: Breakfast

Subscribe

for your weekly recipe fix.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarJessica

    September 2, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    I made this. I added more butter but it came out good. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Avataraseasonedgreeting

      September 2, 2020 at 9:03 pm

      Awesome! So glad you liked!

      Reply
  2. AvatarErin Finney

    July 28, 2021 at 5:14 pm

    Wow! I can’t believe I’ve gone almost 40 yrs of my life without mangu!! I’m so so glad that I came across this recipe!! Remarkably delicious πŸ˜‹ We’ll be having this dish often. Very thorough instructions. It was everything I wanted it to be and more! Saving it to my bookmarks until I’ve got it down. Thank you!!!!!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Avataraseasonedgreeting

      July 28, 2021 at 5:17 pm

      I’m so happy to hear this!! So glad you enjoyed it πŸ™‚

      Reply
  3. AvatarBonny

    May 31, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    I just made this and it came out soooooo goood. Thani you, The best touch is the onions/

    Reply
    • Avataraseasonedgreeting

      May 31, 2022 at 6:09 pm

      so glad you liked!! And totally agree, the onions are my favorite!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Homemade Sazon - A Seasoned Greeting - Never eat bland chicken again says:
    July 11, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    […] you might like my Mangu recipe, which is a Dominican breakfast dish of mashed green […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Menu

  • About Catherine
  • Easy and inspired recipes for your busy life
  • Legal and Privacy Policy
  • Let’s Connect
  • Printables
  • Recipes

Copyright © 2023 A Seasoned Greeting on the Foodie Pro Theme

379 shares