Avocado Plantain Rice Bowl Recipe with Edamame Beans

This Plantain bowl recipe is the perfect meal for meatless Mondays.

You will love this hearty power bowl dish filled with brown rice, edamame beans, and sweet plantains, paired with veggies on the side and topped with a lovely cilantro parsley chimichurri sauce.

It's savory, a tad spicy, sweet, and simply delicious.

Bowls filled with cooked rice, small tomatoes, avocado slices, fried edamame beans, fried plantains, and topped with chimichurri sauce.

Jump to:

Why You'll Love This Plantain Recipe
Ingredients & Substitutions
How to Make These Fried Plantain Bowls
Expert Tips
Variations
Recipe FAQs
Recommended
📖 Recipe

Why You'll Love This Plantain Recipe

It's a build-your-own plantain bowl for dinner that's fun and super easy to make.
It's topped with fresh cilantro chimichurri sauce, which adds a lovely refreshing spiciness.
Sweet plantains are the star of this dish and are so comforting.
Quick-pan-fried edamame beans add a lovely crunch and are a great source of plant-based proteins.
Brown rice adds a chewy texture and is quickly boiled in about 25 minutes, and you'll use that time to prepare the rest.

A series of steps showing how to assemble plantain bowls with rice, veggies, beans and topped with a green sauce.

Ingredients & Substitutions

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

A series of ingredients shown to make plantain bowls.

Brown rice: White rice and coconut rice are great alternative options.

Olive oil: I use it to fry the plantains and beans. Avocado or coconut oil are great options, too, if on hand.

Edamame beans: you can also use canned black beans.

Yellow plantains with brown spots: That's when they are the sweetest yet still firm enough for this plantain bowl recipe.

Veggies like avocado and cherry tomatoes: a bell pepper, or cooked sweet potatoes are other great options or add-ons.

Seasoning: sea salt, black pepper, and cracked dried Rosemary (optional).

Sauce: I love this paired with my homemade cilantro parsley chimichurri sauce. Another great option is a Habanera hot sauce if you like to spice it up more.

How to Make These Fried Plantain Bowls

See the full recipe with measurements in the recipe card.

Note: if serving with rice, cook it while preparing this dish. When done, drain and season with a little bit of salt.

Step 1: Place frozen beans in a bowl covered with water to defrost and set aside.

Step 2: Heat olive oil in a large non-stick or cast iron pan. Fry plantains for a few minutes on both sides until golden brown, and set aside.

Step 3: Heat up oil in the same large skillet and cook and stir drained and dried beans until slightly browned.

Cooked rice, tomatoes, sliced avocado, fried edamame beans, fried plantains, chimichurri sauce, and seasoning displayed on a table.

Step 4: Serve the ingredients, including any veggies, avocado slices, or sauce, separately to assemble the plantain bowls at the table.

Expert Tips

Make the chimichurri sauce in advance: Although ready in 10 minutes, shave off that time by prepping this sauce with fresh herbs ahead of time.
Reduce the rice's cook time by bringing the water in a medium saucepan to a boil first and then adding the rice—like you would cook pasta. This starchy grain will be ready and tender in about 25 minutes.
Use that time to prepare the other components of this fried plantain bowl recipe while keeping an eye on the rice.
Use a large nonstick skillet to pan-fry plantains: I love my cast iron skillet because it evenly browns the plantains and holds its heat well.
Fry the sliced plantains in a single layer to get that crispy brown texture. You might have to work in batches.
Reduce your heat if your pan browns the plantains too quickly. They will otherwise turn blackish before sweet and tender on the inside.
Use the same large skillet to pan-fry the beans briefly—less clean-up: First, remove the browned yellow plantains and set aside. The pan's surface is already hot. Add a tad more oil and toss in the beans for about 5-7 minutes until they're cooked through and slightly brown.

Variations

Use guacamole instead of avocado slices to add a delicious creaminess.
Use canned black beans instead. Drain and warm them up in the skillet like the edamame beans in some olive oil until warm and season with salt.
Dried Rosemary needles: if you have them, sprinkle some over the end result. It adds a minty aroma and balances the flavors of this sweet-savory meal.
Other alternative options to serve on the side: for a more spicy crunch, add a small, thinly sliced red onion, or add more citrusy flavors with extra cilantro or lime wedges.
Not vegan: Try serving a fried egg on top for a more savory touch or make chicken plantain bowls by adding any leftovers from this healthy chicken salad recipe or this cast-iron roast chicken.
Mango Avocado Salad is the perfect refreshing side to complement this Meatless Monday plantain bowl recipe.
Try microwaving the plantains instead of frying them. They'll become soft and sweet with an almost mushy texture.

Recipe FAQs

Is plantain a vegetable?

The plantain is a fruit and a starchy cousin of the banana and is often mistaken for a vegetable because it needs to be cooked for consumption.

What does a plantain taste like?

Plantains go from a green (most starchy) state to yellow and then black when fully ripened.

They taste deliciously sweet when cooked ripened (without the banana flavor) or savory when still in their green taste (similar to cooked potatoes).

In this plantain recipe, I'm using ripe, yellow spotty plantains. They caramelize when pan-fried and become sweet and tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

Making them a wonderful choice to make vegan plantain bowls mixed with savory, spicy flavors.

Are plantains gluten-free?

Yes, they are naturally gluten-free.

These plantain bowls are the perfect meal for family or friends to make their own hearty, satisfying Meatless Monday dinner at the table. Enjoy!