These savory bacon plantain paleo waffles are made with just 3 ingredients and couldn’t be easier. Perfect with your favorite greens and a crispy fried egg! Grain free, dairy free, paleo, delicious!
This is one of those recipes that swam around in my head for ages before I actually decided to try it out. I’ll blame it on my waffle iron for traumatizing me too many times with sticky waffles and cleanup nightmares. I’ve been using the same waffle iron for almost 15 years now, and, since discovering this recipe about 2 months ago, I’ve probably used it as many times as I did in all those years combined.
Slight exaggeration (perhaps?!) but whatevs – point is that I can now make 3 ingredient bacon plantain waffles whenever I want, because if there are 3 things that always exist in my house, it’s plantains (in all stages of ripeness, I hoard them), bacon (well duh!) and eggs (double duh).
You might look at the photo above and wonder, “is that really it? that can’t be it?!” But, as it turns out, it is. The “secret”, although based on my other recipes probably not all that big of a secret, is that I make use of the rendered bacon fat, which acts as the “oil” in the recipe.
Trust me, I didn’t think it would work either until I saw it and then tasted it for myself. Based on how easy it turns out these waffles are, I actually have to stop myself from making them too much because they’re pretty addicting and easy to go overboard with.
For those of you new to buying and cooking plantains, they’re typically sold in two “types” – the green ones and the yellow/yellow-brown ones. You can cook with both, however different recipes use plantains in different stages of ripeness. The green ones are not at all sweet and make excellent chips and tostones, while the yellow (and riper) ones can be sliced thick and fried into soft, sweet/savory caramelized deliciousness. I eat plantains often in my breakfast hashes as I would potatoes, and like to pair the green ones with kale and bacon, and the ripe ones with apples, bacon, eggs, sausage, etc.
Anyway, for this particular recipe I’ve found the best texture is achieved with a greenish yellow plantain. A dark green plantain yields a good flavor, however it crumbled a bit too much for me. A yellow plantain creates a too-soft texture, better suited to my plantain bacon fritters.
If you can’t find any green/yellow ones in the store, go with a green one and then simply wait it out for a couple of days. Don’t wait too long though! As with avocados, you have to catch the plantain when it’s “just right.” That said, I am being a bit picky and this recipe is actually quite forgiving. I used plantains that were slightly different sizes and a bit greener or more yellow and overall I wasn’t unhappy with any of the results. I’ve also been pretty good at remembering to grease my waffle iron really well, so, of course that doesn’t hurt!
Once you have your plantain picked out, you peel it (peeling instructions here if you need) and cut it into cubes. Cook your bacon until it’s crisp, and save ALL THE FAT! You’ll need just under 1/4 cup (3 Tbsp should do it) and you can always supplement any extra needed with melted ghee or coconut oil. Cool your fat until it’s about room temp, we don’t want sizzling hot bacon fat cooking the egg too soon!
Pulse the plantain cubes in a food processor or blender to form crumbs, then add the fat, egg, and some salt and pepper. Blend again until you have a batter, then crumble in all that bacon! The waffle iron will happily do the rest – just remember to grease it well and preheat to avoid sticking! I think we’re ready to start now – I know you’ll love these!
Savory Bacon Plantain Paleo Waffles
Savory Bacon Plantain Paleo Waffles {3 Ingredients!}
Ingredients
- 1 large green or green/yellow plantain - if it’s too green it may turn out more crumbly if it's yellow/ripe the waffles will come out softer and sweeter
- 1 large egg
- 1/4-1/2 tsp salt I used 1/2 tsp the first time and they were pretty salty, use less depending on your taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 5 slices bacon cooked until crisp, drained and crumbled PLUS the rendered bacon fat, about 3-4 Tbsp, cooled to almost room temp*
Instructions
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Before you begin, have your bacon cooked, with the bacon fat reserved and cooled.
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Peel your plantain and cut into small cubes, place in food processor or high speed blender and pulse until very crumbly, add the egg, bacon fat*, salt and pepper and blend until mostly smooth - the batter doesn’t need to be completely smooth.
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Crumble the cooked bacon into the batter, then preheat your waffle iron and either spray or brush it well with coconut oil or more bacon fat so it's well greased.
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Spread the batter into the greased waffle iron to make about 3 large waffles, and cook for 3-5 minutes until done in the center and crisp on the outside.
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Makes about 3 servings. The recipe can easily be doubled to feed more people! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You can supplement any extra bacon fat needed with melted coconut oil or ghee.
What I Used to Make My Savory Plantain Bacon Paleo Waffles:
Want more easy Paleo plantain recipes? Try one of these!
Tostones with Avocado Ranch Dip
Caramel Cinnamon Sweet Plantains
Tell Me!
Are you good about remembering to grease your waffle iron? Do you have a savory waffle or pancake recipe that you love?
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Can you make these as pancakes rather than waffles? I don’t have a waffle iron at this time.
I think it should be fine, but haven’t tried it. If you do let me know!
I made them as pancakes, about silver dollar sized. So yummy!
Great to hear!
Hmmm…. When we had our old waffle irons I was better at remembering to grease it, but thankfully I usually remember to grease our new one, because scraping waffles off of a waffle iron isn’t super fun.
These are BEAUTIFUL savory waffles Michele; I tried plantains for the first time when I was in Uganda, and I loved them as starchy fried chips!
Interrupted my dinner to write this comment. I made the Plantain waffle with just salt and egg (sans bacon). In my great belgian waffle maker. So delicious. Thanks!
Haven’t used my brand new waffle iron yet due to attempting the Whole30 (?). These sound wonderful and seem to be whole30 compliant. Yes? Also what type of oil do you use to grease your waffle iron? Will basically any oil work? TIA
I use coconut oil to grease the iron! By ingredients, these are Whole30 compliant although typically “waffles” wouldn’t be compliant regardless of ingredients. So, that part is up to you 🙂
Do you think these would freeze well? I have frozen bananas before but I was thinking I could make a larger batch and pull them out the night before to defrost and then toast. Thoughts?
Could I leave out the bacon all together