Calories in plantain

Yellow, raw. 122 kcal (510 kJ) per 100 g. Choose a portion below and every figure on the page updates.

Plantains are starchy cooking bananas that are rarely eaten raw. Ripe yellow plantain has 122 kcal (510 kJ) per 100 g, almost all from carbohydrate. As it ripens, starch turns into sugar, so this yellow stage has 17.5 g of sugar alongside 12 g of starch. Plantains are a good source of potassium and vitamin C and provide some vitamin A.

Where the energy comes from

Share of total energy contributed by each macronutrient, using the standard 4/4/9 kcal per gram factors:

Things worth knowing

• One whole plantain (270 g) has about 329 kcal (1378 kJ), much more than a typical banana because it is larger and denser. A cup of slices is about 181 kcal (755 kJ).
• Ripeness changes the type of carbohydrate. Green plantain has 152 kcal per 100 g but only about 2.3 g of sugar, as nearly all of it is still starch.
• Cooking method matters most. Baked yellow plantain is about 155 kcal per 100 g, restaurant-style fried yellow plantain about 236, and salted plantain chips about 531.
• A whole plantain supplies roughly 1315 mg of potassium and 50 mg of vitamin C, about 28% and 55% of the Daily Values.

Converting these figures

One 1 plantain of plantain is 329 kcal, which is 1,378 kJ. To convert any other figure, divide kilojoules by 4.184 for calories, or use the converter on the home page.

It takes 196 g of plantain to reach 1,000 kJ (239 kcal). See how that compares with other foods on the 1000 kJ to calories page.