Yes, plantain can be good for weight loss. Boiled or roasted plantain, at a sensible portion, fits into a calorie deficit. A 150 g serving of boiled ripe plantain is about 183 calories, and frying the same 150 g of ripe plantain into dodo takes it to about 354.
Ripeness barely moves the calories.
Maybe someone at work told you plantain is too starchy for weight loss, or an aunty looked at your plate and said dodo is what is giving you belle.
I’m Odunayo, a pharmacist and nutrition coach, and plantain stays on my clients’ plates. On this page I’ll show you the calories in plantain cooked five Nigerian ways, what ripeness changes, what frying changes, and how much to serve. To see how plantain compares with the other carbs you eat, read my guide to the best carbs for weight loss.
Calories in plantain by cooking method
Here is the same 150 g of plantain, weighed after cooking, made five ways. The figures come from USDA FoodData Central, and the fat column shows where the extra calories come from.
| Plantain, 150 g cooked | Calories | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Boiled unripe plantain | about 182 | 0.1 g |
| Boiled ripe plantain | about 183 | 0.5 g |
| Boli (roasted ripe plantain) | about 233 | 0.2 g |
| Dodo (fried ripe plantain) | about 354 | 11.3 g |
| Fried unripe plantain | about 464 | 17.7 g |
Dodo picks up about 11 g of fat from the frying oil and fried unripe plantain about 18 g.
The database has no record for plantain roasted over charcoal, so the boli figure uses its record for baked ripe plantain, the closest preparation it holds.
If you count by the whole plantain, one ripe plantain, peeled and raw, weighs about 270 g and carries about 329 calories. A 30 g handful of plantain chips is about 159 calories, nearly as much as a 150 g serving of boiled unripe plantain.
You will see different calorie figures for plantain online, and much of the gap comes from the serving size used and whether the plantain was weighed raw or cooked. Per 100 g, raw unripe plantain is about 152 calories and boiled unripe plantain about 121, because the plantain takes in water as it boils.
So weigh your plantain the same way each time. Every figure on this page is for plantain weighed after cooking, except the whole raw plantain above. If you would rather not weigh anything, our customised meal plan sets your portions for you.
Ripe and unripe plantain for weight loss
Once boiled, unripe and ripe plantain are almost the same in calories: about 182 for 150 g of boiled unripe plantain and about 183 for 150 g of boiled ripe plantain.
As plantain turns from green to yellow to black, its starch turns into sugar. Boiled unripe plantain has about 2 g of sugar per 100 g, and boiled ripe plantain about 17.5 g.
Unripe plantain also keeps a little more fibre, about 3.9 g in 150 g of boiled unripe plantain against about 2.6 g in the same weight of boiled ripe plantain. Part of its starch is resistant starch, which passes through your small intestine largely undigested, a bit like fibre (Birt and colleagues, Advances in Nutrition, 2013).
That is where unripe plantain gets its name for being gentler on blood sugar, and the research on it is mixed. In a small study of ten healthy adults, boiled unripe plantain had a glycaemic index of 44.9 and raw ripe plantain 38, and the study found no real statistical difference between the two.
A review of Nigerian studies places plantain dishes, along with many other Nigerian staples, in the high glycaemic range.
For weight loss, choose the one you enjoy. Our Nigerian food time table rotates boiled plantain, beans, yam, rice and a small portion of dodo across a full week. If you have diabetes, keep following your doctor’s advice on which plantain to eat and how much.
Fried plantain and weight loss
A 150 g serving of dodo is about 354 calories, 171 more than the same 150 g of boiled ripe plantain.
Fried unripe plantain comes to about 464 calories for 150 g.
The extra comes from the oil, at about 120 calories for each tablespoon of vegetable oil the plantain soaks up in the pan.
The dodo figure above is for restaurant-fried ripe plantain. Yours at home can come out higher or lower depending on how thick you slice it, how hot the oil is and how well you drain it.
A 75 g side of dodo is about 177 calories, about the same as 150 g of boiled plantain, so a smaller portion lets you keep it on the plate.
When you fry dodo at home, measure the oil with a spoon instead of pouring from the bottle, and drain the slices on a paper towel before serving. Count the dodo as the carb of that meal, so it takes the place of part of the rice on the plate.
At about 233 calories for 150 g, boli gives you the sweet, roasted taste of ripe plantain with no frying oil.
Does plantain make you fat?
As MedlinePlus, the US National Library of Medicine’s health site, explains, your body stores the calories it does not use as fat, so fat gain comes from regularly eating more than your body uses, whether the calories come from plantain or any other food.
A 150 g serving of boiled unripe plantain is about 182 calories, between 150 g of boiled yam at about 174 and 150 g of cooked white rice at about 195.
A 150 g portion of dodo beside a full plate of jollof adds about 354 calories, and a 30 g handful of plantain chips adds about 159.
How much plantain to eat for weight loss
The figures on this page use 150 g of cooked plantain as an example portion for one meal. Plantain is mainly carbohydrate, with only about 1.6 g of protein in 150 g of boiled unripe plantain, so pair it with protein and vegetables.
Since one whole ripe plantain weighs about 270 g peeled, half a plantain is closer to that example portion than a whole one.
Take 150 g of boiled unripe plantain, one hard-boiled egg of about 50 g, and a pepper sauce cooked with one tablespoon of palm oil. The plantain, egg and oil come to about 379 calories before the tomato and pepper.
A 200 g serving of boiled beans with a 75 g side of dodo comes to about 409 calories and gives about 16.5 g of protein, most of it from the beans.
You can eat plantain every day, at a measured portion, as long as the day’s meals fit your calorie target. I generally do not recommend setting that target below 1,200 calories a day.
Weigh your plantain on a kitchen scale for the first week or two, until you can tell your portion by sight.
A customised Nigerian meal plan
If you want your portions worked out for you, have a look at our customised meal plan for everyone. It’s built on your goals, your daily schedule and the Nigerian foods you like.
