Mango Sauce - A Sweet, Healthy Dessert Topping

Simple Mango Sauce for Dessert

This healthy mango sauce recipe contains only 4 ingredients: ripe sweet mango, little sugar, vanilla and freshly squeezed orange or lime. Not much sugar is necessary, particularly with the sweetest mangos - plus the vanilla helps sweeten it naturally.

It's hard to believe that all that sauce can be made with just one mango. But to prove how much pulp we can get from one big juicy fruit, I weighed it in at a whopping 345 grams (12oz or ¾ lb!) to make a thick mango sauce.

What Brings out the Flavour of Mango?

To enhance the flavour of mango, use citrus. What's more, citrus fruits are in full season at the same time of fresh mangos, so it's nature's way of telling us they are meant to go together!

Squeeze a little fresh orange juice (lime or lemon juice) to bring out its flavour. In this recipe I use orange but lemons and limes work just as well. Like in tropical countries, vanilla is also used, so add a little vanilla powder or extract to add natural sweetness. Conversely, a little salt is a flavour enhancer although this is up to your own taste.

Another flavour mango mixer is passion fruit - try them together in these passion fruit mango creams. On the other hand, be careful not to add too much sugar, as this will mask its flavour.

Sweet Mango Sauce - Sweetest Varieties

I tasted my first ever mango when I was growing up in Scotland (I know, right? As far from its native tropical trees as possible!). We picked an unripe deep green one that, when opened up, revealed a pale light yellow flesh but was so hard, we needed a bread knife and chisel! It would have been better in savoury dishes with tons of spice. Needless to say, I thought I didn't like them for years until I discovered the ripe, juicy, sweet ones at a market in Thailand. From then on, I buy them at the markets in France with a bit more confidence!

Use a ripe, juicy mango that are on the sweeter side such as the vibrant yellow-orange Alphonso or Thai sweet green mango (the only green that's sweet). According to the Guinness Book of Records in 1995, the Carabao Mango is the sweetest mango in the world. Correction. It's the sweetest fruit in the world.

How to Make Mango Sauce

First cut the mango away from the stone, peel and cut roughly into chunks.

Place in a blender together with the sugar, orange juice and vanilla and blend until smooth. There's no need for a seive. Alternatively, place in a bowl and blend using an immersion blender or hand mixer.