Mango Lassi Recipe – Indian yogurt drink with mango

Mango lassi it’s a delicious Indian drink, based on mango and yogurt. My mango lassi recipe is sweet and refreshing, with just a hint of cardamom.

What is lassi?

Lassi is a sweet or savory Indian drink made from a yogurt/buttermilk and water. Lassi drinks are found in many South Asia and Middle East countries. In India, more rich and sweet versions with different fruits and spices (like saffron, turmeric, rose water) are more common. You can also find salty lassis, called chaas, with mint or cumin. In the Middle East and Turkey, a very simple and salty lassi, called ayran, is often served. It‘s made with milk, chilled water, and salt, and is often served with spicy meat dishes.

What you’ll need to make mango lassi:

You just need these 3 basic ingredients:

• fresh mango
• yogurt
• milk

Other than that I also always add a pinch of cardamom to my mango lassi and sometimes 2-3 Tbsp of sugar. You could also add rose water.

Optionally, saffron threads, chopped pistachios and ground cardamom can be used to garnish the drink.

The authentic mango lassi is usually made of yogurt and chilled water, but we liked the version with milk better.

What to use instead of mango? Well this is mango lassi recipe but I’m sure that it will also taste amazing with any other fruit. I’ve tried it with strawberries and it was delicious. I also have a recipe for Pina Colada Lassi, which is amazing!

The best mango for mango lassi:

For the best mango lassi, make sure to use a sweet, juicy, and ripe mango. If it’s not sweet enough you can always sweeten the lassi with light brown sugar/honey/coconut sugar/palm sugar. Instead of unripe, tart mango, it would be better to use canned mango pulp.

Mango varieties: My favorite mango variety is mango Ataulfo or Alphonso (Mexican, Indian or Thai mangos) or Honey mango (this variety is pictured above). They are super sweet, juicy, and not fibrous. Try these mangos if you can find them. Just be careful, they can ruin all regular mango varieties for you! (tommy atkins/kent, red-green mango varieties, that are available in stores all year round). When I tried mango lassi made with honey mango and kent mango side-by-side, the difference in flavor was really HUGE.

If you’ve wondered how to get that delicious mango lassi like from your favorite Indian restaurant, the answer is:

• use a great mango variety (regular supermarket mango just WON’T DO) or canned mango pulp
• plenty of sugar: 3-4 tablespoons

How does a ripe mango look like: unfortunately, with regular, easy-to-get mango types it is hard to tell. Generally, a ripe mango should be soft to the touch and more red than green (but green mango can also be ripe..). Rock hard mango will be unripe for sure. Unripe mango is pale yellow under the skin and not very sweet. Try to avoid buying mangos that have black spots on their skin – they could have started to rot.

With Ataulfo mango (it’s pictured in the main photo), it’s easier to tell. Ripe mangoes are golden yellow in color and their skin is a little bit wrinkly.

You can read here how to tell if a mango is ripe (the article includes many mango varieties).

How to make mango lassi step by step:

For this recipe, you will need 2 large mangoes (the variety that is most often sold in any store, shown on the photo below) or four small mangos, like ataulfo or honey mango (mango ataulfo is shown on the main photo and the honey mango on the ingredients photo). This will be about 22oz/600g of mango pulp.

This collage picture below shows the easiest way to cut mango. Note that for this recipe you don’t need to cut the flesh in cubes since it will be blended anyway.

How to cut a mango: Mango has one long and flat seed in the center of the fruit. With a sharp knife, cut away the sides of the fruit from the pit. You will have two large oval pieces of fruit. Cut off two smaller sides of the flesh around the pit. Take the big oval piece in one hand and score the flesh in a criss-cross pattern (don’t cut through the skin). Now you can scoop out the flesh with a spoon or invert the piece of mango and cut away the cubes from the peel.

How to make it:

STEP 1: Peel mango, cut off the flesh, discard the seed and peel (shown above).

STEP 2: Add mango flesh, yogurt, milk, sugar, and cardamom into a blender container (you can make mango lassi in a food processor, blender or use a hand (immersion) blender).

STEP 3: Puree until smooth.

Enjoy!

Adjust the taste of the drink to your liking:

• If your mango lassi is not sweet enough – add any sweetener of your choice. The best are raw sugar, palm sugar, jaggery (Indian sugar), light brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar. Alternatively, you could also add xylitol (a healthier alternative) or honey (but don’t add too much honey or its taste will be too overpowering).
• If your drink is too thick – you can change the milk to yogurt ratio and add more milk and less yogurt.
• If your drink is too runny – you can add more yogurt or more mango pulp.

Storage:

You can store mango lassi in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

More mango recipes you may like:

• mango muffins with passion fruit glaze
• Thai coconut sticky rice with mango
• Fish tacos with mango salsa
• Pineapple mango coconut and lime smoothie
• Mango Caipirinha

Did you make this recipe? Let me know how you liked it and give it a star rating in the comments below! You can also add a photo of your creation!