This is a mango muffin recipe that actually tastes of mango – rarer than you might think! With two big mangoes, the puree flavours the batter and keeps the muffin moist, then lots of chopped mango is stirred in. It domes tall, has a crunchy top and lovely hint of coconut flavour.
Mango muffins
Every mango muffin I’ve tried in the past barely tastes of mango, and that includes my own attempts. You can’t just stir chopped mango into a basic muffin mixture, and one mango isn’t enough for 12 muffins – that’s hardly any mango per muffin!!!
So this year, I set my sights on finally nailing a recipe. With mango puree in the batter and chopped mango stirred in, you will need two BIG ripe mangoes for these muffins. You really need a combination of both puree and mango pieces because there’s only so much puree the batter can take before it turns into bad pudding-like mush (1 cup was the limit). There’s also only so much chopped mango you can add before the muffin starts falling apart (2 cups was the limit).
They dome up beautifully, have a crunchy top, and the inside is soft with – yup, you guessed it – GREAT MANGO FLAVOUR!! I also added coconut flavour into this. Because coconut plus mango just works. 🙂
Ingredients in mango muffins
First, let’s talk mangoes!
Mangoes for muffins
These muffins will only be as good as the mangoes you use. We want sweet and juicy, because the sweetness and moistness of the muffins relies on ripe mangoes.
My favourite is honey gold mangoes (picture above) – richest, sweetest flavour – though R2E2’s are a close second (the giant ones!). Kensington pides and palmer are a little tangier and Keitt’s have a little milder mango flavour. Calypso brings up the rear – they always look the prettiest at grocery stores but they have the least mango flavour. (PS I’m in Australia, these are our most common mango varieties).
Frozen mango can also be used. I’ve included directions in the recipe.
Muffin ingredients
And here’s what you need for the batter.
Plain flour (all-purpose flour) – Not self raising flour which already has baking powder built in. Generally speaking, cakes and muffins don’t rise as nicely and the crumb is not as soft. Better to add your own rising agent.
Baking soda (bi-carbonate) – Speaking of which, this is what we use to make the muffin rise! Baking soda is ~3x stronger than baking powder and I find it works better for these muffins because the batter is a little thicker than usual so it needs a bit of an extra boost to rise nicely.
Vinegar – Acidity that gives the baking soda a kick start on the rising! You can’t taste it at all, it’s just to activate the baking soda. Either vinegar or something else with acidity in it (like yogurt or sour cream) is fairly standard in most of my baking recipes that use baking soda.
Coconut oil – This is the fat I use because it has coconut flavour. Use unrefined coconut oil which has the coconut flavour. Refined is coconut oil with the coconut flavour removed.
Coconut oil is kept in the pantry and has a scoop-able consistency like butter. To use, just melt for 20 seconds in the microwave.
Desiccated coconut – This is also called finely shredded coconut in some countries. Not to be confused with flakes / shavings which are larger. Be sure to use unsweetened, not sweetened.
Sugar – I use white sugar here. I don’t recommend brown sugar because the crumb gets a little too soft and damp. The muffin uses 3/4 cup (150 g) of sugar which works out at 1 tablespoon per muffin, so it’s not too sweet. I initially used 1/2 cup of sugar (100 g) but personally felt the muffin was not quite sweet enough. However, feel free to use the lessor amount if you prefer!
Egg – Use one large egg, 55-60g / 2 oz in the shell. Egg is what holds the crumb of cakes together, but the more you use, the drier a cake will be. I was struggling with a dry crumb for this cake because of the effect of including the mango puree (wet puree = more flour required = drier crumb). In the end, cutting back to just one egg turned out to be the solution!
Vanilla – For flavour.
Salt – Just a pinch, to bring out the other flavours. Standard baking practice these days!
How to make mango muffins
The batter making part is as straightforward as any other muffin – dump and mix, no electric beaters required. The most time will go into chopping the mango. Which I never really consider a chore given how much mango-snacking gets done during the process!
Cutting mango FOR THESE MUFFINS
Use the scrappy bits for the puree, and keep the nice large cheek pieces for dicing.
Cheeks first – Stand the mango upright on the wider side (ie the side that was attached to the tree). Cut the cheek of the mango off each side of the seed, aiming to leave as little flesh as possible on the seed.
Scoop out – Then using a large spoon or scooper (the sharper the edge, the easier it is), scoop the flesh out of the skin. Scrape out any excess flesh from the skin – ideal to use for pureeing!
Remove skin off seed – Cut the skin off the flesh remaining on the seed.
Flesh off seed – Then cut the flesh from around the seed.
For puree – Then puree the mango using a stick blender, or a small food processor. You might struggle with a large food processor, not enough mango.
We need 1 cup of mango puree to mix into the batter. This is 260 grams of mango flesh (9.2 ounces), or 1 1/3 cups of mango chopped into small cubes (once pureed it becomes 1 cup). I measure by weight, and I use the scrappy bits for the puree and keep the cheeks to chop cause it’s easier!
Chopping the mango – We also need chopped mango to stir into the mango. To do this, take a cheek and firstly slice it in half horizontally.
Dice – Then, keeping the two pieces stacked, cut into a grid. If the mango pieces are too large then it can make the muffin fall apart. So chop them fairly small, around 1 cm / 1/3″ or so.
Measure – We need 2 cups of chopped mango. You can either chop then measure out 2 cups, or you can weigh the mango then chop (this is what I do) – you’ll need 370 grams (13 ounces).
Making the muffins
Mango chopping done, this part is super easy!
Spray muffin tin – Spray a 12 hole muffin tin with canola oil, or grease well with butter. I don’t use muffin liners for these muffins because I find you lose too much muffin when you peel the paper off!
Dry – Whisk the Dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking soda and salt).
Wet – Then whisk the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (mango puree, sugar, egg, coconut oil, vanilla, vinegar).
Combine – Pour the Dry into the Wet ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to mix until the flour is mostly mixed in but you can still see bits of flour.
Add-ins – Then add the chopped mango and coconut. Mix just until you can no longer see flour.
ℹ️ This batter is thicker than typical muffin batters because the muffin gets a lot of moisture from the mangoes as they bake. Early versions I made with a looser batter resulted in unpleasantly wet muffins!
Fill and sprinkle – Divide the batter between the holes. It can mound up slightly above the hole because the batter is thicker than normal so it won’t spill over when it bakes. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Full coverage and the more generous the better, for a crunchier top!
Bake – Put the muffins into the oven preheated to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan-forced). Then immediately turn the oven DOWN to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Then bake for 24 minutes, or until the top is golden and crisp, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
ℹ️ The initial high heat gives the muffins a kick start to rise, but then lowering the heat slightly allows them to cook through evenly. Early versions baked for the whole time at the higher temperature were too dry on the outside, though I loved that the top was extra golden and crispy!
Cool for 10 minutes in the muffin tin. Then transfer to a cooling rack and cool for at least another 10 minutes before grabbing one!
So there you have it. Finally made a mango muffins recipe I was happy with! It was strangely more difficult than I expected. I really thought it would be as easy as switching the apple in my Apple Muffins with mango.
But it seems not. Not if you want muffins with actual mango flavour.
I hope you love these as much as I do. – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Mango muffins
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda (bi-carbonate soda), sifted if lumpy (Note 1)
- Pinch of salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1/3 cup unrefined coconut oil (or unsalted butter), melted and slightly cooled (Note 2)
- 1 large egg (55 – 60g/2 oz each in shell)
- 1 tsp white vinegar (Note 1)
- 3/4 cup white sugar (can reduce to 1/2 cup but no less)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (260g) mango puréed mango (1 1/3 cups small chopped mango reduces to 1 cup once pureed, Note 3), room temp
Add-ins:
- 2 cups (370g) chopped mango , small, 8mm to 1 cm max, room temp (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut , unsweetened (finely shredded coconut)
Crunchy topping:
- 2 tbsp demerara sugar (Note 4)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan-forced). Spray a muffin tin with canola oil or grease well with butter. (Note 5)
- Batter – Whisk Dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk all the Wet ingredients well in a separate large bowl until smooth. Pour the Dry ingredients into the Wet ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to mix together until the flour is almost incorporated.
- Add-ins – Add the chopped mango and coconut, then mix until you no longer see flour – stop mixing, even if there are a few flour lumps, else the muffin will be dry and tough. The mixture will be thicker than typical muffin batters because it gets a lot of moisture from the mangoes as it bakes.
- Crunchy top – Divide between muffin holes, it should be slightly mounded (as pictured in post). Sprinkle the top of each with 1/2 teaspoon of Demerara sugar.
- Bake – Place in the oven. Immediately turn the oven down to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Bake for 24 minutes or until the surface is golden and crunchy, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Cool – Leave in the muffin tin for 10 minutes then transfer onto a cooling rack. Cool for at least another 10 minutes before grabbing one!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Mango madness
Life of Dozer
He always gets the seed*. 😇
* Supervised. He’s only allowed to nibble the flesh off, as you’ll see in today’s recipe video. I don’t let him eat the seed.
Made these yesterday and blew the family’s minds! added a teeny bigger pinch of salt, and teeny bit less sugar to make them bitey… soo good!
Thank you for the delicious recipes,and posts about Dozer.
Can one use dried mango in the recipe?
Absolutely fantastic and easy recipe to follow. Loved and enjoyed by everyone who ate them. I ended up making 3 lots over 5 days-and there’s the proof of just how good they are. Thank you Nagi (and Dozer)
These were AMAZING! They’re going into my regular rotation. My nieces absolutely loved them.
Re your mango muffins recipe, I made them today for afternoon tea with a group of neighbours in my retirement village. I used ‘Ashoka’ Kesar Mango Pulp because fresh mangoes at my local supermarket are too expensive. The results were excellent and the platter was emptied almost before I could pour the tea. Five guests asked for the recipe because they were so impressed. Big accolades to you. Keep up the good work. Don Gordon, Mt Lawley West Aust
Worked perfectly, not dry at all, and actually tasted like mango. I love the fact that every one of your recipes always works. I was given your cookbook for Christmas and I’m obsessed with it, one of the best gifts of the year!
I made these for my family including grandkids.
They all loved them. May now become a special treat at Pops
place.
Thank you Nagi
These are fab! I had some big mangoes on the verge of death.. incredible! I’m on a diet but I’ve given up on that solely due to these muffins.
Yum! Made these this afternoon and my young tradie son smashed through 5 of them when he arrived home after work! Huge hit! I did use large Kensington Pride mangoes as they were on sale and found I needed 4 of them to make the puree and pieces. Thanks for yet another winning recipe, Nagi and Dozer!
Hi all, Firstly Nagi I love ALL of your recipes. Just wondering if anyone has made these with gluten free flour? If so, did you need to make any adjustments? Thanks in advanced.
Hi Jennie, I’ve made these with gluten free flour before, and they worked great. I am experienced-ish with gluten free baking and thought I could give some advice?
First, add scant 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum. You might be sick of hearing this, but it really does make a really big difference to gluten free baking, and yes it is natural. There’s not really any substitute (though I have heard of some people having good results with guar gum), and you can find it in some grocery stores and specialty stores, and online. If you can’t find it, that’s alright, just leave it out, but it really is worth the effort if you can. Also, some GF flour blends already have xanthan gum (check in the ingredients for “thickeners”). It is worth getting this if you can’t find xanthan gum. And no, you can’t replace it with cornflour or baking soda!
Second, reduce the flour content by roughly 10%. This is simply because gluten free flour absorbs more moisture than wheat based flours
Sorry it’s a bit of an essay, but hope this helps 🙂
Thank you also – was hoping someone has made it gf – will try 👍
Oh Gosh, thank you soooo very much. I’m not GF but a lot of my work mates are so I wanted to make sure they could indulge in baked goodies too. Cheers
Hi Jennie, if you bake gf often, these articles may be of interest
https://theloopywhisk.com/2021/10/08/xanthan-gum-101/
https://theloopywhisk.com/2021/09/23/homemade-gluten-free-flour-blend/
That site is generally good for pretty much everything dietary, and it’s all set in science which is recounted to you. I hope these could be of assistance!
Thanks so much! I don’t eat GF but so many of my teacher colleagues are so I like to keep them fed too
Hi Nagi,these sound so yummy,can’t wait to make them.Love Mango.
Hi Nagi, love your recipes. Thank you.
These are delish Nagi! I added some nutmeg and cinnamon to give it an extra bit of a kick. Thanks so much for the recipe 😋
Oooh! That’s a great idea. I wondered whether cinnamon would be strange with mango. Clearly not! 🙂 N x
I was sadly a little underwhelmed with the mango flavour in these – they are yummy, but for the amount of mango required, wouldn’t make again. The crunchy top was amazing straight out of the oven, but sadly the crunch doesn’t last very long once cooled.
Have you considered silicone muffin liners?
Hi Nagi. Mango is one of my favourities fruits. I am drooling as I read the recipe. Unfortunately I can’t find good mango in New Zealand.
Can I use banana instead?
I love your recipes and your furry helper
Many thanks
Yum! Yum! Yum!
I made these exactly to the recipe and with honey golds – the only thing I didn’t have was demerara sugar so used raw sugar instead. Are enjoying eating them with a slab of butter and meyer lemon curd. They are so delicious. Thanks Nagi 🙂
Oooh LEMON CURD!!! What a terrific idea Shirley, swiping that for my next batch! N x
Noticed vanilla is added in video but not mentioned on the ingredients list. Love all your recipes Nagi!!
Oh no, I downloaded the recipe before the vanilla was added. Still taste ok without it, mine came out tasting a little doughy but skewer was clean and I had already given the, an extra 3 mins, wouldn’t have wanted to leave them for longer.
Oh shoot! Adding it now, thanks for picking it up! – N x
Nagi, I need to take breakfast breads to a destination family vacation. Could I use this recipe to make a loaf pan of mango bread? Bread would be easily to transport.
Soo… I made this with mashed banana and chopped banana/blueberry instead, and that turned out 5 stars 😁
I needed this the other week when I used your apple muffin recipe to use up some apricots (turned out a fraction too moist). I bet this recipe would have been perfect! One day I might try it with mangoes too 🙂
Wow! They worked out using mashed banana?? That’s so great to know Kathy! I was actually thinking about trying this with other fruit that can be pureed / mashed like peaches! N x
I might be slightly obsessed with this recipe! Today’s version had 3 pureed bananas from the freezer with 2 punnets of chopped strawberries. That’s a lot of fruit in 12 muffins! I used only half a cup of sugar (minimum recommended) and no coconut. Love, love, love.
Finally! I made recipe exactly as written. So pretty, and a lovely delicate flavour 🥭🙂
Ooooh I really hope you do try with other fruit! I’m allergic to mango, and I would love a peach or apricot variant!
Love your recipes!