This easy mango chutney has a tangy and fruity flavour that goes well with many dishes. You can enjoy it with a ploughman’s platter, or use it as a topping or a dip for Indian food like curry and popadums. It also adds a delicious touch to a sandwich with ham, chicken or beef. And let’s not forget the cheese – cheese and chutney is a match made in heaven!
**As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.**
Fruity mango chutney
I love making this mango chutney. Chutney is one of those recipes that you can’t mess up, no matter how hard you try. The worst that can happen is that it turns out too runny, in which case all you have to do is boil it longer so that it thickens up a bit more.
Well, that’s not strictly true. The worst that can happen is that you forget about it on the stove and burn it. But that’s just carelessness and nothing to do with the recipe 🙂
There are only a few easy steps to follow:
- Chop up the fruit or vegetables you are using.
- Put them into a saucepan with the vinegar and sugar, and whatever spices are called for in the recipe.
- Bring it all to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour.
Couldn’t be easier.
And with this easy mango chutney recipe, what you end up with is a sweet and sticky, spicy chutney that will have you eating it with a spoon out of the jar. Honestly, it’s that good!
You can leave it chunky, or you could use a hand-blender to make it smoother. I personally like it blended just a little, with a few bigger bits of mango and onion for texture.
I simply can’t get enough of this mango chutney served with cheese, cold meat, crusty bread or crackers and some of my homemade pickled red onions. It makes the perfect easy supper – it’s like summer on a plate!
Let me show you how easy this mango chutney is to make!
What you will need
Equipment
For cooking the mango chutney you will need a large saucepan with a lid. For cutting up the mango and onions you will need a sharp knife and a chopping board.
An electric stick blender is totally optional – you can leave the chutney chunky, or you can smooth it out with a blender.
Ingredients
This recipe will make approximately 1 pint or 500ml of mango chutney.
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this mango chutney on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
Mangoes – the riper the mangoes, the juicier they will be so you may have to increase the cooking time to cater for this. They also have a large pip in the middle. I’ve got photos further down the post that attempt to explain the easiest way to remove the pip.
Onions – you will need approximately one-quarter of onions by volume as mangoes. The onions should be finely diced.
Sugar – for sweetness. It might sound like a lot of sugar, but there is a lot of vinegar in the recipe so the sweetness is needed to counteract the tartness of the vinegar.
Vinegar – I like to use apple cider vinegar, but any vinegar (except balsamic) would be fine.
Olive oil – this is used for softening the onions – you could use sunflower or other neutral-flavoured vegetable oil if you prefer.
Garlic – if you look closely at the image of the ingredients you will notice the tiniest garlic cloves you have ever seen. Hubby has been trying to grow garlic on his allotment and this is what he brought home. Got to say, what they lack in size they make up in flavour!
Ginger paste – I used half a teaspoon of ginger paste from a jar. You could grate your own fresh ginger if you have the time.
Chilli paste – once again, this is from a jar and I used half a teaspoon which is the equivalent of half a fresh chilli. If you want to use fresh chillies you can chop them finely and fry them with the onions. Use to your own taste – this is supposed to be a mild chutney, but if you like a bit more heat who am I to disagree!
Garam masala and cumin – garam masala contains a blend of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, cumin and coriander and depending on the brand you use may have other spices too. I find that the brand I use doesn’t have sufficient cumin which is why I add a small amount extra. You can omit the extra cumin if you prefer.
What to do
Prepare the mango:
Slice the mango on both sides, slightly off-centre to bypass the pip. Using a sharp knife remove the skin from around the edges of the pip then cut off as much mango as possible.
Now remove the skin from each of the two side pieces and cut the flesh into one-inch dice.
If you have young children at home you might want to give them the mango pips to eat so they can suck off any mango that remains (or you might want to do that yourself)!
Make the chutney:
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or saute pan and fry the onions and garlic on a moderate heat until they turn translucent. Stir them often and don’t let them brown.
Stir in the spices and stir fry for one minute longer.
Add the sugar, vinegar and mangoes. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer for 45 to 60 minutes. Keep your eye on it and don’t let it burn. The pan should be on a slow simmer.
The actual time will depend on how ripe the mangoes were (and consequently on how much juice they had). If the chutney is not thick enough after 45 minutes, remove the lid of the pan and continue to simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
You are looking for a thick sticky consistency that leaves a trail if you pull a spatula through it.
Use a stick blender to blend the chutney to your desired consistency.
The chutney should cling to a spoon and drop off slowly.
You can store the chutney in sterilised jars (see FAQ below) for up to a year. Once opened, store the mango chutney in the refrigerator and use within one month.
If you’d like to be notified of any new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter? As a thank-you gift, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.
Easy mango chutney FAQ
To sterilise jars in the oven:
Wash the jars and the lids in hot soapy water, rinse, but do not dry them.
Stand them on a baking tray while they’re still wet.
Place the tray of clean, wet jars and lids into a preheated oven at 160ºC / 320ºF for 10 minutes or until the jars are completely dry.
If you are using jars with a rubber seal, do not put the seal in the oven as the dry heat will damage the seals. Boil the rubber seals in a pan of boiling water for 5 minutes.
To sterilise jars in the microwave:
Wash the jars and the lids in hot soapy water, but do not dry them.
Place them in the microwave whilst still wet.
Microwave on full power for 2 minutes
If the lids are made of metal DO NOT MICROWAVE. Instead, place the lids in a pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.
Save for later
If you would like to make this easy mango chutney yourself, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.
Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
Other recipes
Here are some of my other pickle and chutney recipes you may enjoy:
- Mrs Balls chutney – copycat recipe of the original Mrs Balls chutney that every South African knows and loves.
- Easy green tomato chutney – use up your glut of homegrown tomatoes with this easy chutney recipe.
- How to make pickled red onions – a 10-minute recipe for pickled red onions.
- Spicy beetroot salad – don’t buy store-bought pickled beetroot, make this tasty recipe at home yourself instead.
- Tomato jam – this is a cross between a jam and a chutney – delicious on sandwiches or served as part of a cheese board.
The recipe
Easy mango chutney
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Saucepan with lid
Ingredients
- 4 – 5 large mangoes approximately 1.25 kg or 4¾ pounds
- ½ pound / 250 grams onions finely diced
- 1½ cups / 300 grams white sugar
- 1 cup / 240 ml apple cider vinegar or other fruity vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil for softening the onions
- ½ teaspoon chilli paste optional
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin optional
- ½ teaspoon salt or to your own taste
Instructions
- Slice the mango on both sides, slightly off-centre to bypass the pip. Using a sharp knife remove the skin from around the edges of the pip then cut off as much mango as possible.4 – 5 large mangoes
- Now remove the skin from each of the two side pieces and cut the flesh into one-inch dice.
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or saute pan and fry the onions and garlic on a moderate heat until they turn translucent. Stir them often and don't let them brown.½ pound / 250 grams onions, 3 cloves garlic, 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Stir in the spices and fry for one minute longer½ teaspoon ginger paste, ½ teaspoon chilli paste, 2 teaspoons garam masala, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add the sugar, vinegar and mangoes. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer for 45 – 60 minutes. Keep your eye on it and don't let it burn. The pan should be on a slow simmer.1½ cups / 300 grams white sugar, 1 cup / 240 ml apple cider vinegar
- The actual time will depend on how ripe the mangoes were (and consequently on how much juice they had). If the chutney is not thick enough after 45 minutes, remove the lid of the pan and continue to simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
- You are looking for a thick sticky consistency that leaves a trail if you pull a spatula through it.
- Use a stick blender to blend the chutney to your desired consistency. The chutney should cling to a spoon and drop off slowly.
- Ladle the chutney into sterilised jars, seal and store for up to a year in a cool, dark place. Once opened, store in the refrigerator and use within one month.
Notes
Wash the jars and the lids in hot soapy water, rinse, but do not dry them.
Stand them on a baking tray while they’re still wet.
Place the tray of clean, wet jars and lids into a preheated oven at 160ºC / 320ºF for 10 minutes or until the jars are completely dry.
If you are using jars with a rubber seal, do not put the seal in the oven as the dry heat will damage the seals. Boil the rubber seals in a pan of boiling water for 5 minutes.
To sterilise jars in the microwave:
Wash the jars and the lids in hot soapy water, but do not dry them.
Place them in the microwave whilst still wet.
Microwave on full power for 2 minutes
If the lids are made of metal DO NOT MICROWAVE. Instead, place the lids in a pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Nutrition is per tablespoon – assuming this recipe makes 500 ml or one pint of chutney, and is an approximation only.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
If you made this recipe and enjoyed it, I’d love it if you could give me a star rating in the comments below. And if you’d like to get in touch, you can email me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you. And don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list so you can grab yourself a copy of my FREE COOKBOOK!
If you’d like to continue browsing, just click on this link to all my recipes.
Leave a Reply