No Bake Mango Mousse Recipe

This mango mousse is a no bake dessert of fresh mango puree folded into lightly sweetened whipped cream, with a teaspoon of lemon or lime juice to sharpen it. You need 2 ripe mangoes (or 1 cup of puree), ½ cup of heavy cream and about 15 minutes of work, then 2 to 4 hours in the fridge. It fills 4 small glasses.

The one thing to get right is the fold. The puree goes into the cream a third at a time, slowly, so the air you just whipped in stays there. Gelatin is optional. Leave it out for a soft, spoonable mousse, and add it when the mousse has to travel or set as a cake.

Puree, Cream and Chill Time

• Fruit to cream: 1 cup mango puree to ½ cup heavy cream, about 2 to 1, so it tastes of mango first
• Sweetener: 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, less if the mango or pulp is already sweet
• Hands-on time: 15 minutes
• Chill: 2 to 4 hours, covered
• Yield: 4 servings of about ½ cup
• Optional set: 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin bloomed in 2 tablespoons cold water
• Keeps: 3 days in the fridge

Choosing Mangoes for a Silky Puree

Ripe mango does most of the work here, so pick fruit that smells sweet at the stem end and gives a little when you press it. Alphonso and Ataulfo (honey) mangoes have deep color, very little fiber and a strong flavor. Big red and green Tommy Atkins mangoes taste fine but are stringy.

Blend the flesh until completely smooth and measure 1 cup. Two medium mangoes usually give you that. If the puree has threads or looks thin and watery, push it through a fine mesh sieve with the back of a spoon. I skip the sieve only with very soft Ataulfo mangoes, which blend smooth on their own.

Fresh, Frozen or Canned Mango Pulp?

All three work. Frozen chunks should thaw completely and drain in a sieve for 10 minutes before blending, because the extra water gives you a loose mousse. Canned Alphonso or Kesar pulp from Indian grocery stores is the most reliable for color, but most of it is sweetened.

Taste it first. If it is already sweet, cut the powdered sugar to 1 tablespoon or leave it out, and use the full teaspoon of lemon or lime. I learned that the hard way once, with a sweetened puree I had not tasted, and had to stir in extra lemon juice to bring the batch back.

Gelatin or No Gelatin in Mango Mousse?

Without gelatin, this is a soft mousse. It holds a piped swirl in a glass and stays light and fresh, but it slumps if it sits on a warm table for long. With 1 teaspoon of gelatin it sets a little firmer, keeps clean layers in a parfait and survives a car ride or a buffet.

To use it, sprinkle the gelatin over 2 tablespoons of cold water and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes, until it looks like damp sand. Melt it in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds, until clear. Let it cool until just warm to the touch, then stir it into the mango puree, not into the cream.

The puree should be at room temperature. Gelatin poured into anything fridge-cold sets on contact and leaves rubbery threads you cannot fold out. If you want a firm, unmolded set in a glass rather than a mousse, mango panna cotta is the better recipe.

Whipping the Cream and Folding in the Mango

Use cream straight from the fridge and a cold bowl. A glass or metal bowl that spent 10 minutes in the freezer helps. Whip to soft peaks, add the powdered sugar, then keep going until the peaks stand up firmly but the cream still looks glossy.

That firmness matters. A full cup of puree is heavy, and cream whipped only to soft peaks collapses under it. Stop the moment the cream looks dull or slightly grainy at the edges, though. That is the first step toward butter, and it makes a dense, heavy mousse.

Add about a third of the puree and fold with a wide spatula: cut down through the middle, sweep along the bottom of the bowl and give the bowl a quarter turn each time. Add the rest in two more parts. Stir in the lemon or lime juice and the zest at the end, then taste. You are done when no orange or white streaks remain.

Spoon or pipe it into glasses or ramekins, cover and chill.

How to Tell the Mousse Has Set

After 2 to 4 hours in the fridge, the top looks matte rather than wet. Tilt a glass and the mousse barely moves. A spoon meets soft resistance before it sinks in.

Still loose at the 3 hour mark? Give it another hour, covered. Uncovered mousse picks up fridge smells and forms a skin. The gelatin version holds firmer, which is why I use it for tall glasses or a dessert table where it will sit out a while.

Turning It Into a No Bake Mango Mousse Cake

For a small no bake mango mousse cake that slices cleanly, double the recipe and set it in a 6 inch springform pan. Gelatin is not optional here: use 1 tablespoon of gelatin bloomed in 4 tablespoons of cold water for the doubled batch, so each slice keeps a straight edge.

Press a base of about 1 cup graham cracker or vanilla cookie crumbs mixed with 3 tablespoons of melted butter into the pan, and chill it while you make the mousse. Pour the mousse over the crust, smooth the top and chill overnight, or at least 6 hours. To release it, run a knife dipped in hot water around the inside of the ring, then open the clasp.

For a taller cake with more layers, my blueberry mousse cake sets a fruit mousse over a base in the same way.

Runny, Grainy or Streaky Mango Mousse

• Runny after 4 hours: the puree was watery (frozen fruit not drained, or a very juicy mango) or the cream was under-whipped. Serve it as a mango cream sauce over cake, or freeze the glasses for an hour for a soft, semifreddo-style dessert.
• Dense or grainy: the cream went past firm peaks. Next time, stop while it is glossy.
• Rubbery threads: warm gelatin met cold puree or cream. Stir it into room temperature puree next time.
• Too tart: some mangoes are quite acidic. Skip the zest and add the citrus a little at a time, tasting as you go.
• Orange and white streaks: the folding stopped early. Two or three more folds before chilling fix it.

Flavors That Go With Mango

Swap the lemon juice for 1 tablespoon of passion fruit pulp for a sharper, more tropical mousse, or spoon a little passion fruit curd on top. A tablespoon of coconut cream folded in at the end makes it a bit richer, in the direction of this coconut mango tiramisu. With Alphonso mangoes, I sometimes add a pinch of cardamom to the puree.

Glasses, Garnishes and Fridge Life

A ½ cup serving suits small glasses or ramekins, or the batch stretches to 6 to 8 shot glasses for a party tray. Top with the card garnishes: a little whipped cream, chopped pistachios or toasted coconut, and a mint leaf. For a parfait, layer it with crushed graham crackers or vanilla cookies, close to a Filipino mango float.

Covered in the fridge, mango mousse keeps for 3 days; add the garnish just before serving. It can be frozen in individual cups for about a month and thawed overnight in the fridge, but it comes back softer and a little less airy. Serve it cold, never warmed.

Mango Puree and Make-Ahead Questions

How many mangoes make 1 cup of puree?

Usually 2 medium mangoes. With large Tommy Atkins mangoes, one may be enough, so measure after blending.

Can I make mango mousse a day ahead?

Yes. Make it the day before, keep the glasses covered in the fridge and garnish just before serving. Use the gelatin if it will sit out on a buffet.

Can you make mango mousse with cottage cheese?

Not with this method, which gets its air from whipped cream. Blended cottage cheese makes a denser, higher protein mousse; my cottage cheese chocolate mousse shows that approach.

For more chilled cups like this one, my no bake mousse recipes roundup has citrus, chocolate and berry versions, and mango chia pudding uses the same puree for breakfast.