Mango Sorbet Recipe

This thick, creamy mango sorbet recipe is made with 5 ingredients in 5 minutes – gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan dessert at its best I think!  You can eat it straight from the food processor or, if you want the real deal, churn it in an ice cream machine to make it extra thick and creamy! (I’ve also got detailed instructions for how to make this mango sorbet by hand if you want to do it like that) This is just the little sweet palate cleansing dessert that everyone longs for after a big meal.  It’s also perfect for the kids on a hot afternoon to give them a sweet treat that has far less sugar in it than shop bought treats and counts as one of their fruit portions for the day at the same time!

Jump to:

• Ingredients Notes
• Basic Instructions
• Making ice cream and sorbet by hand
• Ice Cream Machine Advice
• Serving suggestions
• Substitutions
• Making ahead
• Storage
• Leftovers
• 📖 Recipe 📖
• More Recipes
• Comments

My family are obsessed with this sorbet.  I make sure to always keep frozen mango in the freezer, so that I can whip it up at a moment’s notice whenever they fancy it!  

Ingredients Notes

• Mango – there are so many different varieties of mango and each will give a distinct flavour to this sorbet.  I love using frozen alfonso mango which is really sweet and richly flavoured, but when I can’t find that, I like chopping and changing with different versions.  Since there are different levels of sweetness, you may find you need to adjust the sugar levels so just taste the mixture and adjust accordingly.  Bear in mind, though, that the mixture will not taste as sweet once it is frozen because freezing deadens the sweetness a little to your taste buds.  So go a little sweeter than you think it needs to be.

• Sugar – even though mango is already quite high in sugar, you need a little extra in this recipe to provide the structural support to give it that whipped creamy texture.  That said, if you are using frozen mango, check the packet to make sure that there is no added sugar with the mango.  If it contains added sugar, just remove the sugar from the recipe and it will still work as the added sugar from the packet of frozen mango will do the same job.

• Lime – the lime offsets the sweetness of the mango and adds a little more acidity.

• Water – if you intend to eat the ice cream straight from the food processor without the bother of churning, then start with only half the water suggested in the recipe.  If you find it needs a little more to mix effectively, then add the water little by little until the correct consistency is achieved.

• Salt – I know it seems strange to add salt to something sweet but a little pinch of salt helps intensify all the flavours. I use Himalayan pink salt which does not have a very strongly salty taste.

Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for full list of ingredients and their quantities.

Basic Instructions

This really couldn’t be simpler.  

• If using frozen mango – blend the ingredients together and eat. 

• If using fresh mango – blend the ingredients together, cool, churn in the ice cream machine.

If you use frozen mango and very cold water, you should be able to enjoy this mango sorbet straight from the food processor.  However, a short stint in the ice cream machine will give it that thick creamy consistency of ice cream.  

This is a summary only. Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this page for full detailed instructions. Thermomix instructions are also included in the recipe card.

(This set of photos is for using fresh mango so the mixture is a more runny consistency after whizzing in the food processor)

Making ice cream and sorbet by hand

Making ice cream by hand is a bit of a labour of love as, essentially, you need to freeze it whilst interfering with the freezing enough times to keep the ice crystals broken up into tiny pieces.

To make this mango sorbet by hand, put the blended mixture into a shallow dish in the freezer and freeze for 30-45 minutes until it is just starting to freeze around the edges.  Then stir it up with a fork or whisk and return to the freezer.  Do this again once or twice more while it is freezing to prevent any big ice crystals from forming while it freezes.  

The other way to make this mango sorbet by hand is to freeze the blended mixture for a couple of hours until it is frozen and then cut it into pieces and whizz again in the food processor, as briefly as possible to get a smooth mixture but with as little melting as possible.  Put the re-whizzed mixture back in the freezer for another 2 hours.  You may need to repeat this process again if you want a really light and airy texture.

Ice Cream Machine Advice

Ice cream machines can be infuriating things.  I used to have the type where you had to freeze the bowl first and it took up so much space in the freezer and never seemed to be there when the inspiration hit to make ice cream.  The little plastic mixing bits were also too soft and used to get stuck once the ice cream started to freeze.  

So, before we moved to Qatar, I decided to treat myself to a top notch ice cream machine with built-in condenser.  I decided that if we were going to be in a boiling hot country, I wanted to have the ability to make ice cream easily.  Little did I know that covid would hit 6 months later and we would be in lockdown for months on end and that ice cream machine would be the little bit of joy that provided entertainment and excitement for the whole family each day as we tried out different ice cream flavours to make!  

Honestly, although it was a rather large investment for ice cream making (which, let’s face it, is not a necessity in life!), it has been one of the best investments for our family and has provided so much family fun and together time.  I highly recommend this Cuisinart ice cream machine (paid affiliate link).  You don’t need to freeze the bowl, you just switch it on and it freezes and churns the ice cream brilliantly - usually in about an hour.  It is much faster if you cool the mixture in the fridge before you add it to the ice cream machine.  I love that it gives consistent results every time, with no hands on supervision from me and it doesn’t take up space in the freezer.  (It is rather large though but, in our house, it lives on a countertop in the back kitchen ready for use at any time!)

Serving suggestions

• You can either serve this mango sorbet in a gluten-free ice cream cone on a hot sunny afternoon or as a dessert in a bowl with the ice cream cone broken up into large pieces and scattered on top.  

• Make sure to take the mango sorbet out of the freezer for a few minutes before you want to serve it so that it softens a little first.  The best way to do this is to put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes so that it doesn’t melt around the edges.

• It also helps to get a jug of hot water and dip the spoon or scoop into the hot water before taking a spoonful so that it glides through the sorbet more easily and creates perfect little balls of sorbet!

Substitutions

If you’re not a fan of mango (unlikely since you probably wouldn’t open up the recipe if you’re not!), you could swap for frozen raspberries.  I know they’re completely different to mangos but they do work well with this recipe too!

Making ahead

You can of course make this ahead and keep it in the freezer for when you’re ready for it.  

Storage

This goes without saying really but keep the sorbet in the freezer to avoid melting!  Obviously it will keep for ages but it does deteriorate a little with time.  I think it’s best within a week or two.

Leftovers

You can obviously eat the leftovers as sorbet on another day but you can also store the leftovers in the fridge and use as a sauce for another dessert or to include in smoothies. 

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More Recipes

If you like this recipe, you may like these other delicious vegan and gluten-free dessert recipes too:

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