Mango Sago is a refreshing and satisfying summer dessert, with juicy chunks of mango and a mango/coconut milk tapioca pudding. The glug of heavenly condensed milk doesn’t hurt either!
Inspired by Honeymoon Dessert
This is another dessert copycat off the menu of famed Asian dessert chain, Honeymoon Dessert. (Though you may have seen mango sago elsewhere as well.) Until they expand to the US, we’ll have to keep whipping up our own at home!
When we lived in Beijing, we spent countless lazy summer afternoons in big air conditioned malls, enjoying a bowl of Honeymoon Dessert concoctions with red beans, sticky rice, vanilla and green tea ice cream, grass jelly, mango, and tapioca.
We also indulged in Honeymoon dessert during our last visit to Hong Kong. See our travel post on the Top 10 Things to Do in Hong Kong. Satisfying our cravings at Honeymoon Dessert was thing #7!
If you’re looking for more Honeymoon Dessert-style recipes, check out our Mango Black Sticky Rice Dessert and Grass Jelly Dessert recipes.
An Easy & Healthy Summer Dessert
Mango sago is a delicious tropical-tasting dessert, and it’s also quite healthy! If you wanted to make this vegan, you can simply replace the condensed milk with simple syrup or agave.
It’s also so easy to make. Much easier than a cake, I think! The hardest part is peeling and cutting the mango. You might think cooking tapioca is difficult, but not so! I just boiled these tiny tapioca in boiling water for about 15 minutes.
To see pictures of the type of tapioca I used here, check out our Coconut Tapioca Dessert recipe.
If you like your Mango Sago cold, chill the mango mixture for an hour before adding the tapioca. Just keep in mind that colder temperatures reduce the sweetness, so you may need to add more condensed milk to taste if serving this very cold.
Mango Sago Recipe Instructions
In a pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the mini pearl tapioca (don’t add it before the water is at a full boil!). Stir and bring it to boil again.
Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the tapioca is completely transparent, which means they’re fully cooked.
(A common mistake is to take them off the heat while they still have a small white dot at the center. They should be completely translucent.)
When the tapioca is cooked through, drain, rinse in cold water to cool, then soak in a bowl of cold water and set aside.
Peel the mango, trimming to remove the center pit. Set aside a large handful of nice chunks for topping. The rest will be blended.
In a blender, add the coconut milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract, and mango.
Blend until smooth, and transfer to a large bowl. At this stage, if you like your dessert cold, chill the mango mixture for at least an hour before adding the tapioca.
When you’re ready to serve, pour the mango mixture into serving bowls.
Drain the cooked tapioca, and add to the mango mixture. Top with mango chunks.
Mango Sago
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup small-sized uncooked tapioca (about 60g)
- 3 ripe mangos (about 1 kg)
- 200 ml unsweetened coconut milk (1/2 of a 13.5 oz. can)
- 60 ml sweetened condensed milk (1/4 cup, or more to taste if you like it sweeter)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the mini pearl tapioca (don’t add it before the water is at a full boil!). Stir and bring it to boil again. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the tapioca is completely transparent, which means they’re fully cooked.
- When the tapioca is cooked through, drain, rinse in cold water to cool, then soak in a bowl of cold water and set aside.
- Meanwhile, peel the mango, trimming to remove the center pit. Set aside a large handful of nice chunks for topping. The rest will be blended.
- In a blender, add the coconut milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract, and mango. Blend until smooth, and transfer to a large bowl. At this stage, if you like your dessert cold, chill the mango mixture for at least an hour before adding the tapioca.
- When you’re ready to serve, drain the cooked tapioca, and add to the mango mixture. Scoop into individual bowls and top with mango chunks.
nutrition facts
I like the the mango sago.i tried it and my family loves it.i will try using peach instead of mango.thanks for the recipe.
Peach would be great too :-)
Is it possible to add gelatin or some solidifying agent to make this into a jello type thing? If so what would that entail? Thanks
Hi Carol, I think you are looking for mango pudding recipe, we will post a recipe of it shortly :-)
Please nay I gave tge recipe for mango pudding too? Many thanks.
Hi Molly, our mango pudding recipe is coming out shortly :-)
Hi, i would like to know roughly how many ounces is one serving? Thank you
!!
Hi Judy thanks for this amazing recipe , I tried it for first time and I had to serve it to a group of 20 poeple after our meditation , and all loved this recipe , thanks so much , all measurements were perfect . ❤️🙏
That’s so awesome :-) Thank you for your lovely comment.
Hi!
I never leave recipe reviews but this one was so good my roommates and I have been making it every week, sometimes multiple times a week. We experimented with adding strawberries to the recipe as well (we call it Man-Berry Sago) and we’re all very grateful. It tastes just like they made it back in China, and since we’re in college, this recipe is also the sole source of any fruit intake I get lol
So yeah I just wanted to say thanks for posting this!
Cheers
Wow, thank you for this lovely comment, Joanie. It’s very sweet of you :-)
Can I substitute evaporated milk for the condensed milk? Thanks so much! Love your recipes!
I have some mango I froze last summer. How many cups puree do you think I should use for this?
I think about 3 – 4 cups.
Hi, May I ask is recommend to blend at Low or high speed?
Hi Pansy, it’s up to you, but the goal is to puree it :-)