Dried Mango substitute

Best substitute

Dried apricots

Use the same amount by weight, sliced to match as the dried mango you are replacing

Best for trail mix

Close match

Dried apricots are the best swap and go in one for one: same golden color, same chew, slightly tarter and less perfumed. Dried peaches or dried papaya are closer on sweetness, and dried pineapple works if you want the tropical note back but brings more acid. If your recipe wants dried mango chopped into a chutney, salad or rice dish, dried apricots are genuinely hard to tell apart. One warning: dried mango is not the same thing as amchur, the sour green mango powder used in Indian cooking, and the two cannot stand in for each other.

Other dried mango substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Dried peaches or dried papaya
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Dried peach halves, or dried papaya spears which are usually sugar-infused and quite sweet.
What changes
Best for
trail mix, granola bars, snacking, fruit compotes, salsas, baked goods
Dried peaches are the best match for sweetness and for that soft, slightly fibrous bite; they are a touch more perfumed than apricot and read as very close to mango in a snack mix. Dried papaya is closest of all on texture, being sold in the same thick chewy strips, but the commercial kind is heavily sweetened and often dyed a bright orange, so a granola made with it tastes distinctly candied and the pieces stay firmer and glassier. Rinse and blot papaya first if you want to knock back the sugar coating.
3Dried pineapple
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, chopped smaller
Dried pineapple rings or chunks, usually sweetened, firm and quite chewy.
What changes
Best for
trail mix, tropical granola, chutneys, salsa, rum-soaked cakes, muesli
The right choice when the tropical character is what you actually wanted. Pineapple keeps the mix reading as tropical, but it is markedly more acidic and its chew is tougher and more sinewy than mango, so it needs chopping to smaller pieces and a longer soak if it is going into anything cooked. In a chutney the extra acid is a bonus and you can cut the vinegar by about a tablespoon per cup of fruit. In a delicate baked good it can taste sharp and slightly boiled-sweet.
4Fresh mango, oven-dried
Close match
About 3 large fresh mangoes make 1 cup dried
Ripe but firm mango sliced thin and dried slowly in a low oven or dehydrator.
What changes
Best for
snacking, trail mix, granola, anything where mango flavor is the point
The only swap that actually tastes of mango, and it is easy if you have a few hours. Peel firm-ripe mangoes, slice about 5mm or a quarter inch thick, lay the slices on a lined tray so they do not touch, and dry at the lowest oven setting, roughly 60 to 70C or 140 to 160F, with the door propped ajar. They take six to ten hours and are ready when they are pliable and leathery with no wet patch at the centre. Home-dried mango is less sweet and slightly stringier than the sugar-infused commercial kind. Cool it fully before bagging it or trapped steam will make it mold.
5Fresh or frozen mango plus a thickener (cooked dishes only)
Different texture
1 cup dried mango is roughly 2 cups diced fresh mango; reduce other liquid by about ¼ cup
Diced fresh or thawed frozen mango, cooked down so the extra water evaporates.
What changes
Best for
chutney, salsa, curry, compote, smoothies, sauces
Perfectly good where the fruit is going to be cooked or blended anyway, hopeless where it is not. Dried mango is concentrated, so fresh fruit brings a lot of water and much less intensity; simmer it ten to fifteen minutes longer than the recipe says to drive the moisture off, and cut back other liquid. It will also break down into a soft pulp rather than staying as distinct chewy pieces, which changes the texture of a chutney from chunky to jammy. For trail mix, granola, energy bars or cookies, fresh mango is not an option because it will not keep and it makes everything soggy.
6Golden raisins or chopped dates (last resort)
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Golden raisins or pitted dates, chopped to roughly the size of the mango pieces.
What changes
Best for
muesli, granola, flapjacks, rice pilaf, curries
Honest answer: this is a filler swap rather than a substitution. It gives you sweet chewy fruit in the right places, which is often all a granola or pilaf needs, but neither one tastes remotely tropical, and dates are much sweeter and stickier so they clump and can make a bar mixture heavy. Use golden raisins over dark ones for color, and add lime zest or a small pinch of ground ginger if you want any of the mango character back.

What is Dried Mango?

Dried Mango is ripe mango sliced into strips or chunks and dehydrated until chewy and leathery, sold either unsweetened and slightly tart or sugar-infused and candy-sweet, and it works as concentrated sweet-tart fruit that stays chewy instead of releasing water into a batter or sauce.

Cooking tips

Read the package before you decide how much sugar to change. Sugar-infused dried mango, the very soft bright orange kind, is close to candy; unsweetened Filipino or Thai dried mango is tart and much firmer. Swapping one for the other changes the sweetness of a whole batch.
For chutneys, curries or tagines, soak dried mango in hot water for fifteen minutes and use the soaking water in the dish. It carries a lot of flavor and stops the fruit stealing liquid from the sauce.
Dried mango is stringy along the grain. Snip it with kitchen scissors across the strips rather than chopping lengthways with a knife, and the pieces stay in neat squares instead of shredding.
Dried mango is not a substitute for amchur, and amchur is not a substitute for it. Amchur is unripe green mango dried and powdered, used purely as a souring agent like lemon juice; dried mango is ripe fruit used for sweetness and chew.
If pieces are hard and sticky in the bag, warm them for ten seconds in the microwave under a damp paper towel. They will be pliable enough to slice cleanly without going wet.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave dried mango out?

Usually yes. In trail mix, granola, muesli, cookies and rice dishes it is there for sweetness and chew, not structure, so the recipe still works, just plainer. Replace the volume with another dried fruit or with nuts so the ratios of wet to dry stay roughly right, and if the fruit was the only sweetener, add a tablespoon or two of sugar, honey or maple syrup.

Is dried mango the same as amchur powder?

No, and it is one of the most common mix-ups. Amchur, also spelt amchoor, is unripe green mango dried and ground to a pale beige powder, and its job in a dish is sourness, the same job lemon juice or tamarind does. Dried mango is ripe sweet fruit. If a recipe asks for a teaspoon of amchur you want a teaspoon of lemon juice or a pinch of citric acid instead, not chopped dried mango.

Can I use mango chutney instead of dried mango?

Only in cooked savory dishes, and treat it as a different ingredient. Mango chutney is already sweetened, spiced and acidified, so a couple of tablespoons will bring vinegar, sugar and often ginger and chili into the dish along with the fruit. It can be excellent in a curry or a glaze if you cut the sugar and vinegar elsewhere in the recipe. In a granola, cookie or trail mix it just adds wet sugar.

How do I soften dried mango that has gone rock-hard?

Cover it with boiling water, orange juice or a splash of rum and leave it fifteen to twenty minutes, then drain and blot dry. For baking, plumped fruit stays soft in the finished crumb instead of drawing moisture out of it. For trail mix or granola, do not soak it, because damp fruit will make everything else go soft within a day.

What is the best swap in a savory dish like a tagine or curry?

Dried apricots, without much hesitation. They hold their shape through a long simmer exactly the way dried mango does, they go golden and glossy in the sauce, and their slight tartness suits savory spice better than a sweeter fruit would. Use the same weight, and if the dish relied on mango for a tropical lift, finish with lime zest rather than trying to fix it with more fruit.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Dried Mango substitute

Other dried mango substitutes

2Dried peaches or dried papaya

3Dried pineapple

4Fresh mango, oven-dried

5Fresh or frozen mango plus a thickener (cooked dishes only)

6Golden raisins or chopped dates (last resort)