Vegan Mango Lassi

This recipe was originally published in May 2017. It has been updated with new photographs and improvements to the recipe and text as of July 2020.

This vegan mango lassi is very simple, and dairy free, but it tastes just like it should – light and dreamy and a little spicy. The recipe only calls for a maximum of five ingredients but just make sure that you’re using your favourites of everything that’s going in it.

Get a good mango, your favourite yogurt, and use whole cardamom pods if you can (which is always better anyway). You can use ataulfo mangos – the small yellow ones, they’re best – or a regular green mango (usually Kent). Let it get really ripe before making this recipe and you shouldn’t need any extra sweetener.

If you’re not familiar with lassi, it’s a yogurt based drink that originated in the Punjab region in India. Traditionally it’s salty, rather than sweet, but sweet versions (with additions like rose, saffron, or mango, like this one) are popular. So make yourself a good curry, a batch of naan, and a lassi to go with it instead of ordering in!

Ingredients

• Fresh, ripe mango
• Coconut yogurt
• Cardamom
• Maple syrup, or honey if not vegan (optional)
• Cold water, if needed

Method

Couldn’t be easier! Simply blend the mango, yogurt, cardamom, and sweetener (if using) until very smooth, and serve immediately. This should be served at room temperature rather than chilled before consumption.

If the lassi is too thick, you can thin it out with a bit of cold water until it’s the consistency you like. It should really be a bit thinner than it is pictured, but this particular one was quite cold when I took the photos because my mango was in the refrigerator. It thinned out when it came to room temperature.

Tips and Notes

If you have an ultra high-speed blender, you can probably chuck the whole cardamom seeds in without grinding them ahead of time. Otherwise, use a mortar and pestle or, my old method, the back of a spoon on a hard surface.

I use an immersion blender, but any type of blender will work for this as mango is so soft. If you find that your blender is leaving chunks or stringy bits behind, it’s probably the type of mango you’re using, so I recommend searching out an ataulfo mango, which doesn’t have a fibrous texture.

Keep in mind that lassi is a yogurt drink, not a mango drink, and so there is more of a yogurt flavour than you’d get in a fruit smoothie. It tastes a bit like mango yogurt, really. This doesn’t keep very well after mixing so I don’t recommend storing it in the refrigerator for any length of time.

Substitutions

Coconut yogurt is best here – it’s an obvious pairing – but other non-dairy yogurts are good too. Oat, almond, whatever your favourite is. As mentioned above, make sure it’s one you really like, and choose a yogurt you like plain because the taste won’t be masked enough to hide one you hate.

Cardamom is classic, and I always recommend fresh cardamom rather than ground. Like nutmeg and pepper, pre-ground cardamom is not great. You can use other spices, like vanilla or ginger, if you hate cardamom.

The recipe calls for fresh mango, but frozen is good if you can’t get fresh. You will likely need to thin the lassi out with some water or non-dairy milk if you use frozen mango.

More Refreshing Drinks

Strawberry Watermelon Juice
Orange Coconut Smoothie
Blueberry Peanut Butter Smoothie
Strawberry Slush
Orange Ginger Beer Sparklers

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