This Mango Chicken dish has all your favourite Thai flavours in one easy meal! It's a little sweet, a little spicy, a little sour, and a little salty, all in one mouthful. Perfectly balanced flavours make this an upscale chicken and rice dish.
I can't think of a better way to bring a warm, tropical feel to a dark, dreary winter day than to serve this vibrant Easy Mango Chicken with Thai Coconut Rice.
Other than a trip to a tropical spot with a white sand beach and palm trees!
This Mango Chicken is one of my go-to chicken dishes. It's quick to put together and if you double the quantity of the sauce, you can freeze half for another time.
It's a little sweet, a little spicy, a little sour, and a little salty, all in one mouthful. Perfectly balanced flavours make this an upscale chicken and rice dish. It's fancy enough for a dinner party when served with Thai Coconut Rice, but easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Not too sweet. Not too spicy. Just right.
🛒 Ingredients
You'll find a complete list of ingredients in the recipe card below.
Tips for Making Easy Mango Chicken
- Make the sauce first by combining two of the mangoes with the chili pepper, vinegar, coconut aminos (or soy sauce), fish sauce, lime juice and zest, coconut sugar, ginger, garlic and turmeric in a food processor.
- Slice the chicken breasts, then toss with flour and salt until coated.
- Fry the chicken in oil until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the sauce and the diced red pepper to the skillet and simmer. Then add the chicken pieces and the diced mango from the third mango.
- Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with cilantro.
- Serve over Thai Coconut Rice or your favourite rice dish.
Make ahead of time!
This is a family-friendly meal! You can make this dish ahead and freeze it.
You can cook it as described, then freeze it in airtight containers for up to 3 - 4 months.
Double the recipe! The recipe as written serves four. You can easily double it if you're serving a larger group, or if you want to freeze half for another day.
Another option is to double only the sauce portion of this recipe and freeze it. Then all you have to do is thaw it, pour it over fresh chicken in the slow cooker or Instant Pot and cut up a red pepper, a fresh mango and chop a little cilantro. A quick dinner!
You might also like this Slow Cooker Thai Mango Chicken. It's one of our favourite family meals, now made even easier by cooking it in a slow cooker or your Instant Pot!
📖 Recipe
Mango Chicken
Ingredients
Mango Sauce
- 3 mangoes, cubed. Use 2 in the sauce, reserve 1 for garnish.
- 1 red chili pepper de-seeded and diced, OR ½ tsp. dried crushed chili
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar OR white or apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoon coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- zest of 1 lime
- juice of ½ lime
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 thumb-size knob of ginger, grated
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- Optional: 3-4 Tbsp. coconut milk
Chicken
- 4 boneless chicken breasts sliced lengthwise into 3-4 pieces each
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour mixed with ½ tsp. salt
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 sweet red pepper, finely diced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro or more, if desired
Instructions
- Place all Mango Sauce ingredients in a food processor. Process until fairly smooth with a few chunks.
- Stir the flour and salt together and place in a mixing bowl. Add the chicken pieces and turn or gently stir them to coat.
- Heat a wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, then begin frying the chicken pieces. Fry 3-5 minutes per side, or until light golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Wash out the pan, or use another clean one. Set over medium-high heat and add the mango sauce and the chopped red pepper. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer. If sauce becomes too thick, add 3-4 Tbsp. water or coconut milk. Simmer 3-4 minutes, or until pepper has softened slightly but is still tender crisp.
- Add the fried chicken pieces, gently stirring them to cover with sauce. Add the reserved mango chunks and simmer just until heated through, or serve raw as a garnish if you prefer.
- Transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve with Thai Coconut Rice.
Irene Rich
I am looking forward to making this recipe in my slow cooker, however I don’t like fish sauce! Will this be an issue? Can I improvise with something else please? Thank you.
Elaine
Hi Irene, You could leave it out and add another tablespoon of soy sauce and a generous squeeze of lime instead. Hope this helps!
Emily
Wanted to say how delicious this was, and share the tweaks I made to it... we didn't have any red pepper around so I used chopped zucchini from the garden and chunks of vidalia onion, both added at the end with the fresh cilantro, and heated just enough to be tender crisp. A little extra lime juice, a little extra heat with a dash of cayenne. AMAZING!
Irene Rich
That’s great to know. Thank u for sharing.
Pedro
I am from Brazil and Thai Food is not common around here. Luckily I was able to find all ingredients and this recipe is going to my cook book. Thank you for it. It's scrumptious and my guests loved it.
Flavour & Savour
I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Abbey
HI! I love this recipe and have made it many times. I am expecting a baby in the near future and am looking to make some freezer meals. Have you tried prepping, freezing, and reheating? Thank you!
Flavour & Savour
Hi Abbey--yes, I have, many times! I have also doubled the quantity of
the sauce and frozen it separately sometimes too. I freeze mangos when I find them on sale, then use them to garnish the top of this dish. You might also like these chicken dishes 3 Easy Chicken Meals to Marinate, Freeze and Bake Congratulations and have fun with your new baby!
Brinestone
How crucial is the wheat flour to this dish? Which do you think would be better: a) using a gluten-free flour blend in place of the flour, b) using corn starch in place of the flour, or c) just frying the chicken in oil and leaving out that aspect of the recipe almost entirely?
I have a son who is allergic to quite a few things (peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, dairy, eggs, and peaches), so finding recipes that he can eat is a pretty difficult task. This one is *so* close that I think I'll try it anyway, but I'd appreciate some guidance on the chicken.
Flavour & Savour
Hi--Great question! I recently remade this recipe to work in the slow cooker. See it here: Slow Cooker Thai Mango Chicken I didn't use any flour in it at all. If you don't want to use a slow cooker, I'd suggest your third option--just fry the chicken. The flour just gives it a bit of a crispy coating, but it's not essential.
LC
Do you think I could throw this in a crock pot?
Flavour & Savour
What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that? 🙂 I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Let me know if you try it!
Amanda @ Cookie Named Desire
Thai food is my favorite! I could seriously eat it every day. I need to try your mango chicken this week!