Chamoy Recipe: How to Make Mexican Chamoy Sauce

Chamoy is a layered sweet-and-sour sauce (or spice blend) that combines Asian flavors with traditional Mexican seasonings. In the sixteenth century, Spanish colonizers arrived in Mexico with Chinese spices and silks in tow, and Asian flavors have occasionally found their way into Mexican cuisine ever since.

See mui (“see-moy”), a salty, pickled apricot delicacy from China (similar to Japanese umeboshi), eventually evolved into the similarly named Mexican chamoy. Chamoy brings together ingredients that may seem unexpected but, when combined, absolutely sing, like ume plums, dried fruits, sugar, and a variety of smoky, spicy chilis. The result is a smooth, intensely flavored sauce.

This Mexican condiment is simultaneously sweet, sour, salty, fruity, and spicy—like hot sauce, but with a mouth-puckeringly tart freshness. Think of it as a combination of Japanese umeboshi and savory-yet-sweet condiments like South Asian chutneys, mango pickles, or lime pickles. The sauce’s most assertive ingredients include hibiscus flowers for tartness, guajillo chile for smokiness, chile de árbol for heat, dried apricots for sweetness, and tangy umeboshi plums or tamarind for intense tart-saltiness.

There are many delicious bottled versions of chamoy available, but making homemade chamoy is quick, easy, and great for canning (it’s so acidic that you don’t need to add a preservative). Here are some ways to enjoy this condiment:

1. 1. Add it to fresh fruit. Few summertime treats are more refreshing than hydrating, fresh mango, watermelon, pineapple, jicama, and cold cucumbers. Topping them off with chamoy sauce gives them a serious kick of flavor.
2. 2. Add it to beverages. Micheladas are a cocktail that combines ice-cold beer with tomato juice and plenty of spices (like a Bloody Mary with beer instead of vodka). Line the rim of your Michelada glass with a chamoy-inspired spice blend, or drizzle some sauce right into the beverage. Serve it with your favorite Mexican foods—Chef Gabriela Cámara’s top eight recipes are a great place to start if you’re new to Mexican cuisine.
3. 3. Swirl it onto paletas. Mexican popsicles, also known as paletas, typically include fresh, chunked-up fruit. Add a swirl of chamoy for a sweet and spicy summertime cool-down.
4. 4. Drizzle over ice cream or sorbet. The beloved Mexican dessert mangonada (also called chamoyada) combines mango sorbet and chopped fresh mango, topped with a blend of chili powders and dried mango and chamoy sauce.
5. 5. Pair it with salty fare. Top tortilla chips, tacos, or even nachos with chamoy sauce to highlight its unique sweet-sour-savoriness.
6. 6. Make chamoy candies. To make this classic Mexican candy, mix powdered sugar and chamoy sauce into a dough. When the dough is stiff enough to handle, roll it into small balls, dip them in chamoy sauce, and dust them with powdered chiles.