Mango Bread Recipe: 4 Tips for Making Mango Bread

Mango bread is a quick bread flavored with fresh mango. Commonly baked in a loaf pan and sliced to serve, mango bread is a variation of an easy banana bread recipe, featuring mango in place of banana. Like other quick breads, mango bread gets its rise from leavening agents such as baking powder and baking soda, rather than yeast. Without yeast in the batter, the texture of mango bread is more like a cake or muffin than a loaf of bread.

A fresh, ripe mango will give your mango bread the most concentrated mango flavor, but you can substitute frozen diced mango in a pinch. Follow these tips to make the most delicious mango bread at home:

1. 1. Toss your mangos in flour. To prevent your mango pieces from sinking to the bottom of the bread, lightly coat them in flour. The coating will help the diced mango cling to the batter and distribute evenly throughout the bread.
2. 2. Add applesauce to reduce fat. Give your mango bread a healthy twist by swapping half of the oil in the recipe with unsweetened applesauce. Substituting applesauce for oil reduces the fat and calorie content of the recipe without sacrificing texture.
3. 3. Mix the batter just until combined. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry until they are just combined. Continuously mixing mango bread batter causes the gluten to strengthen, which is great for yeasted bread but will leave your mango bread tough and chewy. Leaving some lumps in the batter is perfectly okay.
4. 4. Store in an airtight container. Mango bread is a moist quick bread, so store it in an airtight container on the counter where it won’t dry out. To freeze, wrap mango bread tightly in plastic wrap or seal it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months.

Quick breads are an ideal canvas for add-ins. Customize your mango bread with these suggestions:

1. 1. Chocolate chip mango bread: Add chocolate chips to the mango bread batter to make mango bread that will appeal to chocolate lovers. Toss the chocolate chips with flour to make sure these additions don’t sink to the bottom of the bread.
2. 2. Mango banana bread: The flavors of mango and banana complement each other in a quick bread. It’s a delicious way to riff on a classic recipe.
3. 3. Mango bread with cream cheese filling: Beat together cream cheese, brown sugar, and an egg to make a cream cheese filling. Pour half of the batter into a loaf tin, layer the cream cheese filling, top with the remaining batter, and bake, to create mango bread with a cheesecake-like filling.
4. 4. Mango coconut nut bread: Lean into the tropical flavors of mango bread by adding dried coconut flakes or chips, plus a chopped nut of your choice. Try walnuts, pecans, or macadamia nuts.