Mango Sago: Quick & Refreshing Summer Dessert - The Woks of Life (2024)

Mango Sago is a refreshing and satisfying summer dessert, with juicy chunks of mango and a mango/coconut milk tapioca pudding. The glug of heavenly condensed milk doesn’t hurt either!

Inspired by Honeymoon Dessert

This is another dessert copycat off the menu of famed Asian dessert chain, Honeymoon Dessert. (Though you may have seen mango sago elsewhere as well.) Until they expand to the US, we’ll have to keep whipping up our own at home!

When we lived in Beijing, we spent countless lazy summer afternoons in big air conditioned malls, enjoying a bowl of Honeymoon Dessert concoctions with red beans, sticky rice, vanilla and green tea ice cream, grass jelly, mango, and tapioca.

We also indulged in Honeymoon dessert during our last visit to Hong Kong. See our travel post on the Top 10 Things to Do in Hong Kong. Satisfying our cravings at Honeymoon Dessert was thing #7!

If you’re looking for more Honeymoon Dessert-style recipes, check out our Mango Black Sticky Rice Dessert and Grass Jelly Dessert recipes.

An Easy & Healthy Summer Dessert

Mango sago is a delicious tropical-tasting dessert, and it’s also quite healthy! If you wanted to make this vegan, you can simply replace the condensed milk with simple syrup or agave.

It’s also so easy to make. Much easier than a cake, I think! The hardest part is peeling and cutting the mango. You might think cooking tapioca is difficult, but not so! I just boiled these tiny tapioca in boiling water for about 20 minutes.

To see pictures of the type of tapioca I used here, check out our Coconut Tapioca Dessert recipe.

If you like your Mango Sago cold, chill the mango mixture for an hour before adding the tapioca. Just keep in mind that colder temperatures reduce the sweetness, so you may need to add more condensed milk to taste if serving this very cold.

Mango Sago Recipe Instructions

In a pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the mini pearl tapioca (don’t add it before the water is at a full boil!). Stir and bring it to boil again.

Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the tapioca is completely transparent, which means they’re fully cooked.

If after 20 minutes, the pearls still have a white center, turn off the heat, cover, and let the tapioca sit in the hot water for another 10 minutes, until translucent.

When the tapioca is cooked through, drain, rinse in cold water to cool, then soak in a bowl of cold water and set aside.

Peel the mango, trimming to remove the center pit. Set aside a large handful of nice chunks for topping. The rest will be blended.

In a blender, add the coconut milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract, and mango.

Blend until smooth, and transfer to a large bowl. At this stage, if you like your dessert cold, chill the mango mixture for at least an hour before adding the tapioca.

When you’re ready to serve, pour the mango mixture into serving bowls.

Drain the cooked tapioca, and add to the mango mixture. Top with mango chunks.