Mango Panna Cotta
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Mango Panna Cotta is a smooth and creamy Italian dessert down to the last spoonful! It’s easy to make ahead of time when you’re entertaining. Perfect for parties, potlucks and picnics!
Watch Video: Mango Panna Cotta:
When you’re looking for a different type of dessert, look no further than this mango panna cotta for inspiration! Panna cotta is one of the most popular desserts in Italy, where it translates as cooked cream.
In this panna cotta mango concoction, the tartness of the fruit contrasts beautifully with the creamy panna cotta. We’ve served it at dinner parties, and one reader even made it for a wedding shower!
How to Make Mango Panna Cotta
There are two parts: the mango puree, and the vanilla panna cotta itself. You want to make sure you’ve got juicy ripe mangos for the best flavor.
Cut them into chunks and blend into a smooth puree in the blender. We’ve then used gelatin powder to thicken the puree.
Once you’ve mixed the mango puree into the thickened mango juice, you’re ready to carefully pour the blend into your stemless wine glasses. We used 15 oz wine (440 ml) glasses, and smaller sizes will also work.
The glasses are held in place using a standard muffin pan with a hand towel underneath so they don’t shift. Then let the liquid cool in position for 2 hours to set, taking care not to disturb the muffin pan!
The final step is making the panna cotta mixture, which is essentially milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and gelatin cooked over low heat. Once it’s ready and cooled to room temperature, pour it over the mango mixture to fill up the glasses.
In terms of serving, you can leave the panna cotta in the refrigerator for several days covered in plastic wrap. Then garnish with a few chunks of mango and raspberry right before serving.
Mango Panna Cotta
Ingredients
Mango Puree
- 4 medium mangos, peeled and pitted, about 2 cups
- 1 cup mango juice
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin powder, see note
Panna Cotta
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin powder, see note
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, see note
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings - optional
- 1/2 cup diced mango
- 1/2 cup fresh berries
Instructions
Mango Puree
- Add mango flesh to a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add mango juice and sprinkle gelatin on top. Wait 5 minutes for gelatin to soften and then mix with a spoon.
- Microwave mango juice for 1 minute on high power. Stir again for one minute until gelatin has dissolved.
- Set stemless wine glasses or tumblers in a muffin tin on an angle. If the glasses slide, place a tea towel underneath to stabilize.
- Mix together the mango puree and mango juice mixture. Pour into glasses to a half inch below the rim, and chill in position at least 2 hours to set.
Panna Cotta
- In a small saucepan, add milk and powdered gelatin and wait 10 minutes.
- Raise heat to medium, add sugar and stir several minutes to dissolve.
- Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the cream, vanilla and salt.
- Once at room temperature, pour into the glasses enough to cover mango. Chill for 1-2 hours until set.
- Garnish with optional raspberries and diced mango. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- You can substitute half and half milk for heavy cream if you prefer a lighter version.
- As we've received many questions about gelatin conversion, use the table to determine the correct amount of gelatin:
| Envelopes | Teaspoons | Ounces | Grams | Sheets |
| 1 | 2 1/2 | 1/4 | 7 | 3 |
| 2 | 5 | 1/2 | 14 | 5 |
| 3 | 7 1/2 | 3/4 | 21 | 9 |
Please read our nutrition disclaimer.
Other popular panna cotta recipes include strawberry panna cotta, lemon panna cotta and chocolate panna cotta.
More mango recipes:
Editor note: Originally published Nov 15, 2016 and updated June 21, 2019.
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Hi , my name is Gurbachan. I have tried ur mango Panna Cotta . Its my first time. I love n enjoy eating. One of my favourite. Also love the tiiramisu. Its an itslian desserts.
Hi Gurbachan, Thanks for your comment and great to hear you enjoyed the panna cotta! It’s a fabulous Italian dessert
I need clarification on a comment. This comment: “Hi there, Thanks for your review and I added the volume amount of mango puree (2 cups). Hope that helps!” implies that the 2 cups is for the processed mango puree. However, the ingredient list states: • “4 medium mangos, or 2 cups, peeled and pitted ” in my mind, implies that it is not already processed (i.e. still in chunks). Please advise. Thank you.
Hi Paula, Thanks for your question and you are correct! It’s 2 cups still in chunks. The puree amount will be a bit less. Hope that helps! 🙂
The look of this dessert is great but although I measured carefully both the mango and pannacotta were rubbery ie too much gelatine, so I was surprised to read that for some people it did not set. Could envelopes in the UK contain more than in the USA? My beautiful desserts were left uneaten. We topped them with mint and pomegrante seeds for Christma.Christmas.
Hi Adrienne, So sorry to hear that and thanks for your feedback. I suspect the UK envelopes are different, or at least the how the gelatin is formulated. If you try again I’d recommend halving the amounts and checking the package directions for more information.
I made 4 batches of this dessert in the past two weeks because it tastes great to me, my family, and friends. I followed the written instructions and everything gel’d fine. For my taste preference, I prefer the mango purée to be slightly firmer than this recipe, and the panna cotta a bit softer. For this tweak, I moved 0.5 pkt of Knox gelatin from the panna cotta part of the recipe into the mango purée (I.e. just 2.5 pkts into the milk/cream mixture, 1.5 pkts of gelatin into the mango part).
Other things learned:
– start with very cold/fridged mango juice and milk to dissolve the gelatin; warmth/heat actually clumps the gelatin
– it’s not mango season anymore, so canned mango purée works better than unripened mangoes. I used alphonso mango purée by Veer, and mango juice by Deep
– amount of salt of this recipe is just right. Exact or slightly under is fine, but it gets salty if you have even just a bit more salt than recipe
– little bit over on the vanilla extract is fine
– don’t overheat / boil the milk. You don’t want milk skin. Gelatin will continue to dissolve while panna cotta cools, so it’s ok to have small lumps when removing pot from heat. Just keep stirring.
– you can set one round bottomed cup on top of another cup if you don’t have a muffin tin
– tilting the mango purée while it chills not only look great, but allows a person to easily get to both mango and panna cotta in one spoon at the start of dessert. I find this important because panna cotta alone is a bit too milky sweet, and mango purée by itself is a bit tart, but they are perfect when paired
– because of the gelatin, be careful when transferring your mixtures into your serving cups. Very easy to mess up the sides of your serving glasses.
– use cup lids in the fridge to minimize fridge odor/taste in your panna cotta
Dennis, Thanks for such thoughtful and detailed feedback – quite possibly the most comprehensive on this blog!! Love your point about the cup lids and will add to the recipe tips. So glad you enjoyed it and have made it 4 times already too 🙂 🙂
Thought it would be the perfect pudding after a curry party would not set at all even doubling the setting agent sorry total flop
Hi Kathryn, Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out. I updated the recipe with more detail around the gelatin and hope you’ll try again.
Had to make a couple alterations to make it perfect. Mango puree is good. It will not set completely doesnt matter how much I time it spent in the fridge. The panna cotta part I only used 2/3 of the recipe so 1 cup milk 1 cup cream and less than 1/3 cup of sugar. I also increase the gelatine amount to 2 and 1/2 teaspoon. It set pretty well. I d say 3 hour. May be be next time I will try 2 teaspoon but keep 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of cream. I dont think 3 cups of milk and cream will hold well with only 2 tsp gelatine. Flavor was good
Hello – looks lovely!! For gelatin or agar agar, please is it one teaspoon (recipe) or one packet (video)?
Many thanks
Simon
If using frozen mango pulp, what is the equivalent amount?
For this recipe I used 3 average size mango’s and when pureed I had approx. 4 cups of puree. It would be nice if recipes included the cup equivalent and not just the quantity. Also recipe states one thing and the video show something else. One comment picked up on the difference in gelatin amount. Good Luck
Hi there, Thanks for your review and I added the volume amount of mango puree (2 cups). Hope that helps!
Great concept but the gelatine quantities are way off. (There’s even a contradiction between the quantities in the ingredients list and the quantities mentioned in the directions portion.) Didn’t set until more gelatine was added – but eventually got there, and the flavour and look of the dessert was great. In future I will use the gelatine quantities that Donna Hay uses for peach panna cotta in her Classics vol 2.
Hi Carolyn, So glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for your feedback. I added more detail to convert the gelatin amounts and make it more consistent. Hope you’ll try it again 🙂
The video says 2 tbsp gelatin and the written text says 2 tsp. and it’s not clear if the cream mixture can be poured over the mango mixture before it has set.
Hi Christy, Thanks for your feedback. The mango layer has 2 1/2 tsp gelatin (1 envelope), and the panna cotta layer has 2 Tbsp gelatin (3 envelopes). I added some detail to the recipe to clarify. Regarding your second question, the mango layer should rest for 1-2 hours to set before pouring the panna cotta on top. 🙂
Ingredients listed are incorrect re gelatin. Shows teaspoons but should be quantities in tablespoons as shown in the video.
Hi Garth, Thanks, I just provided more detail in the recipe to convert between the different measurements. Hope that helps!