This fresh and flavorful mango habanero salsa is loaded with ripe mangoes, spicy habanero peppers, black beans, red bell peppers, and all the other salsa seasonings.
It is wonderfully sweet and spicy and great as a dip paired with salty tortilla chips or spooned over grilled chicken, fish, or steak. As an added bonus, it's also incredibly quick and easy as it comes together in under 30 minutes!
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📋 About the Recipe
- The harmony between sweet and spicy in this mango habanero salsa demonstrates a great balance of flavors. There's a hint of sweetness from the ripe mangoes, tanginess from the lime juice, and a slight punch of heat from the habanero. Each ingredient blends perfectly with the rest.
- The addition of black beans also helps to bulk up the salsa, adding in extra protein, fiber, and texture.
- This recipe is truly the best because it is so quick and easy to throw together! Simply chop everything up, throw it in a bowl, let it marinate together, and you'll have a delicious dip on the table ready to be devoured in no time!
- Mango habanero salsa is also made with fresh ingredients, making it a light and healthy option too. All of the flavors of the fresh produce get to shine through naturally.
- This spicy mango salsa pairs well with many other dishes, adding flavor to plain meats, seafood, or salads. That's what makes it the best addition to picnics, potlucks, barbecues, or an afternoon snack!
- It can be made kid friendly by omitting the habanero or dialing the spice back a bit, and it can also be easily customizable, allowing you to swap out some of the ingredients for others you like best.
🛒 Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- Mango - mangoes in this salsa provide a subtle sweetness. You want them to be sightly soft and ripe, but not overripe otherwise they won't hold their shape.
- Habanero - habanero peppers are small orange peppers often found near the jalapeños in your grocery store. They are pungently spicy, so only 1 should provide just enough heat. On the other hand, if you like extra spice you can add more.
- Red bell pepper - diced red bell pepper in this mango habanero salsa also provide a hint of sweetness. They're fresh and flavorful, adding body to the dip as well.
- Black beans - black beans provide another textural element, as well as additional fiber and protein to keep you full longer.
- Red onion, garlic cloves - both the red onion and garlic cloves provide flavor. Dice the onions small and mince the garlic well so you don't bite into whole or large pieces.
- Cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper - these spices add flavor, helping this mango salsa more closely resemble a traditional tomato salsa.
- Lime - lime juice aides in breaking down the mango, so you wind up with a juicy and slightly chunky salsa. It also adds acid and flavor.
- Cilantro - cilantro adds another fresh and flavorful element. It pairs wonderfully with all the other flavors, but if you're not a fan, you can leave it out or substitute it for another fresh herb.
How to Cut a Mango
1. Wash the outside of the mango with cold water.
2. Mangoes have a large, oblong pit in the middle. The objective is to cut around the pit. Place the mango on a cutting board and look at it to determine which direction the pit is facing. You will want to cut either to the left or right of the stem on the widest and flattest sides of the mango.
3. Repeat on the other side so you end up with 3 pieces: 2 of the sliced sides and 1 piece with the large pit.
4. Set the piece of mango with the pit aside. Starting with one of the side pieces, cut lines into the flesh in opposite directions to create a checkerboard pattern. Do not cut through the skin. Repeat on the other piece.
5. Use a spoon to separate the flesh from the skin. Scoop out the diced mango chunks and place them in a clean bowl.
6. Finish removing the rest of the flesh from the piece of mango with the pit by cutting around it on the other sides. Slice the flesh into cubes and remove the skin. Add the rest to the bowl.
📓 Instructions
1. Chop mangoes into small cubes, using the instructions above, and place them into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
2. Add cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper to the chopped mango. Stir and allow the salt to extract the mango's juices while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Carefully open the can of black beans, drain it, and rinse until the water runs clear. Add them to the mango bowl.
4. Finely chop, mince, and dice the rest of the ingredients, adding them to the bowl as well. The finer you dice, the more it'll look and feel like a blended salsa. The larger you dice, the more it'll look and feel like a chunky pico de gallo.
5. Juice the lime over the bowl and mix to combine everything.
6. Allow the salsa to sit in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before serving so the flavors can mix together. Serve with tortilla chips or spooned on top of grilled chicken, fish, shrimp, or steak.
⁉️ Substitutions and Alterations
Instead of mangoes: you can substitute with diced pineapple, sweet apples, or peaches.
Instead of habanero peppers: if you'd like a less spicy salsa, you can use jalapeños or leave out the habanero peppers. If you don't have jalapeños or habaneros, you can also sprinkle a few dashes of cayenne pepper onto the salsa for added heat.
Instead of black beans: you can make this salsa without the beans or you can substitute them with corn, great northern beans, or pinto beans.
❄️ How to Store
To store: Store spicy mango habanero salsa in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Stir it again just before serving to reincorporate all the flavors.
To freeze: Freezing is not recommended.
🔍 FAQs
This spicy mango habanero salsa with black beans is incredibly versatile. You can enjoy it as an appetizer or snack with tortilla chips that are either seasoned with salt or cinnamon sugar, or used as a topping for homemade nachos.
You can also use mango salsa to top off plain chicken, salmon, fish, or pork, to accompany crab cakes, or as a relish for tacos, sandwiches, burgers, or wraps.
Use it with or instead of slaw on a pulled pork or chicken sandwich, or instead of dressing on your favorite salad.
Habanero peppers are fairly hotter than jalapeños.
On the Scoville heat scale, a jalapeño ranges from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units), whereas a habanero ranges from 100,000 to 350,000 SHU, with a higher number indicating more spice.
Therefore, a habanero is higher up on the scale right between a scotch bonnet pepper and a fatalii pepper (both are also very hot chili peppers!). Thus, habaneros can be more than 10 times hotter than a jalapeño.
Some other great additions to this salsa include: diced cucumber, avocado, corn, tomatoes, pineapple, jicama, peaches, or strawberries.
💭 One More Tip
I highly recommend wearing disposable gloves when handling habanero peppers. Also, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly and avoid touching your eyes and face after handling.
These tiny peppers are incredibly spicy and even the slightest amount can irritate your eyes, nose, and lips.
If you do touch the pepper directly or get the juices on your hands, wash your hands in cold water and use dish soap, instead of hand soap, to remove the oils left on your hands from the pepper. Make sure to scrub under your nails too.
Scrub and thoroughly clean any knives or cutting boards after contact with habanero peppers as well.
🍴 Related Recipes
Share your cooking with me! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know! Tag @yourhomemadehealthy on Instagram or leave a comment with a rating and some feedback at the bottom of this page!
📖 Recipe
Spicy Mango Habanero Salsa with Black Beans
Equipment
- cutting board
- knife
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 3 fresh mangoes ripe but not overripe
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 can black beans (15.25 oz) drained and rinsed
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- ⅓ cup red onion finely diced
- 1 to 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 habanero seeded and finely diced (SEE NOTES)
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 lime juiced
Instructions
- Chop mangoes into small cubes, using the instructions in the post above as a guide, and place them into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Add cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper to the chopped mango. Stir and allow the salt to extract the mango's juices while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Carefully open the can of black beans, drain it, and rinse it until the water runs clear. Add them to the mango bowl.
- Finely chop, mince, and dice the rest of the ingredients, adding them to the bowl as well. The finer you dice, the more it'll look and feel like a blended salsa.The larger you dice, the more it'll look and feel like a chunky pico de gallo.
- Juice the lime over the bowl and mix to combine everything.
- Allow the salsa to sit in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before serving so the flavors can mix together. Serve with tortilla chips or spooned on top of grilled chicken, fish, or steak.
Storage
- To store: Store spicy mango habanero salsa in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Stir it again just before serving to reincorporate all the flavors.To freeze: Freezing is not recommended.
Notes
- I highly recommend wearing disposable gloves when handling habanero peppers and washing your hands thoroughly. You should also avoid touching your eyes and face after handling. These tiny peppers are incredibly spicy and even the slightest amount can irritate your eyes, nose, and lips.
- See post above for serving suggestions and recipe variations.
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Iris
This was the perfect side dish for grilled chicken on a hot summer’s night! We don’t like very hot food so I used jalapeños instead of the habanero. The dish was delicious and very colorful. A keeper, for sure!
Alana Lieberman
So glad you enjoyed it even without the cilantro and with substituting jalapeños for the habanero peppers. Very good information for other readers to know too.
Iris S Barnett
I am planning to make this recipe this week but would like to use an herb other than cilantro. What do you recommend?
Alana Lieberman
Hi there! If you don't want to add cilantro to the salsa, I would just leave it out. I'm not sure any other herb would taste as good and the other ingredients should still lend enough flavor to it. Hope this helps!
Diane Rosteck
Our whole family enjoyed this recipe on 4th of July. We skipped the black beans because we had so much protein in other dishes. It was fresh, light, and delicious! I took a photo of the family with the salsa, but I am unable to post it.
Alana Lieberman
So glad you enjoyed it! Will definitely reach out through email to get that photo 🙂
Stacy
The perfect balance of spicy and sweet! Love pairing this mango salsa with traditional salsa and guacamole to provide many dip options.
Alana Lieberman
Glad you enjoyed it! It's definitely great for offering variety.