This Chili Lime Mango Fruit Leather recipe might not turn out the most traditional of fruit roll-ups, but they're FANTASTIC - low effort, too!
Homemade fruit roll ups can be made using almost any combination of fruits you can think of. Just prepare them, puree them, spread the pureed fruit out on trays, and - after a few hours drying at a very low temperature - you’ve got a tasty snack!
A healthy snack, too!
None of the corn syrup or preservatives you’ll find in the store-bought versions. They don’t have to involve a lot of sugar at all, really - just a little sweetener of your personal preference, to round out the flavour.
Today’s homemade fruit leather recipe may just be our absolute favourite homemade fruit roll-ups we’ve made, to date!
This Chili Lime Mango Fruit leather is based on that recipe, just amped up!
Mango with chili and lime is a favourite flavour combination of ours, and it’s a popular one in general. You can find it in margaritas, candies... even in Tajin-spiced street food!
This is a fruit roll-up with a bit of attitude. It’s not overly spicy, or overly sour, just a really brilliant balancing of sweet, spicy, and sour.
Super easy to make, too!
Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need for this recipe:
Ingredients
This easy fruit leather recipe uses a few basic ingredients - you shouldn’t have an trouble finding everything you need in any larger grocery store.
Here’s what you’ll nee to know:
Mango Pulp
I use canned Mango Pulp for this mango leather recipe - it’s a combination of mango, sugar, and citric acid.
I love the stuff, and use it in things like my Mango Curd, Mango Panna Cotta, Mango Lassi Popsicles, Mango Ice Cream, Strawberry Mango Marble Cake, Mango Wine, Mango Strawberry Wine, and my famous Mango Mojito Upside Down Cake.
You can usually find it in the international section at grocery stores, or at any Indian grocer.
The added sugar and citric acid means no needing to measure those ingredients separately, for starters.
The canned pulp is available year-round, and is consistent. No need to work around mango season, or finding perfectly ripe mangoes to make a fruit puree.
There can be a huge difference in the flavour, texture, sweetness and size of fresh mangos, so “1 can = 3 trays” is super consistent and easy.
Also, no need to use a food processor in making your own mango puree.
Finally, it just tends to provide an even better fresh mango flavour than fresh mangoes!
All around, just a fantastic ingredient to work with!
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
1 Large Fresh Lime (Juice and zest)
Chili Powder
Smoked Paprika
Salt
... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty basic stuff!
Equipment
There are two specialized pieces of equipment that I use for making homemade fruit leather, beyond basics like spoons, bowls, and measuring cups:
A Food Dehydrator
While you can apparently make homemade fruit roll ups in a conventional oven, I’m not a fan of running one for hours on end.
Last year, I upgraded my really old dehydrator (That offered NO control over the drying process!) to a Cosori 6 Tray Food Dehydrator, and LOVE it.
It was only like $200 Canadian, and it’s paid for itself MANY times over, between all the Maple Cinnamon Apple Chips and jerkies I’ve been making!
Think of it this way - The same size of jerky that I tend to make goes for about $4 in a gas station.
I get about 10-15 strips out of a batch (varying by recipe) - let’s average that out to 12. That’s $48 worth of jerky, for $8 or less. Make 5 batches, that’s your $200 in savings!
Fruit leather offers a bit less in the wav of savings, as I use real fruit with no fillers. That ends up a bit more expensive than commercial fruit rolls ups, which are basically straight up candy.
Anyway, we’re using a dehydrator a LOT more, now that we have a nice one. Having the control over the temperature really opens up the possibilities.
Silicone Dehydrator Trays
You’ll need a couple Silicone Dehydrator Trays, with a bit of a rim.
The ones you’ll buy will depend on the size of your dehydrator. For our dehydrator, we use these Silicone Dehydrator Mats Compatible with Cosori CP267-FD.
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How to Make Chili Lime Mango Fruit Leather
The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through:
Measure all of the ingredients into medium bowl, whisk until well combined.
Taste, add more salt or chili powder, if desired. (Remember - the flavour/heat/saltiness will concentrate. Don’t go too wild on your first batch!)
Use an offset spatula to spread the mixture to an even thickness on each tray.
Dehydrate at 135 F for 6 hours.
Before and after 6 hours of drying
If it’s not dried yet, put it back in the food dehydrator until it is.
Once you’re happy with the dryness, remove the pans from the food dehydrator and allow to cool to room temperature.
See below for how to condition your mango fruit leather.
Condition the Chili Mango Fruit Leather:
Keep an eye on the fruit leather for the first 3 days or so.
If you see any evidence of residual moisture in that time frame - droplets on the bag, etc - return the mango leather to the dehydrator and let it dry a bit more.
If at any point you see any evidence of mold, throw the batch out.
Once you’re sure the chili mango fruit leather is fully dry and moisture isn’t coming out, transfer them to an airtight container for longer term storage. We like to stick each one to a square of parchment and roll them up.
Other Dried Fruit Recipes
Looking for fruit leather and other dried fruit recipes? Here are a few to get started:
Bananas Foster Banana Chips
Bananas Foster Fruit Leather
Caramel Apple Fruit Leather
Cardamom Pear Chips
Mango Fruit Leather
Maple Cinnamon Apple Chips
Pumpkin Spice Chicken Jerky
Strawberry Banana Fruit Leather
Chili Lime Mango Fruit Leather [Homemade Mango Fruit Roll-Ups!]
Equipment
- Food Dehydrator
- Rimmed Silicone Dehydrator Trays
Ingredients
- 1 can Mango Pulp 850 grams, See post for full details
- Zest of 1 Lime
- 2 tablespoon Lime Juice
- 2 ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
Instructions
- Measure all of the ingredients into medium bowl, whisk until well combined.
- Taste, add more salt or chili powder, if desired. (Remember - the flavour/heat/saltiness will concentrate. Don’t go too wild on your first batch!)
- Divide the mango mixture between silicone dehydrator trays. Ours are about 11 x 10", and we used 3, perfectly.
- Use an offset spatula to spread the mixture to an even thickness on each tray.
- Dehydrate at 135 F for 6 hours.
- At 6 hours, check your chili mango fruit leather. It should pull up from the silicone relatively easily, and be soft without being sticky. If it’s not dried yet, put it back in the food dehydrator until it is.
- Once you’re happy with the dryness, remove the pans from the food dehydrator and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Use a pizza wheel or sharp knife to cut the chili mango fruit leather into strips, then store in an airtight container - see notes on how to condition it.
Notes
Nutrition
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Porters
Quite possibly my favourite fruit leather recipe ever - hope you love it too!