Chamoy Sauce

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Homemade chamoy sauce embodies all the incredible flavors of Mexican cuisine! This recipe features dried fruits, ancho chiles, lime juice, and flor de Jamaica. The spicy, tangy, sweet, and salty flavors work perfectly with fruit, drinks, and more.

❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe

• Easy: Don’t be intimidated by making your own chamoy sauce, even if you’ve never tried it. Follow our simple step-by-step guide for the perfect flavors and textures every time!
• Healthy: Compared to store-bought chamoy, this recipe is much healthier. It’s made with real fruit and contains no artificial ingredients.
• Versatile: Use it as a dip, drizzle it on your fruit, and even use it in cocktails. There are an endless variety of ways to use chamoy sauce!
• Allergy-friendly: This chamoy sauce is vegan, gluten-free, and made without oil, making it suitable for just about any dietary need or preference. Plus, it can easily be made without sugar!

If you like chamoy sauce, you’ll have to try our mango chamoy, chamoy rim dip, pepinos locos, and chamoy candy.

🌶️ What is chamoy?

If you’ve ever been to Mexico, you’ve likely come across chamoy. In one form or the other, this condiment is sold everywhere!

Originally from the western states of Jalisco and Michoacán, you can now find it almost anywhere in the world. Spot it on top of prepared fruit cups, in candies, in popsicles (paletas), on raspados (shaved ice), or in frozen drinks like mangonadas.

We’re making chamoy sauce in this recipe, which showcases pickled fruits like apricots, plums, or mangoes. It’s then mixed with chiles, lime, sugar, and sometimes hibiscus flowers or tamarind.

The end result is spicy, tangy, salty, and sweet flavors. Plus, the color is vibrant red-purple and so smooth. It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before!

It’s extremely straightforward to make and versatile! Serve it with fruit and veggie sticks, as a marinade or dip with tofu, or as a dip with chips. The options are endless!

📜 History

The timeframe of chamoy making its way into Mexican cuisine is fairly gray, but some food historians believe it was around the 16th century with the arrival of other Asian ingredients.

Countries in Asia, such as China, Japan, and the Philippines, had all been making their own versions of this pickled fruit snack for some time.

During the colonial period, Spanish trade routes from the Philippines introduced new ingredients to Mexico, including tamarind, mangoes, and umeboshi. It was umeboshi, a type of pickled Japanese plum, that became the inspiration for Mexican chamoy sauce.

As you can probably tell, chamoy has taken many forms since its origins. Nowadays, it is much more mass-produced, which is why we always prefer making homemade recipes over store-bought!

🌱 Is chamoy vegan?

Rest assured, chamoy sauce is vegan-friendly. If you are buying chamoy in other forms, there are just a few things to keep in mind:

• Gelatin: Chamoy is often sold in candy form, so just double-check the ingredient list for gelatin, which is not vegan.
• Sugar: If you are concerned about whethe the added sugar is vegan-friendly, look for a sugar-free chamoy. Better yet, make your own with organic cane sugar, piloncillo, or other natural alternatives.

🛒 Ingredients & substitutions

• Fruit: We use dried apricots and plums in this recipe, but mangoes or peaches work too. If you can get your hands on some, you can even try ume plums. Stone fruits are high in nutrients like vitamins A, C, and potassium.
• Chiles: For spice, we use ancho chiles and cayenne powder. You can experiment with guajillo, pasilla, or arbol chiles for varying flavors and heat levels.
• Lime juice: Provides a characteristic tangy, sour taste. If you don’t have any limes, substitute an equal amount of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
• Flor de Jamaica: Dried hibiscus flowers add a beautiful red color and tart flavor. If you don’t have access, use dried cranberries or more lime juice.
• Cane sugar: To balance out the intense flavors in this sauce. No cane sugar on hand? You can also use piloncillo, coconut sugar, or agave.
• Salt: To emulate the pickled fruit brine found in traditional chamoy sauces.

For a complete ingredient list and step-by-step guide, scroll down to our recipe card.

📝 How to make chamoy sauce

Step 1: Seed the chiles

Stem and seed the ancho chiles. If you’d prefer your sauce to be extra spicy, you can always leave the seeds in. Just note that it won’t turn out as smoothly. Add both of them along with the dried fruit, flor de Jamaica, cane sugar, salt, and water to a medium saucepan.

Step 2: Simmer the ingredients

Bring the mixture to a low boil, then reduce it to a simmer for about half an hour. The longer it simmers, the more the flavors release and meld together. 

Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes before transferring it to the blender to prevent any accidents. Mix it on high until the consistency is smooth.

Step 3: Adjust the seasonings

At this point, you can squeeze in fresh lime juice. Taste test and adjust any of the other seasonings to your preferences — more lime for tang, cane sugar for sweetness, or water until it reaches your desired consistency.

Step 4: Increase the spice

Last, but certainly not least, we like to add a pinch of cayenne powder for more heat! The extra spice is optional, but we highly recommend it. Serve your chamoy sauce right away, or transfer it to a mason jar or airtight container for storage. Happy eating!

If you have questions about this chamoy sauce recipe, check out our FAQs or leave a comment down below!

🥭 What to serve with chamoy

When we first tried chamoy, we were overwhelmed with all of the foods it can be paired with. To help you avoid any confusion, these are our favorite ideas:

• Fruits: Mangoes, apples, strawberries, pineapple, papaya, watermelon, peaches, nectarines, and plums.
• Vegetables: Cucumbers, jicama, carrots, celery, potatoes, or sweet potatoes.
• Drinks: Use chamoy sauce to rim micheladas and Caesars, or drizzle it on mangonadas.
• Raspados: Another way to incorporate chamoy is in raspados (Mexican shaved ice) or paletas (Mexican popsicles).
• Candies: Make dulces enchilados by covering vegan-friendly candies like skittles, gummy bears, or dried mangoes in chamoy and Tajin.
• Chips: Try your chamoy sauce atop chicharrones de harina or tostilocos.

🌡️ Storage

Not only is chamoy sauce easy to make, but it’s also fridge and freezer-friendly. Keep these storage times in mind for your recipe:

• Fridge: Chamoy will last up to 2 months in the fridge. Just keep it in an airtight glass container or mason jar. If it thickens in the fridge, just add water or lime juice to thin it out before serving again.
• Freezer: Wait until your chamoy sauce is completely cooled, then divide it into ice cube trays. Once frozen, transfer the cubes to freezer-safe bags for up to 6 months. Just thaw the cubes on an individual basis when you need more.

♻️ Variations

The great thing about chamoy sauce is how customizable it is! Here are a few ways to make it your own:

• Fresh fruit: For a different taste and texture, use fresh fruit in place of dried apricots and plums. You can also try making mango chamoy!
• Add tamarind: While optional, we love adding tamarind paste to impart a unique flavor to our chamoy sauce.
• Tajin: Add Tajin (Mexican chile-lime spice) directly into your chamoy sauce, or serve it on top for a tangy kick.
• Sugar-free: Instead of sugar, use your favorite natural sweetener like stevia or monk fruit. You can even omit the sugar since it’s naturally sweetened with fruit.
• Smoky chamoy: Add a few chipotle meco or chipotle morita chiles for chamoy sauce with a smoky flair.

🧑‍🍳 Top tips

• Add spice at the end: We recommend tasting your chamoy sauce once it’s blended, then add the cayenne powder to your preferred spice level.
• Thin it out: We sometimes prefer a thicker sauce, and other times we thin it out. The nice thing about making your own chamoy sauce is you get to decide on the final consistency!
• Hold the lime: Don’t add lime juice while the ingredients are simmering. Squeeze the lime juice in once your chamoy is blended for the freshest flavor.
• Use quality ingredients: It’s important to use good-quality fruit, chiles, and tamarind. This will dramatically improve the flavor of the chamoy sauce.
• Stem and seed: We suggest stemming and seeding the chiles before blending them. Oftentimes, seeds can taste a little bitter.
• Simmer: Simmering the ingredients allows the flavors to develop and meld together. Don’t miss this step!
• Strain: If you don’t own a high-power blender, strain your sauce if you want the smoothest consistency possible.

💬 FAQ

🍴 More sauce recipes

If you enjoyed this chamoy sauce, be sure to check out these other flavor-packed Mexican salsas:

• Mexican Crema: A creamy, rich, cashew-based cream sauce.
• Chili Garlic Aioli: Rich, creamy, and spicy chipotle mayo made vegan.
• Mole Poblano: An intricate sauce made from toasted chiles, nuts, chocolate, dried fruits, tortillas, and more.
• Salsa Taquera: Made from a base of arbol chiles, this sauce will elevate any taco.
• Salsa Verde: A tangy, spicy, and herbaceous Mexican sauce.

Note: We’ve updated this post to include new information and helpful tips about the recipe.