Make your own Chamoy Sauce with this easy recipe! It’s Mexico’s favorite condiment used in so many ways: on fruit, drinks, snacks and even main dishes.
**This post was originally published on August 2020. It has been updated to be more helpful.
Impress your guest by serving homemade Chamoy drizzled and Chicharrones De Harina, in Mangonadas, Tostilocos, Sandia Loca, on your favorite fruit, and even on the edge of a glass with refreshing Mexican drinks.
I probably been eating eating this Mexican condiment since I was 3 years old… errr, well close enough lol! My favorite kind is always homemade of course and I developed this recipe so that you can taste how delicious the home version is. Plus it’s better for you since it’s free of preservatives and food colorants!
What is Chamoy?
Mexican chamoy is a popular sauce made from dehydrated fruit such apricot, mango or plums (or a combination of these), chili powder, salt, sugar, and a little citrus juice. It is undoubtedly one of the favorites condiments in Mexico as it is neither too spicy nor too sweet, chamoy achieves a perfect balance when added to any food.
This Mexican sauce is quickly gaining popularity in the United States and the rest of the world. But it has been a classic sauce in Mexico since the early 1970s. You can’t go to Mexico and not see every street vendor selling snacks without Chamoy!
Did you know that its origin is from Japan? This sauce was inspired from umeboshi, a traditional Japanese recipe made with pickled plums (ume plums).
What Does It Taste Like?
It’s like sweet and sour sauce but more and better! Chamoy is sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and a little tart.….the perfect combination of flavors.
Is Chamoy Spicy?
Since it does contain chili powder it has a spice flavor. However, it’s not “hot” since it’s balanced with the sweetness of the prunes, apricots and sugar.
Ingredients
These are the basic ingredients and substitutions.
- Prunes: choose prunes without seeds. Make sure they’re fresh and not stale.
- Dried apricots: Just like the prunes, make sure they’re fresh. You can also use dried mango.
- Jamaica (roselle flowers): You can find these in the tea section at most grocery stores.
- Chili powder: choose a plain chili powder made from chile guajillo or New Mexico. The smoky kind will not work for this recipe as the taste profile is too strong. If you can’t find a good kind, use tajin or something like that as a substitute.
- Sugar: It needs sugar to balance out all of the other flavors!
- The citrus flavor: To finish it off we need some acid juice like fresh lime or orange juice.
- Water
How to make Chamoy
Making your own could not be easier! It’s all about finding the perfect ingredient ratios to accommodate your taste. Let’s get started!
- Start by cooking all ingredients in a medium saucepan including the 6 cups of water. Do not add the lime juice yet. Cook all ingredients in saucepan except the lime juice.
- Bring all ingredients to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Turn off heat and rest until cooled off before blending. About 10 minutes.
- Add everything to a blender including the lime juice and blend well.
- Check for the liquid consistency: Add a few more tablespoons of water for a more liquidy consistency if you prefer. There is no need to strain the sauce as the pulp adds a wonderful texture to this recipe.
The brownish color (instead of red like the bottled stuff), comes from using dark prunes and not using any artificial food coloring.
How to Store
Fridge: Once the the sauce is done and cooled off, you can transfer it into a lidded jar and store it in the fridge for up to 6 to 8 weeks.
Freezing: When freezing this Mexican condiment, it is important to remember that the sauce will thicken and may become slightly grainy in texture. This is perfectly normal and will not affect the flavor of the sauce.
Simply reheat the sauce on the stove over low heat until it reaches the desired consistency. It can be frozen for up to six months without any significant degradation in quality. However, for best results, it is advisable to use the sauce within three months of freezing.
FAQs
Since this chamoy is made with natural ingredients and if eaten in moderation, it’s definitely not bad! While the sugar content is a little high, I always say that everything is bad in large quantities so I enjoy it without any guilt!
This recipe is gluten-free, low fat and vegan.
YES!!! It does not contain any animal products and homemade is even better for you since it does not contain any preservatives or artificial flavorings and color.
In Mexico, any frozen fruit drink garnished with chamoy are known as chamoyadas, whether they are shaved or blended.
They also put sweets like gummies, spicy candies, fresh fruit etc. (Mmmm remembering the taste of something sour like those spicy candies makes my mouth water lol!). Chamoyadas are an explosion of flavors in your mouth!
What Do You Eat Chamoy with?
Let me start by saying that Chamoy & Chili Lime Seasoning are BFFs! This is the perfect combo to elevate anything you add it to. It’s the DELICIOUS!!!
- Chamoy con fruta (fresh fruit) like watermelon, fresh mango, pineapple, jicama, apples, coconut, and many more!
- To snack on vegetables like carrots & celery.
- Drizzle it on paletas (popsicles), raspados or sorbet.
- It’s the perfect healthy snack with cucumbers, carrots, celery and even grilled corn.
- On candies
- On Chamoyadas
MORE delicious…
Appetizer & Snacks Recipes
I hope you like this recipe! Share it, or leave a rating and comment below. For questions that need an answer right away, please contact me and I’ll get back to you asap. Gracias!!!! xx, Ana
Print Recipe:
Best Homemade Chamoy Sauce
Equipment
- Blender
- Medium saucepan
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dried apricots
- 1/2 cup prunes seeded
- 1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers
- 3 cups water
- 6 tablespoon homemade chili powder or chile piquin powder or even tajin
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring all ingredients (except the citrus juice) to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Turn off heat and rest until cooled off. About 10 minutes.
- Add everything to a blender including the lime juice and blend well.
- Check for the liquid consistency: Add a few more tablespoons of water for a more liquid consistency.
- Transfer to glass jars and store in refrigerator. It will last about 2 months.
Add Your Own Private Notes
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Nutrition
The nutritional information and US conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or unit conversion tool.
it is pretty disappointing when it says there’s 90 comments yet only two are shown. Plus she uses a specialty ingredient like it’s hibiscus flower, but doesn’t say where to get it or show a link to it. Normally, when you have special ingredients, most people leave a link. I have not tried the recipe yet cause I got a find a hibiscus flower.
i found the hibiscus flower ( going to buy a pack of tea and open them so i can make it right away. i did some how find some of the other comments, but don’t know how i got there.
Riquisimo!!! Gracias!!!
Gracias a ti por probarlo!!!