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Crunchy julienned green mango tossed with a salty-sour-spicy lime dressing that takes just 10 seconds to whisk together? Yup! This completely vegan Vietnamese green mango salad (gỏi xoài) is super fresh and can be on your table in about 10 minutes, using ingredients you can find at any Asian grocery store.
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Think of it as Vietnam's answer to Lao thum mak hoong, Thai som tam, or Filipino achara. The farther south you travel in Vietnam, the more variations of these refreshing gỏi salads you'll find on street stalls and restaurant menus.
Some folks make this dish with shrimp, but I'm not about harming sea creatures for a meal. So when I say this one is "killer," I mean flavor-wise-not seafood-wise!
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🥰 Why you'll adore this Vietnamese mango salad
🌱 Vegan & Gluten-Free: Like all my salad recipes, this mango salad doesn't harm a single living creature. If you're looking for gluten-free vegan recipes to round out a summer spread, this one will delight everyone.
⚡ Ready in 10 Minutes: Most of the time is just slicing vegetables. If you have a mandoline, prep is super quick. No cooking required (except for the tofu, which you can grab pre-fried from the store if you're in a rush).
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all of the vegan recipes on my site, after tweaking and testing several variations, I shared this with a massive team of recipe testers who confirmed they loved it before I hit publish.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
🥭 Ingredients for Gỏi Xoài
Green Mango
Unripened mango (sometimes labeled as "raw mango" or xoài xanh in Vietnamese) is firm, tart, lighter and color and a bit crunchy- nothing like the sweet, soft orange fleshed fruit you'd eat on its own or rock in some mango salsa.
The julienne-cut fruit stays pretty crisp even after being dressed because it's loaded with pectin and resistant starch. If you end up with more than you need for this recipe, use the rest up in a batch of Indian mango pickle, or Amba sauce.
Daikon
Daikon radish (củ cải trắng in Vietnamese) is a watery, kinda peppery white radish that adds clean, crisp texture to this salad. If you can't find daikon, substitute with regular Korean radish (the same as you would use to make vegan radish kimchi) or jicama.
And if you've got leftover daikon (they're usually on the massive side), use it to make the broth for vegan bún bò Huế, vegan pho, or vegan bun rieu.
Fried Tofu
Pre-fried tofu makes this salad more like a complete meal than a basic ol' side. You can buy pre-fried tofu at most Asian markets, or fry your own firm tofu in a little oil until golden. Just make sure it's completely cooled before adding it to the salad so it doesn't wilt the herbs.
Bird's Eye Chili
These tiny Thai chilies (ớt hiểm) pack awesome heat and a really nice subtly fruity flavor. I use them in a ton of vegan Vietnamese recipes, so I often grab a good amount when I visit my Asian market.
But 100% you can leave them out if you don't like spice, or replace them with other common hot peppers like minced jalapeño or Serrano.
Vegan Fish Sauce
I will forever mess with Ocean's Halo brand. Good vegan fish sauce is usually made from fermented soybeans, seaweed, or mushrooms. You can also replace this with a spoonful of homemade vegan shrimp paste or some of my vegan nước chấm which is basically a fish sauce dressing with garlic and chilies, but without fishies being harmed.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Bánh Tráng Trộn
Break up crispy toasted sesame rice paper into shards and toss them with the green mango, Vietnamese coriander (aka Vietnamese mint), vegetables, and tamarind right before serving for an insane crunch and chewiness that truly rocks. Check out my full vegan bánh tráng trộn recipe with seitan and yuba that's a whole vibe and a half.
Asinan Buah
Asinan buah is an Indonesian mango salad that doubles down on the acidity of bite size pieces of green mango with a brine made with vinegar, palm sugar, and chili.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
📖 How to make vegan Vietnamese mango salad
Nail this classic Vietnamese salad on your first shot by following these step-by-step photos with helpful tips. Or scroll down to the bottom of this page for the easy-to-print recipe card.
Step One
Julienne Assange:
Peel mango, carrot, and daikon.
Either by hand, with a mandolin slicer, a food processor fitted with a shredding disk, or with a box grater, shred them along with the cucumber.
Step Two
Romeo and Julienne:
In a large bowl, combine the green mango, carrot, daikon, cucumber, tofu, and shallots (or red onion).
✅If you want to tone down the pungency of the shallots, you can soak them for a few minutes in cold water before rinsing and drying them.
Step Three
Whisk and Weward:
In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, chili, lime juice, vegan fish sauce, coconut sugar, and salt for about 30 seconds until the sugar dissolves completely.
Step Four
Saladin:
Pour the salad dressing over the veggies and toss well to coat everything completely.
Step Five
It Was All A Pean (I Used To Read Wordup Magazine)
Transfer the salad to a serving dish and top with the crushed peanuts, crispy fried shallots, sliced chili, Thai basil leaves, cilantro, and optionally other herbs such as rau răm, or perilla leaves.
✅ A nice touch is to serve them with fried sesame rice crackers, the same kind that normally go with mi quang noodles.
💡Serving Ideas
This green mango salad is a pretty obvious side option for a complete Vietnamese meal.
Rock some out as an alternative to the quick pickled veggies on a vegan bánh mì, or serve them next to some refreshing vegan Vietnamese spring rolls dipped in Vietnamese peanut sauce. The salad is also an awesome way to jazz up a simple bowl of steamed Vietnamese sticky rice.
Throw down some ca ri chay (Vietnamese curry), lemongrass tofu, or mi xao xi dau and let the salad be your cooling sidekick that keeps things from getting too heavy.
👉Top tips
- Assemble Just Before Serving: Toss everything together at the last minute to keep the veggies crisp. I you want to prep ahead, store the veggies separately, and combine with the dressing right before eating.
- Fried Shallots Go Last: Sprinkle them on at the table, or immediately before serving. Any earlier and they turn sad and soggy instead of crunchy and fun. You like fun, right? Don't make this suck then, OK?
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Green mangoes are unripe mangoes with firm flesh and a tart, sour flavor that's totally different from sweet, ripe mangoes. You can find them at Asian grocery stores or sometimes at Mexican markets. Look for mangoes that are hard to the touch with greenish skin, not the soft yellow/orange ones you'd eat as a straight up fruit.
Store leftover Vietnamese green mango salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, though it's best eaten the same day you make it. The vegetables will start releasing water and getting soft after that, so the texture won't be as good.
If you store it, you may need to drain off some of the liquid that accumulates in the container, so that you don't have a Hyper-Swamp Zone™ salad from hell.
Peel the mango, slice off the cheeks on either side of the pit, then cut each cheek into thin planks about ⅛ inch thick. Stack a few planks together and slice them lengthwise into matchsticks.
✌️You'll love these vegan Vietnamese recipes too
Learn to make your fave Vietnamese street food bangers in this super-fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vietnamese Green Mango Salad Recipe
Equipment
- Mandoline (optional)
Ingredients
Salad:
- 2 cups green mango julienne cut
- ½ cup carrot julienne cut
- 1 cup daikon peeled and julienne cut
- 1 cup cucumber julienne cut (Persian, or English cucumbers preferred)
- 8 oz. Fried tofu cut in strips
- ½ cup shallots or red onions, thinly sliced
Dressing:
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 bird's eye chili sliced
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons vegan fish sauce
- ¼ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
To garnish:
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts chopped
- 2 tablespoons fried shallots
- 1 bird's eye chili sliced
- Thai basil leaves
- Cilantro leaves
- Perilla leaves optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the green mango, carrot, daikon, cucumber, tofu, and shallots.
- In a separate small bowl or cup, whisk together the garlic, chili, lime juice, vegan fish sauce, coconut sugar, and salt until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to coat everything completely.
- Transfer the salad to an attractive serving dish. Top with the roasted peanuts, fried shallots, sliced chili, Thai basil leaves, cilantro, and perilla leaves.
Notes
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Marjorie says
Did not expect this to turn out like that tbh. Sooo good!