Mango Tango: A High-Protein Mango Lassi With 39g of Protein and No Added Sugar
Mango Tango: A High-Protein Mango Lassi With 39g of Protein and No Added Sugar
Mango and curd is the drink India already perfected — we've just put 39g of protein in it. Swap plain curd for hung curd and skip the honey entirely, and this becomes the highest-protein recipe on our blog at around 275 calories with barely any fat. Ripe mango is sweet enough on its own. It has never needed help.
Mango Tango — a protein mango lassi with 39g of protein and no added sugar.
Every summer in India, the mango lassi returns. Mango, curd, a little sugar, blended thick and drunk cold. It's already close to perfect — the only thing it's ever been short of is protein.
So that's what this recipe does. One scoop of ISO Bang hydrolyzed whey protein isolate, one cup of ripe mango, and half a cup of hung curd instead of regular curd. That last swap is the one that matters: hung curd (or Greek yogurt) carries roughly three times the protein of plain curd, which takes this drink to about 39g of protein — the highest of any recipe on this blog — at just 1g of fat.
We've also removed something. The original version of this recipe called for a tablespoon of honey and told you to add more to taste. A tablespoon of honey is 17g of pure sugar, and a cup of mango already carries 22g of its own. Adding honey to ripe mango isn't seasoning, it's just sugar — so it's gone from the ingredient list. If your mango is genuinely under-ripe, there's a better fix below.
Curd and whey are a natural match — both come from milk, so nothing about the texture fights. Hung curd brings casein and its own protein, mango brings sweetness and body, and the isolate does the rest. The result is thick, drinkable, and closer to a dessert than a supplement, with the protein content of a full meal.
Why you'll love this protein mango lassi
- 39g of protein. The highest on this blog — 25g from the scoop and around 14g from the hung curd and mango.
- Only 1g of fat. Using hung curd rather than whole-milk curd keeps it remarkably lean.
- No added sugar at all. Ripe mango is one of the sweetest fruits there is. It genuinely needs nothing.
- A drink people already love. No convincing needed — this is mango lassi with the protein fixed.
- Five minutes, five ingredients. And one of them is water.
- Clean label. Made with ISO Bang — no fillers, no proprietary blends, banned-substance tested.
The two swaps that transform this recipe
Hung curd instead of plain curd
Hung curd is simply curd that's been strained to remove the whey water — the same thing Greek yogurt is. Straining concentrates everything, so half a cup carries around 12g of protein against roughly 4g in the same amount of regular curd, and it's far thicker. You can buy Greek yogurt, or make hung curd at home by leaving plain curd in a muslin cloth over a bowl in the fridge for a few hours. It's the single easiest protein upgrade in Indian cooking.
Why the honey had to go
A tablespoon of honey contains about 17g of sugar and 64 calories. Added to a cup of mango that already carries 22g, you end up at roughly 45g of sugar in one glass — more than a can of cola. Honey isn't a health food in this context; it's sugar with trace minerals. Mango at proper ripeness is sweet enough that most people can't tell the difference, which is why it's out of the base recipe entirely.
Don't reach for honey. Add a pinch of salt and a small squeeze of lime instead. Both make fruit taste sweeter by contrast, without adding a single gram of sugar — it's why salted mango and chilli-lime fruit are sold on every street corner. If you still need more, a few drops of stevia costs nothing nutritionally.
Ingredients
Four ingredients plus water. Use the ripest mango you can find.
- Trident Nutra ISO Bang — Mixed Berry1 scoop (30g)
- Ripe mango chunks1 cup
- Hung curd or Greek yogurt, plain½ cup
- Cold water½ cup
- Salt and lime, to sharpen (optional)Pinch + squeeze
Which ISO Bang flavour should you use?
Mixed Berry works best here. Mango and berry is a well-established tropical pairing, and the berry notes sit comfortably against the creamy curd base rather than fighting it. With zero added sugar in the powder, the mango stays firmly in charge of the flavour.
Avoid Chocolate Cinnamon for this one — chocolate and mango is a genuinely poor match, and it would overwhelm the fruit completely. Watermelon is also worth skipping here: it's excellent in a light, watery cooler, but it doesn't sit well against a thick dairy base.
How to make a protein mango lassi
- Add the water and curd first. Liquids and soft ingredients before the powder, so nothing packs down under the blades.
- Add the mango and protein. Frozen mango chunks work beautifully here and make the lassi thicker and colder.
- Blend for 40–50 seconds, until completely smooth and a deep, even gold. Mango fibre needs a moment to break down fully.
- Taste before sweetening. Nine times out of ten, ripe mango has it covered. If it needs lifting, add a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime — not honey.
- Pour and serve cold. Top with a few mango cubes, and a pinch of cardamom if you want it to taste properly like a lassi.
Use half a cup of mango instead of a full cup. That brings it to roughly 226 calories, 38g protein and about 15g of sugar — you keep essentially all the protein while cutting the sugar nearly in half. Add a splash more water to keep the volume up.
Nutrition facts
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | 275 kcal |
| Protein | 39 g |
| Carbohydrates | 29 g |
| Fat | 1 g |
| Sugar (natural) | 27 g |
For comparison: made the original way — plain curd plus a tablespoon of honey — the same drink comes to roughly 340 calories and 45g of sugar. Two small swaps take out 18g of sugar and add 8g of protein.
Pro tips & tasty variations
- Use frozen mango. Thicker, colder, available all year, and no need for ice — which waters a lassi down as it melts.
- Add cardamom. A pinch of ground elaichi is what makes a lassi taste like a lassi rather than a smoothie. Highly recommended.
- Make it a shrikhand bowl. Skip the water entirely and eat it with a spoon, topped with mango cubes and pistachios.
- Add a pinch of saffron. A few strands bloomed in a teaspoon of warm water turns this into something that tastes genuinely special.
- Use Alphonso or Banganapalle if you can. Variety matters more with mango than almost any other fruit — a good one needs no sweetening whatsoever.
- Stack your creatine. Trident Nutra Creatine is unflavoured and dissolves straight in — easy to fold into a drink you're having daily in mango season.
How to store your mango lassi
Best fresh, but this one keeps better than most because the curd is stable. Sealed in the fridge it's good for 24 hours, though it will thicken as the mango fibre settles — loosen it with a splash of water and stir well. Don't freeze it: the curd separates and the texture never fully recovers.
Frequently asked questions
How much protein is in this mango lassi?
Around 39g, the highest of any recipe on this blog. 25g comes from one scoop of ISO Bang hydrolyzed whey protein isolate and roughly 12g from the hung curd, with the remainder from the mango. If you use regular curd instead it drops to about 31g.
Why has the honey been removed?
Because a tablespoon of honey is around 17g of sugar and 64 calories, and a cup of mango already contains about 22g of natural sugar. Together that's roughly 45g in one glass — more than a can of cola. Ripe mango simply doesn't need sweetening.
Is this shake low sugar?
It has no added sugar, but mango is one of the sweetest fruits, so the drink comes in at around 27g of naturally occurring sugar. Using half a cup of mango brings that to about 15g. If you want genuinely low sugar, our vanilla almond recipe uses no fruit at all and sits at roughly 2g.
What is hung curd, and can I make it at home?
Hung curd is plain curd strained of its whey water — the same thing as Greek yogurt. To make it, spoon plain curd into a muslin cloth, tie it over a bowl, and leave it in the fridge for three to four hours. Straining roughly triples the protein per spoonful and makes it much thicker.
My mango isn't sweet enough. What should I add?
A pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime, not honey. Both make fruit taste sweeter by contrast without adding sugar — the same principle behind salted and chilli-lime fruit sold across India. Stevia or monk fruit are the next option if you need more.
Can I use canned mango pulp instead of fresh?
Check the tin carefully. Plain mango pulp is fine, but most sweetened mango pulp sold in India contains a great deal of added sugar — which defeats the purpose entirely. Frozen mango chunks are a better year-round substitute.
Is this suitable for vegetarians and vegans?
It's vegetarian. It isn't vegan — both the curd and the whey isolate come from milk. Note that isolate is very low in lactose compared with whey concentrate, and curd is generally easier to tolerate than milk, so many people who avoid milk manage this fine.
When is the best time to drink it?
At 39g of protein and only 1g of fat this is an excellent post-workout option, especially in hot weather. It also works as a breakfast, and it's the recipe most likely to be drunk simply because it tastes good rather than because it's useful.
Fuel it with clean protein
No fillers. No proprietary blends. Just 25g of hydrolyzed whey protein isolate per scoop at 103 calories — banned-substance tested, so your lassi is as clean as it is delicious.
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