Tropical fruits are just cooler. I don’t make the rules, they just are. It also just so happens that mango is the most tropical fruit out there that is readily accessible to all us residents of the ol’ U. S. of A. I know what you are thinking, “What about pineapples?” Nah, those are less tropical. “What about passion fruits?” Those are less accessible. What about bananas? Shhhhh, I’m choosing to ignore bananas for the sake of my argument. The point is, mangos are one of the best and most interesting fruits in our grocery stores, so it stands to reason that mango juice should be one of the coolest and most interesting beverages in our grocery stores as well. That brings us to today’s topic: Which store-bought mango juices made us feel like we were closest to the equator? Well, the answer is complex.
What we were looking for in the best mango juice
The best mango juice is thicker than orange juice. It should have a creamy mouthfeel and the strong flavor of fresh-cut ripe mango. It shouldn’t taste overly bland, or like fake sugar, or more like another fruit than mango. It especially shouldn’t taste like bananas because, shhhhh, today we ignore bananas. You should feel like you are drinking vacation. And while a lot of the juice we tried achieved some semblance of that, it was definitely harder to find than we anticipated. Here we have the best mango juice, the best mango nectar, and the best mango punch, too.
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- Minute Maid Mango Punch
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Minute Maid Mango Punch smells like those mango peelable gummies and peach rings. It also, perhaps unsurprisingly, tasted like those mango peelable gummies, and was very sweet. If you are looking for a thick and rich mango juice, this is not your guy. It is thin with a mouthfeel akin to apple or cranberry juice (and the top two ingredients are water and high fructose corn syrup). That said, it is tasty and refreshing and does in fact taste like mango, although that is not the only fruit flavor in there (it is a punch after all). It reminded me a bit of Trident tropical gum or mango jelly beans. It’s not the best mango juice if you’re looking for something authentic, but it’s mango-y enough to do the trick.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Kerns Mango Nectar
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This mango nectar smells like a ripe and fresh cut mango. The taste, however, is a bit less strong. The mouthfeel is smooth, thick, and velvety, but the taste is not overly mango-y and more reads as simply sweet. That said, it is still good and is some of the best mango nectar to use in a cocktail or to blend into a smoothie. Would I recommend it on its own, though? I mean it isn’t bad, it just isn’t mind-blowing. If this is all you can find, you will still have some good mango juice to work with.
Credit: Liv Averett / Albertsons
- Tropicana Refreshers Pineapple Mango
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This tastes a lot like POG (passion fruit orange guava juice). You will notice, however, that none of those fruits are in its very specific title of Tropicana Pineapple Mango Refresher. This one smells a bit like Icebreakers Sours (the green pack) or Trident tropical gum, but unlike the Minute Maid punch, it doesn’t taste that way. It is just good. The thin liquid has hints of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, and other tropical flavors (but not banana, shhhhh), it has a great balance of sweet and sour, and if you gave me an ice-cold glass of this on a hot summer’s day, I just might marry you. It’s the best mango juice if you like the idea of accidentally getting hitched to a wild me.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- RW Knudsen Just Mango
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Just Mango truly contains just mango. No flavorings, no bananas (shhhhh), just good ol’ fashioned mango puree and juice from concentrate. It smells like dried mango (the non-sugared, your-grandma-likes-to-buy-it-from-the-food co-op type kind of dried mango), and it tastes like it, too—tart and fruity and only barely sweet. The taste isn’t as strong as the aroma, but it’s stronger than Kern’s. That said, it does have a distinct dried-mango taste, not a fresh-cut-mango taste, so it’s the best mango juice if that’s the flavor profile you prefer. To each their own!
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Goya Mango Nectar
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Goya Mango Nectar is the real deal. If you want pure, unadulterated, sweet, and tangy mango flavor with a silky-smooth texture, you should buy Goya. “But Jessica, if this is the best mango juice (at least at U.S. grocery stores—we are aware better mango juice exists in tropical places) then why is it in second place?!” Well, do you trust me? No, that’s stupid, of course you do. So, bear with me here. This Goya mango juice smells and tastes like fresh-cut mango. It is thick, luscious, and the most authentic of all the mango juices we tried, according to one of the taste testers, who spends a lot of time in Southeast Asia drinking mangoes. It ain’t 100% perfect, but it’s darn close.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Naked Mighty Mango
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I know.
“This is a smoothie.”
“What is it doing at the top of the best mango juice list?”
“Are you aware that this smoothie contains…bananas?” All good questions to which I say, “Shhhhhhhh.” It’s fine. And you know why it’s fine? Because this smoothie is thick, delicious, and very Mango-forward in flavor. Believe us when we say this is just a really tasty liquid. It tastes like mango, orange, and fresh nectarines, and reminded us of a Jamba Juice Mango-a-Go-Go, if that means anything to you. Or of the smell when you walk into a Jamba Juice. Either way, this stuff is delicious, and while it may not be “mango nectar,” We do believe it might be the nectar of the gods.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Best Punch
Best Subtle
Best Blend
Best All Natural
Best Mango Nectar
Best of the Best
We also tried: Langers Mango Nectar, Arizona Mucho Mango, Jumex Mango Nectar From Concentrate, Good Belly Mango Flavored
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!