Here’s a quick and easy recipe for Lemongrass Chicken that comes together in under 30 minutes, a flavorful Vietnamese-inspired dinner perfect for busy weeknights.
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Here’s a quick, flavorful, Vietnamese-inspired dinner we’ve been enjoying lately – Lemongrass Chicken! Serve these easy stir-fries over rice, rice noodles, or even cauliflower rice for a low-carb version.
Make this with ground chicken for the quickest preparation (or sub-ground turkey, ground beef, or lamb for that matter), or use chicken breasts or plant-based meats that you mince finely.
Add seasonal veggies like bell peppers, matchstick carrots, mushroom zucchini, snow peas, bok choy, or even a handful of veggies. Here I added peppers and pak choi.
Ingredients in Lemongrass Chicken
Ingredient Notes:
- Protein: Finely chopped ground chicken or chicken breast. Or ground beef or ground turkey or ground lamb. A vegetable “meat” would also fit here, or firm tofu, crumbled.
- Lemongrass: Use fresh lemongrass, lemongrass paste, or frozen chopped lemongrass (especially handy and available at most Asian grocery stores).
- shallots: Shallots are spicier than onions here, so opt for them if possible.
- Spices: Fish sauce, lime juice, and 5 spices make this dish really good, so don’t leave them out.
*See recipe card below for detailed ingredients and measurements.
How to Make Lemongrass Chicken
Prepare the ingredients: slice the shallot, peppers and pak choi, chop the garlic and lemongrass and put them on the stove.
Stir together the pan sauce and set aside.
In a wok or pan, sauté the shallots in oil until tender, then add the lemongrass and garlic and a few dried chillies (or use chilli flakes). Slide these onto a plate and set aside.
Add the chicken to the same pan. Sprinkle with salt and five spices and sauté.
Once the chicken is cooked, add the vegetables and lightly sauté until tender and crispy. Fold in the cooked shallot and lemongrass mixture. Pour in the wok sauce and cook for another 2 minutes.
Stir in the fresh mint and taste, adjusting the salt, lime and spice levels to taste.
Serve with rice and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Lemongrass Chicken is flavorful, tangy, and slightly sweet with a deep flavor of fish sauce, garlic, and shallots. It’s refreshing and light.
Yes, make this ahead of time and refrigerate for up to 4 days or freeze for later.
Serve over rice, rice noodles, or as a low-carb option in salad wraps or with cauliflower rice.
Yes, use firm tofu and crumble it up, dabbing well first.
More Vietnamese recipes
Enjoy this quick, easy dinner idea and please rate it below!
xoxo
Sylvia
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Description
Here’s a quick and easy recipe for Lemongrass Chicken that comes together in under 20 minutes, a flavorful Vietnamese-inspired dinner perfect for busy weeknights.
Set the rice to cook when using.
In an extra-large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add shallots and stir-fry until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, lemongrass, and dried chilies and stir-fry until fragrant. Put it all in a bowl and set aside.
In the same pan, add a dash of oil, increase the heat to high, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper, breaking apart with a spatula and browning just a little. Add Five Spice, peppers and bok chok, reduce heat and stir-fry until peppers are just tender, about 3 minutes.
Add fish sauce, lime juice and honey mixture along with cooked shallots/garlic/lemongrass (remove the Thai chilies).
Taste and adjust flavors – to taste.
Add fresh herbs and serve!
Remarks
I love buying frozen chopped lemongrass at Asain Market and having it on hand in the freezer or for a quick, easy dinner. Lemongrass paste is also a time-saving option.
If using fresh lemongrass, use the tender white root end (3 inches), chop as finely as possible and mash a little to release the oils. It takes a little muscle strength. 🙂
If making this with beef or lamb, I would drain the fat.
If you’re making plant-based meats, omit the salt and fish sauce and sub-soy sauce – start light (1-2 tablespoons, add more to taste.)
Nourishment
- Serving size: 1 cup without rice.
- Calories: 327
- Sugar: 7.8 g
- Sodium: 849.8 mg
- Fat: 12.9 g
- Saturated Fatty Acids: 3.1g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 2.2g
- Protein: 21.9 grams
- Cholesterol: 96.3 mg
Keywords: Lemongrass Chicken, Spicy Lemongrass Chicken,