11 South East Asian Lemongrass recipes

11 amazing South East Asian lemongrass recipes to help you use up the lemongrass in your garden or refrigerator.

Did you know that you can regrow lemongrass from supermarket cuttings?

I like to put my lemongrass (serai in Malay) in a bottle of water- the lemongrass will keep growing longer, will grow roots and won’t go bad. Makes a great table display too! When you want to use lemongrass in your cooking, just cut off the lemongrass 1-2 inches above the root end, then plant the root end in soil (or place it back in water) and it will grow you a new lemongrass!

How to use lemongrass in your cooking

Lemongrass is a very fibrous plant, so we typically only use the tender inner stem when mincing lemongrass to add to our food. (Don’t discard the tough white outer leaves though- they can be added to soups or used to make tea!)

If adding the entire lemongrass to your cooking (for example to curries, stews or soups), first bash the lemongrass with the back of a knife or a rolling pin to help release its fragrance. After you’ve finished cooking, you can then remove the lemongrass and discard it (it is too tough to chew as it is).

South East Asian Lemongrass recipes that use chicken

Lemongrass and chicken are a pair made in heaven. This fragrant lemongrass ginger chicken soup is wonderfully aromatic and naturally sweet thanks to the use of coconut water- whilst it’s nice to have fresh coconuts on hand, I usually use packet coconut water as I always have some in my pantry.

Fragrant warming ginger chicken soup recipe

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Burmese lemongrass chicken curry

Every South East Asian country has its own version of curry, each with its subtle differences.

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Thai Lemongrass and Chicken salad

The recipe calls for the use of chicken breast but I highly recommend using chicken legs instead- they’re much juicier and the extra fat means they’re packed with flavour! (And more difficult to overcook)

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Easy chicken and lemongrass rice bowl

Chicken Vietnamese Nuoc Cham Charcoal Grilled = YUM

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If you don’t happen to have lemongrass on hand, another delicious South East Asian lemongrass recipe involving chicken would be these sticky fish sauce chicken wings.

Roast chicken isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Thai food, but I love the flavours in this recipe. My Dad actually spent over 20 years in Thailand- he speaks Thai fluently- so I’ve been there many, many, many times. 1 thing I look out for in Thai recipes is the use of coriander root- coriander root is integral to Thai cooking so you know the flavour should be authentic when you see that it’s used!

Thai roast chicken with lemongrass

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Lemongrass beef recipes

VIetnamese lemongrass beef stew

The most popular recipe on Supergoldenbakes so how could I not feature it? Not to mention how much I love Vietnamese food!

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Most Vietnamese spring rolls are made with vegetables or pork, but it’s divine with lemongrass beef as well!

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Lemongrass sauce recipes

First time I read about Vietnamese Sa Te Sauce, I thought it would be similar to Singaporean Satay sauce, but it’s actually very different. For one, it doesn’t contain peanuts! If anything, it’s really more like a sambal- it’s extremely fragrant and brings a real depth to your food!

Vietnamese Sa Te Sauce

I’ve made this sans chicken bouillon stock (I used homemade stock instead) and annatto seeds and it was still delicious. Amazing scooped over noodle soups!

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Vegetarian lemongrass recipes

Lemongrass fried tofu

Lemongrass isn’t just good with meat, it also works really well with vegetarian/ vegan dishes such as tofu.

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Lemongrass really makes curries sing, and I like how this recipe uses an ingredient that is not particularly common in South East Asian food. (It’s good to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables!)

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Lemongrass drinks

Boiling lemongrass and ginger makes for a caffeine-free tea which helps to warm up the body. Add some honey or red dates (the red dates should be boiled with the lemongrass and ginger) if you like your tea sweet, and remember that the longer you boil the ginger, the spicier the drink will be!

What are some of your favourite ways to use lemongrass in the kitchen