Lemongrass Chicken with Rice and Zucchini

July 12, 2021

Hello and happy flavor day to you! Because this right here is a flavor all-star.

This recipe involves tender chicken (thighs, please!) sautéed and then simmered in an OMG creamy-coconut-lemongrass-flavor-packed sauce, with steamy jasmine rice, and fresh herbs, and some veggies on the side if you want.

And all I have to say is big, big love for this.

Why Everyone Needs This Lemongrass Chicken ASAP

As with most superdelicious foods, this lemongrass chicken is giving us the best of both worlds:

Fresh, energized, life-giving flavor from the lemongrass and lime and cilantro;
Creamy and totally comforting lusciousness from the coconut cream, chicken, and rice.

So it eats like a comfort food, but it tastes like lightness and zippy zing and flavor excitement, and it is all-around one of my favorite things to cook and eat right now.

Lemongrass chicken in a bowl with rice and zucchini and topped with fresh herbs.

How To Make This Lemongrass Chicken

The method of making this is fairly straightforward: sauté the chicken, build the sauce, add the chicken back in. That’s pretty much the bones of it.

For vegetable activity – zucchini is all up in my CSA right now, so I like to serve this with pan-fried zucchini half-moons with their little tender-crispness and golden browned spots. But I can confirm that any vegetable, including a very delicate and simple green side salad, is just as lovely.

Use What You Have On Hand

For substitutions, chicken breasts will work, although I prefer thighs. For a vegetarian option, pan-fried tofu would be fabulous. I am also having visions of shrimp and feeling really excited about it. Right? With a little fish sauce or something? That would be awesome.

And coconut milk could work in a pinch, but COCONUT CREAM is the gold standard for achieving a sauce that ladles on like a gravy, which I just cannot seem to quit. It is cash money deliciousness.

Lemongrass chicken in a bowl with a fork being held by a white hand.

Sending lots of love to summer and fresh flavors that support a good food mood. Lemongrass, you star, you.

Lemongrass Chicken: FAQs

So chicken breasts can work here, right?

Chicken breasts could work, but you’ll lose a bit of the juiciness and tenderness, so chicken thighs are the way to go if those are available to you. For a vegetarian option, pan-fried tofu would be perfect!

I can only find coconut milk. Will that work?

Coconut milk will work a pinch, but you might lose some of the creaminess. Make sure to use full-fat coconut milk instead of light coconut milk.

I’m trying to cut out refined sugar. Do I need the brown sugar in the sauce?

The brown sugar really helps balance out some of the flavors of the coconut cream and the lime juice, so it’s best to keep it in. For a refined sugar-free option, you could try coconut sugar instead.

Source notes: My version of this recipe was modeled after a pre-made product (I am very fancy) called Kevin’s Lemongrass Chicken. I have also tried a lemongrass chicken from a local Vietnamese restaurant that was similar (and also delicious!), but the version I tried was more of an oil-based sauce vs. cream-based sauce, so in making this I was attempting to replicate the former!