Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken (Gà nướng sả)

Vietnamese lemongrass chicken is an all-time classic. This recipe is a guaranteed winner and a great way to spice up your chicken meals for the week. This recipe makes it easily onto my top 3 chicken marinades. It is easy and simple, with only a few kitchen staples and the results are sensational. It is the ultimate crowd-pleaser and the best thing about this dish is that you can cook it in a variety of ways.

How can I cook Lemongrass chicken?

Air-fryer: If you are on the go and need a quick, easy meal, then pop this into the air-fryer (skin down first) for the first 10 mins at 180 degrees. Then skin up for about 5 mins on 200 degrees or until skin is crispy.

BBQ: If you are throwing a BBQ, marinate the meat and place this on the BBQ. Cook until both sides are crispy and golden.

Pan-fry: On a frying pan over medium heat, place the chicken into the pan ( skin down first) and cook until both sides are brown. This should be approx. 6-8 minutes depending on the size of your chicken thighs.

Grill: If you have the grill on or one of those convection ovens, you can grill the chicken on 160 degrees or until golden on both sides. This should take approximately 10-12 minutes.

Oven: My favourite way to cook this recipe is to pop it in the oven skin-down for 10 minutes under 180 degrees, then flip the chicken on high grill for 5 minutes for the skin to turn crispy!

It is a great blend of salty and sweet with a big hit of lemongrass – so if you’re a fan of lemongrass, give this recipe a go!

All you need for this is Lemongrass (duh), chicken thigh fillets, soya sauce (optional), garlic, sugar, fish sauce, chilli flakes, limes, sesame oil (optional), and vegetable oil.

Lemongrass: I like to use fresh lemongrass but I know not everyone has access to it so you can use frozen minced lemongrass.

Sugar: You can use raw or white sugar. If you don’t have either, you can use brown sugar but I would suggest adding a little more as white sugar is sweeter. The sugar helps with caramelising and getting that chicken skin crispy.

Chicken thigh fillets: I like using boneless chicken thigh fillets with skin. Some may prefer skinless fillets and that’s totally fine as well.

This recipe is easy because you can start the marinade process beforehand and cook the next day or so. So the prep time for this is split across two days and great for making big batches. You can also freeze it for up to a month if you don’t plan on cooking all of it.

What goes with Lemongrass Chicken?

Lemongrass chicken pairs well with either rice or vermicelli noodles. I usually make this if I am having a bun bowl with fresh herbs, fish sauce dressing and pickled veggies. The dish is well balanced because of the salty meat, coupled with a sweet & sour dressing (Vietnamese fish sauce) and fresh noodles.