Vietnamese Lemongrass Grilled Chicken Thighs

Vietnamese lemongrass chicken is one of those recipes where the smell coming off the grill is almost as good as eating it. Almost.

The chicken is salty, sweet, garlicky and loaded with fresh lemongrass, with those slightly blackened caramelised edges that I will happily fight anyone at the table for. Use chicken thighs, give them enough time in the marinade and cook them over a properly hot grill.

That is basically the whole secret.

This is the chicken I make for Vietnamese vermicelli bowls, but it is equally good piled onto rice, stuffed into bánh mì, wrapped in lettuce or eaten straight off the chopping board while you are supposedly “checking if it is cooked”.

It is also brilliant when feeding a crowd. Marinate everything earlier in the day, throw the chicken onto the BBQ in batches and put it on a big platter in the middle of the table.

Everyone builds their own meal. Very little fuss. Lots of food.

Exactly how I like it.

Why you’ll love this lemongrass chicken

The main reason?

It tastes ridiculously good. And ridiculously easy to cook.

Fresh lemongrass gives the chicken a bright citrusy fragrance without actually making it taste like lemon (or grass for that matter :)). Garlic and fish sauce bring the savoury punch, while sugar caramelises over the heat and gives you those sticky dark edges.

And because we are using chicken thighs, you have a very wide margin for error (especially if you use skin on chicken thighs).

Leave chicken breast on the grill for thirty seconds too long and not even fire hydrant can save it.

Chicken thighs are much more forgiving.

They stay juicy, they take marinades beautifully and they are exactly what I want with a bowl of cool vermicelli noodles and crunchy vegetables.

It is also:

• Easy to prepare ahead – marinate it the night before if you want.
• Perfect for BBQ cooking – especially when cooking for family or friends.
• Cheap to scale up – chicken thighs are much friendlier on the wallet than steak.
• Great hot or warm – important when everyone is assembling their own bowls.
• Excellent leftovers – although in my house this is never happens.

Ingredients

You do not need anything particularly exotic here. Most of these ingredients are easy to find in the supermarkets, and the lemongrass and fish sauce will definitely be available from an Asian grocer (and recently in a lot of Coles and Woolies too).

Chicken thighs

Use boneless, with or without skin. I personally prefer it with skin on for extra juicy chicken thighs and crunch crispy chicken skin.

Chicken thighs have enough fat to stay juicy over high heat and hold up well to the strong marinade.

If your thighs are very thick, cut scores on the back for faster cooking and better marinate penetration. We want the chicken to cook modestly fast because of the sugar in the marinade. Too long then those crispy burnt bits will become just be dark burnt its 🙁

Fresh lemongrass

This is the star.

Use the tender pale section from the bottom half of the stalk. Peel away any tough outer layers, trim the dry end and chop the soft inner section very finely.

The finer you chop it, the better.

Large woody pieces of lemongrass are not particularly enjoyable to chew through.

You can also blitz the lemongrass with the garlic in a small food processor.

Garlic

Plenty.

Vietnamese grilled chicken without enough garlic just feels wrong.

Fish sauce

This gives the marinade its unmistakably Vietnamese savoury flavour.

It smells much stronger straight from the bottle than it tastes once cooked, so if you are nervous about fish sauce, do not be.

You are not going to end up with fish-flavoured chicken.

For the uninitiated, DO NOT take a whiff straight from the bottle (unlike those videos circulating atm). It will smell strong. But trust me on this, tastes delicious as part of a broader recipe.

Sugar

I use brown sugar or white sugar.

Either works.

Sugar balances the fish sauce and helps create that wonderful caramelisation over the grill.

Oil

A neutral oil helps carry the marinade and stops the chicken sticking quite as aggressively to the grill.

How to prepare lemongrass

If you have never cooked with fresh lemongrass before, it looks more intimidating than it actually is.

Cut off the dry top section and the hard root end.

Remove one or two tough outer layers until you reach the softer pale centre.

For this marinade, you mainly want the bottom pale green and white section of the stalk.

Slice it very thinly, then chop it as finely as you can.

You can absolutely use a small food processor here.

In fact, if I am making a big batch, that is exactly what I do.

Lemongrass, garlic and shallot go in together and get blitzed until finely chopped.

Much faster.

Far less chopping.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY – STEP PHOTO
A simple three-stage image showing a whole lemongrass stalk, the trimmed tender section, then finely minced lemongrass. This is especially useful for readers unfamiliar with cooking with lemongrass.

The lemongrass chicken marinade

For around 1 kg chicken thighs, use:

• 1 kg boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 3 stalks lemongrass, tender inner section finely minced
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil (ie. vegetable oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix everything together until the sugar begins to dissolve.

Add the chicken and massage the marinade all over it.

And yes, actually get in there with your hands.

A spoon will technically work, but your hands do a much better job of coating every little fold of chicken.

Cover and refrigerate.

How long should you marinate lemongrass chicken?

I would give it at least 2 hours.

Four to six hours is better. Overnight is excellent.

The longer marinade gives the lemongrass, garlic and fish sauce time to work their way into the chicken rather than just sitting on the outside.

If you are organising dinner for friends, marinate the chicken the night before and forget about it.

One less thing to deal with when everyone arrives.

I would not leave it much longer than 24 hours.

There is no real benefit, and the flavour can start getting unnecessarily strong.

How to grill Vietnamese lemongrass chicken

This chicken is at its best cooked over a BBQ.

You want reasonably high heat because we are trying to get proper caramelisation on the outside without drying out the middle.

Preheat your grill well.

Shake off any large clumps of marinade before putting the chicken down. Do not wipe it completely clean — that would be madness — but big pieces of garlic and lemongrass can burn before the chicken finishes cooking.

Grill the thighs for around 6 to 10 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Leave them alone long enough to develop colour before turning.

Constantly poking and flipping meat is one of those BBQ habits that makes people feel productive while achieving absolutely nothing.

Cook until nicely caramelised and the internal temperature reaches 75°C.

Then rest the chicken for five minutes before slicing.

Can I cook lemongrass chicken without a BBQ?

Absolutely.

Frying pan/Griddle pan

Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle map over medium-high heat with a small amount of oil.

Cook the chicken for around 6 to 10 minutes per side until browned and cooked through.

You may need to cook in batches.

Do not overcrowd the pan or you will steam everything instead of getting those delicious browned edges.

Oven

Bake at 220°C conventional / 200°C fan-forced for around 20 to 25 minutes.

For extra colour, finish the chicken under the grill for a few minutes.

Air fryer

Cook at around 190°C for 12 to 16 minutes, turning halfway.

Exact cooking time depends on the size of your chicken thighs.

It works surprisingly well.

You will not get quite the same smoky BBQ flavour, but you still get plenty of caramelisation.

Slice the chicken before serving

Once rested, slice the chicken into strips across the grain.

This makes it easier to eat with chopsticks and spreads all those caramelised outside pieces through the serving platter.

Pour any resting juices back over the sliced chicken.

Do not throw that away.

That is flavour.

How I serve Vietnamese lemongrass chicken

My favourite way to eat this is as part of a big Vietnamese vermicelli bowl.

Put everything on the table separately or one one large platter:

• cooked vermicelli noodles
• lemongrass chicken
• cucumber
• carrot
• lettuce
• bean sprouts
• fresh mint
• coriander
• Vietnamese mint if you can find it
• crushed peanuts
• fried shallots
• plenty of nuoc cham. And I do really mean PLENTY

Then everyone builds their own bowl.

This is especially good for family dinners because nobody needs exactly the same thing.

One person wants mountains of herbs.

Someone else refuses coriander as though it has personally offended them (my dear wife)

The kids mostly want noodles and chicken.

Everyone wins.

Other ways to serve it

Do not think this chicken belongs only in noodle bowls.

It is also fantastic with:

Steamed jasmine rice

Chicken, rice, sliced cucumber and nuoc cham.

Simple and excellent.

Bánh mì

Stuff sliced chicken into a crusty Vietnamese roll with pickled carrot, cucumber, coriander and chilli.

Lettuce wraps

Pile chicken into lettuce leaves with herbs and vermicelli noodles.

Messy.

Worth it.

Rice paper rolls

Slice the cooked chicken thinly and roll it with noodles, lettuce and herbs.

Vietnamese-style salad

Skip the noodles and serve the chicken over a crunchy herb-heavy salad with nuoc cham.

Making lemongrass chicken for a crowd

This is one of my favourite meats to cook when people are coming over.

You can marinate several kilograms of chicken in advance and cook everything quickly on the BBQ.

Allow roughly 200 to 250 g of raw boneless chicken per adult if it is the main protein.

You can use less when serving it with plenty of noodles, vegetables and other dishes.

Cook the chicken in batches and pile it onto a large platter.

It does not need to arrive at the table scorching hot.

Warm lemongrass chicken is still fantastic, particularly in a cold vermicelli bowl.

This is one of the reasons it is such a practical entertaining dish.

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What to serve with lemongrass chicken

If you are building the full Vietnamese spread, I would serve this with:

• Vietnamese Vermicelli Bowls – the main recipe this chicken was made for.
• Nuoc Cham – absolutely essential for spooning over the finished bowl.
• Vietnamese pickled carrot and daikon.
• Fresh herbs including mint, coriander and Vietnamese mint.
• Sliced cucumber and bean sprouts.
• Fried shallots and crushed peanuts.

That combination gives you everything I love about Vietnamese food in one bowl.

Hot smoky chicken.

Cool noodles.

Fresh herbs.

Crunchy vegetables.

Sweet, salty, sour nuoc cham soaking through everything underneath.

There is a lot going on.

And that is exactly the point.

Common questions