Grilled Lemongrass Chicken
Mr. Wonderful and I absolutely love the fact that here in our city there is an abundance of Vietnamese and Thai restaurants. More times than not, we gravitate to Asian restaurants because we love the pungent and spicy flavors, as well as the healthier choice of vegetable-laden dishes.
We just returned home from vacationing in Michigan with my family. We celebrated my Mom’s 80th birthday with a big bash.
My cousin Diane and I baked up a storm and decorated her beautiful house for the party.
So many cousins and relatives showed up. It was a great day!
Believe it or not, there were several missing in this picture that couldn’t come. We have a wonderful and LARGE family!
We spent the week at Port Huron on the beach, investigating a local tree house and visiting some local gardens.
Mr. Wonderful got in some fishing…this is his happy little boy face.
We ate way too much pasta, pizza and sweet things so when we got home, I made a list and hit the grocery store intent on making healthy food all week.
I always have the best intentions….for about two days.
The dog days of summer have hit and I’ve actually stuck to making cool salads laden with veggies and fruits and the other night we grilled up this Lemongrass Chicken. It will be wonderful on cool noodle dishes and salads throughout the week or just by itself with a few side dishes or a green salad.
If you’ve never had Vietnamese food, the flavors are salty, spicy, sweet and sour…don’t be scared off by fish sauce…it adds a wonderful salty umami to the marinade (just don’t take a big whiff of the bottle, trust me, I know these things). This is my favorite fish sauce to date.
The lemongrass can be found more commonly now in regular markets but if you can’t find it, check for lemongrass paste, like this one in the produce section of your grocery store. If you have access to an Asian market, buy fresh and use the bottom parts of the stem, chopped finely. (I also buy it in a gallon bag size of grated lemongrass in the freezer section of our Asian market.)
Add all the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl and mix it up. Then pour it over boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, massage or brush it all over both sides of the chicken, and let it marinade and work it’s goodness about an hour.
Grill it up and serve! It’s delicious!
- MARINADE INGREDIENTS:
- 1T grape seed or other neutral oil like canola
- 2 T fish sauce
- Juice of one medium-large lime (about 1½ T.)
- 3 T finely chopped lemongrass or lemongrass paste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 T honey
- ¼ t freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ t. Srirachi (optional)
- OTHER INGREDIENTS
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- chopped cilantro for garnish
- Mix all marinade ingredients together in bowl and pour over chicken, massaging or brushing it to coat all sides of chicken thighs or breasts.
- Let chicken marinade for one hour then grill over medium heat 6-7 minute on each side.
- Sprinkle with cilantro and serve!
