Lemongrass Chicken Vermicelli

A fresh salad with herbs, vegetables, and rice noodles topped with juicy chicken flavored with lemongrass and other southeast Asian flavors.

I make vermicelli often for dinner.  It's a simple, fresh, and filling salad with bean sprouts, lettuce, rice noodles, carrots, mint, basil, cilantro, green onions (as many vegetables and herbs as you like), and some type of protein.  My usual favorite is Char Siu (BBQ pork) Vermicelli because I almost always have store bought Char Siu in the freezer which makes this salad super simple.  I've also used all types of meats/protein like leftover steak, chicken, tofu, shrimp, and I even used fish sticks once.  I love this salad because it makes a delicious, healthy, versatile, and simple meal.  With just a little prep work, this salad is ready to throw together in minutes.

This salad makes a deliciously healthy, versatile and simple meal [Tweet this]

When I made this version of vermicelli I wanted to try something new and thought of lemongrass chicken.  Lemon grass is easy to find in Chinatown and many grocery stores it's also easy to grow.  It's a grass that smells wonderfully of lemon.  What you usually find are just the stems.  When using it for cooking I just use the bottom thickest white part of the stalk and mince it.  There are instructions on how to prepare lemongrass in my How to Make Lemongrass Green Tea as well as instruction on many sites (just google it).

Lemongrass is a grass that smells wonderfully of lemon [Tweet this]

I used skin-on chicken breasts, marinated in a salty, sweet, and sour sauce flavored predominately with lemongrass.  The lemongrass added a lovely subtle lemony flavor to the chicken that you can't get from an actual lemon.  It's difficult to describe, but it was delicious.  The only criticism I have is that the marinade did not permeate the entire chicken breast.  It mostly stayed on the skin and outside flesh.  Maybe with a longer marinating time or I wonder if I could try poking holes in the chicken for some sauce to seep into.  No matter, it smelled great while cooking and it tasted great too.  This chicken made a great vermicelli and it was delicious to eat on its own too.

The chicken's great alone too [Tweet this]

Lemongrass Chicken Vermicelli

Lemongrass Chicken

Ingredients:

Marinade

2 Tbsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp minced lemongrass
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup sliced green onions
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts (technically it's only one whole chicken breast but split down the breast bone)

Pound the garlic and lemongrass in a mortar and pestle (or with the flat of a knife) until oils are released and they are fragrant.

Mix the lemongrass, garlic, and other marinade ingredients together and pour over chicken in a sealable bag.  Refrigerate and let marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight might be better.

Preheat oven to 350F

Place the chicken on a rimmed baking dish and pour the rest of the marinade over.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until internal temp reaches 165.

Allow the chicken to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.  Serve immediately or it even tastes great cold out of the fridge.

Ingredients continued:

Bean Sprouts
Lettuce
Mint
Thai basil
Cilantro
Vermicelli rice noodles, cooked
Carrots, julienned or shredded
Green onion
Jalapenos, sliced
Lemongrass Chicken
Nuoc cham

Place all the vegetables, herbs, noodles, and chicken in a big salad bowl (use as much of each as you like).  Then pour the nuoc cham over everything (I usually use a few tablespoons but use as much as you like).

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.

For the recipes mentioned in this post and more vermicelli and lemongrass recipes check out:

Char Siu Vermicelli

Vermicelli Salad   --

Lemongrass Green Tea

Lemongrass Chicken Stir Fry

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