This vegan lemongrass “chicken” served with rice and topped with the greatest peanut sauce of all times, is, in short, incredible. Soy curls are marinated in a lemongrass heavy marinade. Then you brown the lemongrass marinated soy curls in a skillet. Using the marinade as the sauce, it is thicken with a bit of cornstarch. No waste! The soy curls are glorious, the peanut sauce is unrivaled, served over steamy rice with cilantro and extra chili crunch if you want. The whole thing is something I’ll dream of, a lot.
What You Need For This Lemongrass “Chicken”:
- Soy Curls: I used Butler’s soy curls!
- Lime Juice, Soy Sauce, Rice Wine Vinegar, Vegetable Broth, Vegetable Oil: These are the wet ingredients for the marinade.
- Garlic, Shallot, Lemongrass, Brown Sugar: These give the marinade the best flavor.
- Cornstarch: To thicken the marinade and turn it into a sauce.
- Peanut Butter, Chili Crunch, Ginger, Warm Water: These whisked together with more garlic, lime juice, brown sugar, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar make the best peanut sauce ever!
- Rice: Steamed rice for serving.
These vegan lemongrass “chicken” bowls are so packed full of flavor. However, they are still so easy! You can marinate the soy curls ahead of time and even make the peanut sauce ahead of time too. Then, when you are ready, you can cook the soy curls and rice and it’ll be ready in the time it takes to make the rice! I would recommend, either finely mincing the lemongrass, pureeing it, or purchasing prepared lemongrass puree. Unless you like the texture of just chopped lemongrass. I enjoy it and cut mine a little larger, but I know that’s not for everyone.
Why Should You Make These Vegan Chicken Bowls?
- The lemongrass “chicken” is one of the most delicious things I have ever had.
- The spicy, tangy peanut sauce that tops it is equally incredible.
- These bowls are hearty and filling, with lots of protein.
- It doesn’t get much easier than these bowls.
- Perfect for meal prep!
Vegan Lemongrass “Chicken” Bowls
The most amazing lemongrass soy curls are served over rice and topped with the greatest peanut sauce of all time.
Ingredients
Lemongrass "Chicken"
- 6 Ounces Soy curls, I used Butler's(soaked/drained according to pkg. directions.)
- 1/4 Cup Lime juice
- 1/4 Cup Soy sauce or Tamari for GF option
- 1 Tablespoon Rice wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Vegetable oil or sesame oil
- 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
- 4 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Shallot, minced
- 2 Stalks Lemongrass, finely minced, pureed or 2 tbsp of premade paste*
- 1 Cup Vegetable broth
- 1/4 Cup Olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
Peanut Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Peanut butter, natural or regular
- 2 Tablespoons Soy sauce or Tamari
- 1 Tablespoon Rice wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Chili crisp or chili garlic sauce**
- 2 Cloves Garlic, grated
- 1 teaspoon Ginger, grated
- 3-4 Tablespoons Warm water, to thin out
For Serving
- Steamed rice
- Cilantro
- Extra Chili crisp or chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- First, you want to marinate the soy curls. After soaking them according to the package directions, drain them and squeeze any excess water out of them. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the lime juice, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, vegetable oil, brown sugar, garlic and shallot. Whisk to combine.
- Now, you want pound the stalks of lemongrass and either very finely mince the lemongrass, or put it in a food processor and pulse to puree it, it is hard to eat large chunks of lemongrass, it is tough and fibrous. I enjoy larger chunks, but that is definitely not for everyone. You may also find already pureed lemongrass paste, that is pretty common and easy to use!
- Add the lemongrass, and vegetable broth to the bowl now, and whisk again to combine everything.
- Pour the soy curls into the bowl with the marinade. Toss to combine and press the soy curls down in the marinade as much as possible. Let the soy curls marinate for at least 1 hour, tossing a few times to make sure the soy curls are evenly marinated.
- While the soy curls marinate, make the peanut sauce. Whisk all the peanut sauce ingredients together starting with 2 tablespoons of warm water, then add more warm water as needed to smooth and thin out the sauce to your preference. Set aside.
- Once you are ready to make the soy curls, remove them from the marinade, but reserve the marinade.
- Heat the olive oil on medium high in a large non-stick or cast iron skillet.
- Add the soy curls and sauté, reducing heat as needed, until the soy curls are nice and brown and have a little char on them. About 10 to 12 minutes.
- While the soy curls sauté, whisk the cornstarch into the reserved marinade.
- Once the soy curls are brown and a little crisp on the outside, pour the marinade into the skillet with the soy curls and stir to combine. Let the soy curls simmer in the marinade for a few minutes, the marinade will thicken up and turn into a nice sauce.
- Taste and adjust seasonings.
- When the soy curls are done, serve them over steamed rice, drizzled with some peanut sauce, topped with cilantro and extra chili crisp or chili sauce if desired.
Video
Notes
*Large chunks of lemongrass can be hard to eat, so make sure you pound with the back of a knife or a mallet the lemongrass stalks and then finely mince or puree.
**I used Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp, but also recommend Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 574kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Sodium: 1281mg | Potassium: 434mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 136IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 179mg | Iron: 6mg
I have not tried this yet… but I can already tell it’s a 5-star dish and I can’t wait to try it! My purpose in commenting is to ask if you have found premade lemongrass paste without dairy in it. The only brand I see near me is Gourmet Garden, and it contains whey (which is the dumbest thing ever). Thank you!
That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! So, Mekhala has a lemongrass paste that is vegan! It is a lemongrass turmeric paste, but that works great! There are a few other plain lemongrass pastes, but they are UK based. I would recommend Bart brand if you want to order some! I usually just make my own paste if you can find fresh lemongrass, but I know that isn’t easy to find everywhere! There are also powder lemongrass brands if that is easier to find. I hope that helps!
Made this the other night and it is delicious!
My first time trying soy curls. I’m pretty sure Butler’s is the only one in the world that sells them or even makes them 😳 The peanut sauce is the best I’ve ever tried ♥️
Hmmmm. My husband and I tried this tonight. We are usually big fans of your recipes, but this one didn’t work for us. The lemongrass was super strong, so strong that my husband couldn’t eat it. I ate it but did not love it. I used stalks instead of paste and I’m wondering if my stalks were too big? We both enjoyed the peanut sauce, tho.
Hi Dana,
I’m very sorry to hear that! I did try to explain in as much detail as possible how to prep the lemongrass to try to avoid that. Like I tried to explain in the instructions, it is pretty important to very finely mince or puree the lemongrass. Eating larger chunks of lemongrass can be pretty unpleasant to a lot of people. I hope that helps and I am glad you at least enjoyed the peanut sauce!
This was so freaking good! And the best peanut sauce I’ve ever had!
Outstanding! I made it with rice noodles instead of rice, and added stir-fried broccoli, red bell pepper and carrot. I tossed the noodles and veggies in the peanut sauce and topped with the soy curls. It was delicious. I ended up with some extra curls, which I think I am going to use as the “meat” in a vegetarian banh mi this weekend. Yum!
This was so fucking delicious! I subbed 2x blocks tofu for soy curls and stretched it over 6 meals with 50% more lemongrass sauce. I processed my lemongrass as directed and it was brilliant. Love love love. I could eat this every day.
This is my new favourite recipe! I love Happy Veggie World lemongrass “chicken” and this tastes soooo similar (while having the extra bonus of the satisfaction of making it at home). The peanut sauce is outstanding too! I’ve served this with a carrot & cabbage slaw (with a limey, cilantro vinegarette) and it’s a perfect pairing.
So delicious! I used Quorn cubes instead of the soy curls, and it was amazing.