11 Delicious Lemongrass Substitutes for Cooking and Soup

Fresh lemongrass is a frequent component in Asian cuisine. mostly for stir-frying fries, seafood meals, soups, salads, or even tea. If you’re looking for a delectable delicacy, you can’t go wrong with the lemon aroma that comes from the stem of the lemongrass plant. The nuanced and fresh lemongrass recipe is tough to recreate.

These are some excellent replacements that will provide a near approximation of the lemongrass taste.

Do you want to learn more about these lemongrass substitutes? Continue reading to learn about several replacements that might help you expand your cooking procedure.

The Ultimate Lemongrass Substitutes List

Lemongrass’ distinct taste makes it great for grilled meats, curries, stews, and soups. Even though the lemongrass substitutes are touted to have comparable tastes, they cannot compete with the herbal flavor of lemongrass. Nonetheless, you can count on them to bring out the best in your meals.

Lemon Juice

If you want to add acitrus flavor to your cuisine quickly, this is the way to go. It is critical to choose the correct lemon. Go for fresh lemons with a somewhat soft feel when selecting lemons for this reason. The delicate texture ensures that the lemons are juicy and have thin skin.

To extract lemon juice from lemons, cut them in half and place them in a juicer, then squeeze out the juice. Keep an eye on the amount of lemon juice as you add it to your meal. If you use too much of it, your food will become excessively acidic.

For accurate measures, one medium-sized lemon equals two tiny stalks of lemongrass.

I would suggest using freshly squeezed lemon juice rather than bottled lemon juice. This is because freshly squeezed juice produces greater outcomes. Fortunately, the process of creating it is pretty straightforward.

Lemon Zest

This is my all-time favorite since it is the closest lemongrass alternative in terms of texture and taste. One teaspoon of lemonzest will enough for every teaspoon of lemongrass called for in a recipe. Add your lemon zest little by bit, tasting as you go to ensure that the flavor is exactly appropriate for the food you’re making.

Dumping a large amount of material may leave you with painful regrets. The citrus taste will undoubtedly provide a unique flavor to your cuisine. Producing lemon zest is a straightforward process. Then, wash and dry your lemon with a clean paper towel. Just grate the outermost layer of the lemon’s skin.

It has a strong lemon flavor and just a little bitter taste. To do this, grate just the thin outer peel, leaving out the white pith, which will make your dish bitter. You may add herbs to your lemon zest to create a herbal undertone to your recipes.

Arugula Leaf

Arugula, also known as rocket or roquette, has soft, bite-sized leaves with an acidic taste. (Source)

Replace one stalk of fresh lemongrass in your recipe with a single angula leaf and one teaspoon of lemon zest.

It should be noted that arugula has a highly sharppeppery flavor and should not be overdone.

Lemon Verbena Leaves

Lemon verbena leaves look a lot like lemon zest. The shrub will not give your cuisine a taste that is identical like lemongrass, but it will be near, say with a pronounced citrus flavor comparable to lemongrass.

Two lemon verbena leaves may be substituted for one single stalk of lemongrass in your recipe to get the desired flavor. Since it has a powerful scent and taste, a little quantity will go a long way.

To include the leaves into your dishes, finely cut them into the meal. Chopping them permits the taste to be released in an appropriate and homogeneous manner. You may alternatively sauté the whole leaves in your skillet and remove them before serving.

The nicest thing about lemon verbenaleaves is that you may pick or purchase a large quantity of them and freeze them in ice cube trays submerged in clean water. If you want to use the lemon verbena leaves later, you may dry them and store them in a well sealed jar.

Kaffir Lime Leaves

The kaffir lime leaves may also lend an acitrus scent to your soups, broths, and curries. They are readily identified by their distinctive twin leaf lobes and green hue. Tear the kaffir lime leaf in half to bring out the finest in your cuisine.

If you have older leaves, remove the stem and midrib, which are likely to make your dish bitter. You may also enhance the flavor of the kaffir lime leaves by combining them with additional ingredients such as lime zest.

To increase the efficacy of your dish, replace one stalk of lemongrass with a single leaf of kaffir limeleaf coupled with precisely two teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemonjuice and a single tablespoon of limezest.

The combination of kaffir lime leaves and lime juice would be ideal for soup.

With these proportions of alternatives, you may be certain that your curries and soups will be delicious.

Fresh Ginger Combined With Coriander Stalks

Ginger usually adds a strong and unique flavor to foods. Its goodness is almost impossible to overlook. To ensure that your ginger is fresh, it should always feel quite firm to the touch, but its skin should be smooth. Wrap them in a plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator to keep them looking good.

Coriander stems, on the other hand, offer a taste that is both fragrant and spicy. When mixed, the powerful flavor taste may be characterized as evocative of lemongrass.

To help you get the appropriate quantities for your broths and soups, add two tablespoons of coriander stalks and fresh ginger root for every one stalk of lemongrass used in your recipe. In this scenario, the coriander stalks seem to be superior than the leaves. This is due to the fact that they have greater taste.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is excellent for desserts. You may keep some lemon balm in your garden for convenience, or you can acquire some from the nearby supermarket or grocery shop down the street in the herb area.

To get the best flavor, substitute four lemon balm leaves for one stalk of lemongrass in your dish. Chop the lemon balm leaves and stir them into the meal at the conclusion of the cooking process.

Lemon balm may be stored for an extended amount of time and yet keep its taste. Cut the leaves into smaller pieces and submerge them in fresh water before placing each combination in a tray with ice cubes. In that condition, place them in the refrigerator.

If you have dried lemon balm, keep it in a resealable plastic bag and store it somewhere cold and dry. This way, you’ll always have them on hand if you run out of lemongrass replacement.

Ginger And Cilantro

You may swap lemongrass for ginger and cilantro in broths and soups.

Replace one stalk of lemongrass with two teaspoons of cilantro and two teaspoons of fresh ginger. It is critical to utilize cilantro stalks rather than leaves since the stalks have a stronger taste.

Japanese Yuzu

The Japanese yuza is another citrus fruit that may be used as a substitute to lemongrass. This fruit has the outside hue of a lemon and the size of a grapefruit. If you’ve had yuzu juice previously, you’ll notice notes of mandarin orange!

Japanese yuzu is a frequent component in east Asian cuisine for both sweet and savory meals such as curries and seafood cuisines.

It is more difficult to extract the same quantity of juice as a lemon or limea because its pips are bigger.

To replace 2 smallstalks of lemongrass, at least two or moreyuzuto extract adequate liquid may be required. Some experimentation may be necessary since they contribute significant flavor to foods and may ruin your recipe.

Dried Lemongrass

We think dried lemongrass is a terrific alternative for fresh lemongrass in recipes, particularly in meat and poultry dishes with a sauce base.

When dried, lemongrass has a strong herbal and lemony taste, therefore just a little quantity should be used. (Source)

To replace one stalk of fresh lemongrass, you won’t need much dried lemongrass. One teaspoon of dried lemongrass would enough.

Lemongrass Paste

Lemongrass paste is known as kreung. It comes from Cambodia and may be used in place of lemongrass in a number of cuisines. You may easily get it at supermarket shops. It is packed in squeezable tubes that can keep it fresh for a long time.

Lemongrass paste contains the following ingredients:

• 1galangal
• 6 finely chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1stalklemongrass
• 4cupofwater1
• 4-5 leaves of kaffir lime

To create, combine all ingredients in a food processor or mortar & pestle.

See this video:

Get The Best Out of Your Lemongrass Substitute

I hope you’ve learnt about the several effective lemongrass replacements. Running out of lemongrass, which may be a key component in your recipe, does not imply your ambition to prepare that specific meal should stop there. You may depend on the finest lemongrass substitution to enhance the flavor of your dish.

Lemon zest is my go-to lemongrass alternative, bringing out a taste that is practically identical to lemongrass. When I’m in a rush to prepare my meals, though, lemon juice comes in helpful. Feel free to experiment with the many lemongrass alternatives; in the end, you’ll be able to discern which one brings out the finest in your recipes.