Lemongrass
Lemongrass brings a bright, citrusy perfume to everything it touches—without a single squeeze of fruit.
In a nutshell
Lemongrass is a tall tropical grass whose fibrous stalks pack an intensely citrusy, lightly floral aroma. It’s a cornerstone of Southeast Asian cooking and works equally well in savory dishes and herbal drinks. You use the pale lower portion of the stalk—not the tough green tops—either bruised whole, sliced thin, or pounded into a paste.
Nutrition
≈ 13 Calories and 0.1g fat per tablespoon.
Lemongrass is nearly fat-free and gets most of its modest calories from carbohydrates, making it a very light addition to any dish nutritionally. Its real value lies in its essential oils—particularly citral, the compound responsible for that vivid lemon scent—which have been studied for antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. It also contains small amounts of iron, potassium, and manganese, and has long been used in traditional medicine as a digestive aid and to help ease inflammation. Nutrition per 100g via Spoonacular.
Culinary uses & pairings
In the kitchen, lemongrass stars in Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian cuisines—think tom kha soup, laksa, and green curry paste. Bruise the lower stalk and simmer it whole in broths and curries (remove before serving, as the fiber is too tough to eat), or finely mince the tender inner layers and add them directly to stir-fries, marinades, spice pastes, and rice dishes.
Beyond savory cooking, lemongrass shines in drinks and desserts. Steep bruised stalks in hot water for a calming herbal tea, or simmer them in simple syrup to flavor lemonades, cocktails, and panna cotta. It pairs beautifully with coconut milk in custards and ice creams, lending a delicate floral citrus note that feels both exotic and refreshing.
Pairs well with
Substitutions
Buying & storage
Look for stalks that are firm, pale green to creamy yellow at the base, and fragrant when you bend them slightly—a fresh stalk should feel solid, not dry or hollow. Avoid bunches with brown, shriveled, or completely dried-out bases, as they’ll have lost most of their aromatic oils. Most well-stocked grocery stores and all Asian markets carry fresh lemongrass; if you can only find it dried or as a paste, those work in a pinch for cooked applications.
Varieties
- West Indian Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus): The variety most common in US grocery stores and the standard for cooking; strong lemon-citral aroma with a clean, bright flavor.
- East Indian Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus): Slightly higher citral content; more often used for essential oil production but fully edible and interchangeable in the kitchen.
Recipes using lemongrass
26 recipes across our recipe sites use lemongrass. A few favorites:
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History & origin
Lemongrass has been cultivated across tropical Asia for thousands of years, with roots in Sri Lanka, India, and Southeast Asia where it was prized both as a cooking ingredient and a medicinal herb in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine. It traveled along ancient spice trade routes, eventually becoming fundamental to the cuisines of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. By the 20th century, it found its way into Caribbean and Latin American cooking—particularly in Brazil—and today it’s grown commercially across tropical regions worldwide, including parts of Florida and California.
How it’s made
Lemongrass is a perennial tropical grass grown from divisions or transplants rather than seed, thriving in full sun and well-drained soil in USDA zones 8 through 11. It forms dense clumps that can reach 3 to 5 feet tall within a single season. Farmers harvest the stalks by cutting them close to the ground, strip away the tough outer leaves, and bundle the pale, inner stalks for market. No fermentation, drying, or processing is required for the fresh product—the stalks go straight from field to shelf, which is part of why fresh lemongrass smells so vibrantly alive.
Good to know
- The compound citral, which gives lemongrass its unmistakable scent, is also the key aroma chemical in lemon peel—yet the two plants aren’t related at all.
- Lemongrass essential oil is a popular natural insect repellent; citronella oil, which is used in many commercial candles and outdoor sprays, comes from a closely related grass, Cymbopogon nardus, rather than from lemongrass itself.
- A single lemongrass plant can be harvested multiple times a year and will regrow from the same root clump for several years.
- In Thai cooking, lemongrass is one of the core aromatics—alongside galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and shallots—that define the flavor base of many curry pastes.
- Despite its intensely citrusy smell, lemongrass contains no significant vitamin C—all that brightness comes purely from aromatic oils, not ascorbic acid.
