Chicken with tarragon and cream sauce is a classic and easy French dish that you will want to add to your dinner rotation. Unlike many French recipes, this creamy chicken with tarragon recipe does not require any special techniques and it's flavor is amazing.
If you are looking for recipes with tarragon, this dish is a must try and I promise you will be making again and again.
This chicken with tarragon dish is so full of flavor and the tarragon adds a wonderful sweet note. Fresh tarragon is important when making this dish since it has a sweet flavor that you cannot get with its dried version.
What does fresh tarragon taste like in this recipe:
If you are not familiar with tarragon you are not alone. It is definitely one of the most under utilized and forgotten herbs available to home cooks. Tarragon actually has somewhat of a licorice flavor if eaten raw but when it is combines in a sauce like this one, it will add a great background sweetness.
I promise, no licorice flavor will be tasted. I hate that flavor and would never allow it in my dishes if it did come through. This is definitely a tarragon recipe that will be used often!
Is this chicken with tarragon a quick meal?
This creamy tarragon chicken recipe makes a really great weeknight meal because it comes together really quickly and with few ingredients. As long as you plan out buying all of the ingredients in this dish ahead of time it should take no more than 30 minutes to make this recipe.
The ingredients, as I mentioned above, do need to be planned ahead of time because there are a few that may not be in everybody's kitchen (eg tarragon, shallots and heavy cream).
Here are all the ingredients you will need to make this French chicken and tarragon recipe:
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
- Fresh tarragon.
- Shallots (try to use these and not regular onions since they have a much more mild flavor).
- Heavy cream.
- Lemon.
- Butter (just a touch) and olive oil.
- Salt and pepper
You can see there are really not many ingredients. It is all about cooking with a few quality ingredient whose flavors go so well together. The tarragon adds a beautiful flavor to the cream, the lemon brightens up the dish and the flavor of the shallots brings it all together.
This chicken with tarragon dish makes a wonderful quick meal during the week but it is fancy enough to serve to guests. So, you can practice mastering this for yourself and when you need a quick meal to serve up to company, you will feel ready.
The steps to make this chicken and tarragon dish are really simple and look like this:
- Pound your chicken thin (with a mallet or rolling pin)
- Saute shallots
- Brown chicken
- Add cream and tarragon
- Done
Anyone who has 30 minutes can make this meal. I always love doubling the tarragon sauce for this because I like to serve extra over my chicken. I also like to serve this with a pasta or a side of roasted potatoes and then dip those into the sauce too.
The tarragon cream sauce is absolutely drinkable! You'll see what I mean when you try it.
If you wanted to make this dish ahead of time, You could cook up your chicken ahead of time and then let it come to room temperature before adding it into the cream sauce. The cream sauce will reheat the chicken beautifully.
What to serve with this creamy chicken with tarragon recipe:
- Pasta Aglio e Olio or any pasta! I like to top the pasta with the creamy tarragon sauce- So good!
- Roasted baby potatoes
- Sauteed spinach
- Charred broccolini
There are so many great sides to go with this and I am sure whatever you choose will taste amazing. Just make sure your side dish can scoop up that delicious tarragon cream sauce!
Some helpful tips when making this Tarragon recipe:
- Use only fresh tarragon.
- You can cook the chicken breasts ahead of time and store them in the fridge until you are ready to make this. Just reheat them on a hot skillet and then proceed with the steps that follow "making the chicken" in the recipe.
- This recipe makes great leftovers. To reheat, place the chicken and all of the remaining tarragon sauce in aluminum foil then seal well. Place it in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or so or until hot.
- Double the sauce in the recipe if you love cream sauce. I have debated on whether to just change the recipe to do this but since it is a classic French recipe, I am trying to stay true to how they would serve it.
You may also like these Chicken recipes:
- Chilean Chicken Sandwich
- Chicken Satay without the Skewers
- Citrus Chicken Skewers
- Chinese Chicken
- Thai Lettuce Wraps
- Herb Roasted Chicken
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Asian Chicken Salad
Chicken with Tarragon and Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 shallot diced
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- 1 ½ -2 tablespoon of fresh tarragon course chopped depending on how much you like
- 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees and place an oven proof plate in the oven to get warm.
- Place a large heavy bottom pan on your stove and add your olive oil and butter and preheat over medium heat.
- Now we are going to pound the chicken breasts thin.
- Line a counter with a sheet of plastic wrap large enough to place all 4 chicken breast on. Place your chicken breasts on the plastic wrap and cover with a second piece of plastic wrap making sure all of the chicken is covered well. Take a rolling pin (or something similaand begin to pound down your chicken breasts until they are nice and thin and almost double in size.
- Sprinkle ½ of your salt and pepper on the side of the chicken breasts facing up.
- Now place your chicken breasts salt and pepper side down in your pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes a side until they are nice and browned.
- While the chicken is cooking, sprinkle the other ½ of your salt and pepper on the chicken.
- Flip your chicken breasts over and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- Once the chicken is done cooking add them to the warm plate in your oven and cover it with aluminum foil.
- In the same pan that you cooked your chicken, over medium heat, add your diced shallots and a pinch of salt and cook until the shallots become translucent (about 4 minutes).
- Now squeeze in the juice from 1 lemon and scrape up the little yummy bits from the pan. Your sauce will take on a light brown color at this point.
- Now add your cream and fresh tarragon and mix well and turn heat to low.
- Add your chicken from the oven back into the pan with the cream and cover.
- Let this sit for about 4 minutes and remove from the heat.
- Plate your chicken by adding it to a plate and spooning sauce over top of the chicken.
John says
This was amazing. I doubled the sauce as suggested and I am glad I did. I will be making this again.