Easy Tarragon Chicken Salad

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This Easy Tarragon Chicken Salad is delicious, refreshing, and easy to customize! It makes the perfect lunch, dinner, side dish, or protein-packed snack!

Jump to:

• Ingredients + substitutions
• Step-by-step (with photos)
• Variations
• Serving suggestions
• Sides to serve with Tarragon Chicken Salad
• Easy Tarragon Chicken Salad
• Let's connect?

Chicken Salad is super easy to make, and it’s a classic. It goes with a variety of sides (such as these), and it’s a favorite for a reason–it’s awesome.   

Sometimes it’s fun to put a little twist on a classic? In this case, by adding tarragon to chicken salad!

Tarragon is a French herb that famously pairs well with chicken, making it perfect for chicken salad. It tastes a bit sweet with the subtle aroma of anise or licorice (although, it doesn’t exactly taste like either of those, so don’t worry if you’re not a fan of it, many people aren’t).  

It’ll add a unique depth of flavor to your chicken salad, taking it from a run-of-the-mill American classic to an elevated, French-inspired dish! So, what I’m trying to say is, this is a very exciting chicken salad! 

I’m a huge fan of slightly elevating standard recipes, and this recipe is no exception.  

Ingredients + substitutions

• Cooked chicken - any cooked chicken will work.  You can use rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken, shredded chicken, even canned chicken.  
• Greek yogurt or Mayo - whatever you prefer.  I used Fage 5% Greek yogurt, but Mayo works if you want to keep the flavor more in line with classic chicken salad.  Greek yogurt gives it a tangier flavor.  
• Tarragon - fresh tarragon is best.  You can swap the fresh tarragon for ½ tsp of dry tarragon. You can also use, if you don’t have fresh tarragon, fresh basil.  The taste will be different, it’ll be sweeter, but it’s a great swap and I suggest trying it!   
• Celery - for a little crunch.  It’s a classic ingredient.  If you don’t have celery you can swap it for some chopped carrots.  
• Shallot - mince ½ of a shallot, for some garlicky flavor.  Shallots are somewhere between an onion and garlic, they taste sweet, garlicky, and mild.  They pair so well with tarragon.  
• Dijon mustard - for a bit of spice and tanginess.    
• Lemon juice - for some citrus flavor.  You can swap this for white or apple cider vinegar if you don’t have fresh lemon juice.  
• Kosher salt + pepper - start with a little and adjust to taste.  

Step-by-step (with photos)

STEP 1: Add the cooked chicken, Greek yogurt (or mayo), tarragon, celery, shallot, dijon mustard, lemon juice, kosher salt, and pepper to a bowl.  

STEP 2: Mix the ingredients together well.  Cover.  Then place in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the flavors meld, I recommend making this a few hours ahead of time if you can! 

Serve it up on crackers, croissants, toasted bread, or in lettuce wraps!   Enjoy!

Variations

• Fresh or dried fruit - add some fresh, halved grapes or dried raisins or cranberries.  Chopped dates are also a nice addition.  
• Nuts - if you like your chicken salad to have a little crunch, add a tablespoon or two of chopped or slivered almonds.  
• Spices - this recipe is really just a starting point, you can (and should!) customize it to fit your preferences.  If you like a little spice, add some red pepper flakes.  If you like garlic, add garlic powder.  Experiment and get creative! 
• If using Greek Yogurt - if you opt to use Greek Yogurt in this recipe, be aware that Greek Yogurt can have a very tangy flavor.  To balance that out (if you find that you need to) add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, or coconut aminos to provide more umami and flavor to the base of the chicken salad. 

Serving suggestions

• On lettuce leaves - or as “lettuce wraps”.  Romaine or iceberg is best for this.  
• In a sandwich, toasted sourdough bread would be amazing!
• In wraps, rolls, or on a croissant. 
• In pitas or pita pockets.
• On top of salads (such as the ones below). 
• As a dip with crackers or tortilla chips. 
• Stuffed in fruit - such as an avocado or a pineapple. If you haven’t tried this–give it a try! Slice the fruit vertically, remove the pit or core, and pile the chicken salad inside.  Trust me on this one, it’s an awesome combo!

Sides to serve with Tarragon Chicken Salad

Try adding your chicken salad to one of these awesome salads!

My favorite is the Apple Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese:

Let's connect?

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