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This Tarragon Chicken Salad is simple, flavorful, and (dare I say) my favorite chicken salad ever!
What makes this chicken salad standout from others that I’ve shared on the blog before is the use of fresh tarragon, which is a leafy green herb widely used in French cooking. It has a strong, anise-like that immediately elevates any dish. For example, this otherwise ordinary chicken salad is truly restaurant-worthy — and I give all the credit to the tarragon! Even if you find yourself turned off by the flavor of licorice, I’m right there with you so trust me when I say that the herb works so well here.
For this recipe, I was inspired by the chicken salad from Bird Bakery (if you’re Dallas or San Antonio, then you know exactly what I’m talking about). It’s savory, but the touch of dried cranberries gives it a bit of sweetness and tartness that leaves you wanting more!
The other trick that I do here, which makes this salad extra creamy and delicious, is using my stand mixer. While you can use a good old-fashioned spatula and mixing bowl to combine all of the ingredients together, I love throwing everything in my KitchenAid mixer and letting that do the work. It shreds the chicken ultra-fine, which means you get the perfect bite of chicken, celery, onions, herbs, and cranberries in every bite.
ingredients:
- Cooked Rotisserie Chicken
- Celery
- Sweet Onion
- Fresh Tarragon
- Unsweetened Dried Cranberries
- Garlic Powder
- Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
- Mayonnaise
- Dijon Mustard
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
step-by-step:
step one: mix the chicken salad
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the chicken, celery, onions, tarragon, cranberries, garlic powder, lemon juice, mayonnaise, and mustard. Beat on medium speed until the chicken is finely shredded and everything is very well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
step two: chill and serve
Transfer to an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.
recipe faqs:
Yes! Just be sure to shred the chicken really fine using your hands, then add it to a large bowl with all of the other ingredients and stir to combine until everything is very well incorporated.
I love to eat this chicken salad as is, tucked into romaine lettuce cups, with crackers for dipping, or sandwiched between toasted whole wheat bread.
If you want to change up your usual chicken salad routine, you need to try this herbaceous Tarragon Chicken Salad! Let me know what you think of this riff in the comments below.
want More Chicken Salad Recipes? try these!
Clayton’s Favorite Chicken Salad
Tarragon Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked rotisserie chicken
- 1/2 cup finely diced celery
- 1/2 cup finely diced sweet onion
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dried cranberries
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- kosher salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the chicken, celery, onions, tarragon, cranberries, garlic powder, lemon juice, mayonnaise, and mustard. Beat on medium speed until the chicken is finely shredded and everything is very well combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Transfer to an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I order a $23 tarragon chicken salad with watermelon a couple of days a week b/c it is delicious. Clearly this is too much so I decided to fill my addiction at home by trying this recipe. Oh my lord, this salad (ex celery, which is the devil) + baby kale + homemade lemon dressing + cubed watermelon + feta + sliced almonds = dead, so good! I had it for two out of 3 meals today. YAAAAASSS
haha, i’m so happy to hear– Except the celery is the devil part (hahaha) i am a celery LOVER!
Soooooo good! I had to sub canola mayo and sweetened cranberries, but it was so delish!
Would this recipe freeze well?
I don’t think that recipes that use mayo freeze well.
I had some zante currants I threw in in place of the cranberries. Great substitute! This was awesome!
Any idea the nutritional information for this? I’m mostly curious how many calories are in a serving.
It’s delicious!!
This is DELICIOUS! I love the finely shredded style at Chicken Salad Chick, but have had trouble replicating it. I also HATE shredding chicken, so this is an amazing hack that will be helpful for many recipes.
Wow wow wow! This was SO good, Alex! The tarragon adds such an interesting flavor and everything works together well. I’m not sure serves 4 people is accurate though because my husband and I could eat this in one sitting between the two of us haha. I will practice self restraint and save the rest for tomorrow’s lunch ;). Thanks as always for an amazing and creative recipe!
loved this so much!!! added to the lunch rotation for sure. thanks, alex!
This is so delish and comes together quickly! Will be going in the regular rotation!
This was my first time making chicken salad and my husband and I are obsessed!! We have made it three weeks in a row. We serve it over spinach with Simple Mills crackers. Or we scoop it up right out of the container 🙂 Insanely delicious!!