Chicken Tarragon Soup satisfies all the senses and cravings when it comes to comfort food. Incredibly easy to make, ready in no time.
But before we get talking about the soup itself, you might wonder…
What is Tarragon?
Tarragon, an herb that’s a member of the sunflower family (yes, really), has leaves that are long, flat and narrow. There are three varieties of tarragon- Russian, Mexican, and French, with Mexican tarragon being the most common and the variety I used in this recipe. It’s probably what you’ll find the most readily in your supermarket. This tarragon is both sweet and bitter, with a slight anise flavor which pairs wonderfully with poultry or fish, and in soups and sauces. Tarragon in this recipe for Chicken Tarragon is the singular “just right” herbed component that makes the soup irresistible.
Okay, let’s make the soup. A combination of onions, garlic and leeks get sautéed until the onions are soft and the garlic is fragrant. Sliced celery gets added in for the freshness it imparts. I add the celery after the alliums because I want it to retain its raw flavor just a bit. Dried tarragon is added next, then remove the skin from bone-in chicken thighs and nestle them in the mix. The broth base consists of white wine, chicken broth, lemon juice and some heavy cream. Do you see where this is going? The combination of ingredients in this soup, including the flavor that will come from the chicken bones, is rich but fresh. Creamy without being heavy.
After the soup simmers for 30 to 45 minutes, remove the chicken from the soup, take the meat off the bones and return it to the pot for a hearty, rustic soup. If you want a soup that’s a little bit “fancy, before placing the chicken pieces back in the soup, using an immersion blender, blend the soup base until nearly smooth and then add the chicken back in. This method provides a more silky, rich soup base. Both options are delicious and my family couldn’t really choose which they liked better. They said they were both good in different ways. So, personal preference rules here.
Another way that you might want to change up the Chicken Tarragon soup- if you like your soup with more broth or juice for dunking bread or crostini (or if you want to eek out an extra serving), I give instructions in the recipe notes for easily increasing the soup base during cooking.
I’ve made this soup so many times recently, tweaking it until we felt it had all the right textures and flavors, while keeping the recipe incredibly simple. Instructions that follow can be done on the stove or in your slow cooker (and will definitely adapt well to a pressure cooker). As you can hopefully tell, the chicken cooks in the soup to perfect tenderness. If you’re in an even bigger hurry or have some leftover chicken, you can make the base and add in the cooked chicken at the end for a 20 minute meal.
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Chicken Tarragon Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 leek
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds bone-in chicken pieces
- 1 ½ cups dry white wine
- 2 ½ tsp dried tarragon
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tsp lemon juice
- sea salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Peel and finely chop 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves. Slice the leek and carefully rinse any dirt from the leek. Slice 2 stalks celery.
- Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil to a large soup pot and add the onion, garlic, and leek. Cook until the onion is softened, about 4 minutes. Add the celery, 1 ½ pounds chicken pieces, 1 ½ cups wine, 2 ½ teaspoons tarragon and 3 ½ cups broth. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and add 1 cup heavy cream, and 3 teaspoons lemon juice. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, turning the chicken once or twice. Cook until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, about 30 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and pick the meat off the bone. Return the meat to the soup, add the salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt to taste, if needed.
Notes
- If you want a smooth and creamy base to the soup, once you remove the chicken use an immersion blender and puree the soup until smooth. Add the chicken once removed from the bone, salt and pepper to taste.
- This soup can also be prepared in a slow cooker on low heat over 8 hours.
- If you like your soup to have more broth for dipping bread, you can easily increase the broth to 4 cups, the wine to 1 3/4 cup, the tarragon to 3 teaspoons, and the heavy cream to 1 1/4 cup. The rest of the ingredients don't need to be increased.
- If you have fresh tarragon that you'd like to use in place of dried, I suggest adding it at the end of cooking, maybe when you have about 10 minutes left of cooking time. Whenever you use fresh herbs over dried, you need to increase the amount in the recipe, generally about 3 times as much as the dried herbs called for. So with this recipe, I'd use 2 to 3 tablespoons of fresh tarragon plus more for garnish before serving.
- Lastly, if you're wondering if it's okay to add the cream during the simmer without having it curdle, the answer is 'yes' and 'maybe'. If you're cooking it on the stovetop or in the slow cooker, the fat from the cream, olive oil, and chicken help to prevent the cream from separating. That being said, if you're trying to adapt this recipe to the pressure cooker, like an Instant Pot, I would add the cream at the very end, before serving.
Recipe adapted from The Winter Table.
This was really good! I made it for my husband because he had a cold and served it with honey cornbread. VERY Yummy. Thanks for sharing!
The addition of tarragon was BRILLIANT!! I’ve been making chicken soup for over 20 years and was really hesitant to add it. I just wasn’t so sure. Well, the combination of both was INCREDIBLE to say the least!
So, Sally, you mentioned twice about adapting your soup to an Instant Pot, do you have any advice on how to actually make it in the IP? I figured out the steps until I came to how long to cook under pressure. Manual High? Soup tab option? This recipe I’m drooling over and would love to make it in the IP. I discovered tarragon a couple of years ago and the flavor is incredible and unique. I put dried tarragon on everything that’s cooked such as scrambled eggs, egg noodles, every type of sauce, potatoes, you get the picture. Not to mention how thrilled I am to find a tarragon soup recipe. Thank you so much for your advice and this recipe.
First let me say I am a soup lover and a bit of a soup snob! I love making soup and always use my own home-made stock…always! This recipe is absolutely amazing! It’s easy to make ( since I always use homemade stock I just use shredded chicken, usually a rotisserie which is a huge time saver). I have made this for several friends and family members and they are all as obsessed with it as I am!!! Absolutely fabulous!!
Thanks so much, Lauri! This absolutely made my day. I’m glad you like this soup, especially since it sounds like you’re quite a connoisseur. I really appreciate you taking the time to send this wonderful review, it means a lot. And since you really know your soup, may I recommend my Corn Chowder with Summer Squash Soup as another good one to try. Thanks again!
I made this tonight but since we didn’t have bread, I added diced potatoes and corn niblets to make it a sort of chicken tarragon chowder. So delicious! Thank you!
Glad you liked it Amy, I like the idea of the chicken chowder type additives!
Tarragon is such and underrated herb!
I agree Mary! 🙂
Delicious~! Received your email in the morning and after a long day at work quickly made this for dinner. I was concerned it would not have enough time to take on the tarragon flavor in the short cook time allowed but it was just perfect. Thank you for a new favorite quick meal~!
Wow, thank you Agamom! This made my weekend. I’m so glad you liked it. ❤️
Yum! This looks delicious. Mum has made Chicken Tarragon over the years and this has taken me back to those memories. Next time it is cold, I am going to warm up with a bowl of this!!
That’s awesome, Adrianne! Thanks for stopping by.
Chicken and tarragon are a match made in heaven! But I have never thought to make them into a soup. Thanks for the inspiration!
I agree with that, Thanh! Thanks for stopping by.
The soup indeed looks hearty and delicious. A comfort food for upcoming cold days.
Thanks Deepika! I’m so excited for comfort food.
Lovely recipe. Tarragon is such a great compliment to chicken.
This is one of my husbands favourite soups, but I hardly ever make it. Thanks for the reminder – yours looks amazing.
That’s awesome, Danielle! Thanks for taking the time to stop by with the nice compliment. 🙂
This soup looks so good now that the cooler weather is here! Question: I never have wine in the house, so I’m wondering if something else can be substituted for it… like more broth or white grape juice. I can go get a bottle of wine, but I already have everything else to make this. Thanks for the great recipes!
Hi Cindi! You could leave out the wine and increase the broth accordingly. I would also add about a tablespoon of vinegar, either white distilled or apple cider vinegar. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to let me know what you think of the soup! It’s a huge hit at my house. 🙂
I didn’t have wine. I added cognac. Delish! I also use my own bone broth. Make ahead and freeze.
Hi Kent, Whoa, I’ll bet it’s fabulous with cognac AND homemade broth, nothing better! Thanks for taking the time to comment.