Enjoy a flavorful dinner with this creamy tarragon chicken! Making the most of delicious fragrant herbs and garlic, it's a cozy comfort food chicken recipe that comes together so quickly in your skillet.
If you've had a click around the site, you'll know that I do love a creamy sauce! Whether it's my popular creamy paprika chicken, turkey with sage cream sauce or my vegetarian creamy kale pasta, you'll find a cozy comfort food dinner to enjoy.
Making this creamy tarragon chicken recipe is very simple, and it makes the most of this delicious fragrant herb. Simply grab your ingredients and we can rustle up this indulgent skillet chicken recipe so easily!
Have a peek at my 15 chicken recipes round-up for even more ideas!
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⭐ Why this recipe is so good
Creamy tarragon chicken tastiness! Perfect as a cozy comfort food dinner, this recipe feels so indulgent but is very easy to do.
Alcohol free tarragon chicken. This French-inspired chicken dish typically uses white wine, but I've kept to chicken stock so it's more suitable as a low histamine recipe.
Skillet chicken recipe. No need to turn the oven on, simply grab your skillet to make your meal (and less clean up afterwards - yay!!).
🐓 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Chicken - you want to use boneless skinless chicken breasts. If they are larger in size then you may wish to use a meat mallet to flatten.
- Tarragon - this is the fragrant flavor of the cream sauce. It's best to use fresh herbs rather than dried to make a tarragon sauce for chicken to give you that fresh, fragrant and sweet taste.
- Heavy cream - if you're a UK reader be sure to use double cream rather than single cream, as the latter will likely curdle.
📖 Swaps and variations
Choose your flour. Use 'regular' flour, or personally I use spelt flour, to dredge the chicken breasts prior to cooking them.
Leave out the fennel. I suggest it gives a delicious anise flavor that works so well with the tarragon, but you can leave it out if you prefer.
Swap shallots for onion. If you run to the pantry and only have onion, they work too!
🔪 Step by step ingredients
Making this creamy tarragon chicken recipe is quite simple, with all easy steps.
Full instructions are in the recipe card below, but some photos to help guide you:
Step 1
Season the chicken. Pat the chicken breasts dry and season with salt and black pepper. Add the chicken breasts to a large bowl and dredge in flour so they are lightly coated (image 1).
Step 2
Sear the chicken. Drizzle olive oil in your skillet and use tongs to place the chicken breasts (image 2). Bring to a medium-high heat and cook the chicken each side for 5-7 minutes, or until they are cooked through to 165F at their deepest point.
Remove from the skillet and set aside on a plate.
Recipe tip: cook time will vary slightly depending upon the size and thickness of the chicken breasts.
Step 3
Saute the onion. If needed, add a little more olive oil to your skillet. Reduce the heat to low-medium, then tip in the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, then add the finely sliced fennel. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the fennel and onion has softened (image 3).
Step 4
Add the chicken, cream and tarragon. Pour in the chicken stock and increase the heat so it is lightly bubbling. Pour in the cream and sprinkle in the tarragon. Cook for 4-5 minutes so that it reduces slightly. Add the chicken back to the skillet and cook for a further few minutes, spooning the sauce over the chicken breasts (image 4).
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- Flatten the chicken breasts. If your chicken breasts are on the larger or thicker side, use a meat mallet to thin or slice (carefully!) horizontally.
- Watch the temperature! Keep the heat to low-medium when sauting the onion and garlic to make sure it doesn't burn.
- Finely slice the fennel. It is a fairly strong flavor, so slicing finely helps both not overwhelm with flavor and decrease cook time.
- Adjust the amount of tarragon. If you love a really fragrant sauce, add another half or full tablespoon to the cream sauce!
- Use a meat thermometer. Always check for an internal temperature of 165F of the deepest part of your chicken breasts with a meat thermometer to ensure they are fully cooked through.
📋 Frequently asked questions
Tarragon has quite a pungent fragrant flavor, with a hint of licorice and delightful sweetness.
If you're out of fresh, dried tarragon can be used. It's far more pungent than fresh, so it's typically advised to use about a third of the quantity of dried herbs to fresh.
You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. They will likely need a longer cook time in the skillet.
You can swap out the cream for coconut milk for a dairy free version of this recipe.
🍽 What to serve with creamy tarragon chicken
We always like to serve creamy chicken recipes with some tasty sides that make the most of the fragrant sauce.
- Rice and couscous are so good for 'mopping up' a tasty creamy sauce.
- Choose an easy skillet cauliflower rice for a lower carb option.
- Love your mashed potatoes? Pick from my creamy potato cauliflower mash that goes so well with chicken recipes, or my celeriac sweet potato mash for something a little different.
- Add some healthy vegetables, with ideas such as my air fryer Brussels sprouts, air fryer cauliflower and broccoli and steamed pak choi.
🥣 More tasty chicken recipes
Find so many tasty chicken recipes here, including my herb ricotta stuffed chicken breasts and turmeric chicken thighs, as well as these recent recipes:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you - so please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ or comment if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Creamy Tarragon Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- ¼ cup flour spelt or 'regular' flour
- 1 tablespoon olive oil more, if required
- 1 large shallot finely diced
- ½ cup fennel finely sliced
- 1 garlic clove minced or finely diced
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream (double cream for UK readers)
- 1.5 tablespoon fresh tarragon finely diced
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Pat the chicken breasts dry and season with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle the flour into a large bowl and dredge the chicken breasts so they are lightly coated. You will likely not use all the flour.
- Drizzle olive oil in your skillet and bring to a medium-high heat. Use tongs to place the chicken breasts in the skillet and cook for 5-7 minutes each side until browned and cooked through. Cook time will vary slightly depending upon the thickness of your chicken breasts. Set aside on a plate.
- If required, add a little more olive oil to the skillet and reduce the heat to low-medium. Fry the onion and garlic for 2 minutes, then add in the fennel. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Pour in the chicken stock and increase the heat so it is very lightly bubbling. Pour in the cream and sprinkle in the tarragon. Cook for 4-5 minutes so that it reduces slightly. Add the chicken back to the skillet and cook for a further few minutes, spooning the sauce over the chicken breasts. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Notes
- If your chicken breasts are on the larger size you may wish to either slice horizontally into smaller pieces or use a meat mallet to flatten.
- I suggest finely dicing the fennel. It's a pungent flavor, and works best in smaller quantities.
- Use a meat thermometer to check for an internal temperature of 165F of the chicken breasts at their deepest point to ensure it is cooked through.
- Nutritional information is given as a courtesy. It is for informational purposes only and should be considered to be an estimate.
- spelt, which has a ? as a liberator.
- shallot isn't rated. You can swap for white onion.
- tarragon isn't rated. It is low histamine on other lists, but be mindful of personal sensitivities.
- garlic, which scores 1.
- chicken stock will depend upon ingredients used.
- cream scores 0, but with additional notes you may wish to check.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
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