Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad

This Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad is bright, crunchy, light and less than 10 ingredients. Perfect for lettuce cups, crackers, or scooped onto sandwich bread.

Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad originated after I read Samin Nosrats book, Salt Fat Acid Heat. She encourages you to be creative in your recipes, but loosely follow the main guidelines of balancing ingredients that bring those 4 ingredients. This salad is exactly that! This is a lighter, spring-forward version of a classic chicken salad. With lots of lemon, fresh tarragon and crunch from almonds and cabbage, it hits on all the notes.

What is so great about this Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad is that it is so versatile– its great on its own or on croissants, sourdough, toast or sandwiches. Great for a meal prep friendly lunch.

If you love this chicken salad sandwich, you’ll love my Buttermilk Fried Chicken Caesar Sandwich and my Tarragon Pulled Chicken Sandwiches.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Bright lemon flavor: the lemon brings such a balance of citrus / acid to the salad that brightens it up.
• Fresh herbs: Tarragon brings a fresh, delicate licorice-like flavor to a salad with soft notes of anise, citrus, and a little sweetness, which makes everything taste brighter and more elevated.
• Easy lunch prep: You can make this salad ahead of time and store in the fridge to eat throughout the week.
• Doubles as a great sandwich: This salad so good scooped on toasted sourdough bread.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs: You can use chicken breasts for this as well, but I find chicken thighs to bring more flavor.
• Olive oil: Using a high quality olive oil in this recipe makes all the difference.
• Purple cabbage: Purple cabbage adds the crunch any good chicken salad needs.
• Lemon: The lemon is the citrus that makes this so bright and brings an added level of flavor.
• Tarragon: Tarragon is the perfect pairing to lemon, with a bright anis- herb flavor.
• Whole grain mustard: The whole grain mustard is critical in this dish for flavor and texture.
• Chopped almonds: This brings the crunch you need.
• Dried cranberries: Dried cranberries bring a nice subtle sweetness.
• Greek Yogurt: Using Greek yogurt makes this a little healthier (versus mayo) and full of protein

How to make Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash and pat dry the chicken thighs. Transfer to a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook for about 22 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through.

2. Once the chicken is cool enough to touch, use to forks to shred. Alternatively you could shred with a stand mixer.

3. Combine Greek yogurt, tarragon, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper into a bowl.

4. Mix well until creamy and combined.

5. Chop almonds, slice red onion and cabbage. Add all ingredients in the bowl with the dressing. Mix well until combined.

6. Serve on its own, or add to sourdough bread.

Expert Tips

• Shred, don’t cube, the chicken: finely shredded chicken gives the salad that creamy, scoopable texture that works especially well for sandwiches.
• Add lemon zest before juice: the zest gives stronger citrus flavor without thinning the dressing too much.
• Let it chill before serving: 20–30 minutes in the fridge helps the tarragon and lemon infuse into the chicken.
• Keep the mix slightly thicker for sandwiches: use a little less mayo or extra shredded chicken so it doesn’t spill out of the bread.
• Toast your bread or croissant: the crispy texture keeps the sandwich from getting soggy and adds contrast to the creamy filling.
• Finish with fresh tarragon on top: a little extra right before serving makes the flavor pop and looks beautiful in photos.

Variations & Substitutions

• Add grapes: Adding something like grapes will bring a freshness and bit of sweetness.
• Add apples: Adding apples brings a crisp, sweet bite to balance the creamy pulled chicken.
• Add something pickled: I am a sucker for a banana pepper or cherry pepper. These would be great to add for a little pickled heat.
• Sub cottage cheese or mayo for Greek yogurt: For a bit more of a creamy indulgent salad, substitute mayo for the Greek yogurt. If you want added protein and like cottage cheese, sub that for the Greek yogurt.

Storage

Store the lemon tarragon chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. The flavor actually gets even better after a few hours as the lemon and fresh tarragon have time to blend into the chicken.

If you’re planning to use it for sandwiches, store the chicken salad separately from the bread or croissants to keep everything fresh and prevent sogginess. When ready to serve, give it a quick stir and add an extra squeeze of lemon or sprinkle of fresh tarragon to wake the flavors back up.

FAQs

More delicious chicken recipes

• Chopped Caesar Crispy Chicken Sandwich
• Avocado Cheddar BBQ Chicken Sandwich
• Chicken Provençal
• Pesto Chicken and Balsamic Mushroom Sandwich
• Rosemary Citrus Roast Chicken