The One Herb That Will Totally Boost The Flavor Of Your Chicken Salad

Few edible items have the unique ability to improve a meal aesthetically while simultaneously adding a powerful flavor, but a sprig of herbs is one such kitchen, and indeed meal prep, addition. Although you shouldn't forget how herbs, when fresh, can be used to decorate dishes, the extra notes they bring can also enhance a meal's flavor. And in this sense, herbs are arguably more important in simpler dishes like salads.

Just a sprinkle of herbs can really amp up the flavor of your summer salads, but one plant in particular – tarragon – is perhaps a better addition to a certain salad made from poultry rather than produce. The bombastic herb packs a bitter kick that is often compared to black licorice and pairs nicely with the mouth-puckering acidic ingredients that are added to most chicken salads. It is also a standard feature of Béarnaise sauce, which helps explain why tarragon nicely takes to the creamy consistency of chicken salad.

Tarragon has a complex taste profile, so alongside food with delicate notes and/or a smooth consistency is where the herb can best express itself. None of this should make you think that tarragon cannot complement more flavorful meals like pan-seared cuts of red meat or, on the opposite side of the spectrum, rich dessert dishes. Its licorice twang just works best with milder dishes. 

As previously mentioned, tarragon complements creamy foods. As such, it is one of the seasonings you should be using in egg salad, and tarragon works well with myriad egg preparations. It is also a surefire way to spice up your seafood: A slab of seared salmon sings when tarragon comes to play, and a cooked clam benefits from a sprinkle of this seasoning. Because the herb works so well with seafood, you can also enhance your basic tuna salad with the bold flavor of tarragon. 

However, tarragon's potency should give you pause. If you are incorporating the herb into your next batch of chicken salad, start by going small — for every quarter cup of mayonnaise, you should only need a tablespoon of fresh tarragon (if you're using the dried version of the herb, a teaspoon will suffice).

Fresh herbs will take your chicken salad to the next level, but proceed with caution. If you've developed a taste for tarragon but the grocery store doesn't regularly keep the less popular herb in stock, you might be in trouble. You'll need to use one of the other plants that mimics the flavor of black licorice. A few other herbs options are chervil, fennel, and anise, which can give you a similar licorice taste. However, these ingredients can be comparably difficult to get your hands on unless your local grocery store is packed with produce. 

You can add a wide variety of ingredients to your chicken salad, but few additions can bring the complexity that tarragon will. You'll have the bitterness brought by its licorice flavor, a subtle spice, and a citrus kick, which will be brought out by the acid you add to the mix. With the help of tarragon, your salad will burst out of its shell. So why not give tarragon chicken salad a poul-try?