Recipe for chicken and egg salad with tarragon mustard vinaigrette
Does it really matter which came first? What's important is that the chicken and the egg came together in this summery salad, tossed with a tarragon mustard vinaigrette that loves them equally. On the day I took these photographs, I made the salad with celery, the stalk plus the leaves. Had I waited a few days, I would have swapped in lovage from my herb garden. The young tarragon leaves, also from my garden, added a nice undertone of licorice; if the flavor isn't your thing, substitute fresh parsley or dill. Serve on toasted bread with some lettuce leaves, or use the leaves as a wrap for a lovely presentation with fewer carbs. This salad contains no mayonnaise, and that makes it a perfect candidate for the picnic basket.
Chicken and egg salad with tarragon mustard vinaigrette
From the pantry, you'll need: eggs, tarragon, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil.
Serves 3-4.
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette:
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp white wine vinegar
Pinch of kosher salt
Pineh of fresh black pepper
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
For the salad:
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (roasted, poached, or rotisserie)
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 large stalk celery, diced, with leaves
Directions
In a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine all ingredients for the vinaigrette. Shake the jar vigorously until the dressing emulsfies (thickens), and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the salad ingredients.
Toss with the vinaigrette, and serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to several hours.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Lemon-dill egg salad
Bacon and egg tartine
Chicken salad with walnuts, celery, and pomegranate-harissa yogurt sauce
Curried chicken salad with bell pepper, peanuts and raisins
Chicken and avocado lettuce boats with buttermilk Dijon dressing
Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Asparagus, potato and herb soup, from Soup Chick
Tarragon-mustard deviled eggs, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Ladies' Lunch tarragon chicken salad, from Pink of Perfection
Roasted chicken and vegetables with mustard and tarragon, from Tastefood
Tarragon chicken salad with pecans and figs, from In Praise of Leftovers
Need more ideas for how to create salads with pizzazz? Get Dress Up Your Salad, my e-book packed with easy mix-and-match recipes, full-color photos and a few fun videos. Exciting salad recipes from everyday ingredients can be just one click away, on any computer, tablet or smart phone, with the FREE Kindle Reading app. Click here to learn more.
Disclosure: The Perfect Pantry earns a few pennies on purchases made through the Amazon.com links in this post. Thank you for supporting this site when you start your shopping here.
I think tarragon is a perfect herb to use with both chicken or eggs, so I know I'd love this. I've never had lovage; need to try growing some of that.
Kalyn, lovage grows like celery, and it's a perennial. I love watching it come up in the early spring.
yum.yum.yum. what a great high-protein lunch this would be! I bet this wold be nice with some fresh thin sliced fennel mixed in.
Lydia,
My celery is growing, well, re-growing actually like gangbusters in the garden, so I have celery leaves aplenty and am delighted that you've used them in the salad. The yolks are so vibrant!
Thank you.
Nice! I'm kind of an egg salad fanatic, and I'm always looking for new variations - love the addition of chicken, and tarragon is really the perfect herb to welcome the freshness of summer.
Kirsten, I keep wanting to try growing celery by planting the root of a head of celery from the farmer's market. I love using celery leaves.
TW, I'm an egg salad fanatic, too. Sometimes I just want the traditional, but lately I've been into many variations. Lemon-dill egg salad remains a favorite.
This looks so tasty! I am currently on the Dukan Diet so I will try it replacing the oil with buttermilk! Yum.
I love chicken salad, love egg salad but I don't remember if I have ever put them together which is a great idea! This feels like picnic time to me! I love this recipe!
Eleni, thanks for the heads-up about that substitution. I'll bet it will be delicious.
Jamie, my garden tarragon is beautiful this year, and it goes so well with both chicken and eggs that I couldn't decide which salad to make. Hence, both, together!
I am getting up from reading this to put eggs on to boil right now!