Simple Uses for Tarragon

When you have a large crop of tarragon from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.

Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve tarragon:

Steam it with green beans and asparagus.

Sauté it with radishes.

Sauté it with artichokes and thyme.

Sauté it with cabbage and onions.

Sauté it with beets and leafy greens such as beet greens, spinach, and/or lambsquarter.

Add it to other sauté and stirfry dishes.

Bake it with chicken, radishes, and carrots.

Bake it with lemon balm and salmon or cod.

Bake it with shrimp and lemon slices or lemon verbena.

Bake it with chicken and tomatoes.

Bake it with pork and tomatoes.

Roast it with potatoes and radishes.

Add it to egg dishes like quiches and omelets.

Add it to a rice bowl or other grain bowl such as one made with buckwheat, quinoa, or amaranth.

Toss it with wild rice, apples, and celery.

Add it to pasta dishes, stovetop or baked.

Make a simple soup with carrots and kohlrabi.

Make a simple soup with tarragon, beets, and peaches.

Add it to other soups and broths.

Add it to pesto or use it as a substitute for basil in pesto.

Add it to pasta salad.

Add it to chicken salad.

Add it to egg salad.

Add it to potato salad.

Use it as Decor in an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)

Make a Simple Salad. A few ideas for Simple Salad pairings with tarragon are as follows:

Peas, leeks, and zucchini
Lettuce, avocados, and radishes
Endive, avocados, and radishes
Endive and strawberries

Add it to other salads.

Make an herbal vinegar. Tarragon-infused vinegar makes a great salad dressing or dressing base. Tarragon can be infused in vinegar on its own or alongside lemon balm.

Make a tea or add it to a tea blend. Tarragon is best in an infusion.

Add it to pickles. Tarragon complements pickled peas especially well.

Add it to canned diced tomatoes and tomato sauces. In other words, add tarragon while canning before sealing the jar.

Dry or dehydrate it to save it for later. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.

Make herbal ice cubes to add to future beverages. Learn how to make herbal ice cubes in our Freezing Overview article here.

Chop and freeze it.

Further Reading

Growing tarragon? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.

Tarragon is also featured in these articles:

Quick Facts: Growing Tarragon