Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables

Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables mains Tender juicy roast chicken and veggies cooked in a rich tarragon and mustard cream sauce roasted chicken recipes Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables chicken, one pot meals

This mouth-watering roasted tarragon chicken features a deliciously moist chicken with crispy golden skin, cooked in a rich tarragon and mustard cream sauce. To make it, you’ll need a whole chicken, olive oil, garlic, heavy cream, fresh tarragon, Dijon mustard, and white wine.

Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables

This dish is easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner but just fancy enough for a special occasion. This is my favorite take on Julius Roberts’ Epic Tarragon Roast Chicken recipe. It is baked over a bed of veggies plus loads of sliced leeks that melt in your mouth and add so much flavor to the pan sauce. It can definitely pass for a one pan meal but I love to serve it with some rice or even mashed potatoes, or crusty bread to enjoy with all the pan juices. Double carbing is essential sometimes ;)The chicken is baked uncovered making the skin nice and golden and lightly crisp on top. The cream not only helps bathe the chicken in more fat creating a more golden colour but it also helps this chicken stay super moist and tender. It also helps create that delicious braising liquid which reduces down to a delicious sauce. It may look like a lot of pan juices but it does thicken up and you won’t regret having that much sauce to enjoy!

Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables

Roasted Tarragon Chicken Ingredients

  • CHICKEN: You will need about a 4 lb whole chicken. If it’s a little larger it’s ok you will have to bake it a little longer. We spatchcock the chicken for this recipe. It is quite simple to do - you can do it yourself (detailed instructions here) or get your butcher to do it for you.
  • OLIVE OIL: This is to toss the veggies with and rub the chicken with.
  • SPICES: Apart from salt and pepper I like to rub the chicken with dried thyme - it a complimentary spice for the tarragon.
  • FRESH HERBS : Fresh tarragon is what we use for this recipe - I use approximately ½-¾ cup loosely packed tarragon leaves roughly chopped. Tarragon is a mainstay in French cooking and has a milder fennel /anise-scented flavor. It is mild and fresh and is great in this chicken dish. If you don’t have tarragon but might want the same flavor notes you could use fennel fronds or chervil, those might be more obscure though depending on where you live. You can use other flavors though like basil and fresh oregano or thyme and rosemary too - keep in mind that these fresh herbs are much stronger in flavor so you might want to adjust amounts to taste.
  • VEGETABLES: This recipe includes red potatoes or you could use Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, celery and leeks.
  • BROWN SUGAR: This is optional but recommend as it helps the leeks caramelize and helps the flavour really meld together. You could use honey instead if you prefer.
  • CHICKEN BROTH: This is to help the veggies cook - they will roast up fine but the broth helps keep everything moist and from drying out.
  • GARLIC: I like to leave the cloves whole but smashed. They are just such delicious morsels. You can either mash them into the pan juices or enjoy as is. They are super soft and pick up all the flavours form everything in the pan. Some recipes say to cook unpeeled and smashed then squeezed out before serving but I like to peel them before.
  • WHITE WINE: Feel free to see any white wine you like and have on hand. I like using a dry white wine but any white wine will be nice in this recipe and really enhances the flavors of the pan juices.
  • HEAVY CREAM: Along with the tarragon this is a signature element to this dish so I don’t recommend using anything lighter than heavy cream in fact it’s even better if you use double cream for a richer thicker sauce. The dish prides itself on dousing the bird with cream so I wouldn’t skip it or make it without it.
  • MUSTARD: I like to use dijon mustard for this recipe because the flavor of it is perfect with this dish but plain yellow mustard will work too.
  • LEMON ZEST: This is the perfect way to get the nice bright flavors of lemon without using lemon juice in the cream which would essentially curdle it. The cream does separate a little regardless cause of the wine and the natural chicken drippings but it does not curdle and settles when stirred and thickens as it rests.

Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables

How To Make This Easy One Pan Roasted Tarragon Chicken

  1. SPATCHCOCK CHICKEN yourself or have your butcher do it (simple full instructions on how to do so here)
  2. RUB chicken all over with olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme
  3. TOSS the veggies in the roasting pan with olive oil, broth, brown sugar, salt and pepper
  4. NESTLE chicken over veggies and ROAST 30 minutes
  5. REMOVE chicken from oven, pour wine around the veggies, then pour creamy tarragon mixture all over the chicken
  6. ROAST chicken for another 40-45 minutes at a lower temperature
  7. REST for a few minutes after its cooked and out oven then enjoy with all the tasty pan juices

Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables

Roasted Creamy Tarragon Chicken Storage, Make Ahead, & Freezing

  • STORAGE: Store leftover roasted chicken in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, ensuring it’s cooled completely and packaged airtight to maintain quality.
  • MAKE AHEAD: You can spatchcock the chicken and also season and marinate it a day ahead and keep it in an airtight bag or container in the fridge until 30-60 mins before you roast it. You can also clean, peel and chop all your veggies and store them in a sealed container in the fridge for 1-2 days.
  • FREEZING: If you would like to freeze any part of this dish I recommend it only be the chicken. Cream tends to separate when frozen and the potatoes change texture as well so I don’t recommend freezing the sauce or the veggies. You can freeze the chicken in whole or in portions for up to 4 months, ensuring it’s cooled completely and packaged airtight to maintain quality and prevent freezer burn. Thaw in the fridge then heat up in the oven or in the microwave.

Recipe

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

For the Chicken

  • 4 lb (1.8kg) whole chicken
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons salt, plus more if desired
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper, plus more if desired
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 lb red potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 rib of celery, chopped
  • 3 medium leeks, tough ends trimmed, cut down the middle lengthwise then sliced
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • ¼ cup chicken broth
  • 6 cloves of garlic peeled and smashed
  • ½ cup (125ml) white wine

For the Tarragon Cream Sauce

  • 1¼ cups (300ml) heavy cream/double cream
  • ½-¾ cup loosely packed tarragon leaves, thick stems removed and rough chopped
  • 1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon grated Lemon zest

Directions

  1. Remove the chicken from the fridge approx 30-60 minutes before you want to cook it. It is important that the chicken is at room temperature before it goes in the oven. Cooking the chicken cold from the fridge will affect the cooking time and how evenly the chicken will cook as well.
  2. Spatchcock the chicken by removing the back bone. For detailed written instructions plus video on how to do this, see here. Alternatively, ask your butcher to do this for you.
  3. Preheat oven 475°F and lightly grease a large roasting pan.
  4. In the roasting pan toss the leeks, smashed garlic, carrots, potatoes and celery with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper, broth and brown sugar.
  5. Rub the remaining oil all over the chicken front and back. Season with salt, pepper and thyme on both sides (adjust seasoning to your liking and so that the whole bird is generously seasoned) and place into baking tray/dish over the veggies, breast side up.
  6. Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes.
  7. In the meantime make the tarragon cream sauce. Combine the cream, with the mustard, tarragon, salt, pepper, and lemon zest.
  8. Carefully using oven gloves remove the chicken from the oven after 30 minutes and REDUCE the temperature to 325°F
  9. Pour the wine into the base of the pan over the veggies and give the tray a little shake to gently toss the veggies with the wine.
  10. Next pour the tarragon sauce over the chicken and carefully transfer the pan back into the oven and roast chicken for a further 40-45 minutes or until cooked through and the internal temperature of the meat should read 165°F with a meat thermometer. If it’s still not cooked through pop the pan back in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes or until it reaches temperature.
  11. Once done remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes before serving.
  12. Carve chicken then serve with the veggies and all the fabulous pan juices

Recipe Notes

  • Really season your chicken well with salt and pepper and thyme - the suggested measures are there but when it comes to the salt I usually do 1 tablespoon as you are seasoning inside and out. 2 teaspoons is sort of a moderate approach to seasoning a whole chicken this size but I think a little more salt is better.
  • The cream does separate a little cause of the wine and the natural chicken drippings but it does not curdle and settles when stirred and thickens as it rests.

Easy Roasted Tarragon Chicken With Vegetables