Chicken Tarragon Soup

Chicken tarragon soup is a very popular soup in Hungary. No wonder as this hearty soup is delicious, easy to make and nutritious as well with meat, a variety of vegetables, and sour cream and / or heavy cream.

I figure it used to be sour cream that people used in this recipe a couple of decades ago, but today heavy cream is usually used instead. But I believe the slightly sour taste of sour cream can’t be missed from this chicken tarragon soup, neither can lemon, so sour and heavy cream are both included in this version.

Chicken tarragon soup recipe

This recipe makes for a huge pot of chicken tarragon soup, for about 10-12 people. If this is too much, feel free to only make half or third of it.

1. In the first step, prepare all the ingredients. Clean the vegetables, cut the carrots and parsley root, dice up the potatoes, cut the celery root into larger chunks, and peel the onion and leave it in whole. Dice up the meat into smaller pieces too.

You can substitute parsnips for parsley root, or just leave it out. It’s a typical root vegetable in many Hungarian dishes.

In Hungarian recipes celery is used as celery root, that’s what’s included in this version. If you don’t find that, simply use 2-3 celery stalks.




2. Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 ½ tbsp of butter to a large pot. Add carrots and parsley roots, and cook them over high heat for 2-3 minutes.



3. Pour 12 cups (3 liters) of cold liquid onto the vegetables: use chicken broth, vegetable broth or water, see below the recipe.
4. Add the diced meat, onion and celery.



5. Bring it to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove any foam.



6. Add the potatoes and flavor with salt. Cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.



7. Add the green peas and cook for another 5 minutes.



8. Meanwhile, prepare the sour cream and flour to thicken the soup. For this mix 2/3 cups (150 ml) of sour cream with 3 heaped tbsp flour in a bowl. Add 4/5 cup (200 ml) heavy cream.
9. Remove the pot from the oven. Pour 1-2 ladles of the soup onto the sour cream mixture. Stir well, so it doesn’t have any clumps. Pour the mixture back into the soup. Stir.
10. Place the pot back over medium heat, and flavor the soup with 6 tbsp dried tarragon, ground pepper, and 4 teaspoons of lemon juice.
11. Bring it to a boil, and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until the flour is cooked.



12. You can serve your chicken tarragon soup immediately, or store in the fridge for a couple of days.

Chicken Tarragon Soup Tips

• Use any kind of vegetables that you and your family love. Carrots and peas are a must in most recipes, but a lot of people also add cabbage, or even mushrooms.
• You can substitute parsnips for parsley root or simply leave it out. Parsley root is a typical root vegetable in many Hungarian dishes, but if it’s difficult to find it in your area just prepare this soup without it.
• In Hungarian recipes celery is used as celery root, that’s what’s included in this version. If you don’t find that, simply use 2-3 celery stalks.
• You can leave out the potatoes, but I think they fit this chicken tarragon soup well and they make it more hearty.
• Back in the days these ragout soups were mostly made using chicken giblets. Today most people prefer using lean meat – in this recipe, I also use chicken breast. Giblets are a lot tastier though, you can use a mixture of breast meat and giblets if you like.
• The liquid you use to make the chicken tarragon soup is also a question of personal taste and the ingredients you happen to have at home. Stock makes it a lot tastier – it can be either chicken or vegetable stock. Or you can even make it with part stock and part water – on the pictures above I used 2 cups of chicken stock and 10 cups of water.

Hungarian name: tárkonyos csirkeragu leves.

Chicken Tarragon Soup

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Soup

Cuisine Hungarian

Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• One pound (½ kg) boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 1/3 lbs (600 g) carrots
• 6 oz (200 g) parsley root (optional)
• 3 oz (100 g) celery root (or 2-3 stalks of celery)
• 1 oz (30 g) frozen green peas
• 1 1/3 lbs (600 g) potatoes
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 ½ tbsp (20 g) butter
• 2 tbsp oil
• 12 cups (3 l) chicken or vegetable stock or water – see the recipe
• 4-5 tbsp salt
• 6 tbsp dried tarragon
• 150 ml (2/3 cup) sour cream
• 200 ml (4/5 cup) heavy cream
• 3 heaped tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• A pinch of ground black pepper

Instructions

 

• In the first step, prepare all the ingredients. Clean the vegetables, cut the carrots and parsley root, dice up the potatoes, cut the celery root into larger chunks, and peel the onion and leave it in whole. Dice up the meat into smaller pieces too.
• Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 ½ tbsp of butter to a large pot. Add carrots and parsley roots, and cook them over high heat for 2-3 minutes.
• Pour 12 cups (3 liters) of cold liquid onto the vegetables: use chicken broth, vegetable broth or water, see below the recipe.
• Add the diced meat, onion and celery.
• Bring it to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove any foam.
• Add the potatoes and flavor with salt. Cook on low heat for another 10 minutes.
• Add the green peas and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the sour cream and flour to thicken the soup. For this mix 2/3 cups (150 ml) of sour cream with 3 heaped tbsp flour in a bowl. Add 4/5 cup (200 ml) heavy cream.
• Remove the pot from the oven. Pour 1-2 ladles of the soup onto the sour cream mixture. Stir well, so it doesn’t have any clumps. Pour the mixture back into the soup. Stir.
• Place the pot back over medium heat, and flavor the soup with 6 tbsp dried tarragon, ground pepper, and 4 teaspoons of lemon juice.
• Bring it to a boil, and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until the flour is cooked.
• You can serve your chicken tarragon soup immediately, or store in the fridge for a couple of days.