Tarragon Chicken & Pasta is easily made gluten free by simply using your favorite gluten free pasta. My long time favorite pasta because of it's flavor and consistency is made by Barilla. For this recipe I use the Fettuccine variety, but you can use another type of string or shaped pasta if you’d like. The French inspired sauce was introduced to me by my daughter. She made something similar during a cooking class and has been creating her own versions of it for a few years now. It was originally made with a side of rice, but I switched it up to pasta coated with a little more of the wonderful sauce. A creamy mixture accented by dijon mustard, freshly squeezed lemon juice, garlic and fresh tarragon.
Making the Chicken
Cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite-sized cubes. Cook them in a large skillet coated with olive oil. Season them with salt and pepper. Once cooked through on all sides, remove them from the skillet and let them rest on a plate. This should only take about 5-7 minutes.
Making the Pasta
Nothing tricky here! Just boil the pasta in a big stock pot full of heavily salted water. Boil the pasta for about 10 minutes, depending on the type of pasta you are using. When cooked properly it should not be mushy. Then use pasta tongs to transfer the pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Reserve the pasta water. This should only take about 10 minutes.
Making the Sauce
The sauce can be made in the same skillet that the chicken was cooked in. Just add a little more olive oil to the skillet before adding the onions and mushrooms. With the heat on medium high, they should become lightly browned, in less than 10 minutes. Then add the garlic and stir to heat it through. Finally, add the liquids- lemon juice, dijon mustard and sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. Give it all a good stir to bring the sauce together, then turn off the heat.
Bring the Tarragon Chicken & Pasta Together
Use pasta tongs to transfer the pasta into the sauce. Add the cooked chicken and chopped fresh tarragon to the skillet and stir until combined well. Turn the heat back on to a low setting to heat the entire mixture through. Taste and re-season, if needed. If the sauce is too thick, which is usually the case, add pasta water, chicken broth, white wine or a combination of them until you reach your desired consistency and flavor. Now you are ready to serve it up, and it only took about 30 minutes!
More Weeknight Meals
- Pesto Cod with Sauteed Veggies
- Chickpeas & Spinach Stew
- Smothered BBQ Chicken
- Skillet Pork Chops
- Easy Garlic Baked Shrimp
- Honey Ginger Stir-Fry
Tarragon Chicken & Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 box Barilla Gluten Free Fettuccine Pasta
- 1 lb boneless, skinless, chicken breast - cut into bite-sized cubes
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms - sliced
- 1 medium onion - quartered and sliced
- 1 large clove fresh garlic - finely chopped
- ½ cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 lemon - juiced
- 2 tablespoon fresh tarragon - tough stems removed & finely chopped
- salt & pepper - to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet to medium high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Cook the cubed chicken on all sides, seasoning with salt and pepper. Approximately 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes of chicken.. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.
- In the same skillet, drizzle with more olive oil. Add the mushrooms and onions, seasoning with salt and pepper. Stir from time to time until cooked through and lightly browned. Approximately 7 minutes.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the chopped garlic. Stir and allow to heat through and become fragrant for about 1 minute. Add the fresh lemon juice, dijon mustard and sour cream. Stir to combine well and turn off the heat until the pasta is fully cooked.
- Boil fettuccine pasta for 9-10 minutes in heavily salted water. Using tongs or a slotted pasta spoon, transfer the cooked pasta to the skillet with the mushroom sauce. Reserve the pasta water. Add the cooked chicken and tarragon, stirring to combine well. Turn the heat back to medium low heat, stir and allow to heat through.
- Taste and reseason if needed. If the sauce is too thick, add a ladle or two of pasta water until it reaches your desired thickness. Another option would be to add chicken stock or white wine to add flavor and reach the desired thickness.
Anonymous says
Don’t add too much mustard. Good otherwise
Shay says
Good advice! Thank you for writing and reviewing:-)
Artemisia says
This recipe was only so-so for me. Maybe there is something I did wrong? I used regular fettucine noodles, I'm assuming the "box" measurement is the standard 1lb.? I wish the #oz. were listed in the recipe; mine feels like not enough sauce for a lb. of pasta. It came out rather dry instead of luxurious and creamy. Also, I used Greek yogurt, but maybe I needed a higher fat content. The yogurt combined with that much lemon juice came out very acidic and overly tangy. I like tangy things, but this was more like lemon pasta that a creamy pasta. Lemons vary greatly in size and juiciness; maybe start with half that amount and build up until you are happy with it. I rushed because I was hungry, and poured in what the recipe called for, and it is just too acidic. I'm bummed this wasn't a hit for me; I love the tarragon and the flavors used, but things would need to be tweaked. I'd probably halve the amount of pasta next time, halve the lemon juice, and use full fat sour cream or just stick to cream.
Shay says
Hi Artemisia! I am so sorry that this dish only turned out so-so for you. You are absolutely on target with why there wasn't enough sauce. A regular box of pasta usually has 16 ounces/1LB of pasta, but gluten-free only has 12 ounces (and costs almost 2x more!). I also recommend at the bottom of the recipe to taste & re-season if needed due to what you mentioned about the size of lemons being different & so forth. You can also add extra pasta water, chicken stock or white wine to thin or add flavor to the sauce. I bet the net time you tweak it to fit your tastes & larger box of pasta, you are going to enjoy it much more! Thank you for sharing your feedback:-)