I used to get the tarragon chicken salad at Au Bon Pain all the time. They didn't use the cranberries, but they did add sliced almonds...delicious!

If you like, you can add with some toasted almond slivers. It adds another layer of flavor. I've enjoyed chicken salad like this for years. I love this site...so many great (and delightfully uncomplicated) ideas!

There is an awesome version of this salad with grapes and pecans in addition to tarragon. I had it at a bridal shower and it quickly became one of my favorite chicken salads.

Try tarragon with peas and a little butter. Yum!

I made this for lunch today. I used canned chicken breast. Instead of chopping up the celery and putting it in the mixture, I used the celery stalks to "scoop". It was delicious and perfect for a healthy lunch!

I'm surprised to hear you haven't used the tarragon you grew. All summer, I tuck sprigs of my garden-grown tarragon along with a quartered lemon and a couple of garlic cloves inside a small chicken. The wonderful scent of the roasting bird is enhanced by the smell of the tarragon; it's so good that I keep foil-wrapped sprigs of tarragon in the frreezer so that we can enjoy the chicken w.tarragon experience year round. In addition, even in our New Jersey climate, the tarragon plant is perennial and spends the winter outside. Make sure the plant you grow is the French tarragon; the Russian tarragon is not half so flavorful.

Thanks for your wonderful site, Elise, and thanks to your Mom and Dad for all the marvellous recipes. They are inspirational.

Fresh tarragon is also great with fish---and it's so different (more complex) than dried tarragon.

When poaching the chicken, I suggest first putting in the water a cut-up onion and a coarsely chopped stalk of celery and carrot, perhaps with some peppercorns and a good sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes. Bring that to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or so, then cook the chicken.

After you remove the chicken, you could add the bones back to the broth and simmer more, if you want. Then strain the broth and you have some fine chicken stock for later use with practically no additional work.

When I made this yesterday, TJ's didn't have dried cranberries, but I got dried Bing cherries for this time and some dried blueberries for next. And I did add some English walnut pieces.

Elise - This was absolutely delicious, and I'm not even a big fan of chicken salad. My husband, who normally shuns mayonnaise, couldn't get enough of it. Great, great site. I love the way you include your parents in your essays. Well done.

I made this for dinner tonight with a grocery store rotisserie chicken and left out the celery because I can't stand it. It was yummy but next time I'm adding toasted almonds. My husband really liked it and he's not usually a fan of "lady food".

I made this today and it was really good. I've never used tarragon until today. I agree with one of the previous comments...I think next time I'm going to add a little more dried cranberries.

I love chicken salad with tarragon. At the end of the summer when I am trying to use up my tarragon and apples are coming in, I add a chopped-up granny smith. It really adds another layer to the salad, making it eve more complex (and the tarragon and apples work really well together).

I also use a rotissere chicken from the store (I get the "lemon pepper" one), the depth it adds is wonderful (and in the hot summer, you don't have to turn on the stove at all!)

I've been making this recipe for a few months now, ever since I first saw it on your site. I love it! It's really great for summertime, but we have it year-round even though neither of us are big chicken salad fans. The fresh tarragon is really wonderful with this.

Yet another rave from us- it was great, esp on this hot and humid summer night. I thought the flavors were well balanced and I loved the effect of tiny pieces of diced up dried cranberries, so pretty and delicious. Your blog is awesome!

This is one delicious salad! I can tell from the way it looks and from the ingredients that go into it. I love fresh tarragon. Love love its aroma. In summer, the Azerbaijani table always has fresh tarragon - we eat it with cheese, meat or soup, sort of a side dish. So, this salad is particularly appealing to me because of tarragon:) We make similar salads, but I haven't seen any with tarragon and celery. Printing it.

Oh, one idea - some chopped walnuts would go perfectly well in the salad. My Azerbaijani blood is speaking:)

Outstanding recipe! As much of a coffee junkie as I am, I've never noticed it at Starbucks, so thanks for posting it. Very light and a great choice for those summer afternoons. There's a strawberry-tarragon recipe I have that I'm going to have to try following the sandwich with.

Anyway, to help cut fat (and calories) I tried it with about half and half no-fat yogurt and light sour cream for the zip (instead of mayo). It worked out great with a subtle tang that went well with the lemon.

Very nice combination, not usually a fan of taragon but it works really well with the chicken, and the cranberies give it that special something something! Thank you Elise!

I made a similar concoction after having eaten the Starbucks version of the sandwich.

I make it all the time, now!

Last year for a mother's day brunch, I had planned to make it, but was out of fresh chicken, so I opened a can of chunked chicken and used that. Canned chicken has a bit of an off-taste, so in the mayonnaise, I stirred in about a teaspoon of horseradish sauce (the kind that comes in a squeeze bottle for roast beef sandwiches, etc.). The chicken salad had a nice kick to it after I did that! I spread the mixture onto whole-grain cocktail bread for the brunch, for little finger sandwiches! I also served cut up veggies with rosted red pepper hummus for dipping, and red seedless grapes, and for dessert, we had a chocolate raspberry sorbet.

Nice spread!