Tarragon
Tarragon’s anise-kissed flavor turns everyday chicken, eggs, and sauces into something unmistakably French.
In a nutshell
Tarragon is a slender-leaved herb with a gentle licorice warmth that anchors classic French cooking. French tarragon is the culinary gold standard, prized for its nuanced sweetness and complexity. A little goes a long way — it perfumes a whole dish without overpowering it.
Nutrition
≈ 40 Calories and 1g fat per tablespoon.
Although you rarely eat tarragon by the cupful, the herb packs a surprising nutritional punch for its size. It delivers a notable amount of plant-based protein and a solid hit of dietary fiber relative to its calorie count, along with a favorable ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat. Tarragon is a good source of vitamins A and C, bone-supporting calcium and manganese, and iron — making it more than just a flavor player when used generously in teas, infusions, or compound butters. Its volatile oil estragole gives tarragon its characteristic aroma and has been studied for mild antimicrobial properties. Nutrition per 100g via Spoonacular.
Culinary uses & pairings
Tarragon is the defining herb in béarnaise sauce and classic French vinaigrette, and it slips effortlessly into cream sauces for chicken or fish. Steep a few sprigs in white wine vinegar for a week and you’ll have tarragon vinegar — one of the most useful pantry shortcuts in French cooking. Chop it fresh into fines herbes blends alongside chervil, chives, and parsley for omelets and compound butters.
Fresh tarragon wilts quickly under heat, so add it at the very end of cooking or use dried tarragon when long simmering is required. It pairs beautifully with delicate proteins like salmon, scallops, and eggs, and brightens creamy potato salads, roasted beets, and grain bowls. Infuse it into honey or simple syrup for cocktails and lemonades that carry that elegant anise whisper.
Pairs well with
Substitutions
Buying & storage
Look for French tarragon specifically — bunches labeled simply ‘tarragon’ at grocery stores are sometimes the blander Russian variety, so give a leaf a gentle pinch and sniff before buying; French tarragon smells sweetly of anise while Russian barely registers. Fresh sprigs should be bright green and supple, not yellowed or wilted. Dried tarragon should still carry a noticeable herbal fragrance when you open the jar — if it smells like hay, it’s past its prime.
Varieties
- French Tarragon: The culinary standard — rich, sweet anise flavor with complexity; propagated by cuttings since it rarely sets viable seed.
- Russian Tarragon: Grows easily from seed but delivers far less flavor; sometimes used as a substitute but rarely recommended by cooks.
- Mexican Tarragon (Mexican Mint Marigold): Tagetes lucida, not a true tarragon but a popular Southern US substitute with a stronger, slightly spicier anise punch.
Recipes using tarragon
16 recipes across our recipe sites use tarragon. A few favorites:
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History & origin
Tarragon has been cultivated around the Mediterranean and Central Asia for centuries — Arab physicians were writing about it as early as the 13th century, and it arrived in Western European kitchen gardens by the 16th century. French cooks elevated it to one of the four canonical fines herbes of classical cuisine, and it became inseparable from the identity of French cooking by the 18th century. Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello, helping introduce it to American gardens, though it never quite captured the American palate the way it did the French one.
How it’s made
French tarragon produces little to no viable seed, so every plant is propagated by stem cuttings or root division, taken in spring or early summer. It thrives in well-drained soil, full sun, and moderate water, making it a reliable perennial in USDA zones 4–8. Plants are cut back in late summer to encourage a second flush of tender growth and are divided every two to three years to keep them vigorous. For the dried herb, stems are harvested just before flowering when volatile oil content peaks, then hung or rack-dried at low temperatures to preserve the delicate anise aroma.
Good to know
- French tarragon produces little to no viable seed, meaning every plant is propagated vegetatively — effectively a clone of its parent.
- The name tarragon likely traces to the Arabic tarkhun, itself possibly rooted in a Greek word for ‘little dragon,’ referencing the herb’s coiled roots.
- Béarnaise sauce is named after the Béarn region of France, but tarragon — not geography — is what defines its unmistakable flavor.
- Tarragon vinegar was a staple in 19th-century American households long before fresh tarragon was widely available in US markets.
- The compound estragole, which gives tarragon its signature scent, is also a prominent aromatic molecule in basil and anise.
