Sheet-pan Tarragon Chicken with Asparagus, Lemon and Leeks – all roasted on a sheet pan for a fast and healthy dinner with minimal cleanup! Serve this with a side of mashed potatoes or soft polenta. Vegan Adaptable!
Whether we are happy or not depends on our awareness. ~Thich That Hanh
Tarragon Chicken with Asparagus can easily be made vegan by substituting tofu – or use both chicken and tofu (for mixed households where both vegans and meat lovers cohabitate). When cooking for two, feel free to load up on the veggies and decrease the protein, like we do at home.
You’ve been telling me a lot of things. Mainly that you really want to cook “healthy” meals, really fast! Healthy means so many different things to so many different people. And of course, it should, because our bodies are all different and we have different needs. To some, healthy means vegan. To others, healthy means low-fat, low cholesterol, or means low carbs and paleo. You’re a tough crowd!
But one thing we all seem to have in common is we all mostly believe that fresh seasonal produce is healthy. Which I just happen to love and why you see so many veggie-based recipes on the blog.
In fact, when I make recipes, I make them around the produce. That’s why on instagram, you’ll see I go to a lot of farmers’ markets….the place I get the most inspiration.
So here is tofu on the left and the chicken on the right. One meal two ways. That’s what I love about sheet pan dinners….they are so adaptable!
Plus, the clean-up is super easy, especially when using parchment paper! If you haven’t adopted this habit, you must try it. It makes life so much easier!
What to serve with Tarragon Chicken
- Creamy Polenta or Instant Pot Polenta
- Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Risotto Recipe
- Smashed Potatoes
- Cacio e Pepe
Ingredients in Tarragon Chicken
- lemons
- olive oil
- garlic cloves
- fresh tarragon leaves
- fresh asparagus
- leeks
- chicken breasts: or sub tofu, or chicken thighs- see notes.
How to make Tarragon Chicken (or Tofu)
Step One: Make the Lemon Tarragon marinade.
Step Two: Toss the asparagus in the bowl with just a little of the marinade, then the leeks.
Step three: Then coat the tofu in marinade, if using.
Step four: Then lastly, toss the chicken in the marinade.
Tip: Tossing in this order allows you to use one bowl, without getting chicken all over your veggies and tofu. Get it? 😉
Step five: Arrange on a large, parchment-lined sheet pan, or two smaller ones.
TIP: Create a little “barricade” with the asparagus between the tofu and chicken or if you need total separation, of course, baking on a separate little pan is just fine. But then you’ll have two pans to clean up – so I just do the one because it’s just Brian and me. Up to you.
Step Six: Bake at 425F for 15- 20 minutes, then re-assess.
Note: If using very thin asparagus, check after 12 minutes and perhaps remove it early.
Give the chicken a little color by broiling for just a couple of minutes after it cooks through. Tofu may need a little longer.
Sprinkle with fresh tarragon …..serve over your favorite starch if you like, or keep it low carb, and enjoy!
xoxo
More Recipes you may like
- 25 Best Sheet-Pan Dinners!
- Sheet Pan Chicken & Crispy Potatoes w/ Lemon & Thyme
- Sheet-Pan Szechuan Chicken and Brussels Sprouts
- Harissa Chicken (or Tofu) with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Tarragon Chicken ( or TOFU) with Asparagus, Lemon and Leeks
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: main, chicken, tofu, low-carb
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
A healthy delicious sheet-pan dinner, that features the best of spring produce! Make it in 30 minutes with minimal clean up. Vegan adaptable, GF and paleo!
Ingredients
- 2 lemons
- 1/ 4 cup olive oil
- 4–6 garlic cloves, finely minced ( or use a garlic press)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1-ounce package of fresh tarragon leaves, rough chopped, about ¼–⅓ cup
- 1 extra-large bunch asparagus, trimmed (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 1–2 large leeks, sliced into ½ inch thick rounds ( if dirty, rinse, see notes)
- 4–5 medium chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) about 1- 1 1/2 lbs or sub tofu, or chicken thighs- see notes
Serve with (all optional):
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F
In a small bowl make the marinade. Place the zest of one lemon, and its juice ( about 3 tablespoons) in a small bowl. Add oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and mix well until salt dissolves. Add ½ of the fresh tarragon, saving the rest for garnish.
Place trimmed asparagus in a bowl and spoon some of the marinade over the top. Toss to combine and place on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Add leeks to the same bowl, toss with a little marinade, and spread out on the sheet pan. If using tofu, season it with salt, then place in the bowl, adding a little more marinade, toss to coat, and add to sheet pan. Lastly, add the chicken breasts with the remaining marinade, coating well. Nestle the chicken amongst the asparagus.
Zest the second lemon over the whole sheet pan and slice the lemons into rounds, layering them over the asparagus. Place in the hot oven. If using tofu, either nestle it into one side of the pan or place it on a separate sheet pan – up to you.
Bake 15-20 minutes and check chicken- internal temp should read 160-165 F – thicker pieces will take longer. To get a more golden color, broil for just a couple of minutes.
Remove from the oven. Give everything a little toss, turning the chicken over to coat the top with the flavorful juices. Sprinkle with remaining fresh tarragon and serve.
Notes
TOFU: Use extra firm tofu. Pat dry. Slice into ¾-1 inch thick slabs, season with a little salt and coat on all sides with marinade. For mixed households, serve both tofu and chicken! (Marinade is enough for 1.5 lbs chicken + 8 ounces tofu and the veggies.)
ASPARAGUS: The thickness of the asparagus and the thickness of the chicken may affect cooking time. Here I’m using pencil-thick asparagus and 6-ounce chicken breasts (relatively thin and small). If your sizing differs greatly, you could use two separate baking sheets. Very thin asparagus cooks in 12-15 minutes- so check it.
CHICKEN: You can also use skin-on bone-in thighs. Sear the skin side first in a skillet, then nestle in the sheet pan. This will most likely require a longer cooking time- asparagus may need to come of the oven out sooner – so either place to one side or on a separate pan.
LEEKS: If the leeks are dirty when you slice them into rounds, not to worry. Just place the cut rounds into a bowl of water, gently swish and soak them for a few minutes. The dirt will fall to the bottom. Fish them out, pat dry. (They don’t need to be perfectly dry.)
If cooking for two – you could easily half the chicken and double/ or triple the asparagus. ( We do this a lot at home.) You could also marinate the chicken/tofu ahead, overnight if you like.
Keywords: tarragon chicken, chicken and asparagus, asparagus chicken, baked chicken with asparagus, spring chicken recipes, asparagus recipes, tarragon chicken
This is one of my absolute go to recipes on your blog. I’m struggling with health issues and your sheet pan recipes are a life saver. I can still eat healthy while not struggling to do a lot of dishes.
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Sorry, you haven’t been feeling well, and glad these have been helpful to you Michie.
Delicious!
Your recipes are life changing! I lived as a vegetarian for 8 years, but I didn’t have recipes like these or any knowledge about nutrition whatsoever. I didn’t have access to medical care during most of that time, and when I finally got a physical, my cholesterol was 285! The reason? Too many simple carbs. That experience was, frankly, scary, and I started eating meat again and internalized a message that carbs were “bad.”
I recently wore a continuous glucose monitor for two weeks as part of a nutritional study with Zoe, and do you know what? Your recipes almost always kept my blood glucose levels relatively stable and steady, and for the indulgence recipes like risotto, eating greens with vinaigrette first allows me to enjoy white rice or crusty bread occasionally with far less effect on blood sugar. (Ascetic acid has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, as does 10 minutes of movement after eating a meal high in simple carbs. My rock steady blood sugar response to polenta in particular surprised me, and I had literally never cooked it before reading about it here, even though I’m a Southern transplant who loves grits.
Plant based living is now easy and a joy, and focusing on whole grains, fiber, and plant foods is completely transforming my life. I still eat meat, but I eat far less. In just a month, my energy is way up, I’m sleeping better, my skin is starting to glow, and my mental focus has improved. I have enough energy to hit the gym before work.And for someone who has PCOS and struggles with weight? That’s hugely impactful.
So, thank you. Your work has touched so many lives, and the ripple effect of sharing delicious, plant-based foods with the world might continue to travel outward in unexpected ways.This food is deeply soulful, and it brought to mind Kahlil Gibran.
Then an old man, a keeper of an inn, said, Speak to us of Eating and Drinking.
And he said:
Would that you could live on the fragrance of the earth, and like an air plant be sustained by the light.
But since you must kill to eat, and rob the newly born of its mother’s milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of worship.
And let your board stand an altar on which the pure and the innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed for that which is purer and still more innocent in man.
When you kill a beast say to him in your heart,
“By the same power that slays you, I too am slain; and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven.”
And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart,
“Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”
And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyards for the winepress, say in your heart,
“I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress,
And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels.”
And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song for each cup;
And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress.
All the best to you, and thank you for your work!
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Love this Christy- thanks so much for sharing your health journey. I’m so glad you were able to find a way of eating that was more nutritious for your body. I’m a huge fan of Zoe- I learned a lot from it too! Thanks for the beautiful Gibran quote.
Love, love, love this recipe. It’s so tasty, it’s so easy. I’ll add more leeks next time because they’re delicious roasted. This recipe would be great served over mashed potatoes, if your eating plan allows. Leftovers are yum. Definitely a keeper.
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Great to hear Carla!
This is a wonderful meal. So tasty, healthy and beautiful looking as well. I used tofu and added four sliced portabella mushrooms which I cooked on a separate sheet pan. I made farro with garlic and lemon peel to accompany it.
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Yum! Sounds perfect karen!
This is the first recipe I ever made from Sylvia’s blog and it was so delicious I was hooked! I couldn’t stop trying all of the incredible recipes. I especially love the tangy lemon with the sweetness of the tarragon. It’s also such a great option when I’m in the mood for tofu and my partner wants to stick with chicken. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
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I am so happy you gave this a go! Thanks Joanna!
This was easy to make and delicious! Adding it to our dinner rotation.
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Wonderful Molly!
I dont get this recipe at all. The picture shows 5 breasts but says four servings. A pound and a half of chicken is two breasts pretty much everywhere. Five breasts, two leeks, and a whole bunch of asparagus doesnt fit on one sheet pan. A serving for two suggestion is to half the amount of chicken but DOUBLE the vegetables?
I tripled the amounts to meal prep for a week and wound up with five servings. This feels like a fake recipe.
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Hi Conrad- sorry, I see the confusion, the recipe is intentionally a little flexible. Here I’m using 5 smaller, 5-ounces breasts. You can use what ever breast size you want, within that 1 to 1 1/2 lb range ( for the amount fo marinade). I’m using a large 20 x14 inch sheet pan- but of course you can use two. The suggestion to double the veggies and half the chicken is just something we do at home, for the two of us, to intake more veggies.
Would like to try it tonight. I don’t have tarragon. which other fresh herb would you recommend ?
Tarragon really makes this one Nahla! I guess you could try basil ribbons ( maybe add at the tail end of baking), or thyme?
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe. It is healthy, easy, and delicious. A perfect Spring dish. Thank you Sylvia!
★★★★★
So flavorful–beyond amazing
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This was perfect on a bright evening in early spring. Great flavor and we sopped up the extra garlic with focaccia.
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Great recipe! My husband and I both loved it! I cut my chicken pieces fairly small to make sure they cooked thoroughly. It looks like I ended up with more food in my pan, so everything was closer and steaming vs. baking & roasting, thus needed about an additional 10 minutes to finish cooking. I sprinkled a little smoked paprika on the chicken to give it that golden grilled look. 🙂
★★★★★
We are LOVING a your food recipes!!! Thank you for the Oaxacan Bowl and portobello mushrooms. It’s hard to keep up with you, but I’ve got next week’s menus printed ready to go!
thanks Ann!
Can you please confirm the sodium content. It seems very high per serving.
Is this a typp? Please advise
I think it is just high. Generally, you need 1 teaspoon salt per pound of meat. Here we have 1 1/2 teaspoons (1 1/2 pounds chicke), and then 1/2 teaspoon for the asparagus and leeks. Of course, you can always cut back. 😉
The flavors in this are superb, but after 20 minutes the chicken breasts were still practically raw. I had to cook it for at least 15 more minutes.
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This was delicious!
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Looks great and easy…
I’m planning on doubling the recipe using chicken and wonder whether to serve crusty bread or brown rice. I guess my question is if there are lots of juices with this dish for sopping up every last drop?
Not a lot of juices- some, but not too much extra if I remember correctly.
Hi Sylvia.
Could Quorn Naked Cutlets be used in place of the chicken or tofu?
I have not used these before- so not sure. My guess is yes??
SO delicious! I didn’t have any asparagus, but Brussels sprouts worked beautifully. High recommend!
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I made this tonight for dinner, it was DELICIOUS!!!
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We loved this dish!!! It is definitely restaurant quality and makes a beautiful presentation. Will make this for our friends soon. Thanks
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