This soup is the perfect combination of hearty, filling, rich, and flavorful. It’s loaded with dill and tarragon along with a bunch of veggies and toothsome farro. It’s my newest go-to for weekday lunches, so I keep making big batches of it to keep in the fridge for those afternoons when I’m a little hangry, so I can have lunch in front of me in less than three minutes.
I mean anything that keeps from snapping at Jedd or the cats or my mother in angry hunger is a good thing, amirite?
As Socrates said, “Know thy self.”
Also, this soup is protein rich from farro and the chicken which should help me get a little stronger when I start trying to hit the gym this winter.
Or to quote Tina Fey, “Why are my arms so weak? It’s like I did that push up last year for nothing!”
So, on many fronts, this tarragon chicken and farro soup is a total winner.
Bonus: There’s tarragon in the title of this recipe, which means there’s tarragon in the soup! I always knew I liked tarragon, but I really only used to use it for cream sauces. Then this summer Jedd and Mom had a bumper crop of herbs including tarragon, and I started putting it in everything.
Talk about a game changer.
Now I’m all about tarragon in salads, in vinaigrettes, the old standby of cream sauces – and soups.
And in the spirit of keeping it real, I’m not going to claim this is the easiest soup you’re ever going to pull together. This is more of a weekend meal than a weeknight meal. The reason? It depends on your type of farro. If you have whole farro (which is what I used) it’s going to take about 40 minutes to get tender with a nice chew. If you have semi-pearled farro it will take you about 30 minutes to get it to a great texture. However, if you have pearled farro you’ll have the perfect bite in about 15-20 minutes. And depending on where you buy your grains, they might not even be marked regarding where the farro lands on the scale of grain layers and whether they’ve been pearled or not.
Who wants a guessing game? Not this woman.
So, to err on the side of caution, I’d recommend cooking the farro separately, cooling it, and adding it to the soup right at the end to reheat. It takes a lot of work to overcook farro, but as we all know it doesn’t take a ton of cooking time to have your vegetables lose their colorful luster and wonderful texture.
With all of that said, seriously make this on a cold rainy or snowy day. You’ll love it. And it will freeze well for up to three months, so you’ll always have lunch just a few minutes away.
Tarragon Chicken and Farro Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup farro, rinsed
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 large celery stalks, thinly sliced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large russet potato, diced
- 9 cups chicken broth, divided
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked or rotisserie chicken
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons dried dill
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh tarragon
Instructions
- Bring 3 cups of the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan overmedium heat.
- Add the farro, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoonn pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Bring back to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Cook pearled farro for approximately 15-20 minutes, stirringoccasionally. Cook semi-pearled farro for approximately 30 minutes, stirringoccasionally. Cook whole farro approximately 35-40 minutes. And remember, the trick with grains is to taste, taste,taste, until you reach the consistency you like.
- When the farro is done, drain and rinse under cold water.Reserve.
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until itshimmers.
- Add in the celery, carrots, onion, and potato. Season with remaining salt and pepper.
- Sauté for 5 minutes, or until just softened.
- Cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
- Cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add in the broth, desired amount of cooked farro, cookedchicken, Worcestershire sauce, dried dill, and tarragon.
- Cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Stir in fresh tarragon just before serving.