Tarragon chicken with creamy white beans
Tender chicken in a creamy white bean sauce with fresh tarragon.
About 30 min · 375 kcal · 43 g protein per serving
One pan
Chicken cacciatore with soft polenta
A tomato and mushroom chicken braise over soft polenta.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 12 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the braise thickens in 15 to 18 minutes
- Confirm 80 g of polenta to 350 ml of water gives a spoonable result
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 40 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 405 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 38 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
No regulated allergens in the ingredients as listed. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- chopped tomatoes. Tinned tomatoes vary in added salt; the sodium figure uses a standard salted tin.
- chicken stock. Stock often contains celery, and sometimes gluten or soya; check the label.
- polenta. Maize is not a gluten cereal, but some polenta is milled alongside wheat; check the packet if you avoid gluten.
Cooking steps
Warm the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, then lower the heat.
Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until they have given up their liquid. Add the pepper, tomatoes, stock and oregano.
Simmer gently, uncovered, for 15 to 18 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened.
Cooked when: 74°C / 165°F in the thickest part. A food thermometer is the reliable way to tell.
Meanwhile, bring the water to the boil in a second pan. Pour in the polenta in a thin stream, whisking, then cook over low heat for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until thick and smooth.
Spoon the polenta into two shallow bowls and ladle the chicken and sauce over it.
The useful detail
Keep the braise at a gentle simmer to avoid toughening the chicken. Breast meat firms and dries at a rolling boil; at a bare simmer it stays tender while the sauce reduces.
Make it work for you
One serving is Half the braise over half the polenta. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Turkey breast instead of chicken
Leaner, with the same safe endpoint.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about 2 g more protein, about 2 g less fat.
Chestnut mushrooms instead of white
Deeper flavour and they hold their shape better in a long simmer. Nutrition is not recalculated.
Rice instead of polenta
A drier plate; the sauce sits on top rather than being absorbed.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A braise and a soft grain, both counted. The vegetables in the sauce do much of the work, which is why the energy is moderate for a dinner of this size.
| Energy | 405 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 38 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| of which saturates | 2 g |
| Carbohydrate | 41 g |
| of which sugars | 7 g |
| Fibre | 6 g |
| Sodium | 410 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| chicken breast | 280 g | FDC 171077Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw | 336 kcal | 63.0 g |
| mushrooms | 150 g | FDC 169251Mushrooms, white, raw | 33 kcal | 4.6 g |
| red pepper | 80 g | FDC 170108Peppers, sweet, red, raw | 21 kcal | 0.8 g |
| chopped tomatoes | 250 g | FDC 170051Tomatoes, red, ripe, canned, packed in tomato juice | 40 kcal | 2.0 g |
| chicken stock | 105 g | FDC 174536Soup, chicken broth, ready-to-serve | 6 kcal | 0.7 g |
| dried oregano | 0.5 g | FDC 171328Spices, oregano, dried | 1 kcal | 0.0 g |
| polenta | 80 g | FDC 168867Cornmeal, degermed, enriched, yellowCalculated with FoodData Central's degermed yellow cornmeal record; polenta is the same ground maize. | 296 kcal | 5.7 g |
| water | 350 g | No energy | 0 kcal | 0.0 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 814 kcal | 76.8 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Eat within 3 to 4 days. Polenta sets solid in the fridge. Reheat it with a splash of water, or fry the set slices.
- In the freezer
- The FDA chart gives cooked poultry dishes 4 to 6 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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