Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu is an easy recipe for a French classic. Golden brown crispy breaded chicken breast stuffed with savory ham and melty Swiss cheese.
Go-to easy Chicken Recipes like Chicken Parmesan and this rolled, stuffed chicken dish are great for busy weeknights or when you want a fancy Dinner fast!
CHICKEN CORDON BLEU
This culinary classic is one that every chef learns along the way, but it is also one that any home cook can master too! Chicken Cordon Bleu is a rolled chicken dish which sounds fancy and like it might have a long list of hard to pronounce ingredients, but the secret is that it’s actually super easy.
With step-by-step instructions, you can make an easy homemade version of a classic French dish, and no one has to know it took you less than hour. The hardest part of making Chicken Cordon Bleu is thinning out the chicken so you can roll it. This is also the most important step so the chicken rolls easily and cooks evenly. To keep the chicken from getting messy, lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the chicken breasts and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet. Flatten each piece of chicken to the same thickness, throughout the whole piece.
The next step for Chicken Cordon Bleu is assembling the slices of cheese and thin ham. The easiest way to make this is to use slices of deli ham, but you could also thinly slice leftover Baked Ham during the holidays. Just make sure you use cooked meat inside because the chicken doesn’t bake long enough to cook the filling. After the rolls are stuffed, you bread them and bake them until they are golden brown and cooked to 165 degrees inside.
This simple and delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu is a great dinner for busy weeknights. You can prepare the chicken rolls ahead of time so they are ready to bake. Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or freeze for up to 3 months. When you are ready to make your chicken dinner, serve them with Mashed Potatoes or White Rice and an easy veggie like Sautéed Green Beans.
You often find Chicken Cordon Bleu served with a creamy sauce, but this Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe is so moist and juicy, it doesn’t need a sauce. However, if you do want a sauce to serve over your chicken breasts, there is a quick and easy Dijon Cream Sauce in the variations section. It’s not the authentic French sauce, but it will taste delicious with your chicken, especially over egg noodles.
SIDE DISH RECIPES FOR CHICKEN CORDON BLEU:
Sautéed Green Beans
Roasted Broccoli
Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Stick of Butter Rice
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VARIATIONS ON CHICKEN CORDON BLEU
- Chicken: This recipe uses boneless skinless chicken breasts that you cut in half lengthwise to make them thinner, but you can also find thin chicken breast cutlets at the store. Instead of chicken, try this recipe with thin cut boneless pork chops or boneless veal steak.
- Seasoned Breadcrumbs: Give your breadcrumbs more flavor by adding Italian seasonings, like dried oregano and rosemary, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese. You can also buy seasoned breadcrumbs, but making your own breadcrumb mixture means you control the taste.
- Breading: You can use regular bread crumbs or swap them out for extra crunchy panko bread crumbs. Crushed corn flakes or crispy rice cereal can also be used. If you want to make low carb Keto Chicken Cordon Blue, use crushed pork rinds.
- Cheese: Instead of Swiss cheese, you can use other thin softer cheese slices like Muenster cheese, Havarti cheese, provolone cheese, or mozzarella cheese. You want to pick a creamy slice of cheese that will melt well for the best gooey, cheesy filling.
- Ham: For the slices of deli ham, try Black Forest ham or a smoked ham for the most flavor. You could also swap out the ham with prosciutto, pancetta, salami, or cooked soft bacon.
Easy Dijon Cream Sauce
In a small saucepan, whisk together 1 cup heavy cream, ½ cup dijon mustard, and salt and white pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat until thick and creamy, then serve over Chicken Cordon Bleu.
Air Fryer Chicken Cordon Bleu
- Preheat your Air Fryer to 350 degrees.
- While it is heating, prepare the Chicken Cordon Bleu according to the recipe, stuffing with ham and cheese, and then bread.
- Spray the breaded chicken with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place 2 stuffed chicken breasts in the bottom of the air fryer basket and cook for 10 minutes. Spray again with cooking spray and flip. Cook another 8 minutes, until no longer pink inside.
- Repeat with remaining 2 chicken breasts. You can also just halve the recipe and make 2 servings.
MORE EASY, CLASSIC FRENCH RECIPES
Beef Bourguignon
Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin
French Onion Soup
Quiche Lorraine
HOW TO STORE CHICKEN CORDON BLEU
- Serve: Serve Chicken Cordon Bleu hot and keep at room temperature for no more than 2 hours. Cool completely before storing.
- Store: Once cooled, store Chicken Cordon Bleu in an airtight container lined with paper towels. Refrigerate cooked chicken for up to 3 days. You can refrigerate uncooked Chicken Cordon Bleu for up to 24 hours before cooking.
- Freeze: Place cooled, cooked Chicken Cordon Bleu in a freezer-safe bag or sealed container and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight before reheating in the oven. Freeze uncooked Chicken Cordon Bleu for up to 3 months and cook from frozen for an extra 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breast halves skinless, boneless
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 8 slices Swiss cheese
- 4 slices cooked ham
- 2 large eggs , beaten
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9x13 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.
- Cut the chicken breasts into 4 thin cutlets.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Top with a slice of Swiss cheese, then a slice of ham and a second slice of Swiss cheese.
- Roll carefully then pin closed with toothpick.
- Dip in beaten egg, then carefully (remember toothpicks are sharp), roll in bread crumbs until well coated.
- Spoon melted butter over the chicken.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until chicken is cooked to 165 degrees and the breading is browned and crispy.
Nutrition
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I really do love when you show the step by step pictures of how you did everything! As a visual learner this made the process a lot less scary. Seeing the ingredients you used in the process was really helpful.
This turned out so tender and moist!
I was missing a little bit of the mustard flavor but my husband loved it because he hates Dijon mustard. Next time I think I will use your Dijon mustard dipping sauce to put on the side.
Very tasty! I used a sheet pan covered in parchment and clean up was a breeze (especially after “cleaning up” the excess buttery bread crumbs!)
Hi Sabrina.When I try to increase the servings on the bar scale,the ingredients increase but the number of “servings” stays at 4.Tried it a bunch of times.Just an FYI
OMG!!!!
I made this last night, it was absolutely delicious!!! I followed the exact recipe, I just added 2 Tbsp of white wine to the cream sauce. It’s all gone!!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe’s , I make a lot of your food during the week!!
You are The Best!!!