Chicken Cordon Bleu
My siblings and I probably all made chicken cordon bleu in Home Ec class in high school. It was so fancy and made us feel like accomplished chefs. Ham and cheese is rolled up in a chicken breast, which is butterflied and flattened to an even thickness. It is then breaded and cooked to make an elegant chicken dinner.
Cordon Bleu is a french term meaning, blue ribbon. However, the problem with this dish is trying to make the cheese stay inside the chicken. It tends to ooze out as it bakes, leaving chicken with ham and no cheese, unless you scrape it off the baking sheet and serve it on the side. You can make chicken roll resemble a porcupine by attempting to hold it all together with numerous toothpicks, or you can follow the genious technique from Cook’s Country. The cheese stayed inside the chicken, and I loved the breading too, a combination of bread crumbs and Ritz crackers.
Ingredients:
25 Ritz crackers
4 slices of bread
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
6 slices of ham, I like Virginia baked ham best (if your chicken breast are large, you may need to use two slices of ham instead of 1 per each chicken breast, in which case you’ll need 12)
about 2 cups of shredded cheese, Swiss, Mozzarella, Provolone, etc.
6 chicken breast halves
salt and pepper
3 eggs
1 1/2 Tablespoons mustard
1/2 cup flour
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Use a food processor to pulse the crackers and bread into crumbs. Toss with the melted butter. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, spread the crumbs on it and bake until golden, tossing a few times as it bakes. 
Set aside the crumbs in a pie plate or another shallow rimmed dish. You can use the same foil and baking sheet to bake the chicken on later. Take the slices of ham and place 4-5 Tablespoons of cheese in the center. Roll the ham around the cheese.
Make an incision the the thickest part of each chicken breas using a paring knife, and carefully cut as far inside without cutting through the chicken. Cut all the way into the tip of the chicken and into the top, beyond the center cut. 
Season with salt and pepper. Place the rolled up ham inside the slit. If the chicken breast is large, put in two pieces of ham. 
Close the slit tightly. 
Place the chicken in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This will firm it up and help keep it intact.
Set up a breading station with the flour in one pie plate or dish, the breadcumbs in the other and the eggs whisked together with the mustard in another. 
Dredge the chicken in the flour. 
Dip in the eggs. 
Toss in the breadcrumbs, using your hands to press the breading onto the chicken. 
Place in the freezer for another 7-10 minutes, to firm up again. That’s right, NO TOOTHPICKS required, folks. Firming it up in the freezer will help keep it all together.
You can prep the chicken up to this point and refrigerate it up to a day ahead of time, which is very convenient.
Use the same baking sheet you used for baking the crumbs and place the chicken on the baking sheet.
Bake on the bottom rack of the preheated oven (450 degrees Fahrenheit) for 10-15 minutes, until the bottom of the chicken is crispy and brown.
Move the baking sheet to the middle rack and decrease the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until it reaches a temperature of 160 degrees. Cool the chicken for at least 5 minutes before slicing it.
Can you tell how juicy the chicken is when you don’t cook it to death? I love my meat thermometer, just takes a second to check the temperature. No more guessing, overcooking the meat or cutting into pink chicken.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
- Prep Time: 35 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
- 25 Ritz crackers
- 4 slices of bread
- 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 6 slices of ham, I like Virginia baked ham best (if your chicken breast are large, you may need to use two slices of ham instead of 1 per each chicken breast, in which case you’ll need 12)
- about 2 cups of shredded cheese, Swiss, Mozzarella, Provolone, etc.
- 6 chicken breast halves
- salt and pepper
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons mustard
- 1/2 cup flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Use a food processor to pulse the crackers and bread into crumbs. Toss with the melted butter. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, spread the crumbs on it and bake until golden, tossing a few times as it bakes. Set aside the crumbs in a pie plate or another shallow rimmed dish. You can use the same foil and baking sheet to bake the chicken on later.
- Take the slices of ham and place 4-5 Tablespoons of cheese in the center. Roll the ham around the cheese.
- Make an incision the the thickest part of each chicken breas using a paring knife, and carefully cut as far inside without cutting through the chicken. Cut all the way into the tip of the chicken and into the top, beyond the center cut. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place the rolled up ham inside the slit. If the chicken breast is large, put in two pieces of ham. Close the slit tightly.
- Place the chicken in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This will firm it up and help keep it intact.
- Set up a breading station with the flour in one pie plate or dish, the breadcumbs in the other and the eggs whisked together with the mustard in another. Dredge the chicken in the flour. Dip in the eggs. Toss in the breadcrumb mixture, using your hands to press the breading onto the chicken.
- Place in the freezer for another 7-10 minutes, to firm up again. That’s right, NO TOOTHPICKS required, folks. Firming it up in the freezer will help keep it all together.
- You can prep the chicken up to this point and refrigerate it up to a day ahead of time, which is very convenient.
- Use the same baking sheet you used for baking the crumbs and place the chicken on the baking sheet. Bake on the bottom rack of the preheated oven (450 degrees Fahrenheit) for 10-15 minutes, until the bottom of the chicken is crispy and brown. Move the baking sheet to the middle rack and decrease the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until it reaches a temperature of 160 degrees.
- Cool the chicken for at least 5 minutes before slicing it.
26 Comments
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Natalia
This is an interesting technique. I use toothpicks to hold my butterflied chicken together. Though the benefit of butterflying and then tenderizing- chicken comes out thin. I will give this a try 🙂
elena
Olga, do you use the Americas Test Kitchen website or do you have their cook books? I love their recipes and tips currently I get their magazine ( cooks illustrated) but would like to try their website.
Olga K.
I have both:)
Courtney
Oh my gosh, I think I’ve committed every Chicken Cordon Bleu-related crime you mention in this post! Haha. This is a great idea. Thanks for sharing. =)
Oksana
Thank you so much for posting this, it turned out to taste really yummy!!!
The freezing trick worked great! kept all the goodies inside 🙂
Nataliya
Thank you so much for great receipe. I cooked two days ago and everyone in my family loved it!
olgak7
Super, Nataliya! Glad you enjoyed it.
Mila L.
Can this dish be made as freezer dinner and if so, do you bake first and then freeze it or prepare it and freeze it raw and one ready to bake frozen or do you thaw it ahead and bake? Thanks.
olgak7
Yes, you can assemble the chicken and freeze it raw. Defrost it when you’re ready to cook it and then bake it for a few minutes longer than you normally would.
mimi
Olga, made cordon blue today. Thank you so much! Great idea!!!
olgak7
That’s great, Mimi. Glad you enjoyed it.
Alla
Do you think that if frozen and defrosted the breadcrumbs would get soggy? Or would it be better to bake frozen?
Tatyana
Hi Olga! How can I print the recipe ?
olgak7
I’ll add the printable version as soon as I get a chance, Tatyana. Some of the older recipes don’t have the printable version.
Katrina
Cordon Bleu (blue ribbon) refers to the chef of the highest class in French …just to provide more insight on the term and the meaning.
Thank you for your recipes! You are awesome!
olgak7
Thanks for sharing, Katrina:). Glad to hear that you are enjoying the recipes.
vita
Made this tonight for dinner! Turned out perfect! Thank you for amazing recipe and detailed instructions
olgak7
I’m so happy to hear that, Vita! Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
Barbara
Olga, I made this recipe with some small changes on Sunday and it turned out beautiful. I was very pleased with the result. Next time I will try and brine the chicken to make it a little more seasoned. And I will try and source the ritz crackers 😉
Regards
Barbara
olgak7
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Barbara.
I like brining chicken too:). I’ve never done it for this recipe though.
Semaline
Can I use breadcrumbs instead of toast crumbs
olgak7
You can but the breadcrumbs won’t be as crispy and then also don’t adhere to the chicken as well.
Semaline
Hi olga can I use breadcrumbs instead of toast
olgak7
You can, but the coating won’t be as crisp.
Carol Sayson
Hi Olga, can I cook this a day ahead ??
olgak7
I would not recommend it, Carol. Chicken breast is very dry and will have an “off” taste if you reheat it. You can prep it in advance, store it in the refrigerator and cook it when you are ready to serve it.