The Best Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe

Growing up, my mom would make Chicken Cordon Bleu for us every year for Christmas dinner. The flavors of the rich ham, melted cheese, and breaded chicken all rolled up into a pretty roulade. Served with a savory white sauce, the two make a heavenly combination. It’s totally worth the little bit of extra work it takes to make this impressive dish. Chicken cordon bleu really isn’t hard to make! It’s perfect for a dinner party, a special occasion meal, or a Sunday dinner. This classic dish is so tasty and looks so fancy—it’s always a hit in our house. For more dinner party mains, try my Beef Tenderloin Roast with Creamy Horseradish Sauce, make some delicious Lobster Tails, or our Classic German Sauerbraten Recipe! One reason why I love this classic Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe so much is that it has so much more flavor than any other Chicken Cordon Bleu I have ever tried, and I’m not just talking about the frozen chicken cordon bleu rolls you can buy in the freezer section at Costco! Many chicken cordon bleu recipes just call for breadcrumbs with some salt and pepper when it comes to breading the chicken. However, my mom’s version is a combination of Shake N’ Bake, parmesan cheese, and a dry garlic and herb dressing mix for way more flavor.

Why We Love This Recipe

Easily customize this recipe to your preference with different cheeses or herbs. Made with simple ingredients you may already have in your pantry! Quick and easy, this dish is ready in less than an hour!

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken – We’ll use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs if you have them instead but the meat will need to be raw and thawed before you begin. Sliced Ham – We like thicker cut black forest ham for this recipe. Swiss Cheese – For the mild and nutty cheesy layer inside the chicken. Eggs – To make an eggwash to secure the bread crumbs for the coating. Breadcrumbs – I love to use Original Shake N’ Bake breadcrumbs for this recipe to really set it apart! Flour – All-Purpose Flour will work fine to make the coating for this chicken dish. Parmesan Cheese – We like to use the powdered kind instead of the freshly grated stuff for this recipe but either will work. Garlic & Herb Dressing Mix – If you have trouble finding this you can just use Italian dressing mix instead or make your own version using the ingredients listed below in the notes.

Sauce

Sour Cream – Balances out the flavors and adds a creaminess to the sauce. Cream of Chicken Soup – For the base of the sauce, to make it thick with a more intense chicken flavor. Broth – Chicken broth adds a great depth of flavor. Salt & Pepper – Enhances the flavors. Season to taste.

How to Make Chicken Cordon Bleu

Half chicken. Working with one chicken breast at a time, lay the meat on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to slice each breast in half horizontally into two even pieces. Flatten chicken. Cover the chicken breasts and the cutting boards with sheets of plastic wrap (or place a large Ziploc bag over the whole setup) and pound each piece with a meat mallet. The pieces need to be about ¼ inch thick the whole way through. The thinner end of the breast may not need to be flattened if it is not too thick. Assemble. Place a slice of ham and a slice of cheese on top of each flattened chicken breast. Make chicken rolls. Roll each chicken breast tightly into a tight roulade, then wrap them tightly in pieces of plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to secure without toothpicks. Alternatively, you can use toothpicks to hold each roulade together and skip the refrigerating time. Prepare coating. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine the contents of a box of Shake N’ Bake (each box comes with 2 packets, and you will use them both) with the Parmesan cheese and packet of Good Seasons Garlic & Herb Dressing in a shallow bowl. Stir well to combine, then set aside. Also set aside a shallow dish or plate with ¼ cup of flour for dredging, and a third shallow dish with the beaten eggs in it for an egg wash. Dredge chicken rolls. Unwrap and dredge each roulade. Dip the chicken roll first in flour, shaking off any excess back into the shallow bowl. Then roll the chicken in the beaten egg mixture, and then in the Shake N’ Bake breadcrumb mixture. Repeat the process with all of the remaining chicken. Combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chicken broth in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour into a 9×13-inch pan and set aside. Brown chicken. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet. Working in batches, brown the chicken cordon bleu pieces on all sides for 2-3 minutes just to crisp up the outside and give it some color. Transfer the pieces to the large baking dish with the chicken cordon bleu sauce. Bake. Bake everything for 40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the chicken is cooked through. Serve. Serve hot with rice and vegetables.

Tips for Success

Roll tightly. One trick to delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu is to roll the chicken tightly, with the filling securely in the middle. This will ensure the flavors cook and meld together perfectly. When it comes to assembling chicken cordon bleu, I have found that the key is to have your meat pounded to a uniformly thin size so that it is easier to roll up into a tight roulade (which sounds fancy but literally is just rolled meat and comes from the french word “rouler”, which means “to roll”). If you want a more traditional presentation, you can bake the breaded chicken cordon bleu on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper without browning and crisping them first. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked through and heat the sauce separately on the stovetop.

Substitutions and Variations

You can cook the sauce and the chicken cordon bleu separately, which may be a more traditional approach. However, I highly recommend you try it my mom’s way at least once by baking the chicken cordon bleu in the sauce! Use cheddar, gruyere, mozzarella, or another of your favorite melting cheeses. The cheese may ooze out of the chicken wrap, but you can seal it by using extra toothpicks if you want to contain it. Homemade Shake-N-Bake: If you don’t have Shake-N-Bake, you can make a breadcrumb mix that will also work well using breadcrumbs, vegetable oil, salt, paprika, minced onion, garlic powder, black pepper, celery salt, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, and cayenne pepper. See the recipe card notes for the measurements needed. Homemade Garlic & Herb Dressing Mix: If you can’t find this at the store, it’s available online, or you can use Italian dressing mix or use a combination of dried oregano, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, sugar, black pepper, dried basil, celery salt, dried thyme, and ground mustard seed. See the recipe card notes for the measurements.

What to Serve with Chicken Cordon Bleu

We always serve this with cooked white rice and some kind of green vegetable. And the leftovers are always so, so good the next day! I totally love it when it’s made this way, but it doesn’t turn out quite as pretty as cooking the breaded roulades on a baking sheet in the oven, and I find the frying process to be both messy and more work with added prep time since you have to work in batches to get all the chicken browned before baking it. Make it however you prefer!

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