From the light, crispy breadcrumbs on the outside, to the perfectly juicy chicken breast on the inside… this is The Best Chicken Cordon Bleu with Creamy Parmesan Sauce! You haven’t lived until you try this recipe.
Nutty Swiss cheese and salty slices of ham bake in the center of thin chicken cutlets in this cozy homemade chicken cordon bleu recipe.
We top off our baked cordon bleu chicken with a rich and creamy Parmesan sauce. This easy stuffed chicken breast is the epitome of comfort food!
Easy chicken dinners are what Sundays are made for!
Especially when they are as delicious as this stuffed chicken breast recipe.
Coated in breadcrumbs and served with creamy Parmesan sauce, this cordon bleu chicken fits the bill.
Prep this easy cordon bleu recipe in the morning, then store it in the fridge until it’s time to cook. It’s the perfect make-ahead recipe for a special weeknight or weekend dinner!
What is Chicken Cordon Bleu?
Cordon bleu chicken is an easy chicken breast recipe. Chicken breast is pounded or butterflied (cut thinly down the middle), then rolled with Swiss cheese and ham.
After stuffing the chicken, you coat it in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs, then cook it in the oven or fryer.
You can then serve it whole or cut it into slices and usually serve it with a cordon blue sauce. This is most often Dijon sauce but, in our recipe, we made a deliciously creamy Parmesan sauce.
But, what is Cordon bleu? Cordon bleu is actually a French term that translates literally to “blue ribbon“. In cooking terms, that means the highest level of cooking excellence… and we do think Cordon bleu chicken is pretty excellent!
However, even though it has a French name, chicken cordon bleu is actually a schnitzel recipe originally from Switzerland. It’s even sometimes called schnitzel cordon bleu!
Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe Ingredients
- 4 thin Chicken breast cutlets
- 2 1/4 cups Sliced Swiss cheese
- 1 1/2 cups Thinly sliced ham
- Salt and pepper
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of flour
- 3/4 dry breadcrumbs
To make this easy chicken cordon bleu recipe, you will need a few common ingredients for both the chicken and creamy parmesan sauce. All the ingredients are easy to find or may already be in your pantry!
Chicken Cordon Bleu Sauce
Our cordon bleu sauce starts with a butter and flour mixture (also known as a roux). You slowly add milk to form a white sauce. The cheese melts in after adding the milk to make a full-flavor, creamy parmesan sauce.
To make the creamy parmesan sauce, you will need:
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
Toasted Breadcrumbs
Recipe Tip: Toast your breadcrumbs first! For a golden and crispy outer breadcrumb layer, toast your breadcrumbs in the oven before starting the main recipe.
To do this, add breadcrumbs to a baking tray and spread them out evenly. Place in a preheated oven (350°F) and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Check at 5 minutes and stir.
How to Make Chicken Cordon Bleu:
- Pound out (flatten) or butterfly (cut in half horizontally) the chicken breasts. I find pounding with a wooden tenderizer or large rolling pin is easiest.
- Layout a large piece of plastic wrap and place the chicken breast on top. Place the second piece of plastic wrap over the chicken. Take a rolling pin or tenderizer and pound or roll out the chicken until it’s flat. Tip: We recommend rolling out just one chicken breast at a time to save space.
- Layout the flat chicken breasts side by side and top each one with a layer of Swiss cheese, then a layer of ham.
Top image: Step 2, rolling out the chicken breast. Bottom image: Step 3, adding the slices of ham and cheese over the top. - Roll up each breast into a pinwheel, with the cheese and ham on the inside.
- You need 3 large shallow bowls. Place the flour in the first dish, two whisked eggs in the second dish, and toasted breadcrumbs in the third dish.
- Carefully take each chicken breast and, one at a time, roll in the flour until fully coated.
Top image: Step 4, rolling the chicken into pinwheels. Bottom image: Step 6, dredging each chicken pinwheel in flour. - Roll the floured chicken in the whisked egg.
- Finally, place into the breadcrumbs and fully coat all over.
Tip: Wash your hands to remove the egg before trying to coat with the breadcrumbs. This keeps things cleaner and stops the breadcrumbs sticking to you rather than the chicken!
Top image: Step 7, rolling the floured chicken breast in egg. Bottom image: Step 8, coating the chicken breast in breadcrumbs. - Next, place each chicken breast onto its own piece of plastic wrap. Use the wrap to roll up tightly and seal off each end. Once sealed, roll the chicken into a nice round cylinder shape.
- Chill the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so the shape will set and hold while cooking. If you are preparing the recipe in advance, you can leave it in the fridge all day before cooking.
Top image: Step 8, shaping the chicken into cylinders. Bottom image: Each chicken breast after shaping.
How to make Creamy Parmesan Sauce:
- Place a small pan on low to medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt. Once it melts, add flour and stir into a paste. This paste is known as a roux.
- Slowly begin adding the milk. Add the milk gradually and continuously stir to prevent lumps from forming.
- After each addition of milk, stir the sauce well. Allow it to thicken again before adding more milk.
- Continue to stir after adding milk until the sauce thickens. When it simmers, remove from the heat.
- Tip: What to do if lumps form: If your sauce looks like it may form lumps, remove from the heat. Stir until smooth, then return to the heat and continue to add milk. If your sauce gets too lumpy, you can run it through a sieve and reheat it.
Top image: Step 1, mixing butter and flour into a paste to make a roux. Bottom image: Step 2, slowly adding milk and stirring in.
- While the sauce is still hot, add parmesan and stir in until it melts and the sauce is smooth.
Can I reheat Creamy Parmesan Sauce?
Creamy parmesan sauce will get thicker as it cools. However, once returned to the heat, it will loosen up again.
Add a bit more milk to smooth out the consistency when reheating, if necessary.
Cooking the Chicken Cordon Bleu:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Unwrap the chicken and place on a baking tray. Bake for 35 minutes, or until chicken is piping hot and cooked through. Note: If the chicken is going in the oven without chilling, knock 10 minutes off the baking time.
Serving the Chicken Cordon Bleu:
- Once the chicken cooks, remove from the oven and slice.
- Plate up and drizzle over the creamy parmesan sauce.
What to Serve with Chicken Cordon Bleu
You could also try serving this up like Chicken Parmesan– on a bed of spaghetti in the creamy parmesan sauce! Filling and super delicious!
If you have leftovers (although we doubt you will!), you can make heavenly chicken cordon bleu sandwiches topped with any remaining chicken cordon bleu sauce!
And if you love this creamy Parmesan sauce, you’ll love our Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce Recipe, too!
Our Favorite Sunday Dinner Ideas:
- Mexican Chicken Chili
- Easy Lemon Butter Chicken Recipe
- Grilled Bruschetta Chicken Breasts
- Homemade Fish and Chips
- Chicken Breast and Mushroom Recipe
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The Best Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe
🍳 Equipment
- Tenderizer or rolling pin
- Plastic wrap
- Baking tray
- Small pan
- 3 wide, shallow bowls
🥘 Ingredients
For the chicken cordon bleu:
- 4 Chicken breasts
- 2 1/4 cups Sliced Swiss cheese
- 1 1/2 cups Thinly sliced ham
- Salt and pepper
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of flour
- 3/4 dry breadcrumbs
For the cordon bleu sauce:
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
🔪 Instructions
To make the chicken cordon bleu:
- Toast your breadcrumbs in the oven. Tip dry breadcrumbs onto a baking tray and spread out evenly. Place in the center of a preheated oven (350 degrees F) and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Check at 5 minutes and stir.
- Flatten or butterfly (cut in half horizontally) your chicken breasts. I find pounding with a wooden tenderizer or large rolling pin is easiest.
- Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and place the chicken breast on top of this. Place a second piece of plastic wrap over the chicken. Take a rolling pin or tenderizer and pound or roll out the chicken until flat.
- Lay out the flat chicken breasts side by side and top each one with a layer of Swiss cheese, then a layer of ham.
- Roll up each breast into a pinwheel with the cheese and ham on the inside.
- You need 3 large shallow bowls. Place the flour in the first dish, two whisked eggs in the second dish, and toasted breadcrumbs in the third dish.
- Carefully take each chicken breast and, one at a time, roll in the flour until fully coated.
- Roll the floured chicken in the whisked egg.
- Finally, place into the breadcrumbs and fully coat all over.
- Next, place each chicken breast onto its own piece of plastic wrap. Use the wrap to roll up tightly and seal off each end. Once sealed, roll the chicken into a nice round cylinder shape.
- Chill the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so the shape will set and hold while cooking. If you are preparing the recipe in advance, you can leave it in the fridge all day before cooking.
To make the cordon bleu sauce:
- Place a small pan on low to medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt. Once it melts, add flour and stir into a paste. This paste is known as a roux.
- Slowly begin adding the milk. Add the milk gradually and continuously stir to prevent lumps from forming.After each addition of milk, stir the sauce well. Allow it to thicken again before adding more milk.Continue to stir after adding milk until the sauce thickens. When it simmers, remove from the heat.
- While the sauce is still hot, add parmesan and stir in until it melts and the sauce is smooth.
Cooking the chicken cordon bleu:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Unwrap the chicken and place on a baking tray. Bake for 35 minutes, or until chicken is piping hot and cooked through.
Serving the chicken cordon bleu:
- Once the chicken is cooked remove from the oven and slice.
- Plate up and drizzle over the creamy parmesan sauce.
Video
Notes
- Roll out one breast at a time: We recommend rolling out just one chicken breast at a time to save space.
- Wash your hands: Wash egg off your hands before trying to coat with the breadcrumbs. This keeps things cleaner and stops the breadcrumbs sticking to you rather than the chicken!
- What to do if lumps form: If your sauce looks like it may form lumps, remove from the heat. Stir until smooth, then return to the heat and continue to add milk. If your sauce gets too lumpy, you can run it through a sieve and reheat it.
- Reheating Cordon bleu sauce: Creamy parmesan sauce will get thicker as it cools; however, once returned to the heat, it will loosen up again. Add a bit more milk to smooth out the consistency when reheating, if necessary.
- Chilling and freezing: Once the raw chicken has been prepared and wrapped it can either be chilled in the fridge for up to one day or frozen for up to 1 month before cooking. If chilled, unwrap and place in the oven immediately for 35 minutes or until cooked through, If frozen, defrost throughly in the fridge for 24 hours then cook as above.
Gillian says
Love this recipe. Had a problem with the Parmesan sauce. It calls for only 4tsp of butter. That does not seem enough butter for 1/4 cup of flour. Needless to say my sauce was very lumpy. I did put it through a sieve to save most of the sauce. It did taste very good, but I lost a lot of the sauce.
Em Beitel says
Hi Gillian! Thank you so much for your comment and for letting us know about your issue with the sauce. I double-checked and yes, you are completely right – we meant to put 4 Tbsp., not teaspoons! We’re very glad you enjoyed the recipe regardless and hope you’ll try making it again! If you do, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.