Chicken Cordon Bleu, it's an oldie (circa 1940), but a goodie. Heavenly ham and swiss wrapped up in chicken, breaded, and baked. An elegant spiral with simplistic ingredients. If ever you were looking for a reason to use up the rest of your ham and cheese lunch meat, this is certainly it.
I remember as a kid trying a frozen version of this dish and absolutely loving it. And why wouldn't I? It was crispy chicken and cheesy. The perfect combo for a picky eater trying something new. I recently had a week where I had run out of bread and had sandwich meat and cheese leftover, so I decided to give Chicken Cordon Bleu a try!
The recipe is quite simple, I'd say most people probably have all the additional ingredients needed in their pantry already. Chicken, ham, swiss cheese, eggs, flour, breadcrumbs, seasonings. That's it! Certainly fewer ingredients than the frozen type I would have eaten as a child.
There are a few extra tools that make assembling this recipe easier. I would suggest before you start out, make sure your work station has either a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin, plastic wrap, and 3 bowls.
Crispy Chicken Cordon Bleu
Ingredients:
1 Chicken breasts/person
2 Deli ham slices/person
2 Swiss cheese slices/person
1 Egg/person
1/2c Flour/person
1/2c Breadcrumbs/person
1TB Oil/person
Seasonings:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Paprika
Powdered Chicken Bouillion
Parsley
***LOW CARB Ingredients:
1 Chicken breasts/person
2 Deli ham slices/person
2 Swiss cheese slices/person
1 Egg/person
1/2c Coconut Flour/person
1/2c Almond Flour/person
1/4c Parmesan Cheese/person
1TB Oil/person
Seasonings:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Paprika
Powdered Chicken Bouillion
Parsley
Tools:
Meat Tenderizer or Rolling Pin
Plastic Wrap
Cutting Board
Knife
3 Bowls
1 Small Bowl
Wisk or Fork
Baking Tray
Cooking Brush
Directions:
Using the cutting board and knife, take any fat off of the chicken breast. Next butterfly the chicken, this link is a tutorial by Martha Stewart to butterfly chicken breast. I find it is easy to follow. As the tutorial instructs after your chicken is cut almost through so that it's "like a book", place a piece of plastic wrap on top. Working from the center to the sides smack the chicken with your meat tenderizer or rolling pin. The goal is to both create more surface area and thin the chicken breast out to the same thickness. Once the chicken is about 1/8" thick take off the plastic wrap and throw it out. Place two slices of swiss cheese across the chicken breast, then on top of that two slices of ham. Now roll everything up together as tightly as you can. To help hold the roll stay together, wrap it in plastic wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
While the chicken is in the refrigerator, place the flour, egg(s), and breadcrumbs each in separate bowls. Season both the flour and egg(s) with any or all the seasonings mentioned in the ingredient list. Using either a whisk or fork, gently mix the seasonings into the flour first (to keep the flour from getting the egg in it), and then whisk the seasoning and egg.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the chicken roll out of the refrigerator. Unwrap the plastic and throw out. First, roll the chicken through the flour, brush off excess flour with your hand. Then, coat the chicken with the egg making sure that it is fully coated. Finally, cover the chicken with breadcrumbs. Now it's ready to go on the baking tray, with the edge of the rolled chicken faced down so that the roll does not come undone. Bake for 15 minutes.
Put the oil in the small bowl. After the 15 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven and brush oil onto the breadcrumbs liberally. Put back in the oven and bake for about 25 more minutes. The internal temperature when done should be at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Eat and enjoy!
*** LOW CARB Chicken Cordon Bleu:
To make this a low carb recipe, use the coconut flour as an all-purpose flour replacement. Then use a blend of the almond flour and parmesan to replace the breadcrumbs. The photos within this post are all low carb chicken cordon bleu. As you can see it turns out nice and crispy! If you prefer a no-nut version, then coconut flour can be used entirely. Garbanzo bean flour is another one of my favorite alternative flours as it is high in protein and has half the carbs of regular flour. For the remainder of the recipe, follow the instructions above. :)
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