Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
This Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole will knock your socks off. It is so much easier than a traditional rolled and breaded cordon bleu and has even more flavor. With chicken, ham, and swiss in a creamy dijon sauce, you won’t miss the breading one bit. Since you aren’t coating or stuffing the chicken it is quick and easy. This is pure comfort food and an easy main course dinner. This easy recipe is low carb, keto, gluten free, grain free, sugar free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
I love chicken cordon bleu. But it’s always breaded.
This has been on my to-do list since my husband and I went to a fundraiser back in May. They had the best chicken cordon bleu ever. I knew I could make the same flavors into a killer casserole.
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My casserole version was a hit with my family. I wasn’t sure if the kids would like the swiss cheese (honestly, I’m not a huge swiss cheese fan) but it worked so well with this flavor combination there were no complaints.
What is Chicken Cordon Bleu
Here is a little history on this iconic dish (thank you, Wikipedia):
A cordon bleu or schnitzel cordon bleu is a dish of meat wrapped around cheese (or with cheese filling), then breaded and pan-fried or deep-fried. (Veal) cordon bleu is made of veal pounded thin and wrapped around a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, breaded, and then pan fried or baked.[1] For chicken cordon bleu chicken breast is used instead of veal.[2]Ham cordon bleu is ham stuffed with mushrooms and cheese.[3]
The origins of cordon bleu as a schnitzel filled with cheese are in Switzerland, probably about the 1940s, first mentioned in a cookbook from 1949. The earliest reference to “chicken cordon bleu” in The New York Times is dated to 1967, while similar veal recipes are found from at least 1955.[6]
What to serve with Chicken Casserole
I suggest serving this with a green salad or green vegetables such as garlic broccoli or roasted asparagus. You can also serve with keto mashed cauliflower.
What kind of sauce goes with Chicken Cordon Bleu
We love this creamy lemon sauce on our Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole. It is rich with the butter and cream cheese and the lemon juice, mustard, and white wine really help the flavors to pop.
Sometimes I just make the sauce and drizzle on chicken tenders or vegetables.
How to Make Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
First Step: Layer chicken and ham in a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Second Step: Make the sauce and spread it on top.
Third Step: Layer on the cheese.
Fourth Step: Bake until hot, bubbly, and golden.
What to serve with Keto Chicken Cordon Bleu
This is a very rich casserole. Butter. Cream Cheese. Swiss Cheese. You get the drift. So I serve this with lighter side dishes like a green salad, oven-roasted green beans, steamed cauliflower, or roasted asparagus.
Tips & Tweaks
I’ve had readers sub in other mild cheeses like provolone, mozzarella, or Havarti so feel free to tailor this to your family’s tastes.
One of the most important things for this recipe to make sure the chicken is nice and juicy. If the chicken is moist this will be moist and flavorful. If you are started with dry chicken I recommend making 1.5 times the sauce to compensate. Or even doubling it.
You can even save a step by baking chicken tenderloins, draining the cooking liquid, and then proceeding with the recipe. No shredding required!
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Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole – Low Carb
Ingredients
- 6 cups shredded cooked chicken (from about 2 lb chicken)
- 6 oz ham cut into bite size pieces
- 4 oz butter melted
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp white wine (optional)
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 oz swiss cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Put the chicken in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Layer the pieces of ham on top.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer combine the melted butter, softened cream cheese, white wine (if using), mustard, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until a thick sauce forms. Spread this sauce over the chicken and ham in the baking dish.
- Lay the slices of swiss cheese on top of the sauce. Bake for 30-40 minutes until hot.
- I broiled it for 2 minutes at the end so the cheese would get more golden and bubbly. If you decided to do that do not leave it unattended. It's very easy to burn the cheese topping.
Video
Notes
- If you have a bottle of dry white wine open it adds a nice flavor. But I wouldn't open a new bottle just for this recipe. Unless you are planning on having a glass while you cook.
- If your shredded chicken is on the dry side you may want to double the amount of sauce or add in 1/4 cup of chicken broth and mix the sauce into the shredded chicken before adding the toppings.
- You can use chicken tenderloins instead of shredded chicken. Just cook, drain the cooking liquid, and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Nutrition
Originally Published August 31, 2016. Revised and Republished with a new video on May 6, 2019.
My family loved this! Sooooooo good!
This was awesome!!! Boyfriend loved it too!! Ate broccoli with it.
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Melissa
This is SO delicious! Thank you! I threw some chicken breasts in the crock pot this morning and was able to assembly the casserole this afternoon! My house smells amazing now after baking it and I was even thinking of making this for an Easter brunch with some asparagus! So great!
could you make this in the crock pot????
Cook the chicken, drain the liquid, then add the sauce, ham, and cheese.
How do you recommend to cook the shredded chicken? I always seem to dry it out
I cook it in a glass casserole in the oven covered with foil. I put a little garlic salt on it. The biggest thing is to not overcook it. I take mine out as soon as it hits 160 degrees on a meat thermometer.
I made this tonight and it was good. The only thing is it was way too greasy from the butter. Also I would reduce the amount of lemon juice as it was too strong. Any suggestions on modifying the sauce if I use less butter? The overall flavor was delicious and my husband did like it too but we had to tip the casserole to let the butter run off.
I’m not sure why the butter separated out for you. When I’ve made it the ingredients stay together in the creamy sauce. If you want to cut back on the butter you could sub in a little almond milk, half and half, or chicken stock.
Do you use regular cream cheese or the lower fat version? I used the lower fat cream cheese and wonder if that would have anything to do with it. Oh well I’ll try it again and see what happens. Thank you for the response.
I do use regular cream cheese.
Can you make this with uncooked chicken?
If you do I would cook the chicken most of the way, drain the cooking liquid, and then put the sauce, ham, and cheese on top. If you add it all at the beginning the cooking liquid would make the sauce to thin.
The flavor of this is pretty good but for some reason, I was expecting a nice creamy sauce and ended up with a very runny, thin sauce 🙁 I’m not sure what can be done to change that (maybe less butter, more cream cheese?) I followed the recipe to a T. I’m pretty disappointed as it didn’t quite meet with my expectations.
I’m not sure why your sauce was thin. Mine was very thick. You could try more cream cheese and less butter next time.
I use 4 tablespoons of butter instead of 4 oz of butter and its amazing.
Made this tonight – it was very good and filling!!’ Will definitely make this again soon.
Do you know how many carbs are in it i just started this diet and looking something diff. To eat
There is a nutrition box at the bottom of the post.
Quick question: is the 2 oz. of lemon juice correct? That = 1/4 cup, at least based on my Google search, so that’s what I used in the recipe, and it overwhelmed the flavor of what sounded and looked so delicious up above.
Yes, 2 oz is correct. You can use less if you prefer. I like it having a bit of a lemon flavor.
I know this is low carb, but if I wanted to turn these into sandwiches would you: mix the chicken and sauce together and put the mixture and cheese on the buns and bake or cook the casserole and just spoon it onto buns afterwards? Thinking this would be a good chicken option at our super bowl party.
I would cook it like a casserole and then spoon it into buns. That’s a great idea though. For low carb buns I really like the brand Smart Buns 🙂
I have a new casserole crock pot. Do you think I could make this in there too? Thanks for sharing!
Is that different than a regular crock pot? I’d cook the chicken, drain and shred it, and then add it back with the other ingredients.
The casserole crockpot has a more shallow depth than the standard size. Thanks Taryn! Can’t wait to try your yummy dish ♡
This was just delicious! Much better than another Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole I tried. Made it with thinly sliced off the bone ham from the deli and imported swiss. Leftovers were great for lunch. Could also use as a low carb breakfast. Thanks for the recipe. I’m looking forward to trying more.
Any particular ham we should try? Thank you!
No, any sliced deli ham is fine. I think I used the costco brand.
Thank you so much for this! I buy boneless skinless chicken breasts when they’re on sale and cook 5-10 pounds at a time on the weekend. I keep the cooked, cubed/shredded chicken in the freezer for quick weekday dinners. Hence, the reason I’m always looking for recipes using cooked chicken. I’ve pinned several of your chicken recipes for future menus.
I just made this tonight and it was amazing!!! Very rich and flavorful!!! I baked the chicken right before I added it to the baking dish and folowed the ingredients to the T including the white wine. I would not change a thing. Thank you!!!
Great recipe! This recipe tasted as good as the pictures make it look. Chicken cordon bleu casserole will become a regular in my house. I only used half the butter amount in the sauce but then took 2 tablespoons of butter and mixed it with panko bread crumbs and spread this on top for a nice crunch!
Oh my goodness, this was AMAZING!! My store was out of Swiss so I used Gouda and my husband and I wanted to lick our plates. One of my favorite recipes I’ve found on Pinterest for sure. I’m GF and also eat low carb (normally) but I served over yolk free egg noodles. So, so good!
Made this! Luv! Used 3 tbs less butter & red wine, a little more then calls for, yum! Gonna try adding blanched green beans next time