Craving comfort food but cooking for one? Chef John’s Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole is the perfect single-serving twist on the classic dish! This easy, creamy, cheesy, and crispy casserole has all the flavors of traditional chicken cordon bleu—juicy chicken, savory ham, melted Swiss cheese, and a golden breadcrumb topping—all in a convenient, no-fuss one-pan meal.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole.
00:08That's right!
00:09I love finding new ways to do old recipes, especially when that new way turns out to
00:14be the best way.
00:15OK, I really do like this version better, except for one thing, which would be the appearance,
00:21since it does kind of look like we're going to eat a dish of breadcrumbs.
00:24But that is a minor issue, and this really did turn out amazingly well.
00:28And to get started, let's take a look at the co-stars of the show, which would be some
00:32grated Gruyere cheese, as well as any type of ham, preferably smoked.
00:37And these are the two ingredients that turn regular chicken into Chicken Cordon Bleu.
00:42And to prep the ham, I'm just going to cut it into a small dice, since this came off
00:47a piece of what was sold as breakfast ham.
00:49But if you're using thin-sliced deli-style ham, you can just go ahead and chop it up.
00:54It's still going to work perfectly fine.
00:56And that's it.
00:57Once we have our cheese grated and our ham diced, we'll pop those in the fridge until
01:00we need them.
01:01And we'll move on to the other key element, a nice crispy topping.
01:06And for that, we will take some panko breadcrumbs, which of course are larger and crunchier than
01:10regular breadcrumbs.
01:11And what we'll do is pour in some melted butter, along with a few grinds of black pepper, plus
01:17about a tablespoon or so of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
01:22And please, I beg you, use the real stuff, Parmigiano-Reggiano.
01:27And once everything's in there, we'll give it a mix, until thoroughly combined and the
01:31mixture looks like wet sand.
01:34At which point we'll set that aside and move on to the star of the show, one large, boneless
01:39skinless chicken breast, which we will cut up into half-inch pieces.
01:43And the best way to do that is to cut your chicken into like half-inch strips.
01:47And if we start with half-inch strips, once we turn that and slice across every half-inch
01:52or so, we should, if everything goes according to plan, end up with something very close
01:57to half-inch pieces.
01:59And by the way, we're just making an individual portion here, with one breast, but this is
02:03very easy to scale up, and the only thing that would change would be the size of the
02:08baking dish.
02:09But anyway, once that's cut, we'll transfer it into a mixing bowl, where we will add a
02:14small pinch of salt, right thanks to the cheese and the ham, we don't need much.
02:19And then we'll also do a little bit of freshly ground black pepper, followed by a few shakes
02:23of cayenne, just to stay in shape.
02:26And then if you have it, and anyone with a windowsill should, I'm going to take a sprig
02:30of fresh thyme, and pull off and toss in some of the leaves, which I think is going to give
02:35this a beautiful, even more French flavor.
02:38And then we'll follow that with a small splash of cream, as well as what I think is one of
02:43the key ingredients, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, since that is what brings together
02:48and balances all these rich ingredients.
02:51And that's it, we'll toss in our diced ham, plus about half to two-thirds of our grated
02:55cheese.
02:56And then we'll take a spoon and give this a quick mix, until everything's evenly combined.
03:02And once that's been accomplished, we will transfer this into whatever baking dish we're
03:05going to use, which for me is going to be this small one, since again, I'm just doing
03:09one portion, but you could double the recipe and use a pie dish, or scale it up to four
03:14or six chicken breasts, and do it in a regular casserole dish.
03:18But anyway, I'm going fun size.
03:21And once we have that transferred in nice and evenly, we'll top it with the rest of
03:24our cheese.
03:25And if you can't use Gruyere, a decent Swiss cheese would work, or even a mild cheddar,
03:31so you can use something else if you want.
03:34I mean, you are after all the Paul Bacuse of your fromage use, but Gruyere is the best,
03:39so please try to find it.
03:41And then to finish this up, we will transfer over our buttered breadcrumbs.
03:46And while we're doing that, if you want to give it the old polka polka with the tip of
03:50the spoon to gently push some of those crumbs into the chicken, that would be fine.
03:55But don't do it too much, we mostly want the breadcrumbs on top.
03:59And then once our casserole has been crumbed, we will transfer that onto a foil lined pan.
04:04Since there can, there might, there probably will be drips.
04:09And that's it, this is now ready to transfer into the center of a 425 degree oven for about
04:1425 minutes, or until our chicken is cooked through and the top is nicely browned.
04:19And it hopefully looks like this.
04:22And I guess if you want, you can try to eat this now, but I recommend we let it rest for
04:26at least five minutes or so.
04:28While we put together a nice green salad to serve alongside.
04:32So that's what I did.
04:34And after that brief rest, I went ahead and served it up and I went in for the official
04:39taste.
04:40And that, my friends, is everything you want in a chicken cordon bleu, with what I think
04:44is way less effort and way less mess.
04:47Right, the flavor profile is pretty much identical, except we're getting that with a little crispier
04:53texture since every bite has some of those beautifully crunchy breadcrumbs in it.
04:59Whereas classic chicken cordon bleu only has a thin coating of those around the outside.
05:03Around the outside, around the outside.
05:06But anyway, to summarize, I think this is how I'm going to make chicken cordon bleu
05:09from now on.
05:10And yes, I realize some of you are thinking right now, how is he going to eat that salad
05:15with a spoon?
05:16Well, that's a good point.
05:17I'm not.
05:18I'm going to grab a fork for that, which you could just use for both.
05:22But in its casserole form, I think eating this with a spoon is more effective and luxurious.
05:28But as long as you can get this up into your face, it really doesn't matter.
05:32You are going to be in for a huge treat.
05:34Which is why, no matter what you use, I really do hope you give this a try soon.
05:39So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
05:44more info, as usual.
05:46And as always, enjoy!