Chicken Cordon Bleu

When I made chicken cordon bleu for dinner a few weeks ago, my in-laws chuckled. Chicken cordon bleu is essentially boneless, skinless chicken breast rolled up with ham and cheese, breaded, and fried until crispy on the outside. They said that it was the fancy dinner party entrée when they were younger, but they couldn’t remember the last time they had eaten it. 

While the name is French (cordon bleu means “blue ribbon”), chicken cordon bleu is actually Swiss in origin, and the original version is made with veal. The first mention of it in chicken form was in The New York Times in the ‘60s, and that’s the more well-known version here in the United States today. 

But it’s high time this retro dish made a comeback. There’s nothing quite like cutting through crispy breaded chicken to find a rosy slice of ham wrapped around a cheesy center. Of all the ways that you can cook chicken breast, this is definitely one of the most involved, but the bulk of the work lies in the prep, and the cooking is actually quite simple.

There are three main ingredients in chicken cordon bleu. Here are some things to keep in mind for each.

• Chicken breast: It’s important to pound the chicken to an even 1/4-inch thickness so that it cooks evenly and has a wider surface area for filling and rolling. Go for small chicken breasts, as larger ones are harder to pound, roll up, and cook evenly.
• Ham: You can go with delicate salty prosciutto, a robust smoked ham, or even a sweet honey ham — use whatever you’ve got on hand. Just make sure it’s thin so that it’s easier to roll up.
• Cheese: Slices of deli Swiss cheese add a nutty flavor and also melt nicely.

1. Pound and season the chicken. Pound the chicken breasts into very thin cutlets, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Add mustard. Spread some Dijon mustard onto each cutlet.
3. Layer on ham and cheese. Top with a thin slice of ham and some Swiss cheese that’s been stacked and cut into a long rectangle. This cheese ends up in the middle and melts into a beautiful pool.
4. Roll it up and chill. To keep the chicken roll from falling apart during the dredging and cooking process, wrap each chicken roll up tightly in plastic wrap, then refrigerate to firm up.
5. Dredge and fry. Dredge each chicken roll in a flour-egg paste, followed by panko breadcrumbs. Shallow fry in vegetable oil until the outside is golden-brown.
6. Finish in the oven. Transfer chicken cordon bleu to the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through.

• Only use small chicken breasts. They can be a bit harder to find now, but use small chicken breasts that weigh 6 to 8 ounces each. If you can only find larger ones, I recommend only using 2 and butterflying each one into two pieces instead.
• Skip the 3-part dredge. Use a 2-part dredge consisting of flour whisked with egg, and then panko breadcrumbs. The flour and egg mixture is essentially the glue that will help the breadcrumbs adhere, and mixing it together first results in less waste and fewer dishes than a traditional 3-part dredge.
• Make the chicken roll ahead. Chilling firms up the chicken roll and makes it much easier to handle and cook. You can chill the chicken roll up to a day ahead, leaving you only with the dredging and cooking left to do.
• Fry, then bake. Baking alone doesn’t yield a chicken cordon bleu that is evenly crispy on the outside. A quick pan-fry in a thin layer of oil first turns the breadcrumbs golden-brown and crispy. Four rolls in a frying pan may seem like a lot, but as long as they aren’t touching each other, they’ll fry up just fine. Finish cooking in the oven so that breadcrumbs don’t burn before the chicken is cooked through.
• Don’t overcook. Chicken breast can go from juicy to dry quickly, so keep an eye on the internal temperature. When it hits 160ºF, stop baking and let the chicken cordon bleu rest for 5 minutes, where it will undergo carryover cooking and the temperature will go up to 165ºF.

Chicken cordon bleu is sometimes served topped with a rich cream sauce, but honestly, there really isn’t a need for a sauce — it makes the breading soggy and masks all the flavors in each layer. If cooked properly so that the chicken breast is still very moist, all chicken cordon bleu needs is maybe a squeeze of lemon for a touch of freshness. 

A glass of crisp white wine and a green salad tossed in a bright, lemony vinaigrette would also be the perfect accompaniments to round out a meal that’s retro, but never out of style.