Chicken cordon bleu casserole is a take on a restaurant favorite. If you like cordon bleu, you’ll LOVE this cheesy chicken casserole recipe.
A flavorful homemade creamy, cheesy sauce is tossed with pasta, chicken, and ham. It’s all topped with buttery breadcrumbs and baked until bubbly.
Prep ahead and pop it in the oven for an easy meal any day of the week.
Easy Creamy Casserole
This easy casserole recipe is a take on our favorite classic chicken cordon bleu recipe.
- No need to stuff & roll chicken breasts, this easy casserole is just stuffed with flavor.
- The sauce is made from scratch, no canned condensed cream of chicken soup is required.
- This casserole can be made ahead of time and baked just before serving.
- Not only does this dish look impressive, but the flavor is outstanding with a cheesy white sauce and crispy golden panko topping.
Ingredients in Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
Chicken & Ham – Use cooked chicken for this recipe. I keep this shredded chicken in my freezer but rotisserie chicken, or even leftover turkey work just as well!
Use leftover ham from last night’s dinner or purchase an inexpensive ham steak at the grocery store.
Homemade Cheese Sauce – This is an easy homemade cordon bleu sauce with lots of flavor. It starts with a base of milk and chicken broth (any kind of milk works) which is thickened. It’s seasoned with a bit of dijon, thyme, sherry, and Worcestershire sauce. If you don’t have cooking sherry, you can add a bit of white wine in place.
Cheese – Swiss cheese is traditional in chicken cordon bleu and gives this dish its well-known flavor. The addition of either Monterey or white cheddar rounds out the flavor so the swiss cheese so it doesn’t overpower the whole dish. You can use any mild cheese in place of Monterey jack (like mozzarella or provolone).
Pasta – For the pasta in this recipe, use medium noodles, like ziti, rotini, penne, or even egg noodles. A couple of cups of rice can also be substituted or try roasted cauliflower florets for a low carb version.
How to Make Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
- Make the homemade cheese sauce (per recipe below).
- Cook the pasta al dente.
- In a large bowl, combine the chicken, ham, pasta, and sauce.
- Place into a baking dish and sprinkle with the topping mixture. Bake until bubbly.
Tips for a Great Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
- Don’t skip the shredded swiss cheese in this chicken cordon bleu casserole recipe, it gives this dish its signature flavor.
- Cooking sherry can be substituted with sweet white wine if needed.
- Cook the pasta al dente, it will cook a bit more as it bakes.
- Allow the casserole to rest for about 10 minutes before serving to thicken the sauce.
- Prep ahead and wrap it in plastic wrap. This recipe can be kept in the fridge for 48 hours before baking.
Can You Freeze Cordon Bleu Casserole?
- Cordon bleu casserole is the perfect dish for making ahead of time and freezing. Therefore, leftovers are also great for tossing in the freezer and having ready for a quick dinner or for a pack-and-go lunch.
- To freeze, place it in an airtight container. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, allow the casserole to thaw in the refrigerator. Then cover with aluminum foil, preheat the oven to 325°F, and bake for 30 minutes or until heated through.
More Cordon Bleu Favorites
Did you love this Cordon Bleu Casserole? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons cooking sherry
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Swiss cheese shredded
- 1 cup Monterey Jack or sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
Casserole ingredients
- 8 ounces cooked chicken chopped (approx. 2 cups)
- 4 ounces ham diced (approx. 1 cup)
- 12 ounces small or medium sized pasta cooked al dente
Topping ingredients
- ½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese grated
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in chicken broth and milk a little bit at a time until smooth. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens, about 7 minutes. Let boil 1 minute.
- Add in sherry, Dijon, Worcestershire, garlic powder, thyme, and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in Swiss & Monterey Jack cheeses.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Do not overcook. Combine pasta, chicken, ham, and sauce. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Combine melted butter, Panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese & parsley. Sprinkle over top of casserole.
- Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until hot and the top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Excellent. I added the cauliflower instead of pasta as an alternative you mentioned. It was really good.
How much uncooked pasta = 12 ounces of cooked pasta?
That’s 12 ounces by weight Amy.
This was delicious! I combined all except crumb topping in my empty pasta pan and warmed it through before putting it in mu casserole dish. We love crumb topping so I doubled it. Next time I will triple it, and put under the broiler to help with the browning.
I would like to add we mixed everything together first (in the pot we had cooked the pasta in) before pouring into a casserole dish which is why our ham ribboned throughout.
*Excellent!* We used rotisserie chicken breasts and I purchased thinly sliced black forest ham and sliced/diced it. But I left the “dice” long and the ham ended up ribboning throughout so that was very nice! All I had was gemelli pasta which was perfect for this casserole and we used Monterey Jack cheese – next time I would use the swiss/sharp cheddar as my daughter does not like spicy food (she wasn’t here tonight so we made it our way). :) Officially part of our rotation! Thank you!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Nicole!
my fam loved this recipe . thanks you so much.
LOVE YOUR RECIPES ….. IN THE CORDON BLEU CASSEROLE COULD YOU CONFIRM WHAT 12 OUNCES OF MEDIUM SIZE PASTA MEASURES AS ? IN CANADA THE PACKAGES ARE METRIC, SO NO OUNCES POSTED. WHEN I GOOGLE EQUIVALENTS I ALWAYS FIND DIFFERENCES IN OPINION FOR SOME STRANGE REASON ! 12 OUNCES OF DRY PASTA IN THE RECIPE WOULD BE WHAT AMOUNT EXACTLY ……. A CUP & A HALF , IF GOING BY THE CHICKEN OR HAM MEASUREMENTS ???
THANKS
Hi Toni, 12 ounces is 340.5 grams. Hope that helps!
EASY AND TASTY! I was looking for a can-free recipe and this did not disappoint. Flavorful and hearty. Looking forward to enjoying the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I used half a pound of rotini pasta and added a little more butter so the roux wouldn’t be dry.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
This recipe has very little sauce for 12oz of pasta. I adjusted sauce to make 3 cups total. I added both the swiss and monterey jack cheeses in cream sauce. I eliminated the sherry and doubled the dijon. After these changes the casserole was good.
I am glad that you enjoyed the recipe after putting your own unique spin on it. Your way sounds delicious!
Bake casserole uncovered for 45 minutes until hot and bubbly throughout and topping has turned a light golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes prior to serving.
Thank you for a recipe that doesn’t contain “cream of” soup! It seems these recipes are becoming a little easier to find. Should the cheese in the recipe be shredded or cut into chunks? I will use chunks of ham, as we like to bite into them and get lots of that good ham flavor. This sounds like a really good recipe, and not as fussy as some I’ve seen. Thank you very much.
I hope you enjoy it Janna! :)
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
I haven’t tried freezing it so I can’t say for sure.
I have made this 3 times now.
I made it the first and this last time with 3oz of diced ham and the second time i used the deli meat ham.
I have to say that both times i used the diced ham vs the deli ham it tasted much better. With the deli ham I couldn’t taste the ham flavoring in it. I also used 1% milk the last two times and the first time i used heavy whipping cream mixed with the milk, half of each. I will say that the milk/heavy whipping cream gave it a creamier flavor. The milk alone was good too but i like my sauces very creamy. I also used fresh time the second time and it tasted just as good.
This is a really good dish and I LOVE that it doesn’t have “cream of” soup in it. This is one that will be staying on my menu list!!
I love your ideas! Thank you so much for sharing!
This looks so good! I LOVE chicken cordon bleu! I am definitely going to try this. I will probably use diced ham since deli ham I”m not a fan of. I like that there is no cream of soup in this too!
Thanks for sharing.
hello what can I use instead of the cooking sherry.
Non-alcoholic, sweet white wine or chicken stock Regular drinking sherry can replace cooking sherry in a recipe.
I don’t use alcohol, either, and I will use the same amount of chicken broth, in addition to what is already in the recipe.I have also known people to use apple or white grape juice, if they want a little sweetness.
Thank you for a recipethat doesn’t use “cream of” soup.
I am gonna try this without the flour in the sauce and use the cream soup substitute that I have that uses Arrowroot instead of cornstarch,, we are wheatfree but this sounds great and would work with rice noodles..