I dashed out the door, gathered her up and sternly asked why in the world was she playing outside naked?!? Offended, she crossed her arms and declared, “I’m not!! I have my necklace on!!”
Touche.
Those chunky cheekies also made another appearance this week when checking-in on her before I went to bed. She was sound asleep and naked once more, but accompanied with an extremely large collection of toys perfectly lined up in a very OCD manner. I’ve decided both of these instances are cute and adorable. I even took pictures to use as blackmail for when she is older. However, if there is a third naked occurrence anytime soon, I might have to begin seeking help.
You have to admire her level of body confidence. Maybe if I only ate salads, exercised all day long and never ate anything indulgent like this chicken cordon bleu casserole, I could have the same confidence that my naked 3 year old has 🙂 But nah…it’s not worth it. The reason I exercise every day is mainly so I can eat more food every day. For me, a 3 mile run is worth it if I can enjoy a creamy, delicious and easy chicken casserole like this for dinner. Every one of my kids LOVED this dinner and that rarely happens. With six kids, odds are that at least one of them will turn up their nose at it. Not the case with this chicken casserole recipe.
I am always on the hunt for leftover chicken recipes so if you would rather not use a rotisserie chicken, feel free to use any other form of cooked chicken, but be sure it is well seasoned when you cook it. I just can’t pass up those delicious $5 rotisseries at Sam’s Club when I am in a rush. Convenience is worth it sometimes!
If you are like me, you will want another easy chicken casserole recipe like my favorite Avocado Chicken Enchilada Casserole! Go grab the recipe right now and add it to your menu plan.
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Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole makes for a delicious, easy dinner recipe for a busy night. Super kid friendly chicken casserole recipe.
Ingredients
- Base:
- 1 large rotisserie chicken, meat removed and pulled (about 5–6 C)
- 1/2 pound sliced deli-style black forest ham, chopped
- 1/2 pound sliced swiss cheese
- Sauce:
- 4 Tb butter
- 4 Tb flour
- 3 C milk
- 2 Tb lemon juice
- 1 Tb dijion mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Topping:
- 4 Tb melted butter
- 1 1/4 C seasoned bread crumbs
- 1/4 C parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick spray. Layer the chicken in the bottom of the dish followed by the ham and finally the swiss cheese.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, whisking to keep clumps from forming. Turn the heat to high and cook until the sauce thickens and boils completely, whisking often. Remove from the heat and add the remaining sauce ingredients. Pour the finished sauce over the base layer already in the dish.
- In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients until the butter is evenly distributed over the crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the dish and bake for 45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving so the sauce with thicken just a bit.
so, do you think this recipe is freezable? thanks
I believe so! Let me know how it goes for you if you try it.
I made this for dinner! It was excellent! Thank you so much!
It’s fun seeing how many places this casserole has shown up since I posted it on Tasty Kitchen. I’m so glad that you and your family liked it. Thanks for reposting.
Hi there! My 10 year old son and I made this for dinner for my husband and my 8 yr old daughter last night. Oh my gosh, it was delicious! So so good. Thank you for sharing it:)
I love that your son was in there helping you make it! Thanks for your comment!
Made this for dinner for my husband and I . Tuna out GREAT .
Thanks Kim for coming back and letting me know! It is my favorite part of this whole experience when I hear back from my readers. -Carole
Do you know the nutritional information for this recipe? I’m mainly interested in the calorie count.
Michelle – I do not have that information but there are many wonderful websites you could enter the ingredients and find the nutritional info you are looking for! -Carole
By chance what are some sides you would serve with….the veggie part is easy for me! It’s the carb/starchy part I’m wondering. Would you put this casserole on top of rice or egg noodles or just serve it as is with a veggie side and some bread?? Thanks in advance!! 🙂
Michelle- I would serve it just as it is with a veggie or salad and some bread
Hi Carole,
I love your recipes especially because I have a large family myself ! However I am wondering how many this feeds or how many you make to feed your family ?
Thanks !!
Thanks for your kind comment Kristy! I make one recipe of this great dish to feed my family but I serve it with a side dish as well.
Perfect!! Thank you !! It is on the menu for this evening !
i adapted this recipe with a half bag of no yolk egg noodles under the meats… It’s in the oven now, so the jury is out on whether it should be made as one whole casserole, or use recipe as is and pile it on egg noodles after its cooked. Thanks for the new idea!
Love the idea Sara and anxious to hear how it went with the noodles in the casserole!
Big hit with the family- daughter says “it’s divine!” : )
Thanks so much Trish for coming back and sharing your experience! It means a lot to me -Carole
This looks so good! I have it prepared and am going to throw it in the oven when I get back from a birthday party tonight. The only thing is, I used 3 cups of vanilla almond milk instead of milk, because we don’t really drink that much dairy and that’s all I had! Hope it works! It smelled kind of sweet, but I’m hoping the seasonings and other flavors and cheese will make it more ‘normal’. 🙂 Have you ever used alternative milks?
Leah
You will have to let me know how it worked for you Leah. You could always use a plain almond or soy milk instead!
I was looking for a recipe to use up some white meat chicken I had in the fridge. I found this on Pinterest and gave it a go tonight – we loved it! The only change I made was to put a layer of sauteed spinach on the bottom of the casserole then followed the directions exactly. I was afraid I wouldn’t like the cream sauce after I tasted it before putting it in the oven but it worked out really well. I think this would also be good with sauteed mushrooms added and/or maybe a bed of pre-cooked bow-tie pasta. Thanks for a keeper!
Love all your great ideas Jane! Thanks for sharing
Can this be made a day in advance?
Absolutely Maureen! Just assemble the casserole, cover it tightly and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake it
Trying this recipe tonite! I want to put rice under the dish, but am afraid that it won’t cook! I may cook it before and put the casserole over the top when it’s all done. Can’t wait!
Let me know how it works Carrie!
Mine is in my in my oven as w3 speak. I did however added a few ingredients. I used chicken thighs that I boiled and deboned and cubed a ham steak and mixed them together. I made the cream sause as written but added a box of drained chopped spinach and crispy bacon bits and mixed in it in cram sauce. I also mixed seasoned Panko bread crumbs with crushed Ritz cracker, parmesean and a stick of melted butter. Buttered bottom of 9 x 13 dish and spread 1/3 of bread crumb mixture on bottom, I mixed meats with cream sauce and.put 1/3 bread crumbs on top of meat then i layered sliced swiss and grated mozzerralla on topn of bread crumbs. Repeated process until I had remainder of bread crumbs on top. Covered and baked 350 for 45 minutes and will remove foil and bake additional 15 minutes to crisp up top. Fingers crossed it come out edible., will let u know.
Hey Jackie! I’d love to hear how your version turned out because it sounds super yummy 🙂
This was SO good. The sauce definitely needs garlic and onion powder though. I made a pan with Swiss for my hubby and a pan with cheddar for me and the kids. Both were AMAZING!
Hey there Rachel! Thanks so much for coming back and sharing how it turned out for you. Glad you loved it!
Making this tonight for family. Sauce is yummy!! Smells so gooooood!! Can’t wait to try!!
So glad you gave it a try Jen!
Me too!! What a hit. Everyone loved this. All I heard was “This is sooooo good”. I will have to make this more often now. Thanks again, Carole.
I did not get 5-6 cups from my chicken, maybe 2. I carried on and have it in the oven. I had unseasoned breadcrumbs and seasoned myself. The 1/1/4 C. makes alot of topping so I may run it by the broiler to brown up. Easy to make, plan on serving with garlic toast and Caesar Salad. Yum! It smells wonderful!
Thanks for your feedback Kelly! The amount of chicken does greatly depend on the size of the rotisserie offered so if they are small, just grab a couple next time. thanks for stopping back and letting me know 🙂
Made this for Christmas dinner, as I was looking for something “fancy” but easy and it was so delicious! It’s in the oven again for dinner tonight and it’s definitely on my short list of “What to Bring Over” Service Dinner. Thank you for this delicious and simple recipe.
Oh, and I accidentally made a small change by neglecting to add the butter to the topping at the end but it was still scrumptious.
Hey Shawna! Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know. I love this dish because it is so easy to make, yet seems fancy 🙂
This sounds like a perfect alternative to the tradional method of preparing the dish. I can’t wait to try it and know it will be scrumptous!! Thanks for the recipe!
You are welcome Faith! Don’t forget to come back and let me know what you thought 🙂
We liked this but ended up with a lot of liquid in the pan. Did that happen to anyone else? 45 minutes seems like a long time and it was boiling away in there. So maybe that caused it.
Hey there Tori! I’ve never heard about this struggle before. If you are using a cooked rotisserie chicken, that isn’t your problem. My first thought is that your sauce didn’t thicken enough or your sauce broke. 45 minutes at 350 is a perfect amount of time to thoroughly heat the dish through. If it was bubbling away, your oven might be too hot which also could have made your sauce break.
I LOVE chicken cordon bleu but it is way too much trouble to make so I am super thankful for this quick and easy but delicious recipe! I added a bit of garlic and onion powder to the sauce. I don’t like Swiss so I substituted Havarti. I also used cracker crumbs in place of the breadcrumbs. Can’t wait for it to come out of the oven!! I am serving with a spinach salad and rolls.
Thanks for all your ideas Shauna! I hope you love it
Does this get covered???
Nope, otherwise your topping will get all soggy.
I’m wondering if you could use shredded Swiss instead of slices?
Absolutely Nancy! Enjoy
Wondering if you could use something other than mustard, or if you can taste it? I like it, children not so much.
Thanks in advance
LeeAnn
Hi LeeAnn! The mustard is certainly not going to stand out. It just adds some depth of flavor to the sauce. Your kids won’t even know it is in there.
Can I omit the mustard? Hubby is allergic. I like that this is so simple. Can’t wait to try it.
You bet Wendy!
CCan I use raw chicken breasts cut in half?
Hey Lori! Unfortunately, raw chicken won’t work with this recipe. By the time the chicken cooked, the sauce would dry out and the topping would burn.
Not sure why it wouldn’t work. Couldn’t you cut the chicken into pieces. Smaller pieces will cook in the allotted time frame. I do not normally buy the rotisserie chicken. Would it be better if you cook the chicken first then and then add to the casserole?
★★★★★
Carole. Would you not be able to have smaller pieces of chicken. If it is cooking for 45 minutes the chicken should cook. Am I wrong?
★★★★★
Hi Hanna! You certainly could try it. I don’t want to tell someone that yes, the chicken would cook to the proper safe temperature until I have tested it myself.
Carrie was wondering about trying it with rice… minute toffee mint do the trick.
Errrr.. I meant to type “minute rice might do the trick!”
Hey Holly! If you want to make rice as a side and serve it with the casserole, I think that would work. I wouldn’t add the rice to the casserole because it will soak up all yummy sauce.
Wow! So easy and so delicious! My picky 12 year old and foodie hubby both loved this dish! I used leftover chicken thighs from a previous meal and leftover spiral ham from Christmas, sauce and topping according to recipe, but substituted cheddar blend for Swiss…only because I didn’t want to go to the store in -3 snowy weather! 🙂
Served over rice with mixed vegetables.
Very tasty easy meal…will definitely make again!! Thanks for creating and sharing!
★★★★★
I’m so glad it was a crowd pleaser for you Danielle! Still one of my family favorites.
I do believe this will be dinner tonight for my hubby and boys. Thinking about adding some precooked noodles….hope it doesn’t ruin it
You can always cook the noodles on the side Leigh and serve the casserole over the top!
Can you make it without the lemon juice?
Yes but I would use another acid of some type like a vinegar.
This sounds too fabulous to ignore! Help a working girl out…How do you convert this if you have raw chicken and a slow cooker?
Hey there Stephanie! I wish I had a quick and easy conversion for you. You can certainly sub in any cooked chicken you have, but I’ve never made it from raw chicken.
I made this last night for my Bunco group and they raved about it. All of them asked for the recipe.. it was a huge hit. Thank you
You are very welcome and I LOVE Bunco 🙂
In the oven now and it smells delicious!!!! Can’t wait for it to get done.
★★★★★
Awesome Marty!
I’m making this again for dinner tonight. It is just delicious and is in our regular rotation. I use chicken I bake myself and serve it over noodles. This time I used hot, sweet mustard just to see how it would be. It was tasty. It may be good with any kind of strongly flavored mustard! I might sometime try it with mushrooms or spinach as some of the other commenters have done. Thanks so much for this recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Melanie! thanks for sharing your variations. They all sound great!
Can you used canned chicken?
Hi Toni! Honestly, I wouldn’t. I love canned chicken for certain recipes, but this one wouldn’t be it.
I was wondering how many people this recipe serves? 6? 8? 12? Maybe I just missed it ?
Hi Janet! I would say easily 6-8.
This recipe had good flavor, but could have used a little added veggies or something. I think the difference was it was made with chicken chunks not chicken breast… but overall a good, easy recipe for a quick meal
★★★★
I’ve made this recipe twice now and I 1.5 times the sauce portion only. I also added 1 lbs of our favorite cooked pasta. And an extra cup of milk. When you add the pasta, you need the sauce to be less thick. I split the casserole into to smaller pans and freeze one for a later day. Just be sure to leave off the bread crumbs until ready to bake. Thanks for sharing this scrumptious recipe!
Thanks Carrie for coming back and sharing your version! Sounds great 🙂
I’m a single father and this is a often used recipe. I like to get my daughter to eat veggies so I add them in as well.
★★★★★
Glad it works for both you and your daughter Chad!
Made it last night and we loved it. I did make one small change. I only used a half tsp of salt in the bechamel. There’s already a lot of salt from the butter, ham, and cheeses, so I was a little concerned about adding more salt. Next time I won’t even add that much – it’s definitely not needed. And there will be a next time. This was delicious. Anyone reading this – the recipe says to let the casserole sit for a few minutes to set up aftet it comes out of the oven. This is absolutely necessary. Just like a lasagna, if you cut in too doon, it’ll be a soupy mess. Plus, it’ll be much too hot to eat. Give it a good 15 minutes. It’s worth it!
Thank you for coming back and sharing your feedback Daisy!
Can you sub milk for heavy whipping cream?
Hey Brandi! You’re going to have to help me because there isn’t whipping cream in the recipe 🙂