Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups
These chicken cordon bleu roll-ups have ham, gruyere cheese, and a light breading. They’re easy to make!
Chicken cordon bleu is one of my favorite comfort foods, but I don’t make it the traditional way. Instead of frying the ham and cheese-stuffed thickly breaded chicken in a pan with butter, I make chicken roll-ups, lightly bread them, and bake them in the oven. You get all the same delicious flavors and textures, but it’s all a little lighter and easier to make.
Once you’ve baked the rolls, slice them so the ham and melty gruyere cheese peek out. A salad on the side makes these roll-ups a light and delicious dinner.
Ingredients
- Chicken: Two large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts are sliced and pounded so they are easily rolled up with the ham and cheese inside.
- Ham: Use good-quality deli-sliced ham for this recipe.
- Gruyere cheese: I use shredded cheese, but you can also use slices. One ounce per roll-up works great. You can also use the same amount of Swiss cheese.
- Breading: I use dried breadcrumbs, panko, and grated Parmesan cheese. Once it’s baked, this combo makes a light and crispy coating.
- Seasonings: The breadcrumbs are flavored with salt and pepper. I also mix in some olive oil, which helps the coating become crispy and golden in the oven.
How to Make Chicken Roll-Ups
☑️ Prepare the Breading
Mix the bread crumbs, panko, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl. Add the olive oil and stir to moisten the breadcrumbs.
☑️ Make the Roll-Ups
Slice each chicken breast crosswise through the middle, so you have four pieces. Cover them with plastic wrap and pound them with a meat mallet until they are about 1/4″ thick. Season them with salt and pepper.
Place a slice of ham on each chicken piece and top the ham with cheese. Roll the pieces of chicken up into itself like a jelly roll.
☑️ Bread the Roll-Ups
Place each chicken roll in the breadcrumb mixture and top them with the breadcrumbs. Hold the rolls so they stay together, and place them seam-side down in a baking dish.
Once in the pan, sprinkle the excess breadcrumb mixture on the rolls.
☑️ Bake
Bake the chicken roll-ups for 20 to 30 minutes at 350°F or until the internal temperature is 165°F. Leave them in the baking dish for a few minutes before slicing and serving them.
Recipe Tips
The chicken pieces must be of even thickness so they cook evenly. If yours are thicker than 1/4″, they will need longer to bake.
You can use toothpicks to secure the roll-ups, just remember to remove them before slicing the rolls.
Some of the cheese may ooze out while the chicken bakes. To keep it all from oozing out, pile the cheese in the center of the chicken breasts, leaving an edge. Once you roll them up, the cheese will stay tucked inside the chicken.
More Easy Chicken Recipes
Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups
Chicken cordon bleu roll-ups with ham, gruyere cheese, and a light breadcrumb coating. This is an easy dinner recipe!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound total)
- 4 slices deli ham
- 4 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded
- Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray.
- Mix both kinds of breadcrumbs, cheese, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper in a shallow bowl or dish. Add the olive oil and stir to moisten all of the breadcrumbs.
- Slice each chicken breast crosswise so you have four thin pieces. Cover the pieces with plastic wrap and pound them to a thickness of ¼”. Uncover them and season them on both sides with the rest of the salt and pepper.
- Place the ham on each chicken piece. If the ham is larger than the chicken, tear it in half and place the pieces so they don’t hang too far off the edges.
- Top the ham with the shredded cheese. Roll each chicken piece up into itself like a jelly roll.
- Place each roll in the breadcrumb mixture and sprinkle the tops with the breadcrumbs. Lightly press the breadcrumbs so they stick to the chicken. Don’t worry if the bottom is not as coated as well; you want most of the breadcrumbs to coat the top of the roll-ups so they get nice and crispy in the oven.
- Place the roll-ups seam-side down in the prepared baking dish. If extra breadcrumbs are in the bowl, sprinkle them over the top of the roll-ups.
- Bake the roll-ups for 20 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165°F. Let them rest in the baking dish for a few minutes before serving. Sprinkle the parsley over the top if using.
Notes
Some cheese may ooze out when you bake the rolls. You don’t want all of it oozing out, so keep the cheese mainly in the center of the ham, leaving an edge when you assemble the roll-ups. That way, the cheese stays inside when you roll up the chicken.
You can use toothpicks to secure the roll-ups – just remember to remove them before slicing the rolls.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 roll-up
- Calories: 453
- Sugar: 1.9g
- Sodium: 1056.8mg
- Fat: 20.3g
- Saturated Fat: 8.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10.1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 22g
- Fiber: 1.8g
- Protein: 43.4g
- Cholesterol: 131.8mg
The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
More Recipes with Gruyere Cheese
- Creamy Gruyere Spinach Pasta
- Gruyere Quiche
- Gruyere Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
- French Onion Hot Dogs
This is such a great, easy dinner recipe! I hope you try it – enjoy.
Happy cooking,
This chicken cordon bleu post has been updated from the archives. It was first published in September 2015.
They seem so easy to do. very delicious! I love the addition of Parmesan cheese. The tasty must be good:)
Thanks, Denise! Glad I’m not alone with this whole “scary car rides makes me hungry” thing 🙂
I made this dish toni8ght for dinner! Wonderful, and so easy! I love this!
Glad you enjoyed, Kaye! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Ohhhh look at that oozing cheese
Ok, these look really good. That melted cheese, yes please. And great pics too!
Thanks, Derek!
Quick easy and sinfully good!
So glad you liked it!
These are delicious! Can they be made ahead or even can they be froazen and cooked later?
You can make them up to a day ahead and keep them in the fridge – you will just need to add a few minutes of baking time if they go in the oven cold. I haven’t tried freezing them before baking – I think it will work, but the baking time will need to be adjusted because they will take much longer to bake if frozen. Hope that helps!
I will definitely make this, it looks delicious and pretty easy.