I feel like years ago Arby’s made headlines for a calorie-packed chicken cordon bleu sandwich. Like it had a massive amount of calories. I just looked it up, though, and their current chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich has 620 cal. Which isn’t terrible. Although with 1720 mg of sodium, that's a lot! (oh, interestingly, they don't even sell the sandwich in the USA anymore, but they do at Arby's in Canada). Fortunately, our recipe for Amish Cordon Chicken and Bacon Bleu does not have all that salt.
Chicken cordon bleu has French origins (meaning "blue ribbon chicken"), but like so many foods that have captured the pop-culture imagination, it has made its way into Amish and Mennonite culinary culture. Today’s Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe is one I found in a Mennonite cookbook from Montgomery Indiana, which is actually an area with a large Amish population too.
🇫🇷 The Origins of Chicken Cordon Bleu
Interestingly, the recipe is not that old. The earliest references to it can be found only as far back as the 1940s in Switzerland and France, with the first reference to it in the paper of record, The New York Times, being 1967. Here is a deeper dive into the history of this storied dish.
Like many Amish and Mennonite versions of popular recipes, this recipe is stripped down to the studs. Just very basic. And that’s fine. I mean, what really makes the recipe like is that it has chicken, cheese, bacon, and ham. How the heck could you possibly go wrong with that? You can’t.
🥓 Chicken & Bacon Cordon Bleu
The Amish iteration of this recipe is different: more stripped down and the addition of bacon! Bacon is what separates this recipe from others. Most chicken cordon bleu recipes don't call for bacon, but Amish and Mennonite culinary wisdom knows this: everything is better with bacon!
We’ve talked a lot on Amish365.com about canned soups. Yes, this recipe does call for cream of mushroom soup. And, yes, Amish and Mennonite cooks actually do use canned soups. They are a mainstay in Amish kitchens and cupboards, especially cream of mushroom soup. It’s just taken hold as a very popular, versatile flavoring to casseroles and soups
❓ Chicken Cordon Bleu FAQ
A slow oven is generally defined as anything under 325 degrees. So this chicken cordon bleu warms and bakes in the oven for three hours at 275. This gives a chance for the flavors to really meld and you come out with this amazing blend of meats. Some Amish pie recipes will call for a "slow oven." That is where I first saw the term.
In most chicken cordon bleu recipes you dredge the chicken through bread crumbs or Panko bread crumbs, but in this stripped down Amish version, you do not.
Of course, if this recipe were being made in a Amish kitchen, you would have thick-cut bacon that is freshly butchered. You have thick cuts of freshly butchered ham. And the chicken would be home-raised. This type of ingredient procurement always makes a huge difference in the quality. I know most people don’t have access to that in their home kitchens, but you can try to get the freshest ingredients possible.
There is not a lot of seasoning in this recipe. You could dice in an onion, add some garlic powder, a pinch of cayenne pepper, or stir in some dijon mustard into the sour cream.
My parents made this recipe and it was really good. They did a great job with it. Makes for a super supper.
👨🍳 Making the Chicken and Bacon Cordon Bleu
Sour cream and soup starts the recipe. Mix both together and spread in a thin layer on the bottom of the baking dish.
Underneath that blanket of swiss cheese is chicken and ham swimming in a soup and sour cream mixture. Make sure there is at least one good slice of ham under each slice of cheese. You don't have to use Swiss. Mozzarella cheese is another one that goes well. I like to use good, thick chunks of black forest ham or Canadian bacon.
For the chicken, use thick chicken cutlets.
This is where the Amish version of this recipe swerves in a different direction, a direction that includes bacon, nice thick strips of bacon. Save the bacon grease!
This is the finished casserole after it's been baking in the slow oven for 3 hours. You could also use a super large skillet to bake this in or a deep casserole dish. Grease with canola oil or cooking spray.
Pairs well with a vegetable like corn, sliced tomatoes, or a hunk of buttered bread! A couple tablespoons sour cream or ranch on the side is nice too. A nice protein-packed dish!
🍲 Ingredients
- 8 pieces of chicken breast, cut-up
- 8 – 12 thicken ham slices, 1 /4 - ½ inch thick
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
- 16 ounce sour cream
- 16 ounce Swiss cheese
- 8 pieces bacon, crumbled
- Shredded cheese
- Parsley
- Croutons
📋 Instructions
- Mix soup and sour cream. Put a thin layer in a 9 X 13-inch pan. reserving ¾ of the mixture for later.
- Add ham.
- Then layer all of swiss cheese and chicken
- Spread remaining soup and sour cream mixture on top.
- Fry bacon and pour grease on top of sour mixture.
- Bake at 275 for 3 hours.
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese, parsley, croutons, and bacon.
🐔 More Amish Chicken Recipes
🖨️ Full Recipe
Amish Chicken and Bacon Cordon Bleu
Ingredients
- 8 pieces of chicken breast, cut-up
- 8 – 12 thick ham slices, 1 /4 - ½ inch thick
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
- 16 ounce sour cream
- 16 ounce Swiss cheese
- 8 pieces bacon, crumbled
- Shredded cheese
- Parsley
- Croutons
Instructions
- Mix soup and sour cream.
- Put a thin layer in a 9 X 13-inch pan.
- Add kayer chunks of ham over the sour crema and chicken mixture.
- Then layer all of chicken and swiss cheese.
- Spread remaining soup mixture on top.
- Fry bacon and pour grease on top of sour mixture.
- Bake at 275 for 3 hours.
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese, parsley, croutons, and bacon.
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