Awhile ago, I tried making chicken cordon bleu in the crock pot. That didn’t go over to well. There was way too much liquid in the crock pot after it was done. I had to scoop some of it out. The surprise was how the bread crumbs didn’t get all soggy in the milk mixture. You’d think since it was being cooked in the crock pot, the bread crumbs would be all soggy. After that fiasco, I decided that this dish was meant to be baked in the oven. A good thing, I found this recipe.

It helps to have already cooked chicken on hand, the process goes a lot faster. If you don’t just take out some chicken breasts and cook them at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Make sure to split them in half first. If you have some leftover cooked ham from easter then the only thing you’d have to do is cook the reux mixture. I’d make this recipe again. I think it would be really good in some mac and cheese!

Servings: 8 (Cut into equal pieces)
Points Plus per serving: 9

Note: I used I can’t believe it’s not butter light, 2% milk, low fat swiss cheese, and in order to get the bread crumbs brown spray it with some cooking spray.

Ingredients adapted from Plain Chicken

6 cups diced cooked chicken (1 whole rotisserie chicken)
8 oz diced honey ham
8 slices baby swiss cheese

For the sauce
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
3 1/4 cups milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper

For the topping
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Light spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.  Put chopped chicken and ham in baking dish.  Cover with baby swiss cheese slices.

Prepare the sauce.  In a large pot, melt butter.  Add flour and stir to form a roux.  Slowly whisk in milk.  Whisk until smooth.  Continue whisking until sauce starts to thicken (2-3 minutes).  Remove from heat and add mustard, lemon juice, salt, paprika and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Pour sauce evenly over the casserole.

Combine all the ingredients for the topping and sprinkle over the casserole.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.