Cheesy Chicken Cordon Bleu Panini Recipe

Asking about the origin of chicken cordon bleu feels like a trick question: Not only is the name partially French, but it is also the name of a famously prestigious cooking school and culinary award in France. The dish, however, has very little to do with France and the cooking school and was instead invented in Switzerland by a chef who needed a filling meal for a table of unexpected patrons. The resulting cheese-and-ham stuffed dish was offered Le Cordon Bleu, or the blue ribbon, an award of excellence. The chef declined, instead naming the dish after the award and cementing its place in classic food history.

Chicken cordon bleu, like beef wellington, is a gorgeous rolled dish with specific blueprints: Chicken cutlets pounded flat, stuffed with Swiss and ham, breaded, fried, and baked. When sliced, the cordon bleu is a pinwheel of flavors with juicy, melty insides and a crunchy exterior. If you don't quite have the time for the lengthy stuffing and rolling process, you can transform the dish into a panini instead. In this recipe, developer Michelle McGlinn fries breaded chicken cutlets before topping them with cheese and ham and pressing the contents into a panini. The result has the same taste and texture as a cordon bleu but takes half the time and is nearly foolproof to do. If chicken cordon bleu didn't feel like a lunchtime possibility to you, think again, as lunchtime just got fancier.

To make the breaded chicken, you'll need two chicken breasts or four chicken cutlets, salt and pepper, flour, eggs, breadcrumbs, and oil. You'll want seasoned breadcrumbs, so either grab the Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs or make your own using Italian seasoning. To put together the panini, you'll just need butter, French bread, sliced ham, and Swiss cheese.

Cover the chicken cutlets with plastic wrap and firmly pound them to an even ¼-inch thickness with a meat tenderizer.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Prepare a dredging station: Put flour in one bowl, the beaten egg in another bowl, and the breadcrumbs in a third bowl.

Dredge each piece of chicken first in flour, then in egg, then into the breadcrumbs, coating completely.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Once hot, add the chicken and fry until browned on either side, flipping once, about 8 minutes.

Remove the chicken and drain on paper towels.

To build a panini, first butter each slice of bread on one side.

Add the chicken to the bread, then top with ham and Swiss.

Drain the skillet, reserving 1 tablespoon oil, or spray lightly with cooking spray.

Add the panini over medium heat. Press down on the panini using a grill press.

Brown on first side, about 2 minutes, then flip and press again, browning the second side, another 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Tenderizing meat is a trick that makes certain cuts of chicken, pork, and beef juicier and more tender, but that's not all. Especially for a dish like chicken cordon bleu, pounding the chicken first serves a few purposes. First, it helps fry the chicken quickly and evenly, ensuring the cutlets are juicy throughout. With a shallow, breaded fry, it is helpful to thin the chicken into pounded cutlets so that the outside becomes golden brown while the inside cooks to temperature. The other reason for pounding the chicken is to make it easier to stuff, roll, and fry. Doing this same technique with a full chicken breast would be difficult and produce varying results.

In this recipe, you need to pound the chicken before cooking it for a third reason, and that is to make it easier to eat in sandwich form. A panini should be pressed into a fairly thin sandwich, and adding breaded chicken can make this more challenging to achieve. To make it easier to cook and eat, pound the chicken flat before breading and frying: Just make sure not to overdo it with the meat mallet.

This chicken cordon bleu panini is straightforward, taking inspiration from the classic stuffed chicken recipe. You can make simple swaps, like switching the Swiss cheese for provolone or sharp cheddar, or you can use leftover baked ham instead of sliced deli. You can also forgo the breading on the chicken for a slightly lighter version, instead baking or browning seasoned chicken before pressing into the cheesy melt. You can also depart from the classic a bit and add some additions that make it a bit more unique.

Our first recommendation for customizing this panini is to add bacon, a crunchy alternative (or addition) to sliced ham. You can also add some veggies like sliced tomatoes, avocado, arugula, or spinach. You can get a little more involved and add sauteed broccolini, artichokes, or even roasted red peppers. Finally, don't forget about the bread — you can swap the crusty French bread for garlic bread, Texas toast, or even ciabatta for a totally new sandwich.