Chicken Cordon Bleu

The Best Chicken Cordon Bleu

For me, the traditional way of making a Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of those frustrating recipes that is good but never quite good enough. That being said, I believe I’ve pushed the envelope hard enough to come up with this recipe. We’ve got white and dark meat, seasoned through and through, with the ham and Swiss cheese filling that everyone loves and a nice, crispy, seasoned bread crumb crust.

2 sliced boneless breasts and 8 sliced chicken thighs.

The Ultimate Chicken Flavor

When it comes to poultry, some folks are partial to either white or dark meat. We all know the health benefits of eating the white(breast meat) but I can’t deny the flavor you get from the dark(thigh meat). Therefore, to me, it only makes sense to combine the two and the only way I know how to do that is to use ground chicken. That being said, your options now are to either buy it that way, all ground up, or grind it yourself, like I do in the video tutorial. This gives me more control over the ratio amounts and I can be sure that my ground chicken really actually has both white and dark meat in it. Then I season the meat mix with a few ingredients that take the flavor to the next level.

Raw Chicken Cordon Bleu patties without breading.

Make them ahead of Time

Now that you’ve got the ground chicken mix seasoned, you can smash a few scoops meat into patties. Fill them, the way I show you in the video tutorial, with ham and cheese, then press and mold them into shape. You can also stuff them with broccoli or Spinach, if you prefer, instead of the ham. One of the secrets here, to make things easier, is to throw them in the freezer for 45 minutes. This will allow the meat to firm up so they don’t fall apart when you’re trying to egg wash and bread them. Something I didn’t mention in the video, however, is that you can freeze them again after they’re breaded and save them for a rainy day. You can even cook them the same way and use the time and temps I recommend below.

I’ve also included a Honey Mustard Sauce in the recipe that is out of this world, delicious. So, I highly recommend you try it with your Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Chicken Cordon Bleu video Tutorial from Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Ingredients:

Chicken Mix
2 Chicken Breasts, ground
8 Chicken Thighs, ground
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika

Filling and Breading
1 lbs Ham, deli sliced
1 lbs Swiss Cheese

4 eggs
1/2 cup Flour, all purpose\
1/4 cup Hot Sauce, Louisiana style or Tobasco
1 1/2 cups Bread Crumbs, seasoned

Sauce
1 tbsp butter
1 Garlic Clove, chopped
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp Honey
1/3 cup Parmesan, grated
1 tbsp chive
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bake 375° Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Be sure to watch the video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make this Chicken Cordon Bleu, with gravy, from scratch.

Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Legs

Teriyaki Drumsticks

That’s right folks, you heard it here first. This is a Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Legs recipe and it can be baked or grilled to perfection. I put this together in a way that is absolutely fool proof so, it’s easy and delicious. You can make it from scratch, using my Teriyaki Sauce recipe or you can pick up the bottled marinade that I’m going to recommend down below. Either way, you’re going to love this recipe.

Chicken Legs

One thing I’d like to talk about in this post is the cost of chicken legs. They are ridiculously inexpensive. I purchased the 5 pounds that you see in these pics and video tutorial for just $6.49 and even that, for me, was more expensive than the usual price. Most of the time I can get the same amount of legs for less than $1 per pound, where I shop. That’s 4 Legs for a dollar. It’s the insanely priced chicken wings that have driven the legs price down and I’m thankful for it because the cost of wings are practically $1 each, these days. The first person to open a drumsticks restaurant that offers amazing wing sauce recipes is going to bank!

Mr. Yoshida’s sweet Teriyaki original gourmet sauce.

Teriyaki Chicken Sauce

If you’re a fan of Teriyaki sauce, you are going to love this bottled recipe. I’ve been using it for years because it’s thick and has so much flavor. I have a really good recipe that’s a little different but easily just as good if you’d like to try your hand at making it from scratch but I highly recommend this brand. I’m not affiliated with them in anyway but here’s a link for Yoshida’s on Amazon , if you’re interested in purchasing some for your self. It’s about $3 dollars per bottle. I’ve also seen it on the shelf at Walmart so, you might be able to find it at your local grocery store as well.

On a side note, if you wanted to marinate the wings over night in a puddle of this sauce you’ll achieve better results. You might even want to consider simmering them in the sauce on the stove for 20 minutes before grilling or baking. You’ll be surprised what an amazing difference it will make. Just be sure to adjust the cooking time until the sauce is caramelized.

Other than the obvious, this sauce is great with rice and noodles, too, not just just meats and stir fry’s.

Chopped green onion, Jalapeno and sweet peppers.

Topping

For a little more kick, color and flavor, I like to chop up some fresh green onion, jalapeno and sweet peppers. Half way through the baking I sprinkle them over the top. If I were grilling, I wouldn’t add them until I was completely done cooking the legs and got all of them added to a serving tray, first, before topping.

Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Legs Ingredients:

5 lbs Chicken Legs, 12 to 14 piece’s
1 lbs Bacon
1 1/2 cups Teriyaki Sauce Marinade, Mr. Yoshida’s
1 Jalapeno Pepper, chopped
1 Red Sweet Pepper, chopped
1 Green Onion, chopped

Be sure to watch and follow the directions in the Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Legs video tutorial and bake at 400° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, flip and bake for another 20, then serve..

Crisp Chicken Burritos – Taco Time Style Chimichanga

Taco Time Crisp Chicken Burritos

If you’ve never had fried Crisp Chicken Burritos, you’re really missing out. Most folks would just call these Chicken Chimichanga’s, and they wouldn’t be wrong either, but Taco Time likes to call them Crisp Burrito’s. I filmed and posted Taco Time’s Fried Crisp Bean Burrito recipe a while back, which is their original recipe, and those are phenomenal but they introduced these a few years later, with their beef recipe, and they quickly became one of my new favorite burritos. I order these every time I hit the drive through. You can make the Beef Crisp Burritos, using this same concept, by referring to my Chili No Beans recipe, if you’re interested.

Crisp Chicken Burritos Filling

The filling recipe for these Crisp Chicken Burritos is very simple and easy to make. It consists of four parts; cooked ground chicken, chopped onion, chopped green chili’s and cream cheese. Technically you could get away with using canned chicken, if you want to make it even easier, but I find that cooking my own chicken tastes better and it reduces the sodium content drastically. Now all you have to do is salt and pepper to taste.

Frying Crisp Chicken Burritos

The secret to Frying an open end Crisp Chicken Burrito is simple. Place about 4 ounces of the chicken and cream cheese mix in the center of a flour tortilla and spread it thin in the middle, leaving about a half inch of space on each end of the tortilla. Rolling the burrito tight is very important and sealing the end of the tortilla with a flour paste will insure that the burrito won’t unroll or unravel while frying. I can use a tooth pic to keep them together, if you prefer, but this is the professional way to do it.

Crisp Chicken Burritos Ingredients:

16 Flour Tortillas

2 lbs Ground Chicken, Breast, Thighs or both
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 Onion, chopped
4 oz Green Chilies, chopped
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika, (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Flour Paste
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of water

Oil for frying

Follow the directions in my Crisp Chicken Burritos video tutorial and deep fry at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.