Keto Chicken Cordon Bleu

This easy keto chicken cordon bleu recipe is a simple dish with swiss cheese and ham wrapped in a chicken cutlet than breaded with a gluten free bread. Using simple ingredients you can make this tasty low carb high protein dinner for any night of the week. Plus a have a version without breading!

You might also like these low carb chicken ham and Swiss waffles!

When I first made this recipe I had never had traditional chicken cordon bleu but I had a vague idea of what the flavors were and I thought it would make a good low carb dinner. I had been shopping at Aldi saw thin cut chicken breasts, prosciutto and of course they always have Swiss cheese. So I decided to make this easy keto chicken cordon bleu recipe.

I made it with just 4 ingredients because in the original recipe I didn’t want to bread it. However recently I remade this with the breading and my hubby loved it so I thought I’d redo this recipe. Though I’ve kept the old recipe too for those who are coming back for that recipe.

This new version is more like the classic dish but even the old non breaded version has all of those classic flavors. And while the older version is a bit more simple it’s not quite as tasty as this newer version in my opinion.

So today I used the chicken, Swiss cheese and prosciutto ham but I made a gluten free breading with almond flour, parmesan cheese and a few spices and it came out delicious. So while I added a few ingredients to this dish, they were simple ingredients you will probably have in your pantry.

This is still a naturally low carb, high protein dinner and it’s sure to be a family favorite regardless if they are on a keto diet because the ham and cheese add so much flavor.

What is chicken cordon bleu?

My friendly Wikipedia taught me that chicken cordon bleu is chicken wrapped around cheese and ham. Some people make this with pork or veal too and it can be breaded then pan fried.

This low carb version is made similarly but made gluten free by using almond flour instead of bread crumbs.

Recipe ingredients I used.

The simple ingredients I used for this recipe was originally chicken breast, Swiss cheese, prosciutto ham and olive oil. All I added today is the breading mixture which is made up of almond flour, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and ground black pepper. And you can still find everything at Aldi though you might have most of them already.

Chicken
I used thin sliced chicken breast because it makes this recipe much easier. However if you can’t find any you can do it yourself. Just buy boneless, skinless breast. Take each breast and slice through as you would a bagel. Take the slices and add to a baggie and pound with a meat tenderizer. If you don’t have a meat tenderizer, us a heavy skillet to pound them thin. Mine were a little thick so I still had to pound them thinner to make it easier to roll.

Swiss cheese and Parmesan Cheese
I used sliced Swiss cheese  because it was easy to use. However you can use shredded cheese if you want. I would not substitute with another flavor except Aldi has a Swiss Gruyere blend that is very good. And you want regular parmesan cheese in the canister because it blends better with the almond flour for the breading.

Prosciutto Ham
Aldi always has prosciutto ham and this works great because it’s flavorful and is always thinly cut. You could use regular ham but make sure it is very thinly sliced to make it easy to roll and bread.

Almond Flour
The breading was made with almond flour and I would not substitute with coconut flour. However if you don’t care about carbs you can use regular bread crumbs or panko. But for a keto breading you can also use pork rinds. Here is a post about if you are interested in keto pork rind breading

How to make keto chicken cordon bleu.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Get out a baking dish and spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

You need thin cutlets so that you can roll them up. As I said earlier I bought them already sliced but if you don’t have any you can cut them in half lengthwise and pound them thin into uniform pieces.

I had very different sizes of my cutlets but as long as they are the same thickness it should all work out.

Step 2: Take a thin cutlet and season with salt and black pepper if you wish and then place a piece of prosciutto and a slice of cheese. Then roll chicken up into a bundle and secure them with toothpicks if you have to to keep them together.

Step 3: Get out 2 shallow bowls. In one add the egg and beat. Set aside. In the other bowl add the almond flour, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and black pepper. Mix them together and set aside. 

Step 4: This part can be tricky. Take the chicken bundles and dip it in the egg and try to get it on both sides. Then place in the breading mixture and again try to cover the whole bundle with the almond mixture. Gently add the breaded chicken to the baking dish with the seam side down.

Step 5: Continue with all of the bundles then place the baking dish into the preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. The internal temperature should be 165°F when using a meat thermometer. 

When done take out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container. 

To make this without the breading (old recipe).

If you want to make this like the original version with just the 4 ingredients and no breading for a lower carb, high protein verision here is how. 

1. Pound the chicken thin, add the chese and prosciutto like above and roll up. Put toothpicks in the bundles so they stay tight. 
2. In an oven proof pan sear the chicken bundles seam side down in the pan to sear it shut. Brown on both sides for a few minutes each side. If you aren’t use an oven proof pan, transfer chicken to baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes in a 400°F oven.

By the way I love this oven ready skillet that I have because you can use it on the stove, then in the oven and finally serve out of it when everything is done. I make a lot of one pot dinners in this pan.

Please scroll down for the printable recipe card.

An easy keto cheesy cream sauce for this recipe.

I did not add a creamy sauce to either recipe because I wanted to keep it as simple as possible but if you would like one, here is a simple recipe for you.

1. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a skillet and 2 cloves of garlic, crushed. Saute for a minute or two until the garlic is fragrant.
2. Then add in 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and ¾ cup of heavy cream. Whisk until the cream cheese is melted and everything is incorporated.
3. Lastly add in ¾ cup of Swiss, gruyere or Parmesan cheese and whisk until melted. Pour over cooked chicken rolls.

Simple keto side dishes for this recipe.

We ate this with some Brussels sprouts and a simple green salad to make it a meal but if you want some thing more you can serve it with this tomato and spinach cauliflower rice or these zucchini noodles with carbonara which are some of my favorite recipes because they are easy!

You might also like these zucchini noodles with lemon and parmesan as they take just 10 minutes! And this asiago cauliflower rice only takes 15 minutes so you can make either of these while the chicken bakes.

This delicious keto chicken cordon bleu recipe was a very easy low carb dinner for us and very filling. One chicken roll is more than enough per person and this recipe makes 4.

The nutrition information the breading version it’s 469 calories / 29.5g fat / 3.8g carbs / 1.7g fiber / 54.8g protein