🧡🍽️ Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole is a comfort food favorite made with tender pasta, shredded chicken, diced ham, and a melted Swiss cheese filling. The buttery topping is made with Ritz crackers, Parmesan, and is SO good! Use leftover chicken and ham to save time so you can whip this up in 30 minutes.
Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole Recipe
- This 30-minute creamy casserole is a comfort food, family favorite! Tender pasta, shredded chicken, and diced ham are mixed into a creamy filling with melted Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard, and garlic.
- There’s a crispy topping made with crushed Ritz crackers, grated Parmesan, and melted butter. It adds the perfect contrast and crunch to the smooth casserole filling that whole family is going to devour.
- I love making this casserole for an easy dinner after major holidays when I have leftover ham on hand. This is the perfect way to use it up! If you have leftover holiday turkey on hand, you can use it in place of the chicken.
- Save this recipe for after Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter and make good use of your leftover proteins. And if you don’t have leftovers? A rotisserie chicken and ham steak from the deli counter are your new BFFs.
- Make-ahead instructions are provided in the recipe card so you can prep this ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator and bake it off when you’re ready.
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole Ingredients
Pasta: I use rotini pasta but any short-shaped pasta like ziti, penne, fusilli, rigatoni, cavatappi, or similar will work.
Filling: Shredded Swiss cheese (use provolone or mozzarella if you prefer), shredded rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken (or use leftover holiday turkey), diced ham from leftover ham or a ham steak, cream of chicken soup, garlic, Dijon mustard, salt, and black pepper.
Topping: Crushed Ritz crackers (or use 1 cup panko bread crumbs), grated Parmesan cheese, and melted butter.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole with Pasta
- Pasta: Cook the pasta in boiling water as directed for al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Filling: To a large bowl, add all the filling ingredients, and stir to combine the creamy sauce.
- Combine: Add the pasta to the filling ingredients and stir.
- Assemble: Transfer the mixture to a 9×13-inch casserole dish.
- Topping: To a medium bowl, add the crackers, Parm, drizzle the melted butter over the top, and toss to combine. Sprinkle the topping over the casserole dish.
- Bake: Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is lightly golden browned. Optionally garnish with parsley and serve with a green salad, asparagus, or your favorite sides. It’s a keeper.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
🧡🍽️ A comfort food, family favorite made with tender pasta, shredded chicken, diced ham, and a melted Swiss cheese filling. The buttery topping is made with Ritz crackers, Parmesan, and is SO good! Use leftover chicken and ham to save time so you can whip this up in 30 minutes.
Equipment
- 9×13-inch baking dish (or similar sized dish)
Ingredients
- 3 cups dry rotini pasta, (or another small-shaped pasta such as ziti, penne, small shells, etc.)
- 3 cups shredded Swiss cheese, (substitute with shredded mozzarella or provolone if desired)
- 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken, (use rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken to save time)
- 2 cups diced cooked ham, (leftover holiday ham is great or a ham steak from the deli counter)
- 10.5- ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced (or subtitute with ~1 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, (don't use yellow mustard, Dijon is really key for flavor)
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, lightly crushed (about 18 crackers or use 1 cup panko breadcrumbs; any flavor of Ritz is fine original or try Garlic & Herb for extra flavor)
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup salted butter, melted (substitute with unsalted butter if desired, and consider adding a pinch of salt)
- fresh parsley, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F and spray a 9×13-inch casserole dish or lightly grease the dish; set aside.
- Pasta: To a large pot of boiling and salted water, add 3 cups dry pasta, and boil until al dente. Drain, rinse, and set aside. Meanwhile, continue with the next step below.
- Filling: To a large bowl, add the shredded Swiss cheese, chicken, ham, soup, garlic, Dijon, salt, pepper, and stir to combine well.
- When the pasta is ready, add the pasta to the filling mixture and stir to combine.
- Assembly: Turn out the filling mixture into the prepared baking dish and lightly smooth the top with a spatula but don't firmly pack it.
- Make-Ahead: If you'd like to make this ahead of time, stop now, cover tightly with plastic wrap or foil, and store in the fridge for up to 48 hours. When ready to bake it, take it out of the fridge about 1 hour prior to baking and set it on your counter so the baking dish and food have a chance to warm up. Make the topping as directed below and bake as directed.
- Topping: To a large bowl (the same one you used for the filling mixture is fine), add the Ritz crackers and using a wooden spoon, lightly mash or bang them around so they crumble into pieces. I like some larger pieces so I don't mash them into dust.
- Add the Parmesan, evenly drizzle the melted butter. Toss to coat and combine. It won't be overly buttery which is fine.
- Evenly sprinkle the topping over the top of the filling.
- Bake: Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once midway through baking to ensure the topping browns evenly. Baking Tip – If the crackers are toasting too quickly and getting too dark, you can cover the casserole with foil for the second half of baking.
- Garnish: Optionally garnish with parsley, allow to cool momentarily, and serve.
Notes
Make Ahead: If you’d like to make this in advance, you can prep the filling layer, cover, and refrigerate for up to 48 hours. When you’re ready to make it, make the buttery Ritz topping, add it, and bake as directed. Make sure to set the casserole dish on the counter for about 1 hour before you plan to bake it off because you don’t want to put fridge-cold food into the oven since it’ll take much longer to warm through and bake.
Storage: Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave as desired.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 480cal, Carbohydrates: 21g, Protein: 32g, Fat: 29g, Saturated Fat: 15g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 105mg, Sodium: 1002mg, Potassium: 291mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 608IU, Vitamin C: 0.4mg, Calcium: 394mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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