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My good friend Rick came up with this delicious recipe for Smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu and it is amazing. Chicken recipes are the most searched for and requested on this site, so I jumped at the chance to try a new way of preparing it.
Making Chicken Cordon Bleu requires you to stuff a chicken breast with ham and cheese which is just a great idea on its own. But adding Panko bread crumbs and smoking it to crispy perfection is taking it to a different level.
How to Stuff the Chicken Breast
- Start with a large boneless, skinless chicken breast and cut a large slit down the side of the meat to create a cavity.
- Use your knife to open up the inside of the cavity by cutting into the sides of the pocket.
- Wrap a slice of Swiss cheese around a slice of ham and place it inside the cavity.
Prepare a three step breading station.
- Station 1 = Flour Dredge
- Station 2 = Egg Wash
- Station 3 = Panko Dredge
Dredge the stuffed breasts in flour, then dip in the egg wash and end by coating with the bread crumbs.
Spray the breading on each breast with Pam or other cooking oil spray. This will help make sure the crumbs become brown and crunchy.
Smoke the Chicken Breasts at 250F
We smoked these on our Weber charcoal grill but they would be perfect to cook on your Traeger pellet grill (or Pit Boss, Z grills, etc). You want to use a mild smoke wood like apple or maple so you don’t overpower the taste of the chicken.
Set your smoker to 250F. If you are using a pellet grill then there is no need to use an additional smoker tube or to cook in “Smoke Mode”.
Smoke the chicken for 45-60 minutes until an internal temperature of 165F is reached.
Now, not everyone can smoke it ever so perfectly. Rick shared this recipe and with it came instructions to broil it for the last 5 minutes in your oven to crisp up the breadcrumbs. After about 45 minutes of smoking at around 250F, I poked the chicken with my ever-handy Thermapen and was happy to discover the bread crumbs were as crispy as crispy can be.
Glorious.
Keep practicing, Rick, and maybe next time you won’t have to use your oven on this amazing smoked chicken cordon bleu. 🙂
Oh, and thanks for the recipe!
Smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 6 slices of Swiss cheese
- 6 slices of ham
- 1 egg
Breading for chicken:
- 1/2 cup panko
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Set up your grill for indirect cooking/smoking.
- Butterfly chicken or make a pouch by inserting a pairing knife about 1/2 inch from one end of the breast and cut lengthwise through the center of the breast stopping 1/2 inch from the other end, making a 1/2-inch deep slit. Insert the tip of the knife and make horizontal cuts on both sides to widen the slit and make a pocket inside the breast.
- Fold sliced Swiss cheese in half and wrap with ham. Place ham and cheese wrap in side chicken breast.
- To ensure the breast stays close, use toothpicks to seal the chicken breast sides together.
- In a bowl, combine flour, salt & pepper - set aside. In a separate small bowl combine egg and water, set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.
- Dredge the stuffed chicken breast in the flour mixture, brush with egg wash and then coat with panko/cheese mixture.
- Coat the top of each breast with butter-flavored cooking spray or spray butter.
- Smoke at 250-275 with fruit wood for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
More Stuffed Chicken Breast Ideas
Be sure to check out these other great stuffed chicken recipes!