What To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu -

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If you’ve ever asked yourself, “What To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu?” then you’re in the right place! Chicken cordon bleu is one of our family’s favorite meals. And there are so many super easy side dishes you can serve with chicken cordon bleu. You can dress it up for a fancy dinner party or serve sides to make it a super filling, family-friendly comfort meal. Let’s talk about sides, shall we?

What’s Chicken Cordon Bleu?

Chicken cordon bleu is a classic French dish made using chicken, ham, and cheese.

The term cordon bleu means “blue ribbon” in French and in the culinary world, is used to describe food prepared “to a high standard and by outstanding cooks”.

This dish has many variants but is often deep-fried, pan-fried, or baked. No matter how you prepare it, chicken cordon blue will taste good! Add a side or two along with a decadent cream sauce and you’ll have a perfect meal!

What Is In Chicken Cordon Bleu?

Chicken Cordon Bleu sounds fancy and it tastes oh so decadent but it’s really a simple dish that doesn’t require high levels of skill.

Classic Chicken Cordon Bleu as eaten here in the U.S. has four main components:

Chicken Breast
Sliced Smoked Ham (often Black Forest Ham)
Swiss Cheese
Breadcrumbs

Even though it doesn’t require a lot of skill to make a chicken cordon bleu, it is rather time-consuming. So when you’re thinking of chicken cordon bleu sides, be sure to keep it simple or plan to serve make-ahead side dishes if you’re in a time crunch.

Variants Of Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken cordon bleu is rather versatile and has lots of variations. Here are a few of the more popular ones:

Baked
Deep-Fried
No breadcrumbs
Using bacon instead of ham
Wrapping ham on the outside of the chicken instead of the inside
Use beef or mutton in place of the ham
Using veal in place of chicken

While you may experience variations in the preparation of your cordon bleu, you never, ever want to skimp on the cream sauce.

In my humble, opinion, it makes the dish! So let’s talk sauce, now!

Sauces To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu

There are a variety of sauces you can make to serve with chicken cordon bleu. In order to make this a truly decadent meal, make sure to add the following to your cream sauces when appropriate:

heavy cream
butter
fresh herbs if possible (or a hefty amount of dried herbs)

I know, it is not the healthiest dish out there but if you’re going to eat it, do it right by adding a rich cream sauce!

Here are links to some of my favorite cream sauces to pair with chicken cordon bleu:

In addition to the sauces listed above, you could get creative and make a cream sauce with blue cheese or creamy, milky mozzarella.

Salads That Go Well With Chicken Cordon Bleu

Green Side Salad

This dish is salt and fat heavy so a light green fresh salad with crisp veggies and an olive oil-based, tangy vinaigrette is a great way to balance out the richness of your chicken cordon bleu.

Caesar Salad

Another option is a classic caesar salad. Most chicken cordon bleu’s are served with a cream sauce. The parmesan cheese, lemon, and dijon in the caesar dressing will complement your cordon bleu nicely.

Marinated Vegetable Salad

This is another one of my favorite easy side dishes that work well as a leftover. In fact, I think it is better after it has marinated for 24-48 hours! You’re gonna love this!

A simple marinated vegetable salad is a great choice for many meals including chicken cordon bleu and it is simple to make. Just remember, it will need to be made ahead of time. It’s always better after at least 24 hours in the fridge.

My super simple way to make a marinated vegetable salad is to chop up tomatoes, red or green onion, cucumbers, broccoli, and mushrooms then pour some store-bought Zesty Italian Dressing (my favorite go-to brand) over it. Then cover it and pop it in the fridge.

You can use any veggies on hand that you enjoy eating raw! Only got cucumbers in the fridge? No worries, make a marinated cucumber salad.

Pasta Side Dishes To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu

Macaroni And Cheese

Whether you have baked macaroni and cheese, homemade stovetop mac and cheese, or you simply spice up a box of mac and cheese, you can’t go wrong. And if you have kids, it won’t go to waste!

Need to spice up classic boxed mac and cheese? It’s simple, add extra butter and a little less milk. Add in some half and half or heavy whipping cream with your milk.

Then, toss in some extra cheese. We like to add cheddar and a little American cheese to ours.

Plain Pasta

Plain pasta turns cordon bleu from a decadent dish to a decadent comfort dish! Any type of pasta will work but whole-wheat linguine and angel hair are our family’s favorites.

TIP: If you are serving pasta, you want to make lots and lots of cream sauce to go with it!!! Don’t be scared to triple or quadruple your dish depending on how many people you are feeding!

Rice Side Dishes That Go Well With Chicken Cordon Bleu

Buttery Garlic Rice

Garlic butter rice made with brown or white rice will pair nicely with your cordon blue.

Yellow Rice

Yellow rice is basically white rice seasoned with turmeric, garlic, salt, pepper, and other spices.

Vegetable Side Dishes To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu

Steamed Broccoli

Steamed broccoli is a super simple, easy side dish anytime. But, pair it with a dijon sauce or parmesan cheese cream sauce and it is out of this world!

When you serve broccoli with chicken cordon bleu, make sure you make lots of extra cream sauce. You won’t regret it!

Steamed or Sauteed Broccolini

Broccolini was developed in Japan as a cross between broccoli and Chinese broccoli. It is smaller and slightly sweeter than traditional broccoli.

Steamed or sauteed broccoli will add color and texture to your cordon blue.

Season your broccolini with garlic and olive oil for a perfect chicken cordon blue side dish.

Corn On The Cob

I really like corn on the cob with cordon bleu. To me, chicken cordon bleu is not only rich and decadent, but it’s somewhat salty. And the sweetness of the corn on the cob really helps balance out the dish.

Green Beans

If you have kids, green beans are probably one of your go-to side dishes! Whether your serve spiced up canned or frozen green beans or cook fresh green beans, they pair well with cordon blue.

Add in some butter, salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes for some heat! You can also throw in a little butter and garlic!

Green Sweet Peas

Small, sweet green peas are a great side dish. The best part is they are great right out of the can and take only a few minutes to heat up in the microwave. But, if you wanna make them more decadent, add a pat of butter when you’re heating them up. These are the only ones I buy in a can.

Sugar Snap Peas

I LOVE sugar snap peas. My grandmother grew them in her garden back in the early ’80s when they were not available in our local grocery stores.

Like green peas, sugar snap peas cook in minutes. They can be boiled, sauteed, steamed, roasted, stir-fried, or cooked in an instant pot.

Add some butter and garlic and you’ve got a simple side dish to serve with your cordon blue.

Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Roasted rainbow carrots make a beautiful, delicious side dish for your cordon blue. Can’t find rainbow carrots? No worries. Regular carrots will do just fine!

Toss the carrots in extra virgin olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and roast until fork-tender. You can also add a little ground thyme if you have it!

Here’s what you need to remember. Roasted carrots can take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes in the oven depending on the temperature of your oven and the size of the carrots.

You’ll need to plan accordingly depending on how you’re going to make your chicken cordon bleu.

Coleslaw

As a southerner, I love coleslaw. It’s cool, creamy, and crunchy. Coleslaw is a perfect way to add some crunchiness to your dish.

My go-to coleslaw hack is to grab a bag of prechopped coleslaw from the store and mix in this store-bought dressing. You can’t go wrong with it!

Frozen Corn or Canned Corn

I do buy canned corn but only use it when I run out of frozen corn. Frozen corn is so much better. Heat up some frozen corn with butter and ground thyme for a delicious side dish! Want a little heat? Toss in a few red pepper flakes!

Read this post for more ideas on how to cook corn from a can?

Zucchini Fries (or Baked Zucchini Slices)

Zucchini makes a wonderful side dish! There aren’t many spices that don’t go well with zucchini so it pairs well with many dishes!

I love baked zucchini slices. Simply slice your zucchini. Sprinkle on some garlic, salt, and pepper. Top with shredded parmesan cheese and bake at 425° until tender and the cheese is melted. You can also add ground thyme, ground oregano, red pepper flakes, or Italian seasoning if you’d like.

Potato Side Dishes To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu

Garlic Mashed potatoes

In my humble opinion, there are very few dishes that don’t go well with garlic mashed potatoes. Just keep in mind, cordon bleu is a rich dish so if you do decide to serve it with mashed potatoes, you may want to add a side salad or another non-starchy veggie as well to balance out the dish.

Tip: When making mashed potatoes, boil them in chicken broth (I use this base instead of chicken bouillon), and be sure to add garlic powder or minced garlic and sour cream to your mashed potatoes for a truly decadent side dish.

Baked Potato or Sweet Potato

You can’t go wrong with simple baked potatoes or baked sweet potatoes, as a side dish for cordon bleu or other dishes, but they do a while to bake.

So if you’re baking your chicken cordon bleu, you’ll need to plan carefully to get your timing right.

If you only have one oven, keep in mind a potato can take anywhere from 50-90 minutes to fully bake in a 350°F-375°F oven. Chicken cordon bleu can take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes to bake at the same temperature. As you can see, with one oven, things can get tricky. But I have a solution.

The easiest way to serve baked potatoes with your baked chicken cordon bleu is to bake them using one of the following:

spare oven (I wish I had one)
toaster oven
instant pot
crockpot/slow cooker

French Fries

To be honest, french fries are not my first choice but when I had a houseful of kids, fries were always a safe choice. Mix it up for your kids by serving different cuts of fries. Mine love crinkle cut and waffle fries but steak fries would be a good choice to serve with chicken cordon bleu.

Roasted Potatoes

If you’re not baking your cordon bleu and your oven is available, meaning you are pan or deep frying your cordon bleu or like me, you have a fabulous toaster oven, roasted potatoes would be a fabulous side dish.

Just halve or quarter some red or gold potatoes, toss in olive oil and your favorite spices, and spread them out on a baking sheet. Then pop in the oven at 425°F for about 30 to 35 minutes or until crispy on the outside and fork-tender on the inside.

My go-to combination is pink Himalayan salt, black pepper, garlic, and Italian seasoning.

TIP: When serving roasted potatoes with a dish, preheat your oven first and have your potatoes ready to roast before starting the rest of your dinner prep. The worst thing is for your main dish to be getting cold while you wait on your potatoes.

Potato Salad

Most of the time, this dish is served with a cream-based dijon sauce. The dijon mustard and dairy in the sauce play well with traditional mayonnaise and mustard-based potato salads.

Best Bread To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu

Any type of crusty bread or roll will pair perfectly with chicken cordon bleu. To keep it simple, pick up the bread from your local bakery.

Then, brush it with butter and garlic when reheating it!

Final Recommendations From Cost-Effective Kitchen

Never worry about what to serve with chicken cordon blue. It pairs well with a lot of side dishes!

Choose your side dishes depending on the occasion, the crowd, your available time, and your money.

If you’re serving cordon bleu to the family and you’re super busy, choose simple side dishes with minimal prep and cook time. Choose dishes that your family loves and will leave their bellies full!

On the other hand, if you’re cooking for a dinner party for adults, you may want to choose more upscale side dishes and avoid the boxed mac and cheese or canned veggies.

My favorite side dish with cordon blue is rice. White rice, yellow rice, or buttery garlic rice, it doesn’t matter. Add to a fresh salad or fresh veggies and you have a delicious meal! And don’t skimp on the cream sauce!

In the meantime, check out my articles on reheating burritos and what side dishes go with burritos.

Until next time…

Kim

What To Serve With Chicken Cordon Bleu