Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I stumbled upon this recipe while poking around online.
(adapted from here)
As we are all big chicken cordon bleu nuts, this was a natural recipe for us to try.

While making it, I had a "duh, why didn't I come up with this" moment.
Oh well, at least I can make it as often as I want to now.

While shopping, I miscounted the amount of chicken I needed for the week and ran a little short for this recipe. I had some of my shredded chicken saved in the freezer, so I added to the cooked, diced chicken I was using. I figure it will give a little texture difference, and not in a bad way.

I also dusted my cooked chicken with a little bit of garlic powder, since that is what we do when we make our own cordon bleu. Just another layer of flavor.

For seasoned salt, I used Tastefully Simple's seasoned salt, which is my all time favorite brand.

Ingredients:
1 Whole cooked chicken (about 6 cups) diced or shredded
½ Lb very thinly sliced deli style ham
¼ Lb thin sliced swiss cheese

For the sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
3 Cups whole milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
¾ Tsp salt
½ Tsp smoked paprika
¼ Tsp white pepper

For the Topping:
1 ½ Cup panko bread crumbs
4 Tbsp butter, melted
½ Tsp Seasoned Salt
1 ½ Tsp crushed dry parsley

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Put cooked chicken on the bottom of the baking dish
4. Rough chop the ham and scatter on top
5. Lay swiss cheese on top of the ham
6. For the sauce: Melt butter in a large sauce pot.When butter is melted, quickly stir in the flour to make a roux.
7. Slowly pour in cold milk while stirring briskly to make a smooth sauce.
8. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.
9. Stir in the remaining sauce ingredients.
10. Pour sauce evenly over the casserole, being certain to get some of the sauce around the edges of the pan.
11. For the Topping: Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium sized microwavable bowl.
12. Take bowl out of microwave and stir in bread crumbs, seasoning salt, and parsley.
13. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole.
14. Bake casserole uncovered for 45 minutes until hot and bubble.
15. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving

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Casserole Ingredients

Sauce Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

Creamy yumminess!