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Chicken cordon bleu crescent braid turns cooked chicken, ham, Swiss, and crescent dough into a golden, cheesy meal with just four ingredients. It has all the familiar chicken cordon bleu flavors without breading or complicated prep. You’re going to love how easily it comes together for lunch or dinner.
Why You’ll Love It
- Just four ingredients — crescent dough, cooked chicken, ham, and Swiss cheese are all you need.
- Rotisserie chicken shortcut — use cooked chicken to make prep especially easy.
- Looks impressive — the braided crescent dough bakes up puffed and golden.
- Feeds a group — slice it into 4 to 6 pieces and pair it with a simple side.
Ingredient Notes
Use refrigerated crescent dough sheet if you can find it—it’s just easier because there are no perforations to pinch together. But regular seamless crescent roll dough works perfectly well too. Sometimes the store has one, sometimes the other, sometimes the store has neither. Life is rich and mysterious.
For the chicken, you need cooked chicken breast, shredded or finely chopped. Rotisserie chicken is an easy shortcut.
Deli ham is easy and folds nicely into the center of the dough. Thin slices are fine; thicker slices are fine too, though they can make the braid a little bulkier. Swiss cheese is important here because it gives you that familiar chicken cordon bleu flavor. Regular sliced Swiss, whatever brand is on sale, works well.
Ingredients
- 1 (8-ounce) can refrigerated crescent dough sheet, or seamless crescent roll dough
- 2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded or finely chopped — rotisserie chicken makes this downright easy
- 4 to 6 slices deli ham, depending on how generously you like to layer it
- 4 to 6 slices Swiss cheese — 6 slices gives extra melted cheese
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then lightly spray or oil the foil so the braid won’t stick. Do not skip that little bit of oiling.
Open the crescent dough and gently unroll it right on the prepared baking sheet. If you’re using dough with perforated seams, pinch those seams together with your fingers until you have one solid rectangle. It doesn’t need to look factory-perfect. Turn the rectangle so one long side faces you.
With a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, lightly divide the dough in your mind—or actually mark it—into three long sections. The middle section stays whole for the filling. On both long sides, cut 8 to 10 diagonal strips, about 1 inch wide, leaving the center strip uncut. These will fold over later to make that braid effect.
Spread the cooked chicken down the middle strip, leaving about 1 inch empty at the top and bottom. That little border matters more than you’d think. If you pack filling all the way to the ends, it tends to squish out when you start braiding, and then you’ll be chasing chicken bits around the pan. Not the end of civilization, but irritating.
Lay the ham over the chicken. Fold or tear the slices as needed to keep everything inside that center section. Then place the Swiss cheese on top, overlapping the slices a little if necessary. It’ll melt together beautifully, so don’t fret over gaps.
Fold the top and bottom ends of the dough slightly over the filling. Then start with a strip on one side, lay it diagonally across the filling, and follow with a strip from the other side. Keep alternating right and left all the way down. Loose is fine.
Tuck in any stray ends so the filling is mostly covered. A few small gaps are actually nice because the cheese can bubble through and get those browned edges.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the dough is puffed and deep golden brown and the Swiss is melted, possibly oozing out a little between the strips. Ovens have moods.
Let the braid rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before slicing. But that short rest keeps the cheese from rushing out like it has somewhere important to be. Slice into 4 to 6 pieces and serve warm.
Variations
If you want to change it up, you can season the cooked chicken with a pinch of garlic powder, Italian seasoning, or black pepper before you assemble the braid. Nothing wild—just enough to wake it up a bit.
If you have leftover holiday ham, that works in place of deli ham, and turkey ham is fine too.
For smaller lunches, you can divide the dough into two rectangles and make mini braids with half the filling in each.
Storage & Reheating
Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a couple of days, covered up in a container or wrapped tightly. Reheat slices in the toaster oven at 350°F for about 8 to 10 minutes, until warmed through and crisp again. The microwave will heat it, yes, but the crescent dough gets soft. Not awful, just a little sad.
If you’re doubling the recipe for a bigger dinner, make two braids on separate pans and rotate the pans halfway through baking so they brown evenly.
Final Notes
There’s something comforting about recipes like this—nothing precious, nothing that requires a special trip across town or a cooking show level of confidence. Just a few familiar things folded together and baked until golden.
Anyway—make the braid. Serve it with whatever you have. Salad, carrots, soup, fruit, roasted potatoes, all of it works. Or just put it on the table while the cheese is still warm.
That’s usually enough. Not always, but usually.
4-Ingredient Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Braid
Ingredients Â
- 1 8-ounce can refrigerated crescent dough sheet or seamless crescent roll dough
- 2 cups cooked chicken breast shredded or finely chopped; rotisserie chicken works well
- 4 to 6 slices deli ham
- 4 to 6 slices Swiss cheese use 6 slices for extra melted cheese
- nonstick cooking spray or oil for greasing the foil
InstructionsÂ
- Preheat the oven to 375°F, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lightly spray or oil the foil so the braid will not stick.
- Open the crescent dough and gently unroll it directly on the prepared baking sheet; if the dough has perforated seams, pinch them together until you have one solid rectangle, then turn it so one long side faces you.
- Lightly divide the dough into three long sections, leaving the middle section whole for the filling, then cut 8 to 10 diagonal strips about 1 inch wide on both long sides while leaving the center uncut.
- Spread the cooked chicken down the middle strip, leaving about 1 inch empty at the top and bottom so the filling does not squish out while braiding.
- Lay the ham over the chicken, folding or tearing slices as needed to keep them inside the center section, then place the Swiss cheese on top and overlap the slices slightly if necessary.
- Fold the top and bottom ends of the dough slightly over the filling, then alternate strips from each side diagonally across the filling all the way down the braid.
- Tuck in any stray ends so the filling is mostly covered, leaving a few small gaps if desired so the cheese can bubble through and brown.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the dough is puffed and deep golden brown and the Swiss cheese is melted and may be oozing slightly between the strips.
- Let the braid rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before slicing into 4 to 6 pieces and serving warm.