Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Bake
There’s nothing I love more than a baking dish of cheesy, full flavored, lightened up comfort food. It’s kind of my thing. I got a reader request to give this recipe a lightened up makeover, so I want to give a big shout out to Pamela Lynne Wilkinson for making the suggestion on my Facebook Page. Y’all know what I like!
This Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Bake is SO GOOD. It’s basically like thick, creamy, decadent macaroni and cheese but chock full of a hearty portion of chicken and ham and covered in buttery Parmesan bread crumbs. Instead of using canned cream of chicken soup like the original recipe called for I thought it would be yummier to make a swiss cheese sauce, and I’m so glad I did. The sauce is creamy, cheesy and delicious and it takes less than 10 minutes to make. This recipe is a really fun and tasty way to get all the flavors of chicken cordon bleu in casserole form and it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser. Don’t forget to check out my Easy Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken post- the perfect way to make shredded chicken for this recipe! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 8 oz uncooked wheat pasta, I used penne
- 4 tablespoons light butter, divided (I use Land-O-Lakes)
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups skim milk
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 oz 2% Swiss Cheese slices, torn into strips
- 1/3 cup fat free sour cream
- 2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast
- 6 oz lean cooked ham, diced (I used Smith’s Ham Steaks)
- ¼ cup seasoned bread crumbs
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- While the water is boiling for step one, melt 3 tablespoons of the light butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour to the butter and stir to combine. Add the milk a little at a time and whisk the flour mixture into the milk until smooth. Add the salt and pepper and stir to combine. Turn the heat up to medium and add the swiss cheese to the milk mixture. Whisk together for about 5 minutes until smooth and thick.
- Combine the cooked pasta, chicken, ham, sour cream and cheese sauce and stir until well mixed. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish.
- Place the remaining tablespoon of light butter in a skillet over medium heat until melted. Add the bread crumbs and Parmesan and brown breadcrumbs for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Sprinkle the bread crumb/Parmesan mixture over the top of the casserole and bake for about 30 minutes until golden and bubbly.
Notes
9 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Adapted from allrecipes
