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holiday appetizers phyllo cups five ways a platter of chicken cordon bleu bites with cheesy sauce and ham cubes

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites


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  • Author: Stacey
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 15 phyllo cups 1x

Description

Looking for some snacky crunchy things to serve your guests? I've got holiday appetizers: phyllo cups five ways and you are going to love them.


Ingredients

Units Scale

  • 2 thin boneless breast of chicken cutlets (see note #1)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • Canola oil for frying (enough to cover bottom of pan)
  • Chopped parsley, optional garnish
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup of small diced ham cubes (see note #2)
  • 15 phyllo cups (one package)

The sauce

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 teaspoon finely diced onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely diced garlic (1 small clove)
  • 1 long slice of swiss cheese, ripped into pieces
  • 1/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup whole milk (you may only need 3/4 cup)

 

The dredging station

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

Instructions

  1. Finely dice the onion.
  2. Finely dice the garlic.
  3. Shred the fresh parmesan cheese. You can also use the shredded parmesan that comes in a bag.
  4. Take the long slice of swiss cheese and rip it into pieces. Set aside with the parmesan.
  5. Salt and pepper your thin sliced chicken breast on both sides. (see note#1 below about the chicken)
  6. Set up your dredging station with three different wide bowls. One bowl for the flour, salt, and garlic powder which you should whisk together. One for the beaten eggs. And a third bowl for the bread crumbs.
  7. Pour canola oil in a pan large enough to fry two chicken cutlets. The amount of oil depends on the size of the pan. The oil should be about ¼” deep, maybe a little more. Heat it on medium while you dredge the chicken.
  8. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg, the flour, the egg again and then the breadcrumbs. Be sure to coat thoroughly with each ingredient.
  9. Put your ham cubes in a small pan.
  10. Microwave the whole milk for one minute and have it ready for the bechamel.
  11. Put your phyllo cups on a small sheet pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. We’re heating the cups alone for this one and we’ll add the hot ingredients to the cups when they come out of the oven.
  12. Time to multi-task! On your stove should be the following. One small pan with the ham cubes. One small sauce pot with the butter, onion and garlic. One large pan with heated canola oil.
  13. The ham cubes: I cooked on low-to-medium heat with no oil in the pan for a few minutes until they started getting sear marks.
  14. The chicken: fry the cutlets for three minutes on one side, then turn over and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side until golden brown. Then set aside on a plate.
  15. The sauce pan: melt the butter on low heat with the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add the flour and whisk together. This makes a roux which is a thickening agent for sauces. Cook out the flour for a couple of minutes until it smells nutty. Turn the heat up a little, add the warm milk and stir – it will start to thicken quickly. Add the cheese and let melt – give a stir. Add a pinch of salt to taste and sample the sauce. If you need more salt – add it now. Remove sauce from heat. NOTE: if sauce is too thick add a little more milk. If it’s too thin, add more cheese. It’s simple – don’t overthink it. (see note #3 about extra sauce).
  16. Chop one and a half cutlets into small cubes. I cut it into thin strips first, then cut it into small cubes from there. My video shows this well. You will have extra chicken – eat it, you’re probably hungry.
  17. Your phyllo cups should be out of the oven and it’s time to assemble the appetizer.
  18. Add 3-4 chicken cubes to each phyllo cup. Spoon about ½ teaspoon of sauce over the chicken. Add a pinch of ham cubes to the top of each.
  19. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with fresh parsley if you are using it.
  20. Serve immediately.

Notes

  1. I used the already thin-cut chicken breast as the store. I found Purdue has the thinnest sliced. It was razor thin and this works best for this recipe. I cooked two cutlets but really only needed about 1 ½ for this recipe. You can either make more phyllo cups OR wrap it and eat it later. 😊 If you are using regular chicken breast and pounding it down yourself, you don’t want the chicken any thicker than ¼” – in fact, slightly thinner is better.
  2. I used a pre-packaged bag of tiny ham cubes which I loved. I froze what I didn’t use and saved them to make western omelets later.
  3. You will have extra bechamel. It’s cheese sauce – you’ll find a use for it. You can make my mega omelet and spoon the cheese sauce over the top. You can also freeze it and use it for something else another time.