Air Fryer Chicken Cordon Bleu

Homemade air fryer chicken cordon bleu hot pockets are a great lunch or dinner idea that everyone loves. Make in a Ninja Foodi or Cosori to melt the cheese and get crispy on the outside. Wrapped with refrigerated dough or defrosted frozen Rhodes rolls, anything’s possible.

How to defrost frozen rolls

Let me explain what I mean by that. When you buy a bag of Rhodes yeast dinner rolls they come looking like this (above). Of course they are rock hard and you’ll need to soften them up.

Take note that it will take about 1.5 hours to get them to the right consistency. If you put a piece of parchment paper on your countertop and spray it quickly with non stick spray you can lay out enough.

You’ll need 4 for each chicken pocket you’re going to make. If you want smaller versions you could use 2, just decrease timing about 2 minutes for this.

Make sure you put a piece of sprayed plastic wrap over the top of them or the tops will dry out and get a bit hard. I have made this mistake and you really want to keep them moist.

Then you’ll take your dough and “smush” then into a ball so you can roll it out. I like to use parchment paper for this part too.

If you just roll out on your countertop, cutting board or just with a rolling pin without something in between it will likely stick a bit. Roll it out so the dough is the same thickness all the way across and there aren’t any tears. Rips will cause the filling to leak out which is no fun. You can see what mine looked at right here.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Ingredients

Now you can start adding your fillings. You could easily make this with leftover chicken breasts to ensure the meat is done all the way with all of the other ingredients. If you dice them up into small enough pieces you won’t have an issue with that either. The way I describe the size you want is to say that each piece should be no larger than half of the top digit on your pointer finger.

Using a meat mallet to make it more tender will help it cook through as well. I always recommend small/medium size breasts always.

So small bites essentially, as though you were dicing them up for your smaller child to eat. My ham already was cut and cheese was shredded so there wasn’t much else to do beyond that. You can choose to add a squeeze of dijon mustard into the middle or leave that as a dip when serving it, totally up to you. Now let’s talk about the ends.

Do NOT fold them over or the dough will be too thick and won’t cook through in those areas, nobody wants a bite of raw dough. Instead press the ends down like you see here so they are nicely sealed but not too thick. I experimented with a few different methods in my trials of this and by far this was the best method for perfection.

Air Fryer Sandwiches

Once you get this method down you can fill these babies with all sorts of things I tell you!! Add cheese for a sort of ooey gooey air fryer grilled cheese, add ham, the list goes on and on.

I bought diced ham in the meat section but this is also a great leftover ham recipe after the holidays! Take out that bag of sliced ham with slices of cheese after Easter and make these! You could leave the chicken out for these and just make a ham and cheese melt, I bet your kids will love them.

The great thing is that no matter what you add inside they have a quick cooking time for sure. Just don’t forget the non stick cooking spray in the air fryer basket or these babies will stick.

Here’s a quick rundown of how we made these. Remember, instead of the timely “old fashioned” way of rolling the chicken you’re just going to dice everything up small and throw it in.

How to Make Chicken Cordon Bleu Hot Pockets

1. Defrost 4 frozen Rhodes rolls for 1.5 to 2 hours per sandwich you want to make. We made 2 so I took out 8 total.
2. Use your hands to “smush” 4 of them together, then place between two pieces of parchment paper and roll thin making sure there are no holes.
3. In the middle sprinkle shredded cheese on top, add your diced ham dice breast on a cutting board (can season the chicken with salt and pepper), add meat on top.
4. If you want to add dijon mustard inside, squeeze some on now.
5. Pick up the dough and wrap over the chicken ingredients. Press gently to seal on top. Leave just enough on the ends to seal tightly so nothing leaks out. Now you have your “pocket”
6. Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees F for 5 minutes. Spray inside of basket with non stick spray.
7. Place 1-2 pockets inside with seams facing up. Whisk egg in a cup and brush on side facing up, or spray the chicken wraps with olive oil spray.
8. Air fry for 4 minutes, then flip over and brush egg wash over the top again. Close and cook an additional 4 minutes or until outsides are a deep golden brown.
9. Remove and brush melted butter over the top. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice air fryer chicken pockets in half.
10. Of course you should ensure chicken is cooked through before consuming, if diced small to begin with it won’t be an issue.

Alternatives you could make depending on your taste buds are to swap Swiss cheese out for mozzarella or parmesan cheese (but that won’t melt as well).