Chicken Cordon Bleu has always been Gordon’s favorite dish. And smoking whole chickens is one of his favorite pastimes. So it only made sense that eventually he would smoke a whole chicken stuffed with ham and cheese.

This roasted chicken cordon bleu came out juicy and flavorful with a hint of smokiness. Really, the hardest part of this recipe is de-boning a whole chicken, since it’s not really something you do every day. 

You’ll need a whole chicken, a couple pounds of deli ham, and a lot of Swiss cheese (I’d be more exact, but it really depends on the size of your chicken and how much you love ham and cheese).

You’ll need to remove the bones from your chicken without cutting it apart completely. Gordon says the best way to do this is peel back the skin and make small cuts in the meat to expose and pull out the bones.

Once your chicken is boneless, lay it on its back and put down layers of ham and cheese. Tuck the legs back in and fold the skin back over the whole thing, adding more ham and cheese as you go. You can use skewers to hold everything together if it isn’t cooperating. The ham and cheese will flavor the meat, but you may want to rub some salt on the skin to add flavor and crispiness as it cooks.

Cook the chicken in a smoker or over indirect coals until the chicken is cooked through.