Egg Roll Recipe

From what I gathered on the internet, the egg rolls you find at Chinese restaurants are evolved from the more delicate spring rolls actually found in China. Spring rolls are so called because they are served in the spring time, and at Chinese New Year. Egg rolls are so called because the wrappers (or “skins”) are made with egg; spring rolls wrappers are not. Story goes that Chinese immigrants to the US came up with a spring roll recipe more acceptable to American palates: bigger, coarser, meatier. Egg rolls, like chop suey and General Tso’s Chicken are “Chinese” recipes invented by Chinese-Americans and then copied the nation over. This egg roll recipe is a fine rendition of those Chinese restaurant egg rolls.

egg roll recipe

Regardless, egg rolls are damned delicious and relatively simple to make, too. The only potential hiccup is the cooling time required for the filling. If you can, go ahead and make it a day or two before you need to to save time the day of frying.

Uncooked eggrolls don’t hold very well, but you can fry, cool, and freeze them for later consumption (the eating, not the ancient disease). Reheat in a dry skillet over medium heat, turning them as necessary to get warm and crisp. You can also reheat on a rack in the oven at 400F for about 20 minutes. Serve hot egg rolls with soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and/or Chinese hot mustard.

Egg Roll Recipe Video (scroll down for printable recipe)

Egg Roll Recipe – Printable!

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Egg Roll Recipe

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5 from 7 reviews

  • Author: Hilah Johnson
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 20 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/4 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/2 pound ground pork or turkey
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 2 stalks celery, minced
  • 1 medium onion, minced
  • 1/2 pound Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 can water chestnuts, minced
  • 20 egg roll or spring roll wrappers
  • 1 tablespoon flour + 1 tablespoon water, mixed together
  • Peanut oil for frying, 1-2 cups

Instructions

  1. Cover the mushrooms with water and let soak 1 hour. Drain and mince.
  2. Mix the pork in a bowl with cornstarch, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, pepper. Set aside.
  3. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok. Saute the celery and onion over high heat 60 seconds. Add pork mix and saute, stirring quickly until pork is cooked and in fine crumbles. Lift mixture out of the skillet and spread onto a platter to cool, leaving liquid in the skillet.
  4. Add a little more oil if necessary and add cabbage to the skillet. Saute 2 minutes until softened.
  5. Turn off the heat and mix in the flour, water chestnuts and mushrooms. Transfer to a bowl.
  6. Refrigerate meat and cabbage mixtures until cool. Combine when ready to make eggrolls.
  7. Place a wrapper in front of you, one corner pointed at you. Keep the stack of remaining wrappers on a plate covered with a damp towel so they don’t dry out.
  8. Spoon about 1/4 cup mixture into the center of the wrap and shape into a rectangle about 3 inches long.
  9. Fold the bottom corner up and over the filling, then fold in the sides over that. Gently pack the mixture inside.
  10. Rub some of the flour + water slurry along the edges of the top corner and roll the egg roll closed to seal.
  11. Place on a plate, seam side down, as you roll them. Don’t roll more than you are able to fry in 10-15 minutes or the filling will begin to soak through the wrappers.
  12. Heat 1/2″ oil in a heavy skillet to about 365F.
  13. Frey egg rolls 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown.
  14. Drain rolls upright in a bowl lined with paper towels.

Notes

Warm filling also makes a great filling for lettuce wraps!

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1
  • Calories: 220
  • Fat: 12
  • Carbohydrates: 20
  • Protein: 6

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For a “real” “Chinese” meal, try these with Tofu Stir Fry or Beef and Broccoli!

egg roll recipe

41 Comments

  1. Gary Lum on March 21, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    Love the video and the recipe Hilah. Sends me back to my childhood.






    • Hilah on March 22, 2014 at 8:54 am

      Me too, kind of. 😉 My mom used to buy those big boxes of frozen egg rolls for us to have for snacks after school. Heated up in the oven and us kids were in heaven!

  2. FoodJunkie on March 22, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    Gonna have to head to the Asian grocery for some egg roll wraps. These egg rolls look really good. My favourite Chinese place puts bean sprouts in the egg rolls instead of (or maybe as well as) cabbage and I am partial to the crunch these provide in the filling. Your recipe looks great and I will be giving it a try to see if I can improve on my really dismal first attempt at making them.

    • Hilah on March 23, 2014 at 8:23 am

      I hope you do try again! If I use bean sprouts I add them in at the end after everything is cooled off so they stay a little crunchy. They are just getting so hard to find at regular grocery stores here, without having to drive over to the Asian grocery.

  3. Diane on March 22, 2014 at 11:07 pm

    I was thinking these would be great with shrimp . . . and then you confirmed it!






    • Hilah on March 23, 2014 at 8:21 am

      Yes! You’re so smart!

  4. Jim Cyr on March 23, 2014 at 2:42 pm

    Up to Step 6, gonna wait an hour or so until I start making the egg rolls. Smells amazing, can’t waiting to do the frying in the cast iron skillet!






    • Jim Cyr on March 23, 2014 at 5:17 pm

      other than the first three extra crispy, these came out awesome!

      • Hilah on March 24, 2014 at 9:46 am

        Haha! That seems to always happen. 😉 Glad you enjoyed, Jim!

  5. Great Stone Face on March 23, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    (1) Why not use the sprouts you sprouted?
    (2) Did I ever send you my secret history of Gen’l Tso’s Chicken?

    • Hilah on March 24, 2014 at 9:46 am

      Hi GSF!
      Sprouting takes a few days thinking ahead, which I didn’t do. 🙂
      No, you haven’t but I would love to read it!

  6. Great Stone Face on March 24, 2014 at 10:39 am

    This column includes the secret history of MSG and General Tso’s Chicken. (Re sprouting: I bought an inexpensive sprouter and one of these days I’ll remember to use it.)

    • Hilah on March 25, 2014 at 9:07 am

      I can’t believe they allowed you to print such a secret! 😉

  7. Chloe Short on March 24, 2014 at 7:45 pm

    Hey Hilah!

    This is my first comment, but I’ve been watching your show now for years now. I’m in university and
    winding down with a wee puff and a nice cold one while watching a new episode is just what I need after a long day!

    Just wanted to say that I’m so happy you’re posting again, you were missed and it’s great to have ya back!

    Sincerely,
    Procrastinating with Hilah

    • Hilah on March 25, 2014 at 9:05 am

      Ahaha! Chloe, your comment made me smile. I’m honored to be part of your relaxation/procrastination routine. 🙂 Thanks for writing!

  8. Randy in Vermont on March 24, 2014 at 8:26 pm

    Hello sweetheart: Its spring again up in Vermont, We will send you some maple syrup and some maple butter. I will try these egg roles because why not. Randy and Merrilou

    • Hilah on March 25, 2014 at 9:04 am

      Hooray! Good to her from y’all. We were talking about you the other day to some friends of our who may be moving to VT this summer if one of them gets into grad school up there. We plan to come visit them and would love to meet y’all too!

  9. Jen on March 24, 2014 at 10:32 pm

    So Hilah, what grocery store in Texas, and WHERE in the frozen section do you get your eggroll wrappers? I have always gotten mine in the refrigerated section in produce, but they look nothing like yours. They are thicker, have more flour around/between them, and “bubble up” when fried. They are okay but yours look better. I did some research and found out that the frozen eggroll/spring roll wrappers are far superior to the refrigerated kind…but I scoured our local HEB Plus’s frozen section for 15 minutes to no avail. (no wonder I didn’t know frozen eggroll wrappers existed until this video.) And, being in San Antonio, there are no Krogers or Randalls to shop at here! I may have to hit up an Asian market just for the dang wrappers! Or maybe Sprouts will have them.

    On a side note, our Botanical Gardens is having a sunset picnic event this Friday and I am going to do a little Asian-themed picnic for my husband and I: These eggrolls, your chicken satay, a quick cucumber salad, and a peanut butter ramen salad using your peanut dipping sauce from the satay recipe as the dressing (except, I’m using sunbutter instead of peanut butter since I’m allergic to peanuts.) We’re really looking forward to it. I think the eggrolls will be great, even though I had to get the bubbly refrigerated wrappers.






    • Hilah on March 25, 2014 at 9:03 am

      Hi Jen!

      I got them at Central Market in the Asian frozen section where they stock dumplings and frozen egg rolls and stuff. They had egg roll wrappers and spring roll wrappers, which are what I prefer because they aren’t as bubbly when fried as the egg roll wrappers. The brand is Wei-Chuan. I think all I’ve seen at the HEB are frozen wonton wrappers, not the larger wrappers. But you have CM in SA, I think, right?

      Your picnic sounds completely wonderful and romantic and delicious! I love Botanical Gardens. I visit them in every new city I go to. And it’s supposed to be great weather Friday. Y’all are gonna have a blast! I’m going to check the calendar for that and maybe I can get Chris to take a weekend trip to SA with me one weekend. Sounds right up my alley. 🙂

      • Jen on March 27, 2014 at 4:55 pm

        We do have CM here in SA! I usually forget about them because there isn’t one very close to where we live, lol. I’ll have to be sure to look for egg roll/spring roll wrappers next time I get around to one, or to our Asian market, which is actually closer anyway. I just got done mixing up the filling for tomorrow’s egg rolls and had to try a taste — delicious! I can’t wait to fry them up!

        The Botanical Gardens here are really nice, I hope you get a chance to visit them sometime! They always have sculptures and art on display too. If you happen to be free tomorrow and were thinking of coming down for the picnic, shoot me an email — it’s only open for members of the Garden Society, which my husband and I are, and their guests, and we’d be happy to take you as our guests if you were interested in going.

  10. Salon marocain Montreal on March 25, 2014 at 3:26 pm

    as a moroccan we have a dish like this one called cigar meat it looks like the same as you made !
    it seems to be delecious 🙂






    • Hilah on March 26, 2014 at 9:51 am

      Interesting! Thanks, I’ll check that out.

  11. Bob on March 28, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    You have the coolest shit. The ying-yang sauce dish from Ikea as well? Your/their soup bowl is bitchin’ Camaro.

    • Hilah on March 30, 2014 at 8:52 am

      I think I got that at World Market!

  12. Clay on April 4, 2014 at 9:32 pm

    Why did y’all bleep out the f-bomb? I like it when you cook like a sailor 🙂

    • Hilah on April 6, 2014 at 11:11 am

      Hi Clay! We started bleeping the f-word about a year ago when I realized the audience was getting a little younger. All other bad words are in the clear, though! 😉

  13. Frank R French on April 9, 2014 at 11:14 am

    Can you baje the egg rolls instead of frying them?

    • Hilah on April 10, 2014 at 9:06 am

      I don’t know, Frank. You could try baking eggrolls on a rack, sprayed with a little oil, at 400F until crispy. Might work.

    • Calli on April 30, 2014 at 2:26 am

      I’ve never baked fresh egg rolls before, but I’ve baked fresh lumpia, which is kind of like an egg roll from the Philippines. They aren’t quite as good as fried, but it works. Spraying or brushing on a bit of oil does help. Can’t hurt to try. 🙂

  14. Calli on April 30, 2014 at 2:27 am

    I’m almost afraid to make these, because I LOVE egg rolls, and I’ll want to make and eat a ton of them.

    • Hilah on April 30, 2014 at 7:45 am

      Ha! I understand your fear, as these are pretty simple. But for me, deep frying is a bit of a hassle so that at least keeps me from making them all the time. 🙂

  15. teresa on May 1, 2014 at 7:40 am

    I am a chinese and I try to o it myself.It taste exactly the same the same that make in the
    boite!:)






  16. Victoria on September 10, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    Hilah,

    I just had to find my way back here to let you know my husband and I finally made this this afternoon. They are delicious! Thanks so much for this awesome recipe and your informative video (you are a hoot!). We will certainly be back for more!

    • Hilah on September 11, 2014 at 11:37 am

      So happy to hear that, Victoria! Thanks a bunch for writing.

  17. Havalyn on January 16, 2015 at 1:05 pm

    Hilah – great clip, thanks!

    Please! Please! Please! share the brand name of your wrappers. There seem to be two classes of wrappers and labels are not standard. I’ve tried 3 brands so far (all from the freezer section.) They all produced the doughy warted “egg roll” skin not the uber shatteringly crisp skins like yours. Appreciate the help.






    • Hilah on January 18, 2015 at 10:23 am

      Hi Havalyn!
      I just checked and they are Wei-Chuan “Spring roll wraps”. The package is red and yellow. Hope that helps!

  18. Game jojo on November 3, 2017 at 11:20 am

    Can the egg roll mixture be frozen w/o wrappers. Is so, for how long?

    • Hilah on November 5, 2017 at 9:23 am

      I haven’t tried that but I think all the ingredients would freeze fine except the water chestnuts. It might change their texture in a bad way. You could leave them out or add them later, after the mix is thawed out

  19. gama jojo on November 3, 2017 at 11:31 am

    Going to make these. Yummy! I can’t fry them fast enough for the kids.?

    • Hilah on November 5, 2017 at 9:22 am

      Awesome! That’s what I like to hear! 🙂

  20. Bob Lesnick on March 7, 2018 at 5:47 am

    I always bake the egg rolls. Nice and crispy.

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