My entire family loves egg rolls (although my oldest son prefers the pizza rolls that our local Chinese restaurant sells) and I wanted to try making them and know exactly what was going in to my egg rolls! I wanted an easy eggroll recipe that would be quick to make and would freeze well so that, when I get a craving for Chinese food, I can just grab one out of the freezer and heat it up quickly!
Now, I could have spent time chopping up a bunch of carrots and cabbage for the filling, but it was just easier to buy a bag of cole slaw mix in the produce section of the grocery store. It's already all cut up for me and my family honestly didn't notice a difference! I found this recipe and started off to make it exactly the same way, but after I started cooking and tasting, I made some tweaks that I really think made it much better! Pair these egg rolls with my egg roll dipping sauce recipe and you have a great appetizer to serve at parties!
A few things to keep in mind:
- These egg rolls can be frozen, but you must cook them first. Egg roll wrappers do NOT freeze well, especially after they have been filled, unless they are cooked.
- They can be baked instead of fried. To bake them, just spray them with cooking oil and bake at 400, turning once, until they are crispy on all sides.
- To reheat frozen egg rolls, just place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until they are heated through (you can also thaw them first).
- This recipe will also work great for "bite-size" egg rolls. Just substitute wonton wrappers for the egg roll wrapper and you should get 28 - 30 mini egg rolls instead of 14 full size ones.
- You can use ground pork sausage (the kind that comes in tubes) or fresh ground pork. I chose the fresh ground pork and the next time I make these, I will make sure to chop the pork with my spatula a bit more to get the meat pieces a little smaller.
Ok - let's get to my easy eggroll recipe. To make them, you will need:
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb pork sausage or ground pork
- 4 cups cole slaw mix
- 3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
- 1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 - 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
- Oil for deep-fat frying
Directions:
- In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, breaking up well, until no longer pink. Drain fat and return pork to the pan
- Stir in the coleslaw mix, water chestnuts, onions, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic and ginger. Saute until cabbage starts to wilt, but is not mushy.
-
- Position an egg roll wrapper with one point toward you. Place about 1/4 cup filling in the center.
- Fold bottom corner over filling and tuck under filling.
- Gently fold the sides toward center and over the filling. Roll toward the remaining point.
- Moisten top corner and any other "loose areas" with beaten egg yolk and press to seal.
- Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.
- Heat deep fat fryer (or oil in a heavy skillet) to 375.
- Fry egg rolls, a few at a time, for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Serve with sweet-and-sour sauce.
These were so easy to make, I can't believe I had a fear of making egg rolls for so long! I think I am soon going to try making the pizza egg rolls that my son loves so much as well as experiment with a few dessert egg roll recipes!
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb pork sausage or ground pork
- 4 cups cole slaw mix
- 3 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
- 1 can 8 ounces sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 - 2 egg yolks slightly beaten
- Oil for deep-fat frying
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, breaking up well, until no longer pink. Drain fat and return pork to the pan
- Stir in the coleslaw mix, water chestnuts, onions, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic and ginger. Saute until cabbage starts to wilt, but is not mushy.
- Season with salt & pepper to taste
- Position an egg roll wrapper with one point toward you. Place about 1/4 cup filling in the center.
- Fold bottom corner over filling and tuck under filling.
- Gently fold the sides toward center and over the filling. Roll toward the remaining point.
- Moisten top corner and any other "loose areas" with beaten egg yolk and press to seal.
- Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.
- Heat deep fat fryer (or oil in a heavy skillet) to 375.
- Fry egg rolls, a few at a time, for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Serve with sweet-and-sour sauce.
Mindi has been blogging since 2008 sharing her best frugal living tips, recipes and more. When she isn't writing, she spends time as an unpaid cook, maid and chauffeur to her 3 children!
