These homemade egg rolls are filled with pork and vegetables, all wrapped up and fried to crispy perfection. The perfect make-ahead appetizer for any event!
Chinese egg rolls are a great snack or starter for any Asian style meal. These egg rolls can be assembled up to a day in advance and fried just before you plan to serve them.
Raise your hand if you love egg rolls! I sure do, but my kids are not wild about Chinese food, so we rarely go to Chinese restaurants. With these homemade egg rolls, now I can skip the restaurant and enjoy my favorite appetizer at home.
How do you make homemade egg rolls?
The filling for these egg rolls is ground pork, shredded cabbage, carrots and some seasonings like garlic, ginger and sesame oil. If you’re not a pork fan, you can substitute ground chicken. I use a pre-shredded coleslaw mix to make life easier and cut down on prep time.
After your filling is ready, it’s time to stuff your egg roll wrappers! Egg roll wrappers are most commonly found in the refrigerated section of the produce area at most grocery stores. My egg roll wrappers had a handy chart on the back to show me exactly how to fold my egg rolls.
The egg rolls are held together by a little beaten egg, and then they’re ready to hit the hot oil.
If you don’t want to fry your egg rolls right away, you can arrange them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, cover them tightly with plastic, and store them in the fridge for up to one day.
I use a thermometer to make sure my oil is at about 350 degrees for frying. The egg rolls fry up in just a few minutes, and then are ready to enjoy!
I serve my homemade egg rolls with a side of sweet chili sauce or sweet and sour sauce. It’s the perfect complement to the savory filling.
In my opinion, these pork egg rolls are just as good as what you’d get in a restaurant, and they’re surprisingly easy to make at home. They’re great for parties, as a game day snack, or just for those times when you have a Chinese food hankering.
More asian style recipes
Homemade Egg Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 3/4 pound ground pork
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 3 cups coleslaw mix
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 12 egg roll wrappers
- 1 egg beaten
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Heat the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the ground pork and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook, breaking up the pork with a spatula, until meat is browned and cooked through. Add the garlic and ginger then cook for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the coleslaw mix and green onions. Cook until cabbage is wilted, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil, then remove from heat.
- Spoon approximately 2-3 tablespoons of filling onto each egg roll wrapper and fold according to package directions, using the beaten egg to seal the edges of the wrappers as you go.
- Pour 2-3 inches of oil into a deep pot.
- Heat the oil to 350 degrees. Fry 3-4 egg rolls at a time, turning occasionally, until browned all over, approximately 3-5 minutes.
- Drain on paper towels, then serve with dipping sauce of your choice.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from The Country Contessa.
- Not a fan of pork? Use ground chicken instead.
- If you prefer to bake your egg rolls, you can coat them with cooking spray and bake at 425 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until browned and crispy.
Don’t expect to assemble three egg rolls while three others are cooking. They cook really fast. So assemble all, and then cook them all. Or if you have a helper, one can assemble while the other fries. I had 20 wrappers, so I made a double recipe, adding in about 2 cups of shredded carrot and 1 cup of chopped cilantro. That made the perfect amount for 20 egg rolls.
Can you do these without meat? If so, would the ingredients remain the same?
Yes it would be fine to do it without meat, and you could increase the veggies to 1.5x the amount.
What is the best ‘name brand’ egg roll wrappers?
What is the best oil for frying?
That is the KEY to this recipe.
I have tried so many different wraps and oils ..especially in the Asian section at the grocery store… Most end up greasy ..after using olive or peanut oil…
So what wraps or oil do you use?
I use nasoya egg roll wrappers and canola oil!
Just finished deep frying a batch. I watch a fair amount of YouTube videos on Asian cooking. One guy said that in the takeout restaurant he worked at when they took the egg rolls out of the fryer they stood the rolls vertical so the oil would seep to the end of the roll. I did that. Can’t tell you how they taste because I’m going to freeze them. Will do a review later on the taste. I forgot to squeeze out some of the moisture in the mix that was suggested by another reviewer. I had bought a ricer some months ago for just that purpose. Oh well, I’ll make a note on my hard copy to do that next time. Easy recipe to throw together.
One last thing I had got the restaurant quality egg wrappers that blister nicely when deep fried from local Asian market. I bought about 50 wrappers. I froze the wrappers and unthawed the amount I needed. Ultimately the price, quality and convenience made it a very decent proposition. My finished egg rolls look just like takeout. Golden and blistered.
I’ve now eaten them and they were good. The Cole Slaw sort of disappeared and it seemed pork dominant. After I deep fried them and let them cool I had them later that night and put them in my air fryer for about 6 minutes and they came out super crispy. All and all they turned out good. I’m going to make another batch now and going to go heavier on the Cole Slaw vs. meat mixture and I’m barely going to cook the Cole Slaw for an even better crunch.
I’ve made them also with same result, although still delicious, I would like more crunch. Simple and easy to make. Love it. Thank you!