Homemade egg rolls start with a simple three-part filling: browned ground beef or chicken, bean sprouts, and a shredded cabbage and carrot mix, cooked together briefly with garlic, ginger and soy sauce. The cooled filling is wrapped in store-bought egg roll wrappers, sealed with plain cold water and fried to a deep golden color. One pound of meat fills a package of about 20 wrappers.
No deep fryer is required. A 12-inch cast iron skillet with 1/2 to 1 inch of oil heated to 350°F gives enough depth to fry the rolls, and a wooden chopstick is a handy check on the oil if there is no thermometer. Folded rolls wait under a damp towel so the wrappers do not dry out, and the job goes fastest with one person folding while another fries.
Homemade Egg Rolls
About 20 egg rolls filled with browned ground beef or chicken, bean sprouts, cabbage and carrots seasoned with garlic, ginger and soy sauce, then shallow-fried until golden.
Ingredients
Method
Make the filling
- Set a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the ground meat for 7 to 9 minutes, breaking it into small crumbles with a spatula, until no pink remains (160°F for beef, 165°F for chicken). Spoon off any excess fat.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Add the cabbage and carrot shreds and the bean sprouts and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables have wilted and the sprouts are heated through. Stir in the 2 tablespoons soy sauce.
- Tip the filling into a colander set over a bowl to drain off the liquid, then spread it on a baking sheet and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Hot, wet filling softens the wrappers and makes them tear.
Fold the egg rolls
- Lay one wrapper on the work surface turned like a diamond, with a corner pointing toward you. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the filling onto the center.
- Lift the corner nearest you and fold it gently up over the filling.
- Wet the two side edges lightly, then fold one side corner inward so that it lies across the corner already covering the filling.
- Moisten the opposite corner with water and fold that side in as well.
- Moisten the edges of the unfolded flap that is left. Holding the filled end by both sides, roll it away from you to close the egg roll.
- Set the finished roll, seam side down, on a baking sheet that has been covered with a nonstick liner or parchment, and drape a damp (not dripping) towel over it. Continue filling and folding wrappers until the filling runs out; there should be about 20 rolls.
Fry
- Heat oil for frying to 350°F: use an electric deep fryer, or pour oil 1/2 to 1 inch deep into a 12-inch cast iron skillet, so that it reaches up the sides of the rolls while they fry, and set it over medium-high heat.
- Without a thermometer, test the oil by dipping a wooden chopstick into the middle of the pan. The oil is ready once small bubbles stream up steadily around the wood.
- Fry 3 or 4 egg rolls at a time, seam side down first, for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden underneath. Turn them carefully with tongs and fry 1 to 2 minutes more, until deep golden all over. Adjust the heat to keep the oil close to 350°F.
- Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet and let the fried rolls drain on it. Serve hot, with soy sauce for dipping if desired.
Notes
Equipment: a parchment-lined or nonstick-lined baking sheet to hold the folded egg rolls, a damp towel to cover them, a deep-fry thermometer, and a cooling rack over a second baking sheet for draining.
Either ground beef or ground chicken can be used for the filling. In place of the fresh garlic and ginger, use 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger.
The bean sprouts are cooked in the filling because raw sprouts carry a known risk of foodborne illness, and the short frying time is not enough to cook them through.
Folding and frying go quickly when two people share the work: one folds while the other fries.
Oil safety: keep the oil no more than halfway up the sides of the pan, lower the rolls in gently, and never leave hot oil unattended.
Storage: refrigerate cooked egg rolls for 3 to 4 days and reheat them on a rack in a 375°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until crisp and 165°F in the center. To freeze, set uncooked egg rolls on a tray in the freezer until firm, then bag them for up to 2 months; fry them from frozen, allowing about 1 minute more per side.
