We got a comically large head of cabbage in our CSA box of veggies last week that we have been trying to use up, and we had the brilliant idea of making egg rolls! We both love Chinese take out and pork egg rolls are always on the menu – I mean what Chinese takeout meal is complete without them? The recipe makes 20-24 egg rolls, so it’s perfect for your next party or gathering OR you can do what we did and freeze all them, so you can have a couple delicious egg rolls whenever you want.

Funnily enough, egg rolls don’t contain any egg (although we did use egg to close the rolls), and people are unsure of how the name came about; and while most people would assume egg rolls are a traditional Chinese dish, they actually originate from NYC in the 1930s.

Standard egg rolls typically feature pork and cabbage as the main ingredients, although many variations exist. We opted to keep it simple in our recipe, using pork, cabbage, carrots, ginger, and garlic, with soy sauce and sesame oil for seasoning.

The trickiest part of the egg rolls is the folding, but luckily if you’ve ever rolled a burrito, you’ll catch on quick. We included some step-by-step pictures in the recipe, just in case.

We pan fried ours (to save oil and because we don’t have a deep fryer), but if you have a deep fryer, that would save some time. I would also be curious to see how they turn out with an air fryer. We don’t own one, but it would be a cool experiment. Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried them in an air fryer and how they turned out!

Happy rolling!

Pork Egg Rolls

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings: 20 Egg Rolls

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Asian

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 2 Pounds Ground Pork
• 1/2 Head Green Cabbage Shredded
• 4 Large Carrots Cut into small matchsticks
• 2 Tablespoons Grated Ginger
• 4 Cloves garlic Minced
• 1 Cup green onions Diced, white and green parts
• 3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Sugar
• 24 Egg Roll Wraps Thawed
• 1 Egg
• Canola Oil for Frying Can substitute with any other oil with high smoke point (i.e. peanut, avocado)
• Sweet Chili Sauce or Additional Soy Sauce for dipping

Method

 

1. Add 1 tablespoon canola oil to a large pot or dutch oven. Add the pork and cook through, breaking apart the meat well. Drain the excess fat.
2. Once the meat has mostly cooked through, add the green onions, garlic, and ginger and continue cooking about 2-3 minutes.
3. Next, add in the cabbage and carrots, sesame oil, sugar, and soy sauce. Cook about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Refrigerate the filling to cool (at least 30 minutes) before making the rolls.
5. Whisk one egg in a small bowl (this will be used to help close the egg rolls) and set aside.
6. Place your wrapper onto a clean surface with one corner facing you (diamond shape).
   
7. Add about 1/2 cup (or less depending on the size of your wrapper) of the filling into the middle of the wrapper.
   
8. Fold the corner closest to you over the filling; then lightly apply some of the egg wash along the edges/corners.
   
9. Tightly fold in the ends and wrap up (like a burrito).
   
10. Continue until you have used all of the filling (should make about 20-24 rolls).
11. At this point, you can freeze the rolls until ready to fry.
12. Heat up canola oil over medium heat in a large pan, you want to have enough oil to come up to the middle of the egg roll (or you can use a deep fryer - or maybe even air fryer, if you have one).
13. Test the oil using a wooden spoon - if bubbles form around the wood and start to float up, the oil is ready.
14. Add in your egg rolls, as many as can comfortably fit into your pan without overcrowding, and fry for about 2 minutes on each side (3-4 minutes total if deep frying), until bubbly and golden brown.
15. Set onto paper towels to drain. Continue until you have fried all the rolls.
16. Serve with sweet chili sauce or your favorite dipping sauce.