Egg Roll
Difficulty 4/5 Ingredients 13 Steps 29
Egg rolls are a savory Chinese-American fried pastry. They consist of a filling wrapped in a wheat flour skin and deep-fried. Egg rolls may be eaten plain or dipped in sweet-and-sour sauce or teriyaki sauce.
Ingredients
- Egg roll wrappers (purchased or made from scratch)
- Chicken or pork
- Broccoli (optional)
- Bok choy (optional)
- Celery (optional)
- Spinach (optional)
- Bean sprouts
- Powdered ginger
- Soy sauce
- Bamboo shoots
- Oil to fry the filling, possibly including sesame oil
- Oil to fry the finished rolls, possibly including shortening
- Egg white
Steps
Filling
- Cut meat into tiny pieces. Cutting raw and cooking after gives better results.
- Cut bamboo shoots into matchsticks.
- If using broccoli, chop florets into ~⅜ inch pieces. Cut stalk into matchsticks.
- If using celery, cut stalks lengthwise into ¾ inch-wide pieces, then crosswise into ⅛-inch slices.
- If using bok choy, cut leaves from stalk. Treat stalks as celery. Cut leaves crosswise in ½-inch strips, then break into 1.5-inch pieces.
- If using spinach, treat like bok choy leaves.
- Wash bean sprouts. Discard any not white and crisp.
- Put oil in wok. Turn on heat. Use high heat with rapid stirring to prevent burning; beginners use lower heat. Cook in batches so wok has room to stir and toss. Ingredients may be cooked separately and mixed at the end.
- Add meat. If raw, stir-fry lightly. Drain juices. Add more oil as needed.
- Add small amount of sesame seed oil and/or sesame seeds if desired.
- Add soy sauce, 1 tablespoon for a typical wok full.
- Add ginger, about ½ teaspoon, to taste.
- Add broccoli, celery and/or bok choy stalks. Cook until just slightly softened. Broccoli should be very bright green, not yellow-brown.
- Add bok choy leaves and/or spinach. Cook until barely wilted.
- Add bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. Turn off heat. Do not overcook sprouts.
Construction and frying
- Begin heating oil to fry egg rolls. Deep-fat fry, or pan fry in ¾-inch oil. Use tongs, not a basket.
- Place egg roll wrapper on plate. Beginners may use flour to prevent sticking; it fouls the oil.
- Turn plate so wrapper has one point toward you and one away.
- Place hot filling on wrapper.
- Fold over corner facing away.
- Paint egg white on this corner as glue.
- Fold over left and right corners.
- Paint egg white on these parts and on remaining corner.
- Roll egg roll toward you, onto remaining corner.
- Check wrapper is fully sealed. Patch tears with spare wrapper pieces and egg white.
- Place egg roll in hot oil. Cook several at once if possible; do not let uncooked rolls sit, as they get sticky and tear.
- Turn egg rolls a few times and dunk under oil without breaking them open.
- Remove when golden brown. Place on fresh plate. Do not touch cooked rolls with hands contaminated by raw egg white.
- Serve quickly, hot.
Notes from the original
- Like other fried foods, egg rolls do not keep very long after cooking, but the filling itself will keep well in the fridge.
- Leftover filling and wrappers may be used to make wonton soup. Leftover wrappers may be deep-fried alone, then immediately covered in sugar and cinnamon.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Egg Roll” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-08, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. CookbookEggrollOpen.jpg (author listed on the file page), Public domain, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.