These are my Mother’s famous Egg Rolls. I think every cook should have a dish they perfect and be known for! We grew up in North Platte, Nebraska in the ’70s, and these babies were the talk of the town. My Mom, who spoke no English, made friends through feeding people Chinese food. Now, we’re talking about an itty bitty town where “gourmet” was the restaurant inside the local airport. Chinese food back then was “Egg Foo Young” and “Chop Suey.” To this day, our friends who still live in North Platte still remember my Mom’s famous Egg Rolls. When I went off to college and moved away from home, I craved these Egg Rolls and would beg Mom to make them when I came home to visit. In fact, there were a few times that I came home just for the food. I think that’s why she never taught me the recipe until just 4 years ago. It was her secret weapon to get me to come visit! The skin is light and crispy (unlike the thick, starchy and chewy ones that you find at most Asian restaurants), the filling is airy, delicately seasoned, and full of wonderful textures.
Its a long recipe and takes time to make, but I usually make about 50 of them at a time and freeze half. Sometimes I host an “Egg Roll Party,” gather my girlfriends and we make a couple hundred to divide between us.
Spring Roll vs. Egg Roll? Well, my family has always called the fried version “Egg Rolls.” Its confusing, and there isn’t a so-called standard of what each of those names mean. The best explanation I found is here.
Egg Roll Wrappers: They are sometimes called Spring Roll Wrappers. (They are NOT: mu-shu wrappers, lumpia wrappers, rice-paper wrappers) They are found in the frozen section in the Asian market. Buy an Asian brand. Do not buy an American brand found in the produce department that look like pasta sheets. Those are too thick and have way too much starchy-ness to them. Just not the same.
Freezing Egg Rolls: Freeze them immediately after you roll the Egg Rolls. Line them up single layer on a tray (see photo below) – and place in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can put them in a freezer zip-lock bag and store in the freezer. If you don’t put them on a tray first, they wrappers will stick to each other and you’ll end up with a giant frozen clump-o-eggroll. To cook, just fry them frozen. They will take a little longer to fry up, but will taste just as good
Re-heating Egg Rolls: Lets just say you happen to have leftover fried egg rolls – which NEVER happens in my house, but lets just say…. Cover the leftovers and place in refrigerator. The next time you are hungry, like at 2 a.m., pop them in your toaster oven or oven directly on the rack. 375 for 5-8 minutes. They will crisp up again nicely. If you microwave, they’ll end up hot, soggy eggrolls. Still good, but soggy.
Golden Rules: There are 3 ancient Chinese secrets to making the best Egg Rolls. Here they are:
1. Take care of the wrappers – To defrost the wrappers, place on counter-top for 1 hour, or refrigerator overnight. Do not put in microwave or defrost in water. It will ruin the delicate wrappers. Once you open the package, them the wrappers covered under a damp towel. They will dry out otherwise and crack.
2. Filling ingredients must be dry, otherwise they will make the Egg Rolls soggy and won’t fry up well. You can do why my Mom taught me, tilt the pan and prop up one end to let the liquid drip down. Then you can easily spoon out the extra liquid.
3. Cover the wrapped egg rolls. Keep them under a damp towel so that they don’t dry out. Once you wrap them, keep them on a single layer on a baking sheet (see photo below). If you aren’t ready to fry right away, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. For another great recipe using egg roll wrappers, try my Firecracker Shrimp with Sweet Chili Sauce!
PrintMom’s Famous Chinese Crispy Egg Rolls Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
For the filling
1 1/4 pounds ground pork
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 head of small cabbage (about 10 ounces)
3 carrots
8 fresh shitake mushrooms (or dried Chinese mushrooms soaked overnight), stems discarded
1 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil
2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
For the egg rolls
50 Spring Roll/Egg Roll Wrappers, defrosted unopened at room temperature for 45 minutes or in refrigerator overnight (about 2 packages)
Cornstarch slurry: 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or flour) mixed with 1/4 cup of cool water
Oil, for frying
METHOD:
Marinate the ground pork with the soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and sesame oil for at least 10 minutes at room temperature.
In the meantime, shred the cabbage and the carrots using your food processor or by hand. Slice the mushrooms into very thin strips.
Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat until hot. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the garlic, ginger and fry until fragrant, 15-30 seconds. Add the pork and stir fry until no longer pink. Add the cabbage, carrots and the mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute, until the vegetables are softened. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil Chinese black vinegar, salt and black pepper. Continue to stir fry for another minute. Remove the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Prop up one end of the baking sheet so that it tilts and will allow all the moisture to drain to one end. Let cool for 15 minutes.
Discard all of the accumulated juices. Use paper towels to blot the filling to rid of extra oil or juice. Now, we’re ready to wrap!
How to Wrap Egg Rolls
I have step by step photos – but please note that I took these photos when I was making a egg rolls with a different filling (crawfish and Chinese sausage) – but look at the photos – they will give you a good step by step:
When you tilt the pan, see how much extra liquid accumulates at the bottom of the pan?
Place only 1 tablespoon of filling on one corner. Any more and you’ll overstuff.
Roll up that corner until you reach the middle of the wrapper.
Fold the sides towards the middle. Make sure that you make these folds tight and leave no air pockets.
Continue rolling. See that little corner? Brush a little of the cornstarch slurry on that end.
Press to make sure that cornstarch slurry holds on tight. Place seam side down, so that the slurry dries in place. See how nice, neat and tight that roll is?
What NOT to do: see how the roll is loose and there are air pockets? Oil will enter in through those air pockets and this egg roll will break.
Keep the rolled egg rolls in neat, single layer and covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. If you want to stack the egg rolls, make sure you have layer of parchment paper in between the layers to prevent sticking:
Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze.
To fry the egg rolls, fill a wok or pot with 2 inches of high-heat cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350F or until a cube of bread will fry to golden brown within 10 seconds. Gently slide in or lower the egg rolls, frying 4-6 at a time, turning occassionaly until golden brown about 1 1/2 minutes. Place on wire rack to drain and cool.
To fry frozen egg rolls, do not defrost the egg rolls – just add them to the oil frozen, frying 4-6 at a time. Add an additional 1 1/2 minutes to the frying time since they are frozen.
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Other recipes you’ll enjoy
Chinese Marbled Tea Egg Recipe
Wonton Noodle Soup
Firecracker Shrimp
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We eat these during Chinese New Year!
Jaden, what about the dipping sauce?? My wife make Vietnamese eggrolls (a little different with pork and shrimp inside and no cabbage) but the sauce is what really completes it! She uses fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and some chili paste I believe (she makes it, i don’t
)
Nice website. We live in Hawaii and love the Kalbi ribs here. Will have to try your recipe sometime. My mouth is watering just thinking about them…
Hey Rich- traditionally, we just really good Chinese black vinegar. Pour some out in a little tiny condiment dish with a little spoon. All it takes is a few drops.
Take the first bite of the egg roll, spoon 3 or 4 drops of black vinegar down the inside of the roll – the vinegar will run down throughout the rest of the roll!
The black vinegar is very pungent & assertive. It has been aged and has nice smoky notes – so you don’t want to “dip” your egg roll in it – just a few drops will do perfectly!
Your Mom’s recipe looks great! Does she use a spring roll wrap or egg roll wrap? What brand does she use? These look wonderful! Thanks in advance!
We use Wei Chuan Spring Roll Shells. I don’t know if you can get this at your local Asian mart. Ask them for a wrapper that is thin, light and crispy. Good luck!
Delurking… Your food blog is the reason I’m up way past my bedtime. This one… the Host your own Sushi party, the amazing Xiao Long Bao post, oh and your adorable kids in the German Pancake post. So yummy, so gorgeous.
I’m sorry to be nitpicky in a first comment, but I also noticed something that looks like a typo…
“Wash mushrooms and discard caps.”
Ok, I’m gonna look at one more recipe then it’s bedtime for sure!
Meilin- oops!!! Thanks for pointing that out!
Dear Jaden,
You make an excellent instructor because your instructions are clear, very clear.
Eggrolls may look easy but to master making them require technic. Your eggrolls are tightly wrapped and have no “cracks”. In fact, they are perfect.
An Eggroll cookout with girlfriends is a great idea. Even though I know how to make eggrolls, I would not mind taking your class or join you and your girlfriends making eggrolls.
Jaden
Will you be a godess & please tell me how to make the egg roll wrappers / spring roll??
I dont think you’ll get them in India ready-made.
Please, please, please !!
They look delicious,
Jaden, I take my hats off to you! How do you manage to answer all your emails from your gazillion fans? You must be a superwoman, a supermom, and a superwife.
I really enjoy reading your blogs.
did you and your mom do a tv show featuring her eggrolls in the states ? I remember seeing such a segment a few years back and there wasn’t all these food blog . or before I discover them
Just wondering–how did your mom find the spring roll wrappers in your tiny town? Did she have to make them herself?
Also, we don’t eat pork in our family. Do you think I could use beef or fresh shrimp instead? At any rate, I’ll look for the wraps next time I am in the Asian Market– I went the other day but it was so crowded the line snaked all the way back through the produce section. Happy New Year!
I’ve found that every Asian mom has their own recipe for egg rolls, just like every American has their own recipe for chocolate chip cookies. My mom makes hers with scrambled egg, chives, bean sprouts, and shrimp, so they tend to come out lighter, while my mom’s friend’s is filled with pork and mushrooms. In the end, though, they’re all delicious!
I live in South Alabama, I went to 5 grocery stores yesterday and not one has spring roll wrappers. Is there a webb site I can order from?
Thanks for documenting these tips!
I used chicken thigh meat cut into matchstick strips.
I ended up squeezing the broth out of the filling.
The eggrolls came out perfect!
I tried this recipe and they came out great. For dipping sauce, I bought some “sweet chili sauce” from the asian section of the grocery store its REALLY good. The filling was awsome, my only problem is the wrappers. I’m in kind of a rural area of Florida and I CANNOT find an asian market within an hour of me. The only wrappers that the grocery store carries are and american brand (the kind you said NOT to buy). They’re ok, but they are more starchy and they bubble up, much like chinese take-out egg rolls. I really wish I could find the thin, crispy, flakey ones like in the above photographs. Does anyone know if filo dough would work to wrap the egg rolls?
yummy thesem recipies look really good
oooooh i’m making egg rolls and they came out great
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I’ve been looking for an authentic egg roll recipe and these look absolutely perfect. I will be making some spicy tuna rolls soon and I think these will be the perfect compliment! Thank you!
Oh, and p.s., this blog is utterly beautiful. I love how you’ve designed it and all the features you include. Very, very cool.
I just made these after searching high and low for a great egg roll recipe that’s just like the one my favorite authentic Chinese restaurant serves… well, these blew it away. Thanks so much! My roommate and I just enjoyed the most delicious egg rolls we’ve had in a while. (I did, however, substitute shrimp for pork).
Hi Jaden,
Those look really good. Now I’m really hungry!
Although it does remind of childhood, when you’d order ‘egg rolls’ in a restaurant and you’d get a big mini burrito shaped/sized fried roll filled with veggies.
A ’spring roll’ was always like the ones you’ve shown, with little bits of shredded pork and veg.
Then again, anything deep fried.. hey it’s all good.
Really enjoyed the recipe. I made them for the family for an after Christmas party. One small typo in the ingredient list, though… Should be 1 tsp of fresh ground ginger not garlic. right?
These look great! Stop by my Tasty Tuesday blog party anytime with one of your wonderful recipes!
-Kim
how do you make the wrappers at home?
Jaden! You’re awesome. I live on the mainland so it’s always nice when I get some good recipes back from home in HI. Thanks for having this site. It’s one of my favorites! Happy New Year.
Ita: don’t ever make the wrappers from scratch – too difficult. I buy from Asian markets. Favorite brand is Wei-Chuan!
These eggrolls are awesome! We are learning Chinese to help Zhonguoren learn Shangdi he Yesu. One of our assignment was to cook a dish. I chose eggrolls because I’m always hunting for various restaurants looking for the perfect eggroll. The restaurants often change cooks so you are back to searching again, I typed in Chinese egg tools in the google search. All I saw was the first words my “mothers famous eggrolls” so I said these must be good that was an understatement. My daughter lives in Indianapolis, in and we recently moved to Florida. So i use the same tactic to see her. She excited about coming to visit because of the weather but in the same breath ta shou: ‘mama we have to make egg rolls!!! ” My zhangfu and I now make our own fried dumplings as well. Thank you for making this wonderful contribution to the family it promotes what we all need ‘family time’
Yang Tang Kai & Yang Ming Xuan.(our new Chinese names from class)
I have been making my own egg rolls for years and they are a huge favourite in my large family. I’m always looking for ways to improve on the taste and texture and your recipe and tips for pork egg rolls resulted in the best egg rolls I’ve ever made…absolutely scrumptious! Thank you for sharing.
Jaden,
Thanks for sharing your family recipe with us. Sounds so delicious. Will make them one day. So do you own a restaurant and sell these? I also have my mom’s recipe for an eggroll and looking to market and sell them in the frozen food section one day. Hope everyone can taste them one day!
Thanks,
Michael
I love your recipes. I am a young cook but I love cooking Chinese and Japanese influenced foods. I have my own egg roll recipe and I combined them… One thing I love to do with this recipe is to add the slightest bit of Vietnamese fish sauce. It gives just a little bit more flavor. Thanks for sharing, and keep posting.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe, I love your Mom too. Please keep putting the recipes on line. God Bless you and many thanks.
Patricia
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’m from Orlando and I found an Oriental Supermarket right down the street from my house. I must say, being the only Black person in the store, I felt a little out of place. Nevertheless, everyone was very helpful and I found everything I needed and more
.
I prepared this recipe yesterday exactly as written and the egg rolls turned out delicious. My husband ate a few and begged me to fry up some more. What made the recipe a success on my first try was your detailed instructions. Thanks again for sharing and thank your mom for me too.
FYI- Tonight I am trying your recipe for Sweet -n- Sour Chicken.
Thank you for all the recipe and all the wonderful hints. These are amazing. Froze most to have next week but tried a couple, they were amazing. I was able make them vegetarian so my daughter could enjoy.
Hello, I ate some spicy egg rolls and fell in love with with them but can’t find them any more, can you help me? Thanks Diana
Diana,
You’ll have to tell me more about those spicy egg rolls!
jaden
Fantastic recipe ! when I saw it I knew it was a winner, instructions easy and when I completed, it came out just like the picture, THANK YOU! and BLESS YOU, cause eggrolls are one of my all time favorites !