Crispy Air-Fryer Egg Rolls

With this easy recipe, restaurant-worthy egg rolls can be yours, thanks to your air fryer and a handful of delicious ingredients.

Of all the great college memories I have, Chinese buffet dinners rank pretty high. Broke college students—or at least myself and the students I associated with—love Chinese buffets for their value, volume, and variety. Nothing beats a $15 all-you-can-eat situation when you’re accruing student loan debt!

As I got older, I became far more interested in eating well and found it much healthier (and cost-effective) to make my favorite restaurant dishes at home. While it’s unrealistic (and not cost-effective) to recreate an entire Chinese buffet offering in your home kitchen, it’s great to make one dish at a time. And for me, that dish is egg rolls.

I could eat my weight in those cabbage- and meat-filled crispy little things. They’re delicious, and I’ve never seen an egg roll that looked sloppy. The skill and precision with which they’re rolled are impressive. Do you think you could also make your own egg rolls that are just as precise, tidy, and delicious as the ones you get at your favorite Chinese restaurant? The only way to gain this skill is to practice it.

This recipe for egg rolls is simpler than you might think and makes easy work of the frying part by utilizing an air fryer. The filling is a savory combination of ground chicken, cabbage slaw, and other veggies, flavored with robust Asian touches like ginger, garlic, green onions, sesame oil, salty soy sauce, and sweet oyster sauce. The flavors are on-point, especially if you dip them in sweet-and-sour sauce or your favorite Asian-inspired dipping sauce. As for the rolling part, don’t worry; you’ll be a pro by the third egg roll!

Are These Air-Fryer Egg Rolls Healthy?

Egg rolls aren’t generally considered a healthy food. However, by cooking them in your air fryer instead of deep-frying them, you spare a lot of extra calories. These egg rolls are made with ground chicken, which is typically very lean and full of protein. Lots of fiber comes from the slaw and other vegetables, and cabbage is particularly high in vitamins C and K. The fat content is minimal per serving, too. If you’re being conservative with your sodium intake, you may want to use coconut aminos or low-sodium soy sauce instead of the full-sodium type and be careful with whatever you choose to dip these egg rolls in.

Overall, this recipe is fairly healthy compared to most egg rolls out there, especially because you’re using an air fryer instead of deep-frying. Plus, you have control over the ingredients. No artificial preservatives or stabilizers in these babies!

Life Is Your Egg Roll, Fill It With Things You Like

Stroll down the freezer aisle in any Asian supermarket, and you’ll see a wide variety of egg rolls, all with different fillings. You can pick pork, chicken, vegetable, mushroom, or beef egg rolls, and maybe even a few others. Since you’re making your own at home, you can add or swap a multitude of ingredients for the filling to make these egg rolls exactly how you like them. Here are a couple of ways I like to jazz up the fillings.

• Trade chicken for diced oyster mushrooms: Oyster mushrooms are the perfect meat substitute, so if you’re looking for a vegetarian option, this is what I’d go with!
• Add water chestnuts for a crunch: You can get canned water chestnuts from most grocery stores. Drain them, chop up a handful, and throw them in the pot when you add the green onions. If they were canned, they don’t need to cook; they just need to be warm.
• Swap chicken for ground pork: Pork is a very common egg roll filling. It’s fattier than ground chicken, but it sure is tasty.
• Throw in some bamboo shoots for extra fiber: You can also get bamboo shoots in a can at most stores, and they work similarly to water chestnuts, in that they don’t need to cook. Add them with the green onions.
• Add shrimp: Finely chopped shrimp can be added to any meaty egg roll filling with great success. You don’t need much shrimp if you’re adding it with chicken, but use half a pound if you’re swapping shrimp for chicken.

Serving Suggestions

Now that you’ve made your own egg rolls, why not add a few other things to your homemade buffet? For protein, try these Chinese Five-Spice Chicken Thighs that are tender, juicy, and perfectly spiced! You can also make Vegetable Fried Rice, Beef Fried Rice, or Pork Fried Rice, depending on your preference. And if you feel like a stir-fry, make this Chinese Spicy Zucchini Stir-Fry for a healthy, veggie-based option with just the right amount of kick.

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