Baked Southwest Egg Rolls
I created my version of Southwest Egg Rolls as a way to use up some leftovers. The first time I made them, I already had egg rolls wrappers because I had just made buffalo chicken egg rolls and I also happened to have leftover taco meat in the fridge from dinner earlier in the week. I’m sure I have or had seen something similar on Pinterest that I was also channeling at the time –I occasionally feel like there are no new ideas left in the world – but really just made these up based on what I happened to have around.
These are now one of my favorite apps and a good way to use up leftover taco meat in a way that really changes it up. I like to use taco meat, corn, green onion, cilantro and cheese. Black beans would also be good (I’m learning to like them slowly) as would green pepper, or any other southwest-y flavor. Just make sure not to stuff them too full. Pick a handful of flavors to put together, say 4-5.
Here’s what I used:
Everything is already cooked because the premise of these is to use up leftover taco meat. If you don’t have any go ahead and make some just for this. So anyway, these are really just about assembling and baking.
I like to assemble these by laying out the egg roll wrapper with a point toward me in a diamond shape. You’ll see why when we start rolling. Start by sprinkling a little cheese into the bottom third of an egg roll wrapper.
Top with a couple tablespoons of taco meat.
Now add the corn, green onion, and cilantro.
Fold the bottom point to the middle and push back with your fingers to snug the wrapper up against the filling.
Using your finger spread a little beaten egg along the exposed edges. This is going to glue it together for us.
Fold in the east and west (or right and left) points – for some reason when I wrote this it made me think of a compass. It’s going to look like an open envelope at this point.
Now roll up toward the north or top point, keeping things tight as you go.
Place the egg rolls on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet. When I used tinfoil, I sprayed lightly with cooking spray, I’m not 100% sure if I needed to but I didn’t want to experiment with sticking, so don’t spray at your own risk. You can also always use parchment which you don’t need to spray for sure. I’ve done both.
Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes until lightly golden brown. Sometimes I flip them half way through and sometimes I don’t, I don’t have a good reason one way or the other.
If you are really on top of things and notice that there are different numbers of egg rolls on each tray that’s because the image in of them unbaked is actually when I was going to put them in the freezer to freeze for North Dakota. When I baked them out there, I baked them in a couple batches, hence different numbers in the pictures.
I like to serve these with guacamole for dipping. Sour cream is also good.
If you didn’t figure it out with my little aside about why the pans had different amounts, these freeze really well. I made them ahead of time for one of our app nights in North Dakota. Freeze them on a baking sheet and then place in a Ziploc bag. You can bake them directly from frozen just add a little extra time.
Baked Southwest Egg Rolls
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment. If using aluminum foil, spray lightly with cooking spray.
- Lay an eggroll wrapper out on the counter with the point facing you. Working on the bottom third add about a tablespoon or two of cheese, two tablespoons of taco meat, a tablespoon of corn, a tablespoon of green onion and a pinch of cilantro.
- Fold the bottom point of the egg roll into the center and push back against the filling. Using your finger add some beaten egg to all the exposed edges. Fold the side points in and it will form an envelope. Roll forward toward the top point keeping it tight as you roll.
- Place on a baking sheet and repeat with all egg roll wrappers.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes until lightly golden and crispy.
- Serve with guacamole or sour cream for dipping.