Air Fryer Southwest Egg Rolls

Air fryer southwest egg rolls make a tasty appetizer, for game day or any other occasion. Chicken combines with corn, beans, onions, cheese and spicy Tex Mex seasoning for an easy to make homemade egg roll.

Before I bought an air fryer I had never made a homemade egg roll. Now they are one of my favorite things to make in the air fryer because they are crispy and delicious and much, much healthier than deep fried egg rolls.

Ingredients

• Chicken – This recipe starts with cooked chicken. It is a perfect way to use up leftover chicken, either from a rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken or whatever you have. You can also use canned chicken or cook some chicken just to make these egg rolls.
• Corn – Either fresh or frozen corn works in this recipe. If you use frozen corn you don’t need to even defrost it.
• Bell pepper – The egg rolls will look best if you use red or orange peppers. But green peppers work too.
• Green onion – You can substitute red onions if you prefer. Yellow onions will be a little too strong for this recipe.
• Black beans – Drain and rinse the black beans before using them in the recipe.
• Spinach – Fresh spinach adds a nice green pop of color to the finished egg rolls.
• Chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt – These spices combine to give the egg rolls a spicy Southwest taste.
• Cheese – You can use Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack, a Mexican blend or some combination of these cheeses in the recipe.
• Egg roll wrappers – These are available in the produce section of most grocery stores or frozen. If they are frozen thaw them in the refrigerator before using.

Step by Step Instructions

1. Make the Filling

Make sure the cooked chicken is diced or shredded in to small pieces. Then put it in a large mixing bowl along with the corn, black beans, bell pepper, green onions and spinach.

Stir everything together to mix it well. Then add the cheese and all the seasonings. Stir it again and your filling is ready to go.

2. Roll the Egg Rolls

If you haven’t made egg rolls before it can seem intimidating, but it is really easy. Get everything ready before you start and the process will go smoothly.

You need a surface, like a cutting board for rolling the egg rolls. You also need a small bowl of water and a tray or board to put the finished egg rolls on.

About the only mistake you can make when making egg rolls is over or under filling them, so use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to make sure you get the right amount of filling in each egg roll.

To start take an egg roll wrapper off the stack and lay it on the cutting board. Add 1/3 cup of filling to the wrapper, positioning it towards the bottom corner of the wrapper.

Fold the bottom of the wrapper up, over the filling. Then fold the two sides of the wrapper in so that the points almost touch.

Dip your fingers in the water and brush water on the outside edges of the wrapper that are still exposed. This will help seal the egg roll closed. Tightly roll up the egg roll and place it on the tray or cutting board.

Repeat the process with the rest of filling until you have used it all up. As you go along you will find it gets easier and the final egg rolls you make will probably be rolled tighter and look more even. But they will all taste good once they are cooked, so it doesn’t matter.

3. Air Fry the Egg Rolls

I don’t always bother to preheat my air fryer, but I find that it makes a difference for egg rolls. So preheat your air fryer for about 3 minutes at 400 F.

While it is preheating coat the egg rolls with a little bit of oil. Air frying uses less oil than deep frying, but egg rolls need some oil so that they brown and become crispy.

Either brush olive oil onto the egg rolls with a pastry brush or spray them with olive oil in an oil spritzer. Don’t use a commercial aerosol spray oil, like Pam, since that can damage the finish on the air fryer basket.

Once the air fryer is preheated put the egg rolls in, making sure to leave space between them for the air to circulate. You will probably have to cook the egg rolls in batches.

Cook the egg rolls at 400 F for 4 minutes. Then use kitchen tongs to flip the egg rolls over and spray or brush the other side with oil. Cook them for another 3-4 minutes at 400 F.

Air fryers vary and cook at different rates, so check for doneness and cook them longer if they aren’t brown and crispy. The egg rolls are done when the outside of the egg rolls is golden brown and crispy.

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