These chicken cilantro eggrolls are incredibly delicious! They are filled with chicken, cilantro, cabbage, (optional) jalapeno and (optional) dried cranberries for the perfect pepper spice and little pop of sweetness. We love to served them with cranberry sweet and sour sauce!
This recipe tastes great with chicken but can also be made with turkey leftovers and I promise you will love it! You can also use leftover cranberries or cranberry sauce to make the sweet and sour sauce, I will add the cranberry sweet and sour sauce recipe card to the end of this post.
The secret to a perfectly fried egg roll is brushing them with an egg wash mixture before frying them. This helps prevent the wrap from taking on too much oil and keeps things nice and crispy. It’s also the reason they are called egg rolls, go figure.
What oil do I use to fry these in?
I like to use a flavor-neutral oil that can handle high heat. Examples would be; corn oil, canola oil, peanut oil, lard, beef tallow (that’s for you Chelsa), those are all good options. You don’t have to fill your pan too deep when cooking these either, about an inch of oil will do just fine because you can flip these over and do one side at a time. I am always a fan of using less oil. However, if you want a deep pot of oil you can do that as well.
My traumatic past experience with frying in oil.
When I was a newly wed, 13 years ago, I nearly burned my house down while deep frying. My husband was in college and had just gotten home from a school trip and right as I put oil on the stove to make him onion rings, he walked through the door. I grabbed some of his bags and helped him bring them upstairs. I had only been upstairs for a few minutes when all the alarms started going off, I remembered the oil I left on the stove and ran, only to turn the corner as a cloud of thick black smoke hit me, I panicked and tried to find the fire extinguisher that someone had thoughtfully given us as a wedding gift but I couldn’t find it!
While I was looking for the fire extinguisher, my husband had gone into the kitchen and not knowing hot oil was what was on fire, he grabbed some water and threw it on it. By some miracle, I honestly think it was, my husband did not get one drop of oil on him and it shot all over the entire kitchen, from ceiling to floor and burned holes in the linoleum flooring where it hit. The microwave fan had melted down to the stove and I burned the cabinets above the stove, had it burned longer the cabinets would have caught fire and spread.
When I ran downstairs, I found the fire had been put out and realized what my husband had done, pouring water on oil and I was stunned, literally rattled and my heart beating out of my chest.
We lived in a four-plex at the time and our neighbors came running to our door. I was totally frazzled when I opened the door and they stared at me, unknown to me at that point, I had black soot all over my face and two lines of black under and into my nostrils. Ha ha!
So after that traumatic experience, I stopped deep frying for a few years. Now when I do fry in oil, I make sure I’m super attentive.
Safety precautions to take:
Never turn your back on hot oil, regulate the heat and never let it sit too long without food being in the oil or it will catch on fire. If it does catch fire, cover the pan with a lid or cookie sheet, turn the heat off and if it’s small throw baking soda or salt on it but never throw water on a grease fire! You can also use a fire extinguisher if it gets bad. Keep water away from hot grease when you cook and after when the oil cools down. When done, place oil in a safe place to cool down. As long as you fully commit to attend the frying and keep distractions and other people clear of you while you are frying, it should be just fine.
You can also bake these chicken cilantro eggrolls or cook them in an air fryer as alternative ways to cook these. I will post directions on how to do that below.
This recipe will make 12 egg rolls, moderately filled. you can of course add less filling and get a few more egg rolls or more filling and get a few less, but this will serve about 4 people.
Here is a simple how-to picture tutorial on how to fill and roll these chicken cilantro eggrolls.
Step one: Turn wrapper so it makes a diamond shape towards you and add the filling horizontally across the center.
Step two: Dip your finger in water and run around all the edges of the egg roll so all edges are damp then fold the two side pieces in towards the center.
Step three: Take the bottom or side closest to you and fold over and slightly hug wrapper around the filling so it’s tightly rolled. and then finish by rolling the egg roll up with the rest of the wrapper. If any sides stick out, then gently tuck them in and press so no holes are on the sides and no filling is exposed.
Repeat steps until all egg rolls are complete. Then brush with the egg wash and fry.
What you need to make chicken cilantro eggrolls:
Makes 12 rolls
- 12 egg roll wrappers
- 2 cups cooked chicken breast – shredded – I love to use rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey
- 1 cup cilantro – chopped, loosely packed
- 1 jalapeno – optional – seeds removed and diced – this doesn’t make the dish spicy but it can be left out if you don’t like jalapeno
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- dash black pepper
- 2 cups shredded cabbage – angle hair coleslaw mix works great
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries – optional – adds a pop of sweetness
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar – white vinegar can also be used
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- Oil for frying – corn, vegetable, canola, peanut or preferred frying oil
Instructions for chicken cilantro eggrolls:
- Add shredded chicken or turkey, cilantro, jalapeno, salt, sugar, black pepper, shredded cabbage, dried cranberries, mayonnaise and rice vinegar together and mix well.
- Fill egg rolls with roughly 1/4 of a cup mixture per egg roll or desired filling amount.
- Dip your finger in water and run it along the edges of the wrapper.
- Fold in the sides of the egg roll and then take the side closest to you and wrap up and over the filling, hugging the filling slightly with the wrapper then continue rolling the wrapper until it’s all rolled up, check sides and make sure there are no holes or openings where you can see the filling, if there are holes or gaps, then press them together and tuck them into the sides.
- If baking or air frying go to those instructions now.
- Mix together the egg and water and brush each egg roll on each side with mixture.
- Fill a heavy bottomed pan with oil, I usually add an inch or two, a heavier bottomed pan helps with heat regulation better.
- Heat oil to 325 F..
- Add egg rolls, laying them down in the oil in the direction going away from you so no oil splashes on you.
- Cook about 2 minutes per side or until wrapper gets golden brown.
- Set fried egg rolls on a paper towel or rack.
- Serve with sauce of choice and enjoy!
To Bake:
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Don’t add the egg mixture to egg rolls but instead spritz a little oil on the rolls.
- Bake for ~15 minutes, turning over mid-way through baking.
To Air fry:
- Skip the egg wash and spritz rolls with a little oil spray on each side.
- Air fry on 400 for ~ 9-10 minutes, turning over mid-way through.
Here are a few other recipes you may love:
Redneck Egg Rolls – BBQ pork and coleslaw RECIPE HERE
Extra Crispy Tempura Shrimp RECIPE HERE
Copycat Chick-fil-a Chicken Nuggets RECIPE HERE
Chicken Cilantro Eggrolls
Ingredients
- 12 egg roll wrappers
- 2 cups cooked chicken breast – shredded – I love to use rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey
- 1 cup cilantro – chopped loosely packed
- 1 jalapeno – optional – seeds removed and diced – this doesn’t make the dish spicy but it can be left out if you don’t like jalapeno
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- dash black pepper
- 2 cups shredded cabbage – angle hair coleslaw mix works great
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries – optional – adds a pop of sweetness
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar – white vinegar can also be used
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- Oil for frying – corn vegetable, canola, peanut or preferred frying oil
Instructions
- Add shredded chicken or turkey, cilantro, jalapeno, salt, sugar, black pepper, shredded cabbage, dried cranberries, mayonnaise and rice vinegar together and mix well.
- Fill egg rolls with roughly 1/4 of a cup mixture per egg roll or desired filling amount.
- Dip your finger in water and run it along the edges of the wrapper.
- Fold in the sides of the egg roll and then take the side closest to you and wrap up and over the filling, hugging the filling slightly with the wrapper then continue rolling the wrapper until it’s all rolled up, check sides and make sure there are no holes or openings where you can see the filling, if there are holes or gaps, then press them together and tuck them into the sides.
- If baking or air frying go to those instructions now.
- Mix together the egg and water and brush each egg roll on each side with mixture.
- Fill a heavy bottomed pan with oil, I usually add an inch or two, a heavier bottomed pan helps with heat regulation better.
- Heat oil to 325 F..
- Add egg rolls, laying them down in the oil in the direction going away from you so no oil splashes on you.
- Cook about 2 minutes per side or until wrapper gets golden brown.
- Set fried egg rolls on a paper towel or rack.
- Serve with sauce of choice and enjoy!
- To bake:
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Don’t add the egg mixture to egg rolls but instead spritz a little oil on the rolls.
- Bake for ~15 minutes, turning over mid-way through baking.
- To air fry:
- Skip the egg wash and spritz rolls with a little oil spray on each side.
- Air fry on 400 for ~ 9-10 minutes, turning over mid-way through.
Cranberry Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1 jalapeno – minced seeds taken out for medium heat and left in for hot
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- pinch salt
- zest of 1/2 an orange
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a sauce pan and bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Cranberries will soften and when they do, this takes roughly 3 minutes, remove from heat. If mixture over reduces, add a little more vinegar to rehydrate the mixture.
- Blend with an immersion blender or in a food processor or serve chunky.