Egg rolls are a popular Chinese dish, but now it’s gaining popularity all over the world. It can be served as a snack, an appetizer, or even a main dish. When having a family gathering or a party, you’ll need to prepare them a couple of days beforehand as they take a while to make. Egg rolls are best served hot, so they will need to be frozen until they are ready to be served.
Can you freeze egg rolls? Yes, you can freeze egg rolls. Both cooked and uncooked egg rolls can be put in the freezer once you’ve prepared them.
Egg Roll Expiration Date
| Freezer | |
|---|---|
| Leftover | 2 Months |
| Homemade (cooked/uncooked) | 6 Months |
| Store-bought (cooked/uncooked) | 6 Months |
A Guide to Egg Rolls – What You Should Know
What Is Egg Rolls?
An egg roll is a deep-fried appetizer that is served in Chinese restaurants. The main ingredients will usually consist of chopped pork, shredded cabbage, carrots, and black pepper. However, it can consist of other different ingredients depending on the person’s taste. All of this is rolled with a thickly-wrapped wheat flour skin, which is then fried in hot oil.
What Ingredients Are In An Egg Roll?
The typical ingredients found in a traditional egg roll are:
- Egg
- Vegetables
- Cabbage
- Coleslaw
- Ground Meat
- Onion
- Carrot
- Scallion
Vegetables such as lettuce and broccoli stems, bok choy, Brussel sprouts, snow peas, and mushrooms are minced into small pieces, along with cabbage, onion, carrots, and scallion. Meat is then grounded and mixed with eggs and other ingredients until it forms a sticky paste. Then it’s laid on the egg roll wrapper and wrapped into a cylindrical shape.
What Are Egg Roll Wrappers Made Of?
Traditional egg roll wrapper is made from egg noodle dough. This is the same dough that’s used for wonton wrapper as well. So if you’re in the mood, you can make two appetizers from a single dough. Wonton requires less dough than egg roll does. But for both appetizers, the ingredients are the same.
The ingredients used to make egg noodle dough are below:
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Eggs
- Milk
- Butter
Making Egg Rolls At Home Vs Store-Bought Egg Rolls
Egg rolls can be made at home or bought at most grocery stores. The only differences between a homemade egg roll and store-bought egg rolls are the ingredients.
If you’re planning to make egg rolls at home, you can choose what ingredients you want to use. While the main meat ingredient is pork, you can choose other meat instead. Other meat that makes a tasty egg roll includes beef, chicken, shrimp, and even tofu.
For other ingredients, you can choose whatever you want. Whether you want a vegan egg roll or vegetable-only egg roll, it’s possible when you’re making it at home.
On the other hand, store-bought egg rolls will usually come with the main ingredients of pork meat, vegetables, coleslaw, onions, and carrots. You have no choice in choosing your ingredients. Also, if you enjoy the freshness, store-bought egg rolls are sometimes fresh and sometimes not. It depends on how long it’s been in the store freezer.
Proper Storage and Freezing Of Egg Rolls
To preserve the freshness of the egg roll, it needs to be stored correctly. Depending on if it’s cooked or uncooked, the freezer is the best option to keep the stored.
Since egg rolls contain meat, a fridge will cause the egg rolls to go bad in a few days. However, this is only referring to uncooked egg rolls. For cooked egg rolls, the fridge will help keep them fresh for about a week.
To have that fresh taste after storing it, the freezer is the best choice.
How To Freeze Egg Rolls Perfectly
Like many foods, to have that delicious and tasty food after it’s been frozen, it all starts with preparing it correctly first.
For the Uncooked Egg Rolls
Items needed:
- Parchment paper or wax paper
- Freezeproof tray
- Corn or general-purpose flour
- Cling Film
- Freezer Bag
- Line a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper on a tray. It’s best to use a freeze-proof tray as you will need to put it in the freezer.
- Coat the egg rolls with a little cornflour or general-purpose flour. This is to prevent the egg rolls from sticking to each other and to the parchment paper.
- Transfer the uncooked egg rolls onto the parchment paper and leave some space between them. This is so it will be easier to remove them after freezing.
- Once all the egg rolls are on the tray, wrap the entire tray with cling film. Make sure to wrap it as tightly as possible, but not to the point where it will tear. This is to prevent cold air from drying up the egg roll wrappers during the freezing process.
- Place the tray of egg rolls in the freezer and leave it for about an hour.
- After about an hour or so, check to see if all the egg rolls have turned hard. If they are, you can place them into a freezer bag. Since it’s frozen already and won’t stick to each other, you can put as many as you can in one freezer bag. Make sure to squeeze as much air from the freezer bag before you put them back in the freezer.
When you are ready to serve them, simply take as much as you need from the freezer bag and drop them into the fryer. Use medium-low heat at first to cook them for about 5 minutes until its light golden brown. Then turn the heat to high for about 2-3 minutes until it’s golden brown. This will give the egg rolls a crispy texture.
For Cooked Egg Rolls
Items needed:
- Cling Film
- Freezer Bag
- Wait for the cooked egg rolls to completely cool down first.
- Once the cooked egg rolls have cooled completely, wrap them with cling film tightly. You can wrap them individually or in small portions.
- Place the wrapped egg rolls into a plastic bag and put them in the freezer.
To reheat the egg rolls, you can use the oven or the fryer. There’s no need to thaw them first, you can simply unwrap the cling film and drop them into the fryer.
If you’re using the fryer, make sure to use medium-low heat to cook the egg rolls first. Since it’s already cooked, you will want to just get them hot again. Cook it in the fryer for about 2-3 minutes. Then turn the fryer to high heat and cook them again for about 2 minutes. This is to crisp the wrapper.
Related Questions
What’s the difference between egg rolls and spring rolls?
The main differences between the two are the ingredients used inside and the wrappers.
Egg rolls contain raw meat that needs to be cooked before you can eat it. On the other hand, spring rolls are made to be eaten raw. It’s made with cooked meat and fresh vegetables such as carrots, lettuce, and cucumber that can be consumed right away.
As for the wrappers, egg rolls have thick flour wrappers that are for deep-frying. Spring rolls, on the other hand, have translucent flour wrappers that aren’t for frying.
Are egg rolls made out of eggs?
It uses eggs as one of its ingredients for the wrapper. The dough which is to make egg roll wrappers is made with eggs, flour, water, and salt.
Conclusion
Egg rolls make a great appetizer for any occasion. Also, it’s easy to make and fast to cook. Take them out of the freezer and drop them into the deep fryer for a few minutes, and you can have a hot tasty appetizer in no time. If stored properly in the freezer, egg rolls can be frozen for a long time and still have that fresh taste when cooked.