Southwest Chicken Egg Rolls

Awhile back, my love took me on a date to a local restaurant that is well known for being insanely delicious. We noticed that they offered southwest chicken egg rolls as an appetizer option and while we had never heard of these before, the description sounded right up our alley. We were right. They were absolutely incredible! This lead us down the conversational path of how we could make these at home. The internet was a big help, but we just couldn’t get the flavor exact. This got me thinking and I decided to try my own recipe out. It wasn’t exactly like the restaurant version, but these were absolutely delicious!

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In southwest cooking, I love using chopped onion and browning it with my meat. Unfortunately, onions make me cry terribly! My eyes burn so bad that I actually have to take a quick break so I can physically keep them open to see what I’m cutting. Thankfully, I am about to marry someone who loves slicing vegetables! He always insists and I don’t fight him. However, he was busy with work so I got the tearful fun of slicing this onion. It makes me appreciate him even more! Thankfully, the peppers were canned so I was safe there.

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I was kind of winging it on the ingredients. I had a rough idea, but I kept tasting and stirring it to see what kind of texture and flavor I had going. I think the Neuftachel cheese was a great addition. The creaminess and flavor it added really took these over the top and I feel like it’s what we were missing from our last attempt.

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I debated adding shredded cheese, but who am I kidding? More cheese can only improve things! It was the finishing touch on the filling. I tasted it…and tasted it….and tasted it yet again. The filling was awesome! Now it was time to wrap 40 eggs rolls. I still think I’m crazy for doing 40, but nobody complained.

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It’s kind of challenging to show someone how to wrap an egg roll in still photos. My fiance taught me how to do this, but if you don’t know an expert egg roll wrapper, YouTube is a great place to learn!

This recipe is also pretty adaptable. It can be cut in half for the standard 20 egg rolls and it can be baked, air fried (like we did), or even deep fried. Also, a huge thank you to my man for being the one to air fry all 40! I

Southwest Chicken Egg Rolls

Note: This recipe makes 40 egg rolls and there are 20 wrappers per pack. This recipe can easily be cut in half to make just 20. It can also be air fried, baked, or deep fried.

• 2 lbs. ground chicken
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1/2 T. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 block neuftachel or cream cheese, softened
• 1 7oz. can green chiles, undrained
• 2 packets of chicken taco seasoning OR 4T. taco seasoning
• 2 T. of your favorite salsa
• 1 c. frozen corn
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
• 2 packs of egg roll wrappers, total of 40 wrappers
• 1 egg, beaten
• Oil for brushing (if baking or air frying)

Over medium high heat, brown the chicken with the diced onion, garlic, salt, and pepper until fully cooked. Drain and return to the stove on a low heat. Melt in your cream cheese along with the green chiles and taco seasoning. Keep stirring and working with it until all the cream cheese is melted and it’s nice and creamy. Stir in the salsa and fold in your frozen corn. Once all your corn is worked in, you can add the beans and cheese and turn off the heat. Your filling is now ready!

For the egg rolls, beat an egg in a small dish and find a pastry brush. Place an egg roll wrapper on a cookie sheet, place roughly 2 T. of filling in the center of your wrapper, and brush the sides with the egg wash. To wrap it, tuck a corner in over your filling. Now, take the two opposite corners and fold them in so the meet over the top of the covered filling. Now tightly roll it the rest of the way towards the only remaining corner. I have pictures of the process above and I also recommend YouTube for how to properly wrap an egg roll.

Once you have them all made up, you can deep fry them in oil, bake them, or air fry them. We went the air fryer method so we brushed them lightly with olive oil first. The air fryer was at its standard temperature of 370 and they were perfect at 4 minutes on each side, a total of 8 minutes per batch. It cooked 6 at a time. 20 wouldn’t have been so bad, but this takes quite awhile for 40. I was lucky enough to have a helper, but if this was a one person job, I would recommend baking them at 375 for the same time, turning halfway.

You can serve these with all sorts of sauces. I decided on a spicy ranch, but they are also great with salsa, guacamole, and even regular ranch.