Homemade Freezer Egg Rolls and How to Bake Them Straight From Frozen

Store-bought frozen egg rolls cost a surprising amount for what is mostly cabbage. A homemade batch uses the same cheap cabbage, a pound and a half of ground beef and a package of wrappers, and it makes about 30 egg rolls. Wrap them on a cooking day, freeze them, and you have an appetizer, a lunchbox addition or half of a dinner ready whenever you want it.

This recipe freezes two ways, and the second half of the page covers the part most recipes skip: baking frozen egg rolls so they come out crisp, not soggy.

Ingredients for about 30 egg rolls

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (ground pork or turkey work too)
• 3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil, divided, plus oil for frying or brushing
• 6 green onions, white and green parts sliced and kept separate
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 6 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry or rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup diced mushrooms
• 1 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1/4 cup bean sprouts, fresh or canned and drained
• 2 carrots, shredded
• About 1 1/2 pounds cabbage (half of a medium head), thinly sliced
• 25 to 30 egg roll wrappers (usually in the produce cooler)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water, for sealing

A bag of coleslaw mix can stand in for the cabbage and carrots if you want to skip the slicing. It usually costs a bit more per pound than a whole head, but it saves ten minutes.

Making the filling

1. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, breaking it into small pieces. Drain it well and set it aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the same skillet. Add the white part of the green onions and the ginger and stir-fry until the onions soften, about a minute.
3. Return the beef to the pan. Stir in the soy sauce, sherry or vinegar, sugar and mushrooms.
4. Add the bean sprouts, celery and green onion tops. Stir for a minute, then scrape everything into a large bowl.
5. Heat the last tablespoon of oil, add the cabbage and carrots, and stir-fry until they wilt and soften, 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Add the vegetables to the bowl and mix. Let the filling cool completely.

Cooling is not optional. Warm, steamy filling makes wet wrappers, and wet wrappers tear. If the filling looks watery after cooling, tip the bowl and pour off the liquid, or press it gently in a colander.

Freezing option 1: freeze the filling

This is the fastest option on a busy cooking day. Pack the cooled filling into quart freezer bags, about 2 cups per bag (enough for 10 to 12 egg rolls), press the air out, lay them flat and freeze. Label each bag with the date and “egg roll filling, about 12 rolls.”

To use it, thaw a bag overnight in the refrigerator, drain any liquid and roll the egg rolls fresh. The same filling also works as a quick “egg roll in a bowl” dinner: heat it in a skillet and serve it over rice with a little extra soy sauce.

Rolling the egg rolls

1. Lay a wrapper on the counter with one corner pointing toward you.
2. Put about 2 tablespoons of filling just below the center.
3. Fold the bottom corner up over the filling and tuck it under snugly.
4. Brush the side edges with the cornstarch paste, then fold both sides in toward the center, like an envelope.
5. Brush the top corner with paste and roll the egg roll up tightly to seal.
6. Set each finished roll seam side down on a sheet pan and cover them with a damp towel while you work, so the wrappers do not dry out.

Tight rolls fry and bake better. Loose ones trap air and burst.

Freezing option 2: fry first, then freeze

Heat about 2 inches of oil in a heavy pot to 375°F. Fry 2 or 3 egg rolls at a time, turning them, until they are golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain them on a wire rack or paper towels and let them cool completely.

Spread the cooled rolls on a baking sheet so they do not touch and freeze them until solid, about 2 hours. Then move them to a gallon freezer bag. Because they were frozen separately first, you can pull out four for lunch without chiseling apart a frozen block.

You can also freeze the rolls unfried: shape them, flash freeze them on a sheet the same way, and bag them. They are good for baking or air frying later.

Baking frozen egg rolls

Do not thaw them. Frozen egg rolls go straight onto the pan.

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. A wire rack set on the sheet helps the bottoms crisp.
2. Arrange the frozen egg rolls in a single layer with space between them.
3. Brush or spray them lightly with oil. Pre-fried rolls need only a little; unfried rolls need a full coat or the wrappers bake up pale and papery.
4. Bake pre-fried rolls for 15 to 20 minutes and unfried rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, turning them once halfway.
5. Let them rest for 2 or 3 minutes before serving. The filling is very hot.

Because the filling contains cooked beef, reheat until it is steaming in the middle, 165°F on an instant-read thermometer.

In an air fryer, cook frozen egg rolls in a single layer at about 380°F, 10 to 12 minutes for pre-fried and 14 to 18 minutes for unfried, turning them halfway. Check the first batch early; air fryers run hot or cool depending on the model.

What a batch costs

At typical discount-grocer prices, the beef is the largest cost at roughly $7 to $9, with the cabbage, carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions adding about $5, a package of wrappers $3 to $4, and the pantry items (soy sauce, ginger, sugar, oil) around $2 for the amount used. That puts 30 egg rolls somewhere around $17 to $20, or about 60 to 70 cents each. A box of 10 frozen egg rolls from the grocery store often costs as much as half of that whole batch.

Serve four or five per person with steamed rice and a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables and it becomes a full dinner for a family of four at a few dollars total. If you have half a can of tomato paste or other odds and ends left over from cooking day, freezing leftover tomato paste is worth doing at the same time.

Where egg rolls fit in a freezer month

Egg rolls are a good “fun” recipe to add to a cooking day built around casseroles and soups. They use the same ground beef you are probably buying in bulk anyway, and the filling can be made while a pot of chili simmers. The 7-step once a month cooking method shows how to slot a recipe like this into the day’s schedule, and the monthly freezer meal planner has a label form so the bag in the freezer tells you exactly how long to bake them. For other dishes that freeze well and stay cheap, see the budget freezer recipes.

Sweet and sour sauce is easy to make from pantry staples on the night you serve them: ketchup, vinegar, sugar and a little pineapple juice, simmered with a spoonful of cornstarch slurry until glossy.