With this spicy twist on traditional egg rolls, these Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls make an easy appetizer or snack for any occasion. Crispy, golden brown egg rolls filled with chicken, cheese, and buffalo sauce, seasoned to perfection.
Egg rolls are a wonderful side dish, there’s simply no way to disagree with that. They’re a wonderful bite that fits with nearly any dish, but most especially Chinese food.
In case you couldn’t tell from that opening part - we love egg rolls! We eat them an awful lot and even make them in our own kitchen.
We’ve been thinking about what the best ways might be to switch up the things that make classic egg rolls great, and we came to a pretty basic idea: we want more salt and more heat.
Then we got to thinking: what could we replace the filling with that would provide that extra salt and heat, along with a little bit of herbiness and maybe even some slightly sour goodness as you might get in sour cream? Well, the answer is our amazing buffalo chicken!
It’s definitely unconventional to use in it some egg rolls, but the delicious flavor works so well! We’re really proud of how the heat from the paprika and the cayenne blend so well with the smoothness from the sour cream, and we’d even recommend upping the heat in this meal if you like that sort of thing.
You could feel free to add a few dashes of tabasco into the mix, and it would still work brilliantly!
Equipment
- Frying pan - any frying pan will do, but a heavy-based one will ensure better heat distribution over the whole chicken breast.
- Mixer, with a whisk attachment - this is optional, but recommended.
Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
- 2 chicken breasts.
- 1 teaspoon paprika.
- For a bit of an alternative flavor, consider opting for some smoked paprika!
- 1 teaspoon oregano.
- The oregano adds some delicious fragrance to the dish, you could also opt for some other Italian herbs, like basil, rosemary, or thyme!
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
- 1 teaspoon salt.
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper.
- 1 teaspoon chili powder.
- If you’d like a slightly different taste to chili powder, you could use dried chili flakes. The flavor is generally more rounded and allows for a more warm taste (which you can make hotter by adding more) compared to the outright on/off heat of chili powder.
- 1 teaspoon cayenne (optional, but delicious!)
- 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning (optional)
- 3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- You can use low-fat cream cheese to reduce the calorie content of this meal, or full fat would work well too. You really can’t go wrong with cream cheese - it’s all good!
- 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Try to opt for a low-moisture mozzarella, the type that is used on pizza. The reason for this is the same as the reason this cheese is used on pizza - you don’t want the excess moisture to make the crispy outside wet during cooking.
- 2 tablespoons melted butter.
- ½ cut hot sauce or buffalo sauce.
- Either one would be good for this choice, but we would actually suggest using one for the filling, and using the other for a dip alongside! They work together well, and they compliment the spices in this dish too.
- 1 package egg roll wrappers.
- ½ cup (or more) oil for frying.
How To Make Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
- Season the chicken breast well on both sides - sprinkle on both sides and use your fingers to make sure that the coating is even.
- Cook the chicken in your frying pan over medium-high heat until it is completely done. Make sure to flip regularly - a little color is good, but burning is not.
- Shred the fully cooked chicken with your mixer, or in a bowl with forks. Add the new-shredded chicken to a large bowl.
- Add the cream cheese, shredded mozzarella, buffalo or hot sauce, and melted butter to the large bowl. Mix the entire mixture until it is completely incorporated. The mixture must be well-mixed as it is the filling for your egg rolls.
- If the cream cheese isn’t spreadable, then you can warm up the mixture by putting it in the microwave for thirty seconds or so. It should then mix perfectly well!
- One by one lay out the egg roll wrappers, and make the egg rolls. You can find some instructions a little bit later in this article!
- Once the rolls are assembled, fry them in vegetable oil on medium-high heat until both sides are well browned. Again, a golden-brown is desirable for texture and taste over any kind of darker color, which would indicate burning.
- Serve with your choice of dip! We’d recommend some well-made ranch dressing in a little bowl.
How To Wrap An Egg Roll
- Place the filling diagonally on the piece of wrap laid out in front of you.
- Fold the bottom corner over the filling.
- Roll the entire assembly snuggly halfway to cover the filling.
- Use water to moisten the edges of the remaining flap.
- Roll the wrapper up and seal the top corner - sealing your egg rolls well will mean that you’ll get a better texture and a lighter internal consistency.
- Lay flat-side down until you’re ready to cook them
A Few Notes For This Recipe
Why are my egg rolls soggy?
The key to keeping egg rolls from being soggy is to make sure the filling isn't too wet or has excessive moisture. Using the mixer will mean that the chicken will cool off a little too, so it will be easier to handle when you’re ready to fill your egg roll wrappers. The cooled, dry mixture will keep your egg rolls from turning into a soggy mess.
Can you reheat egg rolls in the air fryer?
Yes, reheating egg rolls in the air fryer is a great method for warming them up to enjoy later. Set your air fryer to 350 degrees and warm the egg rolls up for 1-2 minutes.
Keep them separated while in the air fryer and try to flip them halfway so that they heat evenly on both sides.
When you’re at the stage where you’re shredding the chicken in order to use it later on in the recipe, a mixer with a whisk attachment will do the job more thoroughly, leading to a better consistency of egg roll.
Using two wrappers will allow you to create a much more hearty egg roll. The pastry-like outside will be much thicker, and it will be crispier too! What’s not to love?
Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Mixer with whisk attachment (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cayenne optional
- 1 tsp cajun seasoning optional
- 3 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1½ cups shredded mozarella cheese
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1½ cup hot sauce or buffalo sauce
- 1 package egg roll wrappers
- ½ cup oil
Instructions
- Season chicken breast on both sides. Cook on medium high heat until completely done.
- Shred cooked chicken with fork or mixer. Add shredded chicken to a large bowl.
- Mix together the cream cheese, shredded mozarella, buffalo or hot sauce and melted butter. If cream cheese is not spreadable, warm the mixture for 30 seconds in the microwave.
- Add filing to the egg roll wrappers and roll the wrappers.
- Fry in vegtable oil on medium heat until both sides are browned.
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