The Right Way To Fold Egg Rolls

Egg rolls become difficult to eat if the filling isn't secure inside the wrapper. If the ingredients spill out, the dish becomes less of a roll and more of a pancake. Typically, egg rolls are folded on both ends, then rolled up like a burrito and deep-fried. If one side of the egg roll wrapper isn't closed tightly, however, it could open up during the cooking process and lead to a mess in your fryer.

To remedy this, you need enough space between the edges of your dough and the filling so that the bottom side of the wrapper can be folded up first, covering the filling like a blanket. The next step is to firmly tuck in the dough's sides and roll the wrapper over on itself until the filling is secured and your egg roll is tightly wrapped.

While you can choose between various brands of store-bought egg roll wrappers, the filling is often the best part of this dish. That said, ensuring you don't overstuff your egg rolls is an important first step in the folding process. For the average roll, 3 to 4 tablespoons in the middle of the wrapper should be plenty. For convenience, you may even want to measure the amount of filling for each egg roll with a kitchen scale.

Another important trick when folding egg rolls is to rotate the square wrapper so it makes a diamond shape. Then, you can simply place the filling in the middle. This won't just give you the widest horizontal length for your filling — it also gives the wrapper pointed sides instead of flat ones, which, once folded in, will better secure the filling during the frying process.

When you fold the bottom point of the diamond over the filling, push it down using the dough's tip to prevent the ingredients from moving. Then, gently flatten the dough on each side of the filling to secure it inside the wrapper and bring the flaps on the left and right to the center. Finally, with three out of four points secured, continue to rotate the egg roll upward until the final flap of dough seals everything together. For extra security, you can even use an egg wash mixture on the last flap to reinforce the seal. Alternatively, a mixture of flour and water will work, too.

While many variations of this technique will likely work well enough, starting with the correct wrapper placement is ideal for the most effective folding process. Plus, with so many delicious egg roll recipes out there, perfecting your folding technique will only streamline your cooking process and prevent any deep-fried fails in the future.