Encased in this finger food are ground pork and sautéed veggies. It’s packed with protein and nutrient-dense vegetables, accentuating an oriental flavor.
It almost passes like a spring roll, but the flavor profile is totally different.
The fact that we’re using a wonton wrapper and a strong 5-spice flavoring makes it a one-of-a-kind brunch, lunch, or dinner entree.
It’s not easy to make though, but it’s worth all the effort.
Table of Contents
5-Spice Mini Egg Rolls Air Fryer Ingredients
✦ You can find the exact measurements of the recipe ingredients and customize the serving size in the recipe card after the detailed step-by-step instructions section.
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Onion
- Ground pork
- Wonton (egg roll) wrappers
- Oyster sauce
- Soy sauce
- Five-spice seasoning
- Sugar
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sesame oil
- Cooking oil
Mini egg roll wrappers (wonton wrappers)
I mean, without the wrappers, you can never have egg rolls, right?
You can use spring roll wrappers, too, if that’s what you have. While they’re technically different, I believe it doesn’t matter if the result is equally delicious. Don’t you agree?
Meat
For this recipe, I used pork. However, you can also go for other types of meat, such as beef, chicken, and turkey. Even shrimp will work well with this recipe (you must chop them into smaller pieces, though).
Suppose you want to make this a vegetarian recipe. In that case, you can skip the meat and substitute it with mushrooms or other veggies of your choice.
Vegetables
The typical veggies used in egg rolls are onions, cabbages, and carrots. Luckily, this isn’t a “rule,” so you can add whatever vegetable you want.
✦ Time Saver: To cut your prep time by half, you can buy a pre-packaged coleslaw mix at your local grocery store.
Seasoning
Of course, let’s not forget about the seasonings for the fillings (meat and/or vegetables): salt, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and if you have 5-spice seasoning. Also, I added sesame oil to this Mini Egg Rolls Air Fryer recipe.
Sauce
Most of the time, sweet chili sauce is the go-to sauce for spring rolls or egg rolls. However, if you have something else in mind or whatever ready-made sauce you may have in the pantry will definitely work too. Just make sure it’s sweet.
🚨 Important: DO NOT skip the sauce. The Mini Egg Rolls on its own aren’t that tasty.
Recipe Video
How to Cook Mini Egg Rolls in an Air Fryer?
Making mini egg rolls is a labor of love. It will take you approximately 40 minutes from preparing all the ingredients, to wrapping your mini egg rolls and air frying them.
Step 1: Cook the ground pork.
To begin, bring a medium-sized pan to medium-high heat. Lightly oil the pan, then add the ground pork. Bring the heat up until you hear it sizzling, then keep stirring for 4 minutes.
At this point, you need to add all the seasonings: salt, pepper, 5-spice, sugar, soy, and oyster sauce. Mix well for 2 – 3 more minutes until the ground pork starts to brown.
✦ Optional: If 5-spice seasoning isn’t to your liking, feel free to decrease the amount or omit it entirely.
💡 Pro Tip: Do not discard the extra oil from the meat, we’ll use it to sauté the vegetables.
Step 2: Sauté the vegetables.
Now, let’s start cooking the vegetables in the same pan.
If there is no extracted oil from the ground pork, you can add oil to the pan.
Bring the heat up, then caramelize the onion for 3 – 5 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the onion turns translucent.
Afterward, add the cabbage, or whichever is thicker, goes first.
Keep stirring the cabbage strips for 3 – 4 minutes, then add the carrots. Sauté for 3 more minutes until the vegetables are fully cooked.
💡 Pro Tip: Cook the vegetable filling until tender. Mini egg rolls should be soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.
We’re layering flavors in this step. We sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper each time we added an ingredient.
You still need to taste it though.
Then, once it’s fully cooked, turn the heat off and transfer it in a large bow.
Step 3: Mix all the egg roll fillings.
This step is pretty straightforward. You just need to mix the cooked ground pork and sautéed veggies with the sesame oil.
Step 4: Assemble the mini egg rolls.
🚨 Important: Thaw the mini egg roll wrappers in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for a few hours before using. This will make them easier to separate.
The process of wrapping mini egg rolls is exactly the same as full-sized ones.
To be honest, I didn’t get it the first time. It took me a few tries to wrap it decently.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as the fillings are not coming out, you’re doing it right.
In a nutshell, here’s what you need to do:
- Place the wonton wrapper on a flat surface.
- Add 1 tablespoon of filling to the mini egg roll wrapper.
- Tuck the sides of the wrapper towards the center.
- Roll it, and coat the remaining flap with water.
- Seal it nice and tight.
And that is it.
Step 5: Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF (204ºC) for 5 minutes.
When you’re halfway through assembling your mini egg rolls, preheat your air fryer.
💡 Pro Tip: You can skip preheating by adding 2-5 minutes to your cooking time. To prevent the mini egg rolls from burning, check it every 1-2 minutes. Continue air frying until golden brown.
Step 6: Lightly brush the mini egg rolls with cooking oil.
Brushing the air-fried mini egg rolls is optional. Since the whole purpose of using an air fryer is to minimize oil, you can skip this step.
However, based on our tests, the egg rolls will be a whole lot crispier, more golden brown, and appetizing with a little bit of oil.
Step 7: Air fry the mini egg rolls at 400ºF (204ºC) for 5 – 8 minutes.
Now air fry the mini egg rolls at 400ºF (204ºC) for 5 – 8 minutes. Our air fryer can handle 14 mini egg rolls at a time.
After that, you have to flip the egg rolls and continue cooking for 3 more minutes or until golden brown.
✦ I used a 6-quart air fryer to test this recipe. Cooking time and temperature may vary depending on your air fryer and the number of servings you are making. For optimal results, begin with the lower end of the suggested cooking time.
Step 8: Serve with a sweet chili sauce and enjoy!
Now, that’s how you make the Mini Egg Rolls Air Fryer version. Enjoy!
Here are other egg roll recipes worth trying out:
Frequently Asked Questions
Cooking mini egg rolls in the air fryer takes about 10-12 minutes at 400ºF (204ºC). You need to flip them halfway to evenly brown each side. Check out this recipe.
You need to cook mini egg rolls at 400ºF (204ºC). Maximum heat achieves a crispy golden brown finish.
This ingredients checklist is interactive; you can use it as your grocery list.
Ingredients
- 42 mini egg roll wrappers thawed
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ medium onion finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots grated or cut into matchsticks
- 2 cups green cabbage thinly sliced
Meat seasoning
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon five-spice powder
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
For the veggies
- ½ teaspoon salt season to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper season to taste
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Serve with:
- Sweet chili sauce
Instructions
- Cook the ground pork. Bring a medium-sized pan to medium-high heat. Lightly oil the pan, then add the ground pork. Stir for 4 minutes, then add the salt, pepper, 5-spice seasoning, sugar, soy, and oyster sauce. Mix well for 2 – 3 minutes until it starts to brown. Set it aside in a large bowl, but leave some fat in the pan. Then lower the heat to a medium level.
- Sauté the vegetables. Bring the pan to high heat. Caramelize the onion for 3-5 minutes, then add the cabbage. Sauté for 3-5 minutes or until the cabbage has softened. Then, add the carrots and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Season the vegetables with pepper and salt to taste.
- Mix all the egg roll filling. Transfer the cooked vegetables into the large bowl with the cooked pork. Add 1 tsp of sesame oil to the bowl and mix well.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF (204ºC) for 5 minutes.
- Wrap the mini egg rolls. First, place your egg roll wrapper diagonally on a flat surface. Add one tablespoon of the pork and vegetable mix. Fold the bottom and the sides of the wrap. Tuck the sides while rolling it for a tighter finish. Apply some water to the remaining side of the wrapper to seal it. You can also. Repeat the process until you've used up all the ingredients.
- Brushing your egg rolls with cooking oil is optional. However, it will make your egg rolls crispier and more appetizing based on our test.
- Air fry the 14 mini egg rolls at 400ºF (204ºC) for 5 – 8 minutes until golden brown. You may need to flip the egg rolls halfway to evenly brown the egg roll wrapper.
- Serve with sweet chili sauce on the side or any other sauce of your liking.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Plan ahead of time, as you need to thaw the egg roll wrappers to ensure that the assembly and cooking will be seamless.
- If your air fryer doesn’t have a preheat mode, you can simply set the temperature to 400ºF (204ºC) and then let it cook for 5 minutes.
- Or you can skip preheating by adding 2-5 minutes to your cooking time. To prevent your mini egg rolls from burning, check it every 1-2 minutes.
- Adding oil to the pan is optional. Starting at low heat when browning your ground pork will naturally draw out the oil content.
- Important: Your ground pork turning brown is called the Maillard reaction. It adds depth of flavor and texture to your dish. Don’t skip this step.
- You can also use spring roll wrappers, even though they’ll be technically “spring rolls.” Then again, it’s not a big deal. Make use of whatever is available.
- To speed up the process, you can use a prepackaged coleslaw mix available in your local grocery store.
- More importantly, make sure not to include any excess liquid while assembling. By doing so, the cooking will be more even, and the egg roll wrappers will end up crispy.
- Ensure you tuck the egg rolls tightly, so they don’t open while cooking. Also, place the end flap of the egg roll wrapper under so it doesn’t open up while cooking.
- If the egg rolls don’t stick well with water, you can seal them using egg wash.
- Optional: Brush the mini egg rolls with a small amount of cooking oil or egg wash to achieve a crispy crust and a golden brown finish.
- I used a 6-quart air fryer to make this recipe. Cooking time and temperature may vary depending on the type of your air fryer. For optimal results, begin with the lower end of the suggested cooking time, and add 1-2 more minutes until you’re satisfied with the finish.
Nutrition
Share or save this recipe for later:
Have you tried making the 5-Spice Air Fryer Mini Egg Rolls?
Leave us a note, and give this recipe a star rating. Good or bad, we appreciate your opinion. Let’s improve this air fryer recipe as a community!
Are you on Instagram? Share your photo and tag us at @fryitco. We can’t wait to see what you’ve made!
Or you can also subscribe to our Youtube Channel. We’re constantly uploading easy and tasty air fryer recipe videos, ASMR style.
You can also find us on Facebook & Tiktok 🙂. See you there!
Thank you for your support!
Web Story
