How To Perfect Cooking Frozen Egg Rolls In Your Air Fryer

Frying up frozen egg rolls can be a messy and even dangerous endeavor. The oil can splatter and pop all over the place. Burns are not uncommon — if you accidentally overheat the oil they will be overcooked on the outside while the middle is still cold. Fortunately, there is an easy solution, and it's probably sitting on your kitchen counter already. As with many frozen foods, your trusty air fryer is perfect for the job. 

Used correctly, the convenient device will deliver beautiful, crispy egg rolls that are cooked uniformly from the exterior all the way through to their delicious juicy center. And since you won't have to use any extra oil to cook them, not only will you save a little bit of money, but they will be slightly more nutritious as well. If you aren't already wondering how you ever lived without an air fryer for everyday meals and snacks, you will be after using it for frozen egg rolls!

Be sure to preheat the air fryer before you take the egg rolls out of the freezer. After all, you don't want them to begin defrosting on the countertop while you wait for the convection chamber to heat up. And just like with the oven, preheating is important for even cooking.

You're going to need a decent amount of heat to do the job, so set the air fryer to preheat to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. That way the appliance will be hot enough to tackle those frozen goodies, but not so hot that they risk getting overdone.

After the air fryer has fully heated up, it's time to add the egg rolls to the fryer basket. Since it will be hot, be careful not to touch the sides or the bottom of the basket with your bare hands. You might even want to use tongs to place the frozen egg rolls inside, just to be on the safe side. Don't just dump them in either. They won't cook properly if the hot air doesn't have room to move around and do its job. Instead, carefully place them in a single layer without doing any stacking.

When air-frying frozen egg rolls, go with the same concept as when frying meat, and don't crowd the pan (or basket in this case). You'll want to make sure there is space between each egg roll, with none of them touching to increase air flow and cook each roll uniformly. If you want to fry more than will fit in this manner, that's okay! Since the air fryer cooks so quickly, you can move on to a second and third batch in no time.

Once you've added the frozen egg rolls to the air fryer basket, just pop it back in and let it do its magic. The egg rolls won't take long at all so be sure to set the timer for 8 to 10 minutes. It might be a good idea to start at the lower end of the scale the first time you use this method. That way, you can take a peek to decide if they will need the full recommended time or not.

Since the air fryer circulates its heat so well, you won't have to worry about flipping the frozen egg rolls. They will cook evenly without your intervention as long as they are placed carefully into the basket without any of the sides touching, yielding golden-brown, perfectly fried snacks.

Once cooking is complete, carefully remove the basket from the air fryer and set it on a clean potholder, tea towel, or cooling rack. Alternatively, you can dump the egg rolls out onto a cooling rack or plate. If you're not sure whether the egg rolls are fully cooked, you can use a thermometer to check.

A thermistor, also known as an instant-read thermometer, will work great for this purpose. And its digital display will let you know right away whether your food has been cooked to a safe internal temperature. Most frozen foods need to be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, but be sure to check the packaging for exact instructions. While eight to 10 minutes in the air fryer is generally perfect for frozen egg rolls regardless of brand or type, you will want to toss them back in for a little while longer if they do not reach the desired internal temperature.

Obviously, you're going to want to pop these babies in your mouth as soon as the timer goes off — but a little bit of patience is super important at this point. As scrumptious as those egg rolls will look, you definitely don't want to burn your tongue or the roof of your mouth so that you can't enjoy all of them. Make sure to give them a few minutes to cool down before you dig in. It might be a good idea to cut them open to cool faster depending on who and how many people you're feeding.

So forget the hot oil, your air fryer is definitely one of the best ways to heat up egg rolls. Not only will they come out perfectly, but there won't be a big greasy mess to clean up afterward. And they'll be done in no time at all.