Chili’s Southwestern Egg Rolls – Baked
Chili’s Southwestern Egg Rolls – Baked are a healthier, vegetarian take on an appetizer from the popular chain restaurant Chili’s. Serve as a snack or meal!
I love the Southwestern Egg Rolls served at the popular chain restaurant Chili’s. Because they are deep friend, I know how horrible they must be nutrition-wise. I was so excited to see this recipe for Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls. I love to take otherwise unhealthy restaurant dishes and turn them into much healthier versions.
My cousin’s company sponsored a Trivia Night to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I decided to make these egg rolls to share with the table. These were a great addition to the treats our table brought, which I’m sure were critical to our team’s taking home the 1st place award!
While the Chili’s Southwestern Egg Rolls have chicken, these are vegetarian. That means you don’t have to worry about meat spoiling if you leave out on the table at a Trivia Night or party.
I’ve never worked with store-bought egg roll wrappers before, but they are so neat! I have so many ideas of fillings for these – both savory and sweet. These are great leftover too.
Recipe Details
Preparing the Spinach
The easiest way to thaw frozen spinach is to follow the microwave directions on the package. After the spinach is thawed, it needs to be squeezed out to remove all the moisture.
You can use paper towels to do this, but I prefer to use a thin kitchen towel, or tea towel. I add the thawed spinach to the center and then gather up the sides and twist, then squeeze the spinach hard over the sink many times to get all of the liquid out.
Mixing the Egg Roll Filling
The ingredients are added to a large bowl and stirred until well blended.
The filling is ready to be wrapped in the egg roll wrappers.
How to Wrap Egg Rolls
Lay an egg roll wrapper flat on a work surface.
I’ve outlined the steps below with photos and a description below the collage.
1 Scoop approximately 1/4 cup of filling onto the egg roll wrapper, in the lower center.
2 Fold the tip closest to you up over the filling and roll it a bit.
3 Take the points pointing outward (to the sides) and fold them in toward the center.
4 Continue rolling into an egg roll shape until a small part of the remaining point is still free. Dip a finger in water and lightly brush on the edges of the free corner. Finish rolling and press to seal closed.
Repeat this process until you are out of egg roll wrappers or filling. The wrapped egg rolls are placed onto a foil lined baking sheet and sprayed with olive oil spray. They are baked until crispy!
Serving Suggestions
UPDATE in 2020: These are still one of our family’s favorite appetizers! I’ve also made them into mini egg rolls using wonton wrappers. These are filling enough to be a meal, but also great for potlucks, trivia nights, and parties. I’ve served them with Restaurant Style Salsa and Fresh Homemade Salsa. Occasionally I’ll serve them with sour cream or taco ranch dressing. They would be so good with Cilantro Lime Crema!
Looking for more Appetizer ideas?
Check out my favorite appetizers:
Layered Taco Dip
Double Tomato Bruschetta
Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Meatballs
Prosciutto and Melon Bite Sized Appetizers
Bacon Stuffed Cherry Tomato Appetizers
Baked Jalapeno Poppers
Jalapeno Popper Dip
Caprese Salad Skewers
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Chicken and Pumpkin Tart Appetizers
Looking for more Mexican or Tex Mex Recipes?
Check out these other recipes:
Costco Copycat Chicken Street Tacos
Sweet Corn Tomalito – Chevy’s Copycat
Turkey Tacos
Pico de Gallo Chicken Quesadillas
Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas
Grilled Chicken Fajitas
Skillet Chicken Fajitas
Red Chili Chicken Enchiladas
Chili’s Southwestern Egg Rolls – Baked
Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen corn (thawed)
- 15 ounces canned black beans (rinsed and drained)
- 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 4 ounces canned diced green chiles (drained)
- 4 green onions (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- egg roll wrappers (about 24 total)
- olive oil or Canola oil cooking spray
For Serving (Optional):
- salsa
- sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
Make the Filling:
- In a large bowl, combine everything but the egg roll wrappers. Mix well to blend.
Wrap the Egg Rolls:
- Lay an egg roll wrapper out on a work surface so that one of the corners is pointing toward you and place 1/4 cup of the filling in the center.
- Fold the tip closest to you up over the filling, roll a bit, then take the points pointing outward (to the sides) and fold them in toward the center.
- Continue rolling into an egg roll shape until a small part of the remaining point is still free. Dip a finger in water or beaten egg and lightly brush on the edges of the free corner. Finish rolling and press to seal closed.
- Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.
Bake the Egg Rolls:
- Lightly oil a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the sealed egg rolls on the baking sheet seam side down and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown, turning halfway through baking. Serve warm with salsa and sour cream, if desired.
Oh wow–these sound great! I really enjoy using egg wrappers in recipes, but most call for deep frying which I mostly try to avoid. I love how these are baked–yum!
These look delicious! I wish I could have been there for the Trivia Night! It's just about time to put up some fall recipes on the right margin of your webpage! 🙂 Can't wait to see what you have in store for those apples you picked this weekend!
I love that you baked these!
Those look amazing!
I might try them soon. 🙂
((Hugs))
Laura
Thank you for this! My husband loves those egg rolls. I can't wait to make them!
too funny, I just commented on another recipe for baked eggrolls! Those wrappers are so versatile, it's fun to play around with different fillings.
Did these really have black beans in them?
beautiful blog.
Mmm, these look addicting and I love that they're more healthy! Definitely the perfect app to bring to a party!
These are really good. I tried them last week and blogged about them myself! Thank you so much for the recipe and they'll definitely be a must have especially for parties!