Southwestern Egg Rolls

Cook the chicken.

1. If you don’t already have cooked chicken available, you’ll want to start by cooking a chicken breast.
2. Place the chicken breast on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap.
3. Use a meat tenderizer, or rolling pin, to pound the chicken until it’s about 1/2 inch thick. This will both tenderize the chicken and help it cook quicker.
4. Rub the piece of chicken with 1 tablespoon taco seasoning.
5. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the piece of chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
6. Remove from the heat. Place the cooked chicken on a cutting board and dice it into small pieces.

Prepare the filling.

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat.
2. Add the minced red onion, red bell peppers and jalapeno peppers, cook for 4 minutes.
3. Add the spinach, chicken, black beans, corn, cilantro and taco seasoning to the skillet.
4. Stir all of the ingredients together, remove from the heat and stir in the pepper jack cheese.

Assemble the egg rolls.

1. Wrap the tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for 1 minute.
2. Spoon approximately 1/2 cup of the egg roll filling into the middle of a tortilla.
3. Fold the ends of the tortilla over the filling, then roll the tortilla up and around the filling in the middle.
4. Repeat with the remaining 11 tortillas, until you have 12 southwestern egg rolls assembled.
5. Once all of the egg rolls are assembled, either air fry, oven bake, or pan fry the egg rolls.

Air fry the egg rolls.

1. Place the egg rolls in an air fryer basket seam-side down, with enough room around the egg rolls for air to move.
2. Spray the egg rolls with nonstick cooking spray, then cook at 400°F for 4-5 minutes.
3. Open the air fryer, flip the egg rolls, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes.

Bake the egg rolls.

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. If your oven has a convection setting, I recommend using that.
2. Place the egg rolls, seam-side down, on a baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray.
3. Place the egg rolls in the oven and cook for 6-7 minutes.
4. Remove the egg rolls from the oven, flip, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 6-7 minutes, or until golden brown.

Pan fry the egg rolls.

1. Add enough canola oil (or vegetable oil) to a large skillet, so that you have 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom of the pan. The amount of oil will vary depending on how large of a pan you’re using. I recommend starting with 1 cup of oil, then adding more if needed.
2. Place the pan of oil on the stove over medium-high heat.
3. Once the oil is hot, add the egg rolls in batches, making sure there’s room around each egg roll. If you overcrowd the pan, they won’t cook properly.
4. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown and bubbling on the outside of the egg roll.
5. Use a slotted spoon to remove the egg rolls from the oil when they’re golden brown and transfer them to a wire rack, with paper towels underneath the rack. This will allow any excess oil to drip off the egg rolls through the wire rack, and will keep them nice and crispy while you pan fry the remaining batches of egg rolls.

Serve the egg rolls.

1. Once cooked, slice the egg rolls in half and serve with avocado ranch for dipping (optional).