Baked Southwest Egg Rolls with Creamy Chipotle Dipping Sauce
Simple to prepare and healthy to boot these baked southwest egg rolls with creamy chipotle dipping sauce are so very fantastic.
These little babies were good. As in, I’m lucky any of the delicious, flavorful filling made it into the tortillas since I was so busy sampling that I forgot about ensuring quantity control.
Simple to prepare and healthy to boot (read: baked not fried!), these southwest egg rolls, which incidentally are nothing like authentic egg rolls since there are no eggs in the filling, are so very fantastic.
The hearty filling is packed with spinach, peppers, onions, garlic and a myriad of southwest-type seasonings that give the mixture a warm and smoky flavor without killing your tastebuds with spice.
Paired with the creamy chipotle dipping sauce and I was hard-pressed to stop at just one. But I shall not confess how many I actually ingested.
These rolls would be perfect as an appetizer, main dish (which is how we ate them with some crisp veggies and salad on the side), or simply as a snack.
The tasty filling can be adapted to your liking, also – take out the chicken for a vegetarian roll and increase the heat as you like! I hope you like them as much as we did.
One Year Ago: Steak Hoagies with Mushrooms, Onions and Peppers
Two Years Ago: Meatballs with Cream Sauce
Baked Southwest Egg Rolls with Creamy Chipotle Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
Rolls:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow or red onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed, (about 3 large breasts)
- 1 green or red pepper, diced small
- 1 jalapeno pepper, membranes removed, seeded and finely minced or 4 pickled jalapeno rounds from the jar
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and liquid squeezed out (wringing through a kitchen towel works great)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2-3 cups shredded cheese, such as Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack or Cheddar
- 2-3 dozen fajita-size flour tortillas
Chipotle Dipping Sauce:
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¼ cup salsa
- 1 teaspoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, if you are opening a new can to only use 1 teaspoon, freeze the remainder in a freezer-safe ziploc bag and pull out and thaw as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the dipping sauce ingredients. Mix well and set aside or refrigerate until ready to serve.
- In a large 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the cubed chicken breasts and peppers and cook over medium or medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the rinsed and drained black beans, spinach, corn, cilantro and seasonings. Mix well and cook until the mixture is heated through. Add the cheese and stir well, cooking, until the mixture is hot and cheese is mostly melted.
- Warm the tortillas. I place 5-6 between two damp paper towels and microwave for about 45 seconds. Place some of the filling on each tortilla and roll up tightly, egg-roll style, folding in the edges. Place seam side down on the prepared baking sheets (secure with a toothpick if needed).
- Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, until the rolls are lightly browned and heated through. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: My Kitchen Cafe
84 Comments on “Baked Southwest Egg Rolls with Creamy Chipotle Dipping Sauce”
I make these regularly but never freeze them. To all the people who reheat these from frozen- how long do you bake them? Do you cover them? Don’t want to end up with a dry crumbly tortilla with a still- frozen middle
Thanks!
I’m guilty, I didn’t bake them. I fried them. I just love fried flour tortillas (think chimichangas). They looked and tasted gorgeous. There was a comment about flour tortillas springing open during cooking. I find that if I use egg white as glue,, then lay it with the flap side down for 10 minutes, that allows the egg white to bind the sides together. I’ve tried water, but that doesn’t work consistently.
By the way I make my own tortillas (faster than going to the store if you have a press). Thanks for all the fantastic recipes and ideas. You are my go to online site. More even than America’s Test Kitchen or Cook’s Illustrated.
Can someone tell me if these taste like the ones they have at Chili’s Restaurant?? Because they’re my favorite things.
Every summer my hubby drags out his grill and the first thing he does is Ribs 7 or 8 racks even though it is just the 2 of us now at home. I have taken to making BBQ egg rolls out of them and freezing them (I have always used egg roll wrappers never tried Tortilla’s before) They work out a lot better for meal size servings then the egg rolls (I still put up some of those they make great party snacks) LOVE LOVE LOVE your sauce
Hi! I’m making out my grocery list and I was wondering, what kind of salsa do you use? I have one that I made but I just don’t see it pairing with chipotle. Please let me know. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Maria – right now I have Trader Joe’s salsa (both red and green) in my pantry but I’ve also used regular ol’ Pace picante sauce, too.
I’m going to downsize this recipe to 4 or 5 of the rolls, since we’re empty nesters, and serve them with some nice sides. I have to eliminate the spinach (hubby forms kidney stones, so is denied it), and we don’t eat flour tortillas, so I’ll use corn tortillas, which is better for diabetics (hubby again).
Getting kids to like food is easy. My 3 adult sons and their kids eat everything. When they were trying new table foods for the first time and I knew it might not be a food they would like the first time, I denied their request to have some. I told them they were too little and their sense of taste wasn’t grown up enough to like it. I told them they wouldn’t like it. Of course they would insist on having some, and they had to beg and plead for it before they were allowed to have a tiny, bite-sized serving. They were not allowed to have any more at that meal, because I told them I didn’t make enough for them. The next time it was served, they “proved” they liked it before, they said, and demanded it again. I NEVER, EVER had any arguments over food with my sons. The entire cafeteria staff at one grandson’s school, plus all the teachers having lunch at the same time, gathered at one end of the lunchroom just to watch a 5 year old munch on a plate full of raw vegetables because he loves them and always has. Deny it, and they will want to eat it. Simple psychology. Try it.
Sorry…one more thought…I will probably use egg roll wrappers instead of tortillas for faster cooking.
I want to make these for my daughters upcoming wedding reception. But there is no oven on site. Could these be baked ahead of time and then warmed up in a bit of oil in an electric skillet or electric griddle? Would they be soggy? We are feeding 200 so I need to have my technique planned ahead of time so we can keep the food line moving.Any advice you have for serving these to a large crowd would great..and really appreciated!!!
Hi Kim – I’m sure you could do that although I haven’t tried it myself. I think if they were baked ahead of time, reheating them on a griddle might work although I worry that the outsides would get crispy before the insides were heated through. Sounds like you might need a trial run to see. Good luck!
Do the leftovers reheat well? Thinking these would be good to bring to a friend that just had surgery. Wondering though if they’d get soggy :(.
I think they reheat really well – would make a great take-in meal.
I made these tonight for my super picky kids & hubby. RAVE reviews!!! My 10-yr-old ate four in one sitting and asked me to make them all the time 🙂 I omitted the spinach, but left the rest of the recipe as-is and it was delish! Thank you for the yumminess!
Made these tonight and my 2 year old loved it! Had no spinach so used broccoli and only had burrito sized tortillas. Turned out more like chalupas, but still amazing!
Made these last night for the first time but it won’t be the last — big thumbs up from my 15 year old son, right in the middle of a bite! 🙂 Thanks for the hint about how to warm the tortillas, it was new to me and very helpful. I wasn’t very good at rolling the tortillas up, but baking in the oven helped them stay together and with the way they tasted, no one was complaining. I found a tutorial on youtube for rolling egg rolls this morning, so now I’ll be ready for next time. 🙂
I’m a working dad with a wife who stays home with our 3 kids, so Sunday has become my day to cook dinner. I discovered your site last week, and I’m loving it! I made the San Francisco Pork Chops last week, loved them, and am cooking up a mess of these egg rolls for dinner tonight and as apps for a get-together with friends next week. You make a hero out of a rookie chef like me, and I appreciate it!
Mel, I have made these at least 15 times in the 9 months or so since I’ve found this recipe. My conclusion? These need to go on the best recipe page FOR SURE!!! I’ve even served them for dinner alongside a salad and rice. Delicious always!!!
Hi Mel! My family and I love these and eat them at least once a month probably. I make the filling and divide it by 2. We eat the first set immediately and freeze the rest for an easy meal later. I have an event coming up this week that I want to serve these at, but I have vegetarian and celiac (gluten free) eaters coming. Do you think these would be ok without the chicken and with corn tortillas? Or is there a different “wrap” you would recommend?
Hi Amy – I definitely think these would be ok without the chicken but the corn tortillas make me nervous – they crack and rip so much easier than flour. You could try softening the corn tortillas in a bit of oil in a hot skillet or microwaving and rolling them up that way but I’ve always had cracking issues with them. If you could find a gluten free wrap, that might work but it could be pricey. If you have time, try a trial run with the corn tortillas and see how it goes. Good luck!
Hi Theresa,
I’ve used egg roll wrappers. IMO, I think they work better since you can get egg roll wrappers to stay closed on their own. I freeze ’em, then either drop them into the fryer or into the oven frozen! I would just keep the temp a little lower, so the inside has a chance to dethaw by the time the outside is crispy. Oh, and if you put them into the oven, spray them with a little oven spray before so they crisp up.
I thought about using egg roll wraps. Has anyone used egg roll wraps instead of the tortillas? If so would oven temp and cooking time be the same?
Thanks! That worked perfectly, these are so good and they are a hit at party’s!