Vegetarian Fried Southwestern Egg Rolls
Southwestern Egg Rolls
I LOVE the Southwestern Egg Rolls they serve on the appetizer menu at Chili’s.
And I desperately miss being able to eat them. But I love to take an old comfort food recipe and adjust it to fit into my dietary restrictions: gluten-free, dairy-free (except for goat cheese/milk or Parmesan), clean as possible, organic and non-GMO if possible.
I had huge success with this white chicken enchilada casserole, pimento cheese, and Philly cheesesteak casserole.
So these have been on the list of things to copy cat for some time now. We finally had some time to make them and I’m so excited how they turned out!
The ingredients are listed on the appetizer menu as crispy flour tortillas, chicken, black beans, corn, jalapeño, Jack cheese, red peppers, spinach. Served with avocado-ranch.
We didn’t use chicken in this recipe because we are trying to eat less meat in general and it didn’t really need it.
For the mixture we used organic homemade black beans, pimentos, sweet corn, frozen spinach, pickled jalapeños, and Funny Farm pepper jack goat cheese.
And I have a killer recipe for gluten-free flour tortillas. I used to make them with coconut oil but recently switched to a fair trade organic vegetable shortening. It is softer and much easier to work with.
A tortilla press really helps flatten out the tortillas and get a consistent shape too. When make the tortillas normally, we heat them up in a pan. And although they are pliable, they are difficult to wrap and kind of thick.
So we decided to put the dough in the tortilla press and then roll it out a bit thinner. Then put the ingredients into the dough and fry it in olive oil and coconut oil. WOW!
The dough was amazing to work with. It didn’t crumble and I could easily seal it to keep the goodies inside. They didn’t explode when we fried them. We fried them two at a time in a small pan, flipping once. They were so nice and crispy, too.
It was ALOT of work, but we made a dozen and froze some of them. They kept in the fridge and reheated well. Almost turning into a hot pocket when reheated. Which is giving me all kinds of ideas. 🙂
And we served it with an avocado ranch made with goat’s milk yogurt, Ranch spice blend, and an avocado because that is how the do it at Chili’s. So much yum!
Want More Comfort Food Copy Cat Recipes?
- Gluten-Free Pepperoni Bites with Buffalo Mozzarella
- Fuddruckers Spiced Potato Nachos
- Restaurant Style Tex-Mex Rice
- Salt Lick Potato Salad
- Freedmen’s Smoked Cabbage Slaw
- PF Change Style Lettuce Wraps
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole
Southwestern Egg Rolls | Gluten-Free
This is a gluten-free copycat recipe for the Southwestern Egg Rolls from Chili's appetizer menu made with goat's milk Pepper Jack cheese!
Ingredients
Southwestern Egg Roll Filling
- 4 oz pimentos, rinsed and minced
- 1 cup frozen organic sweet corn kernels, thawed
- 1 ½ cups homemade organic black beans, rinsed and drained
- ⅓ cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 3 tbsp pickled jalapeños, chopped
- 1 cup goat's milk Pepper Jack cheese, grated
- 2 green onions, chopped
- salt and pepper
Gluten-Free Dough
- 1 ½ cup white rice flour
- ¾ cup tapioca flour
- 3 tbsp potato starch
- 3 tbsp potato flour
- 4 tsp guar gum
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp pink Himilayan/iodized salt blend
- 4 ½ tbsp fair trade organic vegetable shortening
- 1 ½ cup warm filtered water
Avocado Ranch Dressing
- 1 small avocado
- 2-3 tbsp goat's milk yogurt
- 1 tsp Ranch spice blend
- Splash of lime juice
Instructions
First pull out the frozen veggies, rinse and let them thaw. Mix together the ingredients for the Southwestern filling and set aside.
Next make the tortilla dough. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a mixer with a paddle. Add in the vegetable shortening and blend at slow speed for a minute or so. Slowly pour in the warm water and blend until a nice soft dough forms. You should be able to make it into a large ball of dough.
Tear off a handful of the dough (slightly bigger than a golf ball) and roll into balls. Between sheets of parchment paper, press out the balls in a tortilla press. Then use a rolling pin to thin out the tortilla and spread it out into an oval. Add filling and then fold the edges over the filling. Work with the dough to seal the edges around the filling.
In a small skillet, heat the coconut oil and olive oil over medium high heat. Place two egg rolls in the skillet and fry for about 6 minutes, flipping once, until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.
Mix together the ingredients to make the avocado Ranch dip and serve with the Southwestern egg rolls.
