Delicious Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

I went through a (pretty great) phase where I was really into having lots of appetizers and snacks made up and frozen.  Things like Southwestern Eggrolls, wontons, pierogis...I had an awesome collection going in that freezer!  I would triple or quadruple whatever recipe I was making, lay the extras flat on wax paper in the freezer, and then transfer them to a freezer bag for storage.  

Remind me why I haven't done this in awhile...?

Anyway, lots of those little bites used wonton and egg roll wrappers and I have tons of them in my freezer I've been trying to work through lately.  

No seriously.  Like 20 packages or something crazy like that- my husband noticed them recently while digging for something in the basement freezer and mentioned that we should do something about them.

So do something I did :-)

Pretty much anything can go in an egg roll wrapper and be delicious- I've stuffed them with taco fillings, with BBQ pulled pork, all kinds of things.  Not only are they a delicious vessel for getting food to your mouth, but they lend an element of fun too.

I saw this recipe for Cheeseburger Eggrolls while I was looking at recipes to help me use up my wrapper stash and knew I had to try it!

I mean...I've turned cheeseburger ingredients into soup before and know it's delicious, so why not egg rolls?

They're pretty basic- a filling of seasoned ground beef, cheese, onion, pickle, and a little mustard all wrapped up in a wrapper before being fried to golden perfection- though you could definitely bake these if you wanted to go a slightly healthier route.  I served them with a mixture of ketchup and mayo for dipping, :-) but there's definitely room for making a fancier aioli- I was just keeping this kid-friendly.

They were super yummy, and the leftovers were great too after being reheated in the oven.  The pickle addition wasn't weird at all, and I think that a little bacon in the mixture would be yummy too.

Enjoy!

Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

Modified Slightly from Allrecipes.com

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 cup chopped dill pickles

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

2 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard, or to taste

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1 (16 ounce) package egg roll wrappers

Oil for frying

1. Place the ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir for about 10 minutes, breaking up the beef into crumbles as it cooks. Drain the meat and transfer to a bowl. Stir in the chopped pickles, shredded cheese, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and salt and mix together well.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a bowl of water next to your work surface. Remove an egg roll wrapper from the stack, and cover the remaining wrappers with a damp paper towel to prevent them from drying out.

3. Place the wrapper on the work surface with a corner facing towards you. Place about 1/4 cup of filling on the wrapper, and fold the top corner down over the filling. Tightly roll the wrapper into a cylinder, tucking in the corners as you roll, until the wrapper completely encloses the filling. Moisten the last corner with a little water, and finish wrapping so the moistened corner tightly seals to the egg roll, and there are no gaps to let the filling leak out. Place filled egg rolls on the parchment-lined baking sheet, covered with a slightly damp paper towel, while you finish making the egg rolls.

4. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan or deep fryer until a thermometer registers 365 degrees F (185 degrees C). Carefully place 2 or 3 egg rolls at a time into the hot oil, and fry for about 4 or 5 minutes, turning the egg rolls over once, until golden brown. Remove the egg rolls with a tongs, and drain on paper towels.