These Store-Bought Egg Rolls Are So Good, You Don't Even Need A Dipping Sauce

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Spring rolls may have originated in China, but egg rolls are the fried wheat dough wrapped appetizers that first appeared in cookbooks thanks to Chinese Americans in the early 1900s. A decidedly Chinese-American invention, egg rolls aren't just a staple at pan-Asian restaurants, but you can find a wide selection in the frozen section of your local grocery store. We tasted and ranked 10 store-bought egg rolls based on outer crispiness, ingredient balance, seasoning, and sauce.

As it turns out, our favorite store-bought egg rolls don't come with a dipping sauce because they're so good that you don't even need one. We ranked InnovAsian chicken egg rolls as the best store-bought egg rolls for their perfect execution. These egg rolls are everything you'd want them to be, starting with a thick, shatteringly crunchy shell. The shell had that slightly oily decadence that you'd get from a freshly fried egg roll. And the filling was as tasty and well-balanced as can be with the extra protein bonus of juicy white chicken meat and fluffy bits of scrambled egg. The tender yet crunchy shredded vegetables rounded out the filling's textural components, while the umami-richness of the soy sauce, warm nuttiness of sesame oil, and aromatic bite from the garlic, ginger, and black pepper tied everything together. Biting into these really felt like biting into fried shells of the tastiest stir-fry imaginable.

We reviewed many meat and seafood-filled egg rolls as they're a heartier, more complex appetizer than veggie egg rolls. So, if chicken isn't your favorite, we found Tai Pei shrimp egg rolls and Van's pork egg rolls to be great options, ranking them in second and fourth place respectively. If you're a vegetarian, we thought Chung's vegetable egg rolls were crunchy with a moist, savory filling.

Whichever frozen egg rolls you end up picking out of the freezer at the grocery store, baking is the cooking method that will help them live up to their full potential. While nuking them is the quickest option, you won't get the crispy, flaky shell that really distinguishes them from a standard spring roll. If you have an air fryer like this Ninja Pro, you'll get the ultimate crisp in about half the time.

Even though InnovAsian egg rolls can stand alone, even the tastiest egg rolls will taste that much better with a dipping sauce to accompany them. The fact that our favorite egg rolls doesn't come with a dipping sauce means that you can get as creative as you want with what you choose as their accompaniment. Sweet and sour sauce is a classic, for which we have an easy recipe using staples you've probably got in your pantry. But other bottled sauces like Teriyaki, Hoisin, and any one of the popular Bachan's Japanese BBQ and dipping sauces, are also worthy egg roll pairings.