Spicy Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls

Buffalo sauce is a magical thing. It can transform even the dreariest dish into a spicy and delicious meal. These spicy buffalo chicken egg rolls were initially created to be an appetizer, but I wound up eating a few more than I anticipated.

These buffalo chicken egg rolls are simple to make, easy to customize, and perfect to serve at a party or family gathering. They're baked and not fried, so this is a great lightened-up appetizer.

You'll definitely want to make more than you think you'll need because these little handheld snacks go fast. First things first, you'll need to have chicken cooked and shredded before you can start building the egg rolls.

I used boneless skinless chicken breast and seasoned the pieces with salt, pepper and olive oil.

I cooked these at 375° for about 20 minutes. Cooking time will vary with different sizes of chicken, but as long as the largest piece reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF, you'll be good to go. (Lazy tip: if you're short on time or simply can't stand cutting raw chicken and waiting for it to cook, buy one of those pre-cooked rotisserie chickens from your local supermarket and shred the whole chicken!)

After the chicken has cooled down some, shred it up! I used to shred chicken by hand with two forks, but my KitchenAid stand mixer really takes all of the tedious work out of that task. Less than a minute and all of that chicken is shredded! What a time saver.

Next, round up all your ingredients you'll be putting inside the egg rolls. You'll need shredded chicken, buffalo sauce, your cheese of choice, and egg roll wrappers. Many supermarkets now carry these in their refrigerated aisles, and these were about $2.50 for a pack of 20 wrappers.

I opted for a generous amount of Frank's Red Hot Original Buffalo sauce to mix into the bowl of shredded chicken and added some shredded cheddar cheese because lately blue cheese has been off-putting to me. I'm not sure what that's all about, I used to love it with all buffalo foods. Feel free to substitute blue cheese if you wish.

You'll also find a little dish filled with water handy for when you need to seal the edges of the wrapper.Now comes the fun part! If you like origami, you'll love making these. If you're like me and totally struggled/never enjoyed origami, this might be a little less fun. But it's pretty simple, and if I can make these, so can you!

First, take out an egg roll wrapper and lay it on a flat surface with points facing up, down, left and right. Kind of like a kite or a compass of north, south, east and west. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of chicken into the center of the egg roll wrapper. Sprinkle with your desired amount of cheese.

Fold the bottom point up towards the middle. Dip you finger in the water and lightly moisten remaining edges of the egg roll wrapper. This ensures everything will stick and stay together.  One at a time, fold the left side and right side in towards one another, making sure to overlap them. This one looks like an envelope. For me, this was the "hardest" part.

Grab both sides of the wrap with two hands and roll the tucked edges underneath the egg roll. Not too shabby.

Place the egg rolls on a greased baking sheet with the sealed side facing downwards. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 400°, until the rolls have crisped up a bit.

I have a terrible fear of burning food beyond recognition, and that's why mine look underdone.  You can always cook or toast them a little more, but you can't salvage burnt egg rolls. Spicy buffalo chicken, perfectly melted cheddar cheese, and a crisp egg roll wrap makes these so easy to gobble up.

These are best served warm with blue cheese or ranch dressing as a dipping sauce. Delicious!

What's your favorite way to use buffalo sauce?

Original recipe can be found at the lovely blog, Can You Stay For Dinner.

Love egg rolls? Try my Crispy Breakfast Egg Rolls!!