Egg rolls date back to ancient China and were introduced to America through Chinese immigrants. They originally were served as a special treat to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but now they're popular appetizers likely to appear at any time. They make a highly nutritious appetizer, providing from 4 to 24 percent of the recommended daily intake of most essential minerals and B vitamins.
Definition
Egg rolls consist of any combination of meat and vegetables wrapped in unleavened dough and deep fried. The favorite fillings---pork, chicken, cabbage, mushrooms and bean sprouts---are typically seasoned with soy, garlic, ginger or oyster sauce. The egg roll wrapper is a thinly rolled dough made from flour, egg (or water) and salt. According to foodtimeline.org, they are called egg rolls because the dough was traditionally made with eggs.
Basic Nutrition
The nutrition values in this article are based on a serving size of one heated egg roll and include the nutrients found in chicken, pork and vegetable egg rolls. Vegetable and chicken egg rolls have about 155 calories each, but the pork egg roll is a little higher with 189 calories. Meat-filled egg rolls provide 17 percent of the recommended daily value (DV) of protein while the vegetable version supplies 10 percent DV. They all contain about the same amount of fats (6 to 9 percent DV), carbohydrates (8 percent DV), and dietary fiber (7 to 9 percent DV). Vegetable fillings don't have any cholesterol, but meat-filled egg rolls contain 4 percent DV. However, all three types also contain the heart-healthy omega-3 (97 to 185 mg) and omega-6 (1340 to 1890 mg) fatty acids.
Vitamins
A good source of B vitamins, all of the egg rolls provide thiamin (13 to 14 percent DV), riboflavin (6 to 8 percent DV), pantothenic acid (3 to 5 percent DV), and vitamin B12 (1 to 2 percent DV). Egg rolls also supply 1 to 2 percent of the daily value of vitamin E.
Minerals
All three types of egg rolls are good sources of the essential minerals, providing sodium (19 percent DV), phosphorus (9 percent DV), iron (8 percent DV), and magnesium (6 percent DV). You'll also receive 3 to 4 percent of the daily values of calcium, zinc, and copper.
Differences
Three other vitamins and two minerals are present in all three, but their amounts are different. All types are a great source of vitamin K, but the meat fillings provide 24 percent DV, while the vegetable-filled egg rolls have a much larger 41 percent. They're also good sources of niacin and vitamin B6, but the vegetable and pork egg rolls provide less than the chicken. You'll receive 15 percent DV of niacin with chicken, compared with pork (10 percent DV) and vegetable (8 percent DV). Chicken also supplies 11 percent DV of vitamin B6, with pork and vegetable having 6 to 7 percent. The mineral selenium ranges from 14 percent DV in the vegetable egg rolls to 28 percent in the pork, with chicken in the middle (20 percent DV). Manganese ranges from 14 percent DV in the pork filling to 19 percent DV in the vegetable egg roll.
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