Envueltos de ejote are small bundles of blanched green beans coated in a whipped-egg batter, pan-fried until golden and finished in a light tomato sauce, then served with white rice and corn tortillas. The method below draws on two home versions: a 2009 ejotes envueltos recipe that Guy Howard wrote for AntiguaDailyPhoto, and The Gringo Chapin’s envueltos, whose egg batter came from a reader’s grandmother in Guatemala.
One of the envueltos en huevo
Envuelto en huevo means wrapped in egg, and green beans are only one of the foods cooked this way. In a 2015 post, AntiguaDailyPhoto listed beef tongue, ichintal (chayote root), pacaya, Guatemalan chilaquiles made from güisquil (chayote) slices, pork feet and ejotes. The same site describes pacayas as most often covered in egg batter and bathed in tomato sauce, and its author also named cauliflower, cheese tortillas, milanesa and chiles rellenos as envuelto dishes. Our chiles rellenos use the same batter.
Guy Howard’s recipe treats onions and cauliflower the same way as the beans, so you can make a mixed platter from one bowl of batter. One reader of that post wrote that his wife makes ejotes envueltos almost the same way, with chirmol on top.
Ingredients
For the Beans
- 1 lb (450 g) thin green beans (ejotes), ends trimmed
- Salt for the cooking water
- 4 oz (115 g) queso fresco, cut into sticks (optional)
For the Egg Batter
- 5 eggs, separated
- 2 tablespoons flour, plus 1/2 cup for dredging
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- About 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying
For the Tomato Sauce
- 4 ripe Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 white onion, chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup of the water the beans cooked in
- A few sprigs of cilantro (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
To Serve
- White rice
- Warm corn tortillas
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Blanch the beans. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the green beans for 2 to 3 minutes, only until they bend without snapping. Drain them, saving 1 cup of the cooking water. Spread the beans on a towel to cool and dry. Wet beans will not hold the batter.
Step 2: Make the sauce. In a saucepan, cook the onion, bell pepper and garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes more. Blend everything with the saved bean water until smooth, pour it back into the pan and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and keep it warm.
Step 3: Make the bundles. Sort the beans into bundles of 8 to 10 beans of about the same length, so each bundle fries evenly. For a cheese version, lay a stick of queso fresco in the middle of each bundle. A loop of kitchen twine around each bundle helps if the beans keep separating; remove it before serving.
Step 4: Whip the batter. Beat the egg whites in a large, clean bowl until very stiff, so they stay put if you tip the bowl. Beat in the yolks one at a time. Gently fold in the 2 tablespoons of flour and the salt with a spatula, keeping as much air in the batter as you can.
Step 5: Heat the oil. Pour a thin layer of oil, about 1/4 inch (6 mm), into a wide frying pan and heat it over medium heat.
Step 6: Coat the bundles. Roll each bundle in the dredging flour and shake off the excess. Hold it over the bowl and cover it all over with batter, spooning extra batter over the top.
Step 7: Fry. Lay the bundles in the pan without crowding them. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, turn once with two spatulas, and fry the second side until golden. Drain on paper towels. Add a little more oil between batches, because the egg soaks it up.
Step 8: Finish in the sauce. Slide the bundles into the warm tomato sauce and let them heat through for 2 to 3 minutes. Scatter over the cilantro and serve straight from the pan with rice and warm tortillas.
Como Lo Hacemos en Guatemala (Local Tips)
Same length, same cooking time. Guy Howard’s recipe sorts the beans into little piles of about ten of roughly equal length before they go into the egg. Short and long beans mixed together brown unevenly.
Stiff whites are the whole trick. The Gringo Chapin’s grandmother method beats the whites until the bowl can be turned upside down, then adds the yolks one by one. Soft whites give a flat, greasy coating.
Use up the leftover batter. In Guy Howard’s recipe, the leftover egg went over a slice of tomato that was fried alongside the beans. A spoonful of batter fried on its own and dropped into the sauce works too.
Keep the bean water. It thins the sauce and carries the flavour of the beans into it.
Find Ingredients in the US
| Ingredient | Where to Find | Substitute |
|---|---|---|
| Thin green beans (ejotes) | Any supermarket produce section | Haricots verts |
| Queso fresco | Latin grocery stores and many supermarkets | Mild farmer’s cheese |
| Roma tomatoes | Any supermarket | Canned whole tomatoes |
| Red bell pepper | Any supermarket | Green bell pepper |
For Guatemalan restaurants and bakeries in the United States, see our Guatemalan food in the US directory. For more ideas, browse all Guatemalan recipes.
Sources
- AntiguaDailyPhoto (Guy Howard), Guatemalan Cuisine: Ejotes Envueltos Recipe (read 4 November 2026)
- AntiguaDailyPhoto, Guatemalan Food Sampler: Envueltos en huevo (read 4 November 2026)
- AntiguaDailyPhoto, Guatemalan Cuisine: Pacayas (read 4 November 2026)
- The Gringo Chapin on Petitchef, Envueltos de Guisquil (Chayote in an Egg Batter) (read 4 November 2026)
- Flourish with G, Rellenos de Ejotes y queso (read 4 November 2026)
