Made with shrimp, fresh vegetables, sweet mangoes, and a delicious peanut dipping sauce, these Vietnamese Spring Rolls are fresh and light instead of being deep-fried and heavy.
Spring Rolls are a simple appetizer that is incredibly simple to make at home. They are perfect to serve as an appetizer with Bok Choy Stir Fry, Orange Chicken, or Mongolian Beef.
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Better at Home
When it comes to Spring Rolls, homemade is best.
Not only can you customize the filling based on your family's dietary preferences or allergies, but you can also control the quality of ingredients, level of sodium, and guarantee that your spring rolls are fresh--and fresh always tastes better!
Key Ingredients
- Spring Roll Wrappers: You can find spring roll wrappers in the Asian section of most grocery stores.
- Rice Noodles: Rice noodles are not only traditional in spring rolls but also add bulk and texture. Look for vermicelli or extremely thin rice noodles, right in the Asian section near the spring roll wrappers, and be sure to prepare according to the package instructions, as it can vary based on brand.
- Shrimp: Use precooked small or medium deveined shrimp that have had the tails removed. And it is an optional ingredient. Feel free to omit or replace it with another cooked protein if desired.
- Fresh Produce: You can use any firm, ripe fresh produce you like. I suggest soft lettuce as the base, and a mixture of cucumbers, carrots, peppers, cabbage, and mango.
- Dipping Sauce: These Vietnamese Spring Rolls are best paired with an Asian Peanut sauce that is rich, bold, and creamy. The sauce is made with peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and a bit of spice and sweetener. There are quite a few ingredients, but most are found in a well-stocked pantry.
Step-By-Step Directions
Step One: Prepare Dipping Sauce
The sauce is made simply by blending all the ingredients together in a blender or a food processor. Feel free to add ½ tablespoon of additional water at a time to thin the sauce out if needed.
Step Two: Get Ingredients Ready
Making spring rolls at home is not hard, but it does require you to work in an orderly fashion. That is why I strongly suggest prepping all your ingredients and tools needed BEFORE beginning to roll your egg rolls.
- First, prepare the rice noodles according to package directions and then drain well.
- Slice up the vegetables and fruits.
- Fill a shallow bowl with warm water.
- Lightly dampen a tea towel with water. This helps to prevent the spring roll wrapper from sticking to the surface.
Step Three: Prepare Spring Rolls
- Take a wrapper and place in the bowl of water for about 20 seconds, until softened. Carefully remove the wrapper from the water and place it onto a damp towel.
- Leaving about 1 inch of open rice paper around the edges, cover the lower third of the paper with a few pieces of the torn lettuce. Arrange a small handful of rice noodles, some cabbage, a few strips of carrot, cucumber, red pepper, and mango over the center of the lettuce leaf. Top with 2 mint leaves and 2 cilantro leaves.
- Arrange 3 pieces of shrimp about right above the vegetable/herb filling. Make sure that the pink side of the shrimp is facing down.
Step Four: Roll up Spring Rolls
When you roll up a spring roll, think of it like an envelope. First, pull the bottom of the wrapper over the filling, then fold in the sides tightly. Then tightly roll.
Step Five: Serve
Slice the Spring rolls in half and serve with the peanut dipping sauce.
Recipe Tips and FAQs
- Instead of preparing the Peanut Dipping sauce, feel free to serve with Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce, Chinese hot mustard, or soy sauce.
- Use any crisp vegetables/fruit that you like for this recipe. Let your imagination and produce drawer guide you. I have used sugar snap peas, raw summer squash, edamame, and broccoli slaw before with great success.
While spring rolls are best when served within 24 hours of preparation, they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Assemble the spring rolls as directed. Wrap rolls individually in plastic wrap or parchment paper and layer in an airtight container.
Spring Roll Wrappers are made from rice and water and therefore SHOULD be gluten-free, but be sure to double-check package labels to be safe. And remember to use gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce for the dipping sauce to keep that gluten-free as well.
No. Omit the shrimp if you don't care for it. These Spring Rolls are delicious and vegan-friendly when the shrimp is omitted.
More Healthy Take-Out Favorites
- Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls--Crispy, crunchy, but baked not fried, these Eggrolls won't weigh you down.
- Vegetable Potstickers--These handheld steamed potstickers are super simple to make and absolutely delicious.
- Vegetable Fried Rice--Fried rice is so easy to make at home, there is no need to order out. Plus it puts leftovers to great use!
- Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps--Better than PF Chang's version, these lettuce wraps are simple to make and filled with incredible flavor!
If you gave these Spring Rolls a try, be sure to leave a review and comment below! I love to hear from you!
Recipe
Fresh Spring Rolls
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 cloves garlic pressed or minced
- ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water as needed
For the spring rolls:
- 1 package spring roll wrappers 8-10 per package
- 2 ounces rice vermicelli
- 8 butter lettuce leaves or any soft lettuce ribs removed, torn into small pieces
- 2 mangos peeled and sliced into thin strips
- 1 red pepper cut into thin strips
- 1 large carrot peeled and shredded or sliced into thin strips
- 1 large English cucumber sliced into thin strips
- 1 cup very thinly sliced red cabbage
- 1 pound small cooked shrimp, deveined, tails removed
- 1 small bunch cilantro
- 1 small bunch fresh mint
Instructions
- Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing together peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes together in a small food processor or blender. Add warm water 1 tablespoon at a time, to thin the sauce to a dipping consistency.
- Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the vermicelli noodles to the boiling water, turn off the heat and allow the noodles to sit in the hot water, according to package directions. This is about 5-10 minutes depending on the brand. Drain and rinse the noodles with cold water.
- Slice the mangoes, red pepper, and cucumber into thin strips. Shred or slice the carrot. Thinly slice the cabbage. Remove cilantro and mint leaves from stems.
- Prepare station for spring rolls by gathering all the prepared fillings (vegetables, herbs, noodles, mango, and shrimp) and filling a shallow pan (a pie pan or 9″ round cake pan works great) with an inch of warm water. Have a lint-free tea towel ready as well.
- Place one spring roll wrapper in the water for 15-20 seconds, until JUST pliable, but still has some structure. Carefully remove from the water and lay it flat on the towel.
- Leaving about 1 inch of open rice paper around the edges, cover the lower third of the paper with a few pieces of the torn lettuce. Arrange a small handful of rice noodles, some cabbage, a few strips of carrot, cucumber, red pepper, and mango over the center of the lettuce leaf. Top with 2 mint leaves and 2 cilantro leaves.
- Arrange 3 pieces of shrimp about right above the vegetable/herb filling. Make sure that the pink side of the shrimp is facing down.
- Grab the lower edge of the rice paper and tightly roll up the spring roll to the shrimp. Once you have reached the shrimp, fold in the left and right sides. Finish rolling up the spring roll all the way to the end.
- Repeat the rolling process with the rest of the ingredients.
- Cut the spring rolls on a diagonal and serve the spring rolls with the dipping sauce.
Sam Martin
It was a great experience of cooking...I had not done anything related to cooking before. This helps me a lot to learn to cook...I suggest all to use this recipe..
Beth
Simple and homemade are a few of my favorite things with peanut dipping sauce a close second!! This recipe is so pretty and was delicious!
Kristen Chidsey
I could drink the peanut sauce myself 😉
Sam
wow these spring rolls were so fresh and delicious! The perfect snack on warmer days.