This Vietnamese Spring Rolls recipe is authentic, healthy, and absolutely delicious! The spring rolls are relatively easy to prepare once you get the hang of it. If you do mess up on the first few rolls, just eat the evidence. Shhh, no one needs to know. Serve with Japanese Spicy Kani Salad for a filling meal!
Back in 2013, my friend, Amy, who is Vietnamese, and I spent a fun day of cooking together. Amy came over to show me how to prepare a few Vietnamese dishes. This fantastic Vietnamese spring rolls recipe is one of the recipes Amy shared with me.
Amy brought with her a truckload of ingredients, not only to make these spring rolls, but also to prepare a delicious stir-fry, and pho, from scratch! Trust me, we ate like kings, I mean queens, that day.
I treasure that memory with my dear friend, Amy, who I don't get to see too often these days. I think of her and smile every time I prepare this Vietnamese spring rolls recipe.
Jump to:
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
Amy's Vietnamese Spring Rolls require just a few unique ingredients that might be a little harder to come by for some of my readers.
Luckily, Amazon exists and has exactly what we all can't live without! The ingredients I'm referring to are rice paper and rice noodles.
🥟 How to Make Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Step 1: Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and stir in salt. Add shrimp and cook for one minute, then remove shrimp with a slotted spoon.
Step 2: Bring water back to a boil and add noodles. Cook for five minutes. Remove noodles and rinse under cold running water, and drain. Cut into manageable size (approx. 8" sections).
Step 3: Julienne carrots and cucumbers, remove ribs from lettuce, and cut into fourths. Slice serranos, if using.
Step 4: Set up a work area with noodles, shrimp, veggies, and herbs.
Step 5: Rinse rice paper under running water on both sides, for a few seconds. You can also dip it in a pot of cold water for a few seconds. Place wet rice paper on a cutting board, plate, or damp washcloth.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Step 6: Add lettuce leaves, followed by carrots, and/or cucumbers to the bottom of the rice paper. Leave space on each side to fold over the filling.
Step 7: Top with a handful of noodles, shrimp, and a few mint or basil leave. Add serranos, if using.
Step 8: Carefully pull the bottom of the wrapper up and over the filling until you're halfway up the wrapper. Fold both sides in (similar to rolling a burrito). Continue rolling up until fully rolled. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Serve these Vietnamese spring rolls with this peanut dipping sauce. Not to brag, but my homemade sauce is off-the-charts good. If you're short on time, try San-J Thai Peanut Sauce or House of Tsang Bangkok Peanut Sauce. You can even use sweet and spicy chili sauce, the kind that's usually served with Filipino Lumpia. And for dessert, try this mango sago!
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
• Rinse rice paper under water making sure to wet on both sides.
• Alternatively, dip in a bowl of water for a few seconds to dampen.
• Shake excess water off the rice paper.
• Lay rice paper on a flat working surface such as a cutting board or flat plate.
• Fill with filling of choice (noodles, veggies, herbs, and shrimp, chicken, or tofu).
• Gently, but firmly, roll up, similar to rolling a burrito.
Although Vietnamese Spring Rolls can be made ahead of time, they are definitely better when served shortly after preparation.
The rice paper tends to toughen up over time. However, if you absolutely need to make them ahead of time, you can do so up to 24 hours prior to serving them.
Once prepared, roll each spring roll tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
When it's time to serve, unwrap the spring rolls and wipe with a damp paper towel, if needed. This refreshes the spring rolls and ensures the rice paper maintains the proper texture.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Protein in the form of shrimp, chicken, steak, or tofu
- Lettuce (butter lettuce if possible, which is soft and easy to roll up) or Romaine
- Baby spinach
- Vegetables, including carrots, cucumbers, avocado, bell pepper, celery, and scallions.
- Herbs (mint, basil, cilantro, and dill)
- Heat (Serranos, jalapeños, or habaneros if you dare)!
- This recipe is super flexible! If you want to leave out the shrimp, it's easy to do! If you are a vegetarian, replace the shrimp with additional vegetables (purple cabbage, avocados, green onions, and julienned bell peppers).
- Additionally, consider adding more herbs, noodles, and seasoned, sautéed, and cooled tofu. Sesame oil would be a great option for sautéing the tofu.
🫕 More Asian Recipes
📖 Recipe
Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 10 oz cooked shrimp
- 6.75 oz rice sticks noodles (½ a package)
- 5 Romaine lettuce leaves (ribs removed, cut in quarters)
- 1 Persian cucumbers (julienned)
- 10 mini carrots (julienned)
- 3 serrano peppers (optional)
- handful mint or basil leaves
- 10 spring rolls rice paper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and stir in salt. Add shrimp and cook for one minute, then remove shrimp with a slotted spoon.
- Bring water back to a boil and add noodles. Cook for five minutes. Remove noodles and rinse under cold running water, and drain. Cut into managable size (approx. 8" sections).
- Julienne carrots and cucumbers, remove ribs from lettuce and cut into fourths. Slice serranos, if using.
- Set up a work area with noodles, shrimp, veggies, and herbs.
- Rinse rice paper under running water on both sides, for a few seconds. You can also dip in a pot of cold water for a few seconds. Place wet rice paper on a cutting board, plate, or damp washcloth.
- Add lettuce leaves, followed by carrots, and/or cucumbers to the bottom of the rice paper. Leave space on each sides to fold over the filling.
- Top with a handful of noodles, shrimp, and a few mint or basil leave. Add serranos, if using.
- Carefully pull the bottom of the wrapper up and over the filling until you're half way up the wrapper. Fold both sides in (similar to rolling a burrito). Continue rolling up until fully rolled. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Notes
- Protein in the form of shrimp, chicken, steak, or tofu
- Lettuce (butter lettuce if possible, which is soft and easy to roll up) or Romaine
- Baby spinach
- Vegetables, including carrots, cucumbers, avocado, bell pepper, celery, and scallions.
- Herbs (mint, basil, cilantro, and dill)
- Heat (Serranos, jalapeños, or habaneros if you dare)!
- This recipe is super flexible! If you want to leave out the shrimp, it's easy to do! If you are a vegetarian, replace the shrimp with additional vegetables (purple cabbage, avocados, green onions, and julienned bell peppers).
- Additionally, consider adding more herbs, noodles, and seasoned, sautéed, and cooled tofu. Sesame oil would be a great option for sautéing the tofu.
Sarah R says
These were a beautiful & tasty introduction to springtime. They’re super refreshing too. Adding basil was a surprise hit as well, as well as your peanut sauce!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Sarah, I appreciate the review!
Laura Morrison says
These are so fresh and delicious!! I'm looking forward to these delicious cold crispy delights on all those hot summer days!! And, all year round. Super healthy usually doesn't taste this good!!
Hilda Sterner says
Yes, I love the convenience and the fact that they are relatively healthy and loaded with veggies!
Kelly Methey says
These are so fun and fresh tasting, as well as very pretty if you make them carefully. I made mine with just veggies, no shrimp. It was delicious, especially with the peanut dipping sauce that added another depth of flavor. I like that these are a nice, healthy option for a quick lunch or something I can serve to company.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Kelly! I'm glad you were able to make adjustments and still found them delicious. You can also add other proteins like chicken or pork!
Kathy Fisher says
We made this for dinner tonight. Greg, my husband, just loved it. He said to be sure and leave a great comment on the recipe. We loved the basil and jalapenos. This is the first time I've made spring rolls and they turned out great. I loved the spicy peanut sauce. So good. Thanks for this great recipe. We are full and blessed.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Kathy, I'm so glad you both enjoyed them.