How to Make Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls – Photo Tutorial & Recipes
Since writing my first How to make Fresh Spring Rolls recipe (Summer Rolls) tutorial back in 2008, I’ve received many more questions about how to roll and store fresh rice paper rolls or fresh spring rolls successfully. So here’s an extensive tutorial and guide for making Summer Rolls or Spring rolls.
How to Make Spring Rolls
Eating fresh Vietnamese spring rolls (summer rolls recipe) is a favorite dish that I grew up with and one dish that I absolutely love sharing with my friends. Todd and I have frequent spring roll parties where we grill fresh meats and vegetables, roll spring rolls and stuff ourselves for hours. Once everyone understands how to use rice paper and roll correctly, it’s an easy skill that everyone takes back home to their kitchen to share with their family and friends. All our popular spring roll recipes can be found here.
Video: How To Make Fresh Spring Rolls:
Tutorial: How to make fresh spring rolls or summer rolls.
Everyone has a different method, I understand this, so always be open to learning different ways to roll spring rolls. This is just how Todd and I have taught our Spring Roll cooking classes over the last four years with successful results from our students.
- Gather your ingredients: (you can use many ingredients, this is just a basic example of rolling a vegetarian spring roll)
- Mis-en-place is very important for spring rolling success. Have all your fresh spring rolls ingredients, washed and prepped before rolling.
- Left photo below: An important element of a great fresh spring rolls is having a “crunch” or firm structure in the center. Some ingredients that give great “crunch” and firm structure are: carrots, celery, jicama, cucumbers, bean sprouts.
- Right photo below: Fresh lettuce and herbs provide the fresh bite. In my humble opinion, fresh herbs are mandatory for fresh Vietnamese spring rolls: any type of mint, basil, cilantro or your favorite selection of Vietnamese Herbs.
- What Type of Noodles for Spring Rolls? Some rice paper spring rolls will have rice noodles or cellophane glass noodles. Traditional Vietnamese shrimp and pork spring rolls that you will find at Vietnamese restaurants will have noodles. Cook noodles to package instructions. The noodles are nice fillers and add body to the spring rolls. Normally I don’t add noodles to my daily spring rolls because it makes the spring rolls more filling and I enjoy eating my spring rolls filled with extra vegetables.
Best Rice Paper for Spring Rolls or Summer Rolls
Working with Rice Paper Wrappers for Fresh Spring Rolls- Spring roll rice paper wrappers are available in various sizes and thickness. Sizes range tremendously, so spring rolls can be small bite sized rolls to larger, longer rolls. Select the size that works best for you. Though rice paper thickness will vary as well, the difference isn’t very significant. You just have to dip the rice paper in the water long enough to slightly soften it.
What’s our favorite brand? Many! One is Three Ladies brand because it’s strong, yet pliable & has a tender, soft bite. If you want to learn more, here’s a great article about how rice paper is made.
How to Prepare Rice Paper for Vietnamese Spring Rolls
- Dip Rice Paper In Warm Water. Rice paper is delicate and only needs a quick dip in warm water to soften. Do not “soak” the rice paper for too long because it will break down too quickly, making the rolling more difficult to roll.
- Start with a large bowl of warm water, about bath water temperature. Rotate the rice paper in the bowl of water or quickly immerse it in the bowl for about 3 seconds.
What texture should you expect?
The rice paper should come out of the water still slightly firm and not fully folding on itself. Don’t worry if the rice paper might feel a little firm because once the rice paper lays on the rolling surface, it will continue to absorb the water on its surface and will become soft and GELATINOUS. Lay wet rice paper on rolling surface. Note about wood surfaces: some wood surfaces are very porous and will cause the rice paper to stick terribly. If this is the case with your wood board, try using a plastic cutting board or large ceramic plate.
Best Rice Paper Dip Bowls
We love using these water dipping vessels for the rice paper because they take up much less room on the table, especially when you have lots of rollers and need multiple water dipping vessels. Note: We buy the 11″ size dippers because it’s big enough to fit various sizes of spring roll wrappers. Make sure the dipper fits the size of your rice paper.
Tips for Rolling the Summer Rolls
Again, mise-en-place organization for fresh spring rolls is very important. Lay down slightly firm rice paper on your rolling board and start assembling ingredients. During the time that you’ve assembled ingredients, the rice paper will become soft and gelatinous.
Starting at top 1/3 of rice paper closest to you, lay lettuce first. I suggest this because this will avoid any sharp fillings to tear the soft rice paper. Make sure to lay the rice paper at the top 1/3 so that you have plenty of surface area left to roll. The more rotations of rice paper you have, the stronger the rice paper will be and less likely to puncture. Do not over-stuff your fresh spring roll, start small then continue to add more fillings that works with your size rice paper.
“Tuck and Roll”– This is a term we teach in our spring rolls classes. You want to have a firm roll. This technique will work for any fresh summer rolls recipe too.
Gently pull away the edge of wrapper from work surface and roll over the filling. At the same time, use your forefingers to gather and “tuck” fillings together under the wrapper. “Tucking” allows you to keep all filings together and tight, so that the roll remains firm and straight. Slowly start to roll away from you and “tuck” in your filling toward you to keep the roll tight. ** Notice my fingers and how I use them to keep the fillings together and tight.
Roll about one rotation, then fold in the sides for “closed end” spring rolls. Continue to roll until rice paper ends, but remember to “tucking” ingredients together with your fingers. ** I will have a tutorial for rolling “open end” spring rolls later.
How to Store Vietnamese Spring Rolls or Meal Prep
Eating these fresh as you roll them is best. The rice paper is soft and pliable and the spring roll is plump. Serving and storing these rolls takes a little bit of patience as they can easily stick together or dry out in the fridge. Here’s some best practices and personal tips on how we prep these for eating a few hours later or the next day.
- To store them, you can wrap them in plastic cling wrap for about 1-2 hours in a cool area before serving. But if you have perishable proteins like seafood and other meats, then you must store them in the fridge. The rice paper will get hard and possibly crack if you store the in the fridge for more than about 5 hours.
- STICKING PROBLEMS: Storing the spring rolls stacked or side-by-side may cause spring rolls to stick and tear when separated. What I will do is to layer each row of spring rolls with plastic cling wrap so that the spring rolls are not touching.
- WRAP INDIVIDUALLY IN PLASTIC WRAP: For a few spring rolls for lunch, I will wrap each spring roll individually so that they remain fresh and won’t stick.
How to keep rice paper rolls from sticking and tearing
Storing the fresh spring rolls stacked or side-by-side may cause spring rolls to stick and tear when separated. What I will do is to layer each row of spring rolls with plastic cling wrap so that the spring rolls are not touching.
Favorite Spring Roll Ingredients and Tools:
It can sometimes be hard to find good spring roll ingredients and tools. Here’s some of the favorites:
Three Ladies Rice Paper Wrappers – Love these wrappers. Easy to work with. Consistently one of the best wrappers we’ve found.
Rice Paper Water Bowl – The perfect bowl for dipping the rice paper at the table. These have been life changers when it comes to our spring roll parties. Easy for everyone to dip and takes up so much less table space.
OXO Julienne Tool – This little tool makes julienning the carrots and other ingredients a breeze.
Flying Lion Fish Sauce – This has been our house fish sauce for decades. Great stuff! We’ll use it to make our dipping sauces as well as marinades.
Red Boat Fish Sauce – 100% all natural first press extra virgin Vietnamese fish sauce. One of the best craft fish sauce producers.
Koon Chun Hoisin Sauce – Our house favorite hoisin sauce. Great flavor. We use it to make a dipping sauce for spring rolls.
Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls Recipe with Peanut Dip
Now you’re an expert. Next is to make the ever so popular Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls with classic peanut dip. It’s probably one of the most popular fresh spring rolls or rice paper wraps you’ll find at Vietnamese restaurant menus. Time to make it now–> Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Dip Recipe
How to Make fresh Spring Rolls
Ingredients
for the spring rolls:
- 12 8-inch (12 20-cm) rice paper wrappers or rice paper spring roll wrappers (size is approximate)
- 1 small head of lettuce
- 1/2 lb. (227 g) cooked meat or shrimp , sliced thin
- 8 oz. (227 g) package dried rice vermicelli noodles or “rice sticks”, cooked to package instructions
- 1 medium cucumber , cut into thin strips
- fresh herbs: mint, Asian basil, Vietnamese coriander, Vietnamese perilla, and/or cilantro
for hoisin peanut dip (one of several dip options):
- 1/4 cup (70 g) hoisin (if hoisin dip is too thick, add water to thin out the dip)
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) peanut butter , almond butter, or cashew butter
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) chili garlic sauce , optional
Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip
- see recipe here Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip
Equipment
- Rice Paper Water Bowl optional
Instructions
For the hoisin peanut dip:
- In a bowl, combine all dip ingredients together (hoisin, peanut butter, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and optional chili garlic sauce and optional water, if needed). Use a fork to help blend well.
For the rolls:
- Cook the dried rice vermicelli noodles to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Gather all your filling ingredients on plates: meat or shrimp, noodles, lettuce, cucumber, herbs and rice paper wrappers.
- Add warm water to a large bowl. Quickly dip each rice paper wrapper in warm water for a few seconds and lay on rolling surface such as a cutting board or plate (they will still be slightly stiff).
- On the 1/3 section of the rice paper wrapper closest to you, start layering your fillings. Lay your lettuce first on the softened spring roll wrapper, then the meat or shrimp, vegetables, noodles, and herbs.
- Start rolling the wrapper over the fillings away from you, tucking and rolling the wrapper with your fingers, making sure all the fillings remain tight and round within the rice paper wrapper.
- Optional if rolling shrimp spring rolls: Roll spring roll until you have about 1/3 of rice paper left, then lay about 2-3 pieces of shrimp, cut side up in a row and finish rolling. The shrimp will lay on the outside of the spring roll when you are finished rolling.Serve with the hoisin peanut dip or Vietnamese fish sauce dip.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
What Dips to serve with Rice paper fresh spring rolls?
Traditionally in restaurants, these rice paper spring rolls will be served with a peanut dip. Some Mom and pop restaurants will serve it with the traditional Vietnamese fish sauce dip or a mung bean dip if served with pork rolls. But you can dip it what ever you like. Even a simple dip of some soy sauce, garlic and a little sugar is a good vegan dip for spring rolls.
Recipe for Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip
Here’s my personal recipe for Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip and click here for all our popular Vietnamese Recipes that are sometimes traditional and definitely sometimes not.
Questions?: If you have any further questions about these fresh summer rolls recipe, just ask below! But please read my tutorial first to make sure I haven’t answered it yet.
Have fun spring rolling!
-diane and todd
More Easy Fresh Spring Rolls Recipes:
- Garlic Chicken Spring Rolls
- Bacon Lettuce Tomato Spring Rolls
- Turkey Avocado Spring Rolls
- Now put all all your practice on this complete collection Summer Rolls Recipe or Spring Roll recipes. Enjoy, happy eating and rolling!
I made spring rolls with my friends at home and showed everyone your instructions. They’re so easy to understand!
Thanks for such thorough instructions! I’m now able to roll a perfect spring roll!
I made fresh spring rolls for the first time last week. Fillings were great but my husband said the wrapper consistency was gummy or slimy. I used the Three Ladies wrappers. Soaked them very briefly (3-5 seconds) in warm water. Do you have any tips for the next time that I try making them. The consistency didn’t bother me but wondering if I can do something differently so that my husband will enjoy them. I had fun making them, though!! Thank you!
Hi Diana,
The nature of fresh spring rolls can be “gummy or slimy”, especially if you’re not used to this texture. The “gummy” is what we call sticky, soft and pliable. We like this texture for our spring rolls. If they’re “slimy”, then the only thing we can think of is because they aren’t fully set yet and still wet. Maybe you can let the finished rolls sit for about 30 minutes for the wrapper to “dry out” a bit and have more bite.
Thank you so much for the tip !
I totally needed this tutorial! Thank you!!
My spring rolls were too sticky so they are hard to pick up. What am I doing wrong? I know they are fairly sticky but not as much as mine were. Any suggestions to come up with less sticky ones? Thanks.
Hi Sadie, some rice paper wrappers are made with more tapioca flour, which makes them extra sticky. Another reason why they’re sticky is possibly because you soaked them too long. The key is to just in warm water for a few seconds. When you pull it out of the water, it should still feel stiff, but that’s ok. As it lays on the rolling surface, it becomes more soft. Hope this helps!
Fresh spring rolls are one of my favorite things. Love this yummy recipe!
Thanks for such thorough instructions! They were so easy to understand for a spring roll novice like myself.
Glad the tutorial is useful! have fun rolling!
I grew up eating these and love coming back to them. Your write up is perfect! Best tutorial ever.
Hi Ngan! So glad you’re still enjoying spring rolls as much as we are. It never gets old.
This was so much easier than I thought it would be. Thank you!
We’re so glad you are making them easily! Now you can roll your heart out with amazing fillings!
Our spring rolls came out great and thanks for the lesson!
This is great vegetarian food! And thanks for the easy tutorial!
It can be easily made into vegetarian or vegan spring rolls. Glad you’re enjoying it!
This is a very thorough tutorial. We will be making these again and again!
This was very helpful! Thanks so much!
Hi-
I wanted to make spring rolls for a potluck but how do you prevent the spring rolls from together when you stack them?
thank you!
Hi Cathy, we’ll use plastic wrap and lay them between the rolls so that they don’t stick together. If there’s only a few rolls, we’ll wrap each individually. But if it’s a potluck and you have a big platter, just lay the plastic wrap over it’s layer and you’ll be good to go!
Hello
Can I use sautéed, cooled veggies instead of uncooked veggies?
Yes! You can totally used cooked veggies that are cooled. Back in college i was a Vegetarian and filled it with stir fried cabbage with egg. I would let it cool then roll it with vermicelli noodles. It was a hit with my friends.
Can you freeze these?
Freezing isn’t a good idea for the fresh spring rolls.