Spring Rolls are the vegetarian super light, crispy and tender vegetarian appetizer cousin of the traditional egg roll.
Spring Rolls are the perfect dim sum appetizer alongside Crab Rangoon, Shrimp Tempura and Potstickers. My favorite recipe to serve this alongside is actually General Tso’s Chicken because the sauce from the recipe is the PERFECT dipping sauce!
Spring Rolls Recipe
Spring Rolls? Are those just vegetarian egg rolls? NOPE. Spring Rolls are the best, way better than an egg roll. Why? The super thin, crispy wrapper that basically shatters when you bite into it.
This isn’t an egg roll. This is miles better, less chewy, more crispy and light. Less oil seeping into the wrapper. It is an all around win.
You can fill the spring roll wrappers with anything you’d like. I filled these with a traditional vegetarian filling but chicken, pork or even a shrimp filling would be amazing! Especially shrimp, shrimp spring rolls were the centerpiece of a dinner party for 50 I once did. “Dim Sum and Then Some” was the theme.
I actually even made versions for that even with butter sautéed bananas with cinnamon and sugar inside too.
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How to Cook Spring Rolls:
Spring Rolls are easy to make and since your filling is already fully cooked you only have to fry them long enough to cook the spring roll wrappers to a perfect golden brown.
Tips for making the BEST spring rolls ever:
- Use spring roll wrappers. These are thinner than traditional egg roll wrappers so please don’t substitute anything else for them. If you can’t find them at your local grocer try an ethnic grocery store instead.
- Do not buy rice paper. If you were to Google them you’ll see some of the images include a translucent white wrapping. These are for fresh rolls with fresh vegetable filling. Do not buy and fry these. Those are soaked in water before wrapping and are never fried.
- Do not overfill the rolls, I use about two tablespoons of filling and this keeps them thin enough to fry well even from frozen.
- Freeze the filled rolls in a single layer until frozen so they don’t stick together. This will prevent the seal from breaking when you try to fry them individually.
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How to Make Spring Rolls
- Cut the vegetables thinly, the more tender the vegetables are the more crisp and light the spring rolls are.
- Cook the filling until it is as dry as you can make it. A wet filling will make for a soggy spring roll.
- Do not add hot filling to spring roll wrapper. The wrapper is so thin it will become soggy quickly.
- Keep the spring roll wrappers covered before using. If they dry out they will become brittle and break.
- Eliminate as much air as you can, it will burst during frying and make a mess.
- Wrap the spring rolls tightly and add a bit of water to the edges to seal them after wrapping.
What to serve with Spring Rolls?
Spring Rolls don’t need anything special to be served with them but we usually serve them with Sweet and Sour Sauce and Chinese Hot Mustard.
Spring Rolls
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup canola oil divided
- 8 cups napa cabbage sliced thinly
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 carrots sliced thinly
- 8 ounces bamboo shoots sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 24 8" square spring roll wrappers
- canola oil for frying
Instructions
Add half the canola oil to a large heavy skillet on medium high heat and add in the napa cabbage cooking 8-10 minutes while stirring until almost all the liquid it releases has cooked off.
Add in the garlic, carrots and bamboo shoots and cook for 1 minute while stirring before adding in the mirin, soy sauce and sesame oil and stirring again then let filling cool completely.
- Mix cornstarch with two tablespoons of water.
- Lay out the spring roll wrapper, brush cornstarch slurry around the edges to moisten and add about 2 tablespoons of filling in a long rectangle shape, folding in from the sides and rolling the wrappers closed tightly.
Heat 3 inches of oil in a dutch oven to 325 degrees and fry the spring rolls until golden brown (about 2-3 minutes).
Rice paper absolutely is fried in some recipes. Many fried Vietnamese spring rolls call for rice paper to be fried. It just isn’t commonly called for in Chinese recipes.
Thanks for this recipe! Can you recommend a brand or do you have a link for wrappers? I have only been able to find banh trang (rice paper) at my local market and we don’t have any ethnic stores unfortunately! Thank you!
I use Dynasty brand. Hope this helps!
Can these be make in an air fryer?
I’ve not tested it but if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
Hi Sabrina,
I would like to add meat to my spring rolls, how much would you recommend I add??
Thank you
You’ll want to add it in with the filling. You won’t need a lot for each spring roll as you don’t want to over stuff them.
My husband just asked me yesterday if we could air fry the spring rolls and I said “no, spring rolls are raw” — so happy I was proven wrong; this recipe looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it!
I’m looking forward to making these spring rolls; all your tips for making the best spring rolls I will use because I experienced all those mishaps; my question is, can I use a deep fryer for these ; I will be using peanut oil and will be making them the same day of the event; can I freeze them for 5-10 min , then deep fry..?
Yes 🙂
Best. Recipe. Ever. Thank you! Making a freezer full later. 🙂
If you have an air fryer, you can reheat them very quickly and they stay crisp
I haven’t tested it but I would think that would work. I’d love to know how it turns out if you try.
So glad I found this site. Can’t wait to start cooking some of these recipes that I just printed off. I love to learn about new ways of cooking and new ingredients so I can’t wait to see what will be in this website or blog.
Welcome!
I read further down on other responses and found my answer . 🙂
Sabrina
thank you. i will try this one for sure. Can they be frozen? if so, do I fry first and leave fresh?
thank you
from Sandy in Michigan
Hi Sabrina,
I love these rolls. Can I fry a whole bunch 1 hour before serving. They will not be hot but room temperature when I serve them. Is that ok?
Sure 🙂
Question… I tried using a fryer for my rolls and I couldn’t get the spring roll paper to brown like yours are in the pictures, they stayed white and bubbled up with tones of little bubbles all over them… what did I do wrong?
Sounds like your oil might have been too hot. Try lower your heat next time and see if that helps. Good luck!
Hi Brie,
Did you use rice paper to roll them instead of pantry wraps? I made that mistake last time and didn’t learn about the difference until after. Hope that helps!
What is considered a serving size for this recipe….one? Just looking at the nutritional info and I want to make sure I’m accurate.
To make it easier, I made 1 spring roll= 1 servings.
You can actually use rice paper. That’s the way they are supposed to be made. That’s why it’s a fried spring roll. You get the paper flexible, not soggy like you would making fresh spring rolls, it works great!
CAN I MAKE THESE, REFRIGERATE THEM AND HEAT IN OVEN THE NEXT DAY?
THEY LOOK WONDERFUL
THANKS
You can reheat the leftovers, however they won’t be as crispy. If you want prep them ahead, I suggest assemble them and freeze until the day you want to eat them and then fry that day.