Spring Rolls

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 RangoonShrimp 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
 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.

Chinese Spring Rolls

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.

Spring Rolls
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.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

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Spring Rolls
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Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls are the vegetarian super light, crispy and tender vegetarian appetizer cousin of the traditional egg roll.
Course Appetizer, dim sum
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Chinese food, egg roll, spring roll, takeout
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 24 spring rolls
Calories 143 kcal
Author Sabrina Snyder

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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Mix cornstarch with two tablespoons of water.
  4. 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.
  5. Heat 3 inches of oil in a dutch oven to 325 degrees and fry the spring rolls until golden brown (about 2-3 minutes).

Nutrition Facts
Spring Rolls
Amount Per Serving
Calories 143 Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Fat 3g5%
Cholesterol 1mg0%
Sodium 214mg9%
Potassium 104mg3%
Carbohydrates 14g5%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 930IU19%
Vitamin C 7.3mg9%
Calcium 32mg3%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. 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.

  2. 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!

  3. Hi Sabrina,
    I would like to add meat to my spring rolls, how much would you recommend I add??
    Thank you

    1. 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.

  4. 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!

  5. 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..?

    1. I haven’t tested it but I would think that would work. I’d love to know how it turns out if you try.

  6. 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.

  7. 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

  8. 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?

  9. 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?

    1. Sounds like your oil might have been too hot. Try lower your heat next time and see if that helps. Good luck!

    2. 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!

  10. 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.

  11. 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!

    1. 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.

  12. Getting ready to make these, and it says to divide the 1/4 cup of canola oil but it never says what to do with the other half?? Just want to make sure I make these right. Thank you so much!

    1. The other half gets added when you add the other ingredients (garlic, carrots and bamboo shoots). Thanks for catching that.

  13. Your recipes make my mouth drool. So simple and inviting. Cannot wait to make your spring rolls. Yum,yum.

  14. I have the ingredients to make this recipe 2x for Mothers Day. Can I make the ingredients then refrigerate then put the filling on the skins the next day and bake them or fry them?
    thanks

  15. Do you fry the egg rolls before you freeze them or can they be frozen without frying g since mixture is cooked already, which is the best way

  16. Can I Air-Fry these? Would I spritz them as I do the other things I want to Air-Fry? Thank you for the recipe!!! I’ve made many of your meals and desserts and we’ve enJOYed them all!!! I do try to tag you in them but owrhaps Im not doing it right, on Facebook donI do @DinnerthenDessert? Or use the hash tag#? I love your name it’s what drew me in…Dinner then Dessert! My favorite things!!!

    1. I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes. You can always tag me on Instagram with #dinnerthendessert. That’s the best way for me to see your photos. 🙂 I’ve never tested this recipe using an air fryer so I’m not sure how they’d do. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out.

    2. Yes, these can be air fried which a much healthier option. I use the convection oven setting. 16 rolls took about 25 minutes to get crispy.

        1. Hmmm, that’s always the brand I use. I would recommend Spring Home if you’re still not having any luck finding Dynasty. You usually can find them in Asian grocery store. I would not recommend using Nasoya. I’ve never had good luck with them.

    1. They won’t be as crispy but it’ll still work. Spray them lightly with cooking spray to help crisp up. Bake at 400 degrees for 7-12 minutes or until golden brown. Good luck!

  17. Eu vou experimentar a receita eu provei o rolinhos só não sabia como se prepara. Quero também aprender a fazer cochinhas e croquetes

  18. I have made these twice now and they are terrific…..I eat them as a meal.
    My question is this, I froze them, then I cooked them in the oil, the wrapper was crisp but the inside was still cold. How do I accomplish cooking these so both parts are equally heated?

    1. I’m so glad you enjoy them! It sounds like you may need to lower your heat if the outside is getting done before the inside. Also, make sure not to over fill them because too much filing takes longer to heat up as well. Adjusting those two items should solve that issue.

  19. Hi! Wanted to recreate this for Thanksgiving but can’t find bamboo shoots anywhere near me, do you recommend any replacements for it?

    1. You can’t find them in the canned variety? I’d say maybe replace with very very thinly julienned parnsips that are half cooked or maybe Amazon. It pains me to link you to this because in a grocery store it would cost half this price, but for the holidays I know I love things to be perfect too. Bamboo Shoots

  20. The recipe is very similar to Poh pia or Filipinos no Lumpia both the same origin and I have to disagree about the rice paper wrappers since Vietnamese spring rolls are classically and traditionally made with small rice paper wrappers like the summer rolls sorry google it wrong that there never used An da their quite delicious if done right! ????

    1. Hey, Kelena & Sabrina!

      I was so disappointed to read about using rice paper as I slowly came to the realization that that is exactly what I bought. So, I looked on the package instructions….laughed….said, “Well, Vietnamese fry them! I’ll give it a try.” I’ll let you ladies know how it turns out.

  21. This recipe looks great! I am just a teeny bit confused, though. What are we doing with the other half of the 1/4 cup of canola oil. I keep reading the directions and can’t figure it out. Am I missing something?

    1. So sorry about that! The other half of the oil is used when cooking the second half of the veggies. Hope this helps clear up any confusion.