Whether you call them vegetable spring rolls or summer rolls, these fresh little vegetable-filled rice paper wraps are perfect for hot summer days. Make them as appetizers, for snacking, or as a side dish to grilled seafood, chicken or meat. It’s a fun way to get more fresh vegetables into your diet. Let me show you how, step-by-step.
These vegetable spring rolls are fresh, cool, and brightly colored from all of the crunchy raw veggies and herbs. Serve them with a creamy delicious peanut butter dipping sauce you'll really enjoy.
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Why You'll Like This Recipe
- They work as a snack, appetizer, or side.
- The fresh raw veggie filling makes them light and crunchy.
- They're fun to make.
For another fresh cool summer appetizer, try these colorful summer fruit kabobs made with melon balls.
Recipe Ingredients
Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Rice paper wrappers: Either brown rice or white rice. Find them on the Asian asile of your market or in an Asian market.
- Fresh vegetables: Zucchini, carrots, red or yellow bell pepper.
- Sprouts: Use either sprouts or microgreens.
- Cabbage: Adds nice color and crunch.
- Fresh herbs: Use mint, basil, or cilantro
- Lettuce: Red lettuce or a green leaf lettuce has good color and is soft for rolling.
Dipping Sauce
- Hoisin sauce: Look for no high fructose corn syrup brand or do as I do and make homemade hoisin sauce.
- Lime: Fresh lime juice gives the dipping sauce a nice tang and brightness..
- Soy sauce: Use either tamari (gluten-free soy sauce), or soy sauce. Read labels and be sure to buy low sodium.
- Ginger: Use either fresh, peeled ginger grated very fine, or the ginger puree in tubes or jars.
- Peanut butter: Use creamy peanut butter and read the labels for no junk added.
- Vinegar: Unseasoned rice vinegar or champagne vinegar.
- Garlic: Use fresh or buy the puree in a tube (in the produce department).
Chef's tip: To achieve very fine ginger for dressing, sauces, and other recipes, use an inexpensive microplane zester or a handy tool like this ginger grater. They work with garlic too.
Substitutions and Variations
- Many traditional recipes add small shrimp and rice vermicelli (bean thread) noodles. You can add small bites of whatever meat or seafood you like to vary the flavors, or keep them vegan.
- For protein that's vegan, use tofu.
- Swap the peanut butter for creamy almond butter, cashew butter.
- For nut allergies, use creamy sunflower butter or tahini.
- If available, layer in thin asparagus spears, raw or blanched.
Spring Rolls vs. Summer Rolls
Are these spring rolls or summer rolls? What's the difference? Commonly, even if incorrect, this recipe is actually summer rolls not spring rolls, but they are usually lumped into the same category. Generally speaking, here are a few differences between the two:
- Spring rolls hail from Chinese cuisine and summer rolls from Vietnamese cuisine.
- Spring rolls are usually fried (sometimes baked), while summer rolls are fresh and not fried.
- Spring rolls are wrapped in a thin wheat flour wrapper while summer rolls are wrapped in rice paper (so naturally gluten-free).
- Spring rolls are generally served hot while summer rolls are served chilled.
- Fillings vary with spring rolls having cooked fillings with pork, shrimp, cabbage, carrots, and mushrooms, while summer rolls often include shrimp, pork, rice noodles, lettuce, herbs such as mint, cilantro, or basil, and sometimes carrots and cucumbers.
- Summer rolls are generally considered a healthier option because they are not fried.
- Wrapper, fillings, and cooking methods used vary depending on the regional culture, though they usually include vegetables.
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Chef's tip: Another inexpensive little tool called a julienne peeler gives you perfect long, thin strips of carrot, zucchini, and bell pepper. So easy! Works well with cucumber too, which you could add.
How to Make Vegetable Spring Rolls
If you feel like you are all thumbs rolling your first vegetable spring rolls, don’t give up. They are kind of sticky, but you will get the hang of it. If you mess up the first ones, dump out the filling and start over with a new wrapper. If your wrap tears, wrap it in a second rice paper. They are fun to make and delicious to eat.
Step 1: Dip the wrappers in warm water briefly, just a few seconds to soften them. Use a wide shallow dish like a pie plate.
Step 2: Place rice paper wrapper on a cutting board. Working quickly, layer herbs and vegetables on the ⅓ closest to you, and start to roll. The wrapper will be sticky. Roll part of the way to the center, then fold sides in like you are rolling a burrito and finish the roll.
To make the dipping sauce, simply whisk all of the ingredients together until smooth in a small bowl.
Another good dipping sauce is hoisin. There are decent store brands available but you can also make homemade hoisin sauce (which is what I do) to control all of the ingredients and insure it's gluten-free.
Serving Suggestions
After assembling, arrange the rolls in a single layer on a flat platter or rimmed baking sheet and cover with plastic film. Don't stack them as they can stick together, then tear when you try to take them apart.
To serve, slice the spring rolls in half, arrange them on a plate or platter, and serve with the dipping sauce.
Recipe FAQs
Vegetables spring rolls are healthy because they are filled with raw vegetables and fresh herbs, like cilantro, mint, and basil. Chervil is another nice herb if you can find it.
To prevent spring rolls from sticking together, do not stack them on top of each other. If refrigerating before serving, lay them in a single flat layer on a plate or baking sheet. You can line the plate with a damp paper towel them cover the rolls in plastic film to prevent drying out.
If you want to add protein to vegetables spring rolls, try layering in either small shrimp or larger shrimp sliced in half lengthwise. Tofu is another good option. Also used is small bits of cooked pork or chicken.
Spring rolls are best freshly made, but you can make them a few hours ahead of time and refrigerate them in a single layer covered in plastic wrap. Made too far ahead, the rice paper gets kind of chewy and rubbery.
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📖 Recipe
Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce
Equipment
- Pie plate sized shallow dish to soak wrappers
Ingredients
Vegetable spring rolls
- 12 brown rice or white rice spring roll wrappers
- 1 large zucchini
- 3 large carrots
- 1 large red or yellow bell pepper
- 1 package sprouts of choice
- ½ small red cabbage
- 1 bunch fresh herbs - mint, basil, or cilantro
- 1 small head red lettuce washed and dried
- lime wedges optional
Peanut Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup Hoisin sauce no HFCS, or homemade
- 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 large lime
- 2 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari (gluten-free)
- 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger sub tube puree or jar
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped, grated, or zested
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Instructions
Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk or stir until smooth.
Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Prep vegetables and herbs: Cut zucchini and carrots into long, fine strips with a julienne peeler for the fastest, easiest cutting, then cut the fine strips into pieces about 4″ long. Cut the bell pepper into long, fine strips by hand with a sharp knife. Finely slice the cabbage with a sharp knife, or if you have a mandoline use that. Remove the leaves from herb stems. No need to chop them. Tear lettuce leave into small pieces. Place all vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet, large casserole or into small bowls
- Assemble the spring rolls, fill a large bowl half way with warm water. Working on a cutting board other flat surface, dip one rice wrapper into the water briefly, just a few seconds. The wrapper will be a bit stiff at first and soften as you work. They get a little sticky. Just go with it and you will get the hang of it. Place the wrapper on a cutting board or plate. Starting at the end closest to you, lay a few herbs down in ⅓ of the wrapper, then top with a few strips of each vegetable. Don’t go all of the way to the edges as you will fold the sides in like a burrito. Start rolling the vegetables and wrap snugly until you get about half way, then fold in sides and continue rolling to complete a roll. Place the finished spring roll on a plate. Now make more!
- To eat, cut the finished spring rolls in half and serve with dipping sauce of choice.
Notes
- For protein, add small shrimp, tofu, or cooked pork.
- Another good add is rice vermicelli (bean thread) noodles.
- Swap the peanut butter for creamy almond butter, cashew butter.
- For nut allergies, use creamy sunflower butter or tahini in the dipping sauce.
Nicole says
We live in a fairly rural area and I can't find spring roll wraps anywhere. Do you have any suggestions for a wrap replacement?
Sally Cameron says
Hi Nicole, they are kind of unique, widely available in more urban areas in the Asian section of a market. They come in both white and brown. Best thing would be to order online. Order on Amazon Prime. There is something called a paleo wrap that might work and you can buy them on http://thrv.me/AFoodCentricLife. The rice paper lasts forever in the pantry. Could you get a friend to go in with you on packages and share the cost? Here are the ones I used, but there are 6 packages in the order. http://www.amazon.com/Vietnamese-Brown-Rice-Spring-Wrapper/dp/B006UQUAQC/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1457803564&sr=8-5&keywords=rice+paper+wraps. Here is another (white rice) that has just 3 packages. http://www.amazon.com/Three-Ladies-Spring-Paper-Wrappers/dp/B00437EN2C/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1457803564&sr=8-1&keywords=rice+paper+wraps