This fresh spring rolls recipe is served with a delicious peanut dipping sauce. Each roll is filled with healthy, crisp vegetables, rice noodles, shrimp, and herbs. Impress family and friends with this easy appetizer!
Jessica’s Recipe Science
- A quick soak of the rice paper reactivates the dried rice starch, making it flexible and pliable without dissolving or tearing.
- Cooling and rinsing the noodles removes excess surface starch and stops carryover cooking, preventing gummy, clumped noodles.
- Placing lettuce down first creates a moisture barrier, and rolling tightly removes air pockets, allowing the hydrated starch wrapper to seal.
Featured Comment 103
“AMAZING recipe!! Easy to follow and my family loved it.”—Lauren P.
Why It Works
Fresh spring rolls may look delicate, but once you understand how the rice paper works, they’re incredibly easy to make. The wrapper is made from dried rice starch, and a quick 15- to 20-second dip in water is all it needs to become soft and flexible. It might still feel slightly firm when you lay it down — that’s okay! It continues to absorb moisture as you add the fillings. The key is having everything prepped before you start, so assembly is smooth and stress-free.
This is the kind of recipe I love for warm days, casual gatherings, or when you want something fresh but satisfying. You get crisp veggies, tender shrimp, and soft noodles all wrapped up in one bite. Don’t skip the peanut sauce! The creamy peanut butter naturally blends with hoisin and rice vinegar to create a thick, luscious dip that clings to every roll.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Rice Paper Wrappers: You can buy Vietnamese spring roll paper wrappers at most major grocery stores or Asian markets. They are very thin, dry, translucent circular sheets made from rice. They measure close to 9 inches (22 cm) wide and can be filled with anything your heart desires.
- Shrimp: Buy pre-cooked shrimp, or blanch them in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes until pink and opaque. I recommend using the 16/20 count (extra jumbo) and white or pink type of shrimp.
- Noodles: Thin rice noodles add light structure and balance to the fresh spring rolls. Their soft starch cushions the crisp vegetables and shrimp while absorbing excess moisture, keeping the rolls fresh, not watery.
- Vegetables & Herbs: Boston lettuce creates a sturdy barrier that protects the delicate rice paper, while shredded carrots, red cabbage, and bean sprouts add crisp texture, natural sweetness, and crunch. Mint and cilantro bring bright, aromatic notes, keeping each bite light, vibrant, and refreshing.
- Peanut Dipping Sauce: A sweet-and-savory peanut sauce is a must-have for these rolls. It’s a simple blend of hoisin sauce, creamy peanut butter, and rice vinegar. The consistency is thick and luscious, perfect for dipping.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
This fresh spring roll recipe is easy to customize! Try these delicious ideas:
- Protein: Grilled chicken, Cantonese char siu, baked tofu, crab, lobster, or tofu.
- Vegetables: Sliced bell pepper, pickled red onions, cucumber, spiralized vegetables, avocado, or green onion.
- Lettuce: Use other types of lettuce, such as romaine, red leaf, green leaf, or butter leaf.
- Fruit: Mango, pineapple, or strawberries.
- Make it Spicy: Add sliced jalapenos to the rolls, or try adding sriracha or chili oil to the dipping sauce.
- Peanut Dipping Sauce Swaps: Use almond butter or cashew butter instead of peanut butter. Replace hoisin with a mix of soy sauce and a touch of honey or brown sugar. For a lighter option, serve with nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce), sweet chili sauce, or sweet and sour sauce.
How to Make Fresh Spring Rolls
Step 1: Make the Peanut Dipping Sauce
Whisk the hoisin, peanut butter, water, and rice vinegar until well combined to form a stable emulsion. The hoisin sauce has a strong savory umami taste, so no additional soy sauce or fish sauce is needed. I find that the sauce is sweet enough from what’s already added to the peanut butter. Adjusting the water controls viscosity, so the sauce is thick enough to adhere but fluid enough for dipping.
Experimentation Encouraged: Feel free to adjust the sweetness level up or down, especially if you’re using unsweetened or homemade peanut butter. Maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, or coconut sugar are all good options.
Step 2: Cook the Rice Noodles
Rice noodles are primarily starch. Cooking them just until tender hydrates and gelatinizes the starch without over-swelling it, which would make them sticky and mushy. Rinsing with cold water immediately stops carryover cooking and washes off excess surface starch, preventing clumping and keeping the texture light inside the roll.
Step 3: Cook the Shrimp
Shrimp cook quickly because their muscle fibers are delicate and low in connective tissue. Heating just until pink and opaque ensures the proteins coagulate without tightening excessively, which would cause a rubbery texture. Rapid cooling halts residual heat transfer and preserves a tender bite. Cut them in half lengthwise so they lie flat in the roll.
Step 4: Soak the Rice Paper
Rice paper is made from dried rice starch. A brief soaking rehydrates the starch network, making it flexible without dissolving. Simply dip one sheet in water for about 15 to 20 seconds, lay it on a damp towel (so it doesn’t stick) when filling and rolling. Even if it feels slightly firm at first, the residual moisture continues to migrate inward, making the wrapper pliable as you assemble, preventing tearing while maintaining structure.
Pro Tip: If you find the wrappers are getting really sticky, just dip your fingers in water and use them to help separate the clingy areas.
Step 5: Fill and Roll
For traditional Vietnamese spring rolls, layer crisp lettuce, shredded carrots, thinly sliced red cabbage, and bean sprouts with the shrimp for fresh crunch and contrast. Vermicelli rice noodles add substance while keeping the rolls light. I also tuck in 2 to 3 sprigs of fresh mint and cilantro for bright, herbaceous flavor in every bite.
Avoid overfilling or wrapping too tightly, as the delicate rice paper can tear. Start with lettuce to create a barrier between the moist noodles and wrapper, then roll snugly to remove air pockets so the starch naturally adheres and seals without heat.
Step 6: To Serve
Fresh spring rolls are best served right away because hydrated rice paper continues to lose moisture to the air, which can cause it to firm up or toughen over time. Make sure to dip the roll in the luxurious peanut dipping sauce!
The sauce is also delicious served with my crispy vegetarian egg rolls. Try my Vietnamese shrimp salad recipe if you like the flavor combinations in these rolls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start by boiling the rice noodles until tender, then rinse with cold water, drain well, and refrigerate to prevent sticking. Blanch the shrimp in boiling water just until pink and opaque, chill, then slice in half lengthwise. Set a damp kitchen towel on a cutting board and fill a large bowl with cool water. Dip one rice paper wrapper in the water for 15 to 20 seconds, then lay it flat on the damp towel. Arrange lettuce, rice noodles, carrots, cabbage, and bean sprouts on the bottom third of the wrapper. Roll halfway into a cylinder, fold in the sides, then add mint, parsley, and two shrimp halves. Continue rolling tightly into a sealed cylinder.
The wrapper will still feel rigid when you remove it from the water. Don’t be tempted to soak for more than 20 seconds, as it will be harder to work with. The starches in the paper become very sticky and pliable like glue when hydrated, tightly sealing in the filling.
It’s best to eat them fresh within an hour or two of rolling. However, they can be covered with plastic wrap, refrigerated, and enjoyed within 24 hours. Yet I’ve noticed that the rice wrapper can become more rigid as it dries out in the refrigerator.
More Asian Appetizers
If you tried this Fresh Spring Rolls Recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Fresh Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
Peanut Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, Marukan Seasoned Gourmet
- 1 tablespoon chopped peanuts
Fresh Spring Rolls
- 6 ounces thin rice noodles, Thai Kitchen Thin
- 10 jumbo shrimp, 16-20 count, peeled and deveined
- 10 round rice paper wrappers, Three Ladies Brand
- 10 boston lettuce leaves, stem ends removed, cut in half
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup thinly shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 20 mint leaves
- ½ cup cilantro leaves, lightly packed
Instructions
- Make the Peanut Dipping Sauce – In a medium bowl, whisk together hoisin sauce, peanut butter, water, rice vinegar, and peanuts until smooth. Add more water for a thinner consistency. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.
- Cook the Rice Noodles – In a medium pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add the dried rice noodles and cook until tender but not mushy, about 4 to 6 minutes or according to package directions. Transfer to a colander and rinse with cold water. Refrigerate until ready to use. Do not discard water!
- Cook the Shrimp – Bring the water to a boil, add shrimp and cook for 1 to 1 ½ minutes, until pink and opaque. Immediately remove the shrimp from the water, drain, and refrigerate. Once cool, cut the shrimp in half lengthwise to create two pieces. Set aside.
- Soak the Rice Paper – Fill a pie dish or a large bowl with cool water, large enough to hold the piece of rice paper. Set a damp dish towel on a cutting board. Immerse one rice paper sheet in the water for 15 to 20 seconds. Remove, shaking off excess water, and lay flat on the damp cloth. The paper may still seem stiff; however, it will become pliable as you build each roll.
- Fill and Roll – Lay one piece of lettuce over the bottom third of the rice paper. On the lettuce, place 2 to 3 tablespoons of noodles, 1 tablespoon of carrots, 1 tablespoon of cabbage, and a few bean sprouts. Roll up the paper halfway into a cylinder. Fold the sides in an envelope pattern. Lay 2 shrimp halves, cut side down, along the crease. Place a few cilantro and mint leaves next to the shrimp. Keep rolling the paper into a tight cylinder to seal. Place the seam side down on the plate. Repeat with remaining wrappers.
- To Serve – Serve the shrimp spring rolls immediately with the peanut dipping sauce.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Serving Size: 1 spring roll plus 1 ½ tablespoons dipping sauce.
- Lettuce Options: Red leaf, green leaf, or butter leaf lettuce can be substituted for Boston.
- Storing: Wrap each roll tightly in plastic wrap. Place in a single layer in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving to soften the rice paper. Peanut sauce can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Brianna H. says
Delish and so fresh!! Made these tonight for dinner for my boyfriend and I!! He ate 5 rolls!! Will definitely make again, might try with pork or chicken next time!!
Jessica Gavin says
Wow, I’m impressed! Let me know how the spring rolls taste with chicken or pork, sound delicious!
Carrie Burns says
Perfect recipe, especially for a first-time basil roll maker! The double wrapper and lettuce wrap trick was great and the peanut sauce recipe was excellent!
Jessica Gavin says
Thanks for making the shrimp spring rolls, Carrie!
Joyce says
I’ve made fresh spring rolls before, but I love your recipe, especially the sauce!
One thing I wonder though is about how these could be 357 calories EACH! Fresh spring rolls are regarded as a healthy snack, and just one of these would not be what I consider healthy.
Every query about the calories in fresh spring rolls is much, much lower. After all, they are mostly vegetables, and shrimp is low cal too. The wrapper is about 45 calories. And 1T peanut butter is 95 cal, 1T Hoisin is 45 cal, and the rest of the sauce ingredients are negligible. At most, even with 1T sauce per spring roll, the most I’d think one spring roll with sauce would be around 150 cal. Can you clarify how you arrived at the calories in these? Thank you!
But mostly, thanks for the recipe!
Joyce says
Regardless of the calories, I made these tonight, and ate three of them for dinner. I used cilantro instead of mint or parsley, because I love it! It doesn’t taste like soap to me, and I love the fresh taste.
The sauce is….to die for. I’m so happy I found your recipe!
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you for making the recipe, Joyce!
Don says
Best rolls ever! Any tips on how to store them in the fridge over night without them ripping apart from sticking to the plate the next day?
Jessica Gavin says
I would individually wrap the rolls in plastic wrap. You can even place paper towel between the plastic wrap and the roll to make it less stocky when unrolling.
Lauren says
DO NOT wrap them in paper towel! It’s a bloody nightmare and you’ll need to re-roll everything
Wrap them in Saranwrap
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Lauren- I appreciate your feedback! Was the paper towel damp before placing the rice paper on top?
Christine Yoon-Taylor says
My friend and I made these together yesterday and they turned out absolutely amazing! Thanks for all the tips but especially about not leaving the wraps in water for more than 20 seconds and the peanut sauce alternatives. My daughter is allergic to peanuts so I used sunflower butter instead and much to my surprise, lol, it was really good! And instead of chopped peanuts I used chopped pumpkin seeds for that lovely added crunch. We’ll definitely be making these again asap!
Jessica Gavin says
Great job! I love your nut free recipe alternatives, sounds delicious!