Fresh Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
These Vietnamese spring rolls are fresh, not fried! This veggie-packed recipe is easy to follow, with step-by-step photos. Vegan and easily gluten free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on February 12, 2021
My now-husband asked me out for spring rolls and beer for our first date. I vividly remember walking into the nearby Thai restaurant to meet him. Our waitress had to come back three times to get our order, since we could not be bothered to look at the menu.
We were too busy connecting over our love for our dogs (we each have one), coming from families of three kids (I’m the oldest; he’s the youngest), our shared love of food and travel, a million other little things…
He finally ordered us a double batch of his favorite spring rolls. I was too nervous and full from a day of recipe testing to eat much. The waitress kicked us out because the restaurant was closing. I came home and danced around in the living room with Cookie. He asked me out again.
A couple of months later, I confessed that I didn’t share his level of appreciation for those spring rolls. “Too much noodles, not enough veggies. The carrots taste like chlorine. The peanut sauce could be more bold.” He dared me to come up with something better, and I finally have.
These are the fresh, veggie-packed spring rolls I want to order at Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. I can’t say they’re 100 percent authentic, but they’re pretty close.
Of course, I came up with an irresistible peanut dipping sauce to go with them. Invite some friends over and make it a spring roll party! Ready for the recipe?
Fresh Spring Roll Ingredients
These spring rolls are refreshing, colorful and fun to make. I left out tofu (you really can’t pack enough into the rolls to make it worthwhile) and shrimp, since I don’t eat shrimp.
These filling ingredients are flexible. You can use more carrot instead of cucumber, or extra cabbage in place of the lettuce. Here’s my favorite filling combination:
- Thin rice noodles
- Butter lettuce
- Red cabbage (or green cabbage)
- Carrot
- Cucumber
- Jalapeño (skip if you’re very sensitive to spice)
- Green onion, cilantro and mint
You’ll need basic pantry ingredients to make the peanut sauce: peanut butter, rice vinegar, tamari or soy sauce, honey or maple syrup, toasted sesame oil and fresh garlic.
How to Wrap Spring Rolls
Spring rolls can seem intimidating, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly, I promise. If you have folded a burrito before, you can definitely make spring rolls! Don’t stress if your spring rolls aren’t totally perfect. A few tips:
1) Make the base
Start by placing a few pieces of lettuce about one-third from the bottom of the circular wrapper. The width of your fillings will determine the width of the spring roll. You want to leave a couple inches open on the two sides for wrapping purposes.
2) Pile on the ingredients
Then, add the remaining ingredients. The exact order doesn’t matter much. Just pile them on top, making sure to take up the proper width. It’s ok if the fillings spill upward. I try to leave the top one-third of the wrapper open for wrapping.
3) Roll the filling
Gently pull the bottom of the wrapper up and over the lower portion of the filling. Try to keep the fillings compact as you roll upwards, just until the fillings are enveloped.
4) Envelope the sides and roll it up
Pull each side over to enclose the filling. Continue wrapping upward until your spring roll is fully wrapped!
Watch How to Make Spring Rolls
Please let me know how your spring rolls turn out in the comments. I hope they’re a big hit.
Craving more peanut sauce? Me, too. You’re going to love these:
- Crunchy Thai Peanut & Quinoa Salad
- Peanut Slaw with Soba Noodles
- Mango “Burrito” Bowls with Crispy Tofu and Peanut Sauce or Cabbage Wraps
- Peanut Dipping Sauce
You’ll also enjoy the fresh sesame soba spring rolls in my cookbook, Love Real Food (page 98).
Fresh Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
These Vietnamese spring rolls are fresh, not fried! They’re the perfect party appetizer or light meal. The peanut sauce sends them over the top. Recipe yields 8 spring rolls.
Ingredients
Spring Rolls
- 2 ounces rice vermicelli or maifun brown rice noodles*
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup torn butter lettuce, ribs removed
- 1 cup very thinly sliced red cabbage
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks or sliced into strips with a julienne peeler
- 2 Persian (mini) cucumbers or 1 small cucumber, thinly sliced or sliced into strips with a julienne peeler
- 2 medium jalapeños, ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh mint
- 8 sheets rice paper (spring roll wrappers)
Peanut Sauce
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 1 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water, as needed
Instructions
- To make the spring rolls: Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the noodles just until al dente, according to package directions. Drain, rinse them under cool water, and return them to the pot. Off the heat, toss the noodles with the sesame oil and salt, and set aside.
- Fill a shallow pan (a pie pan or 9″ round cake pan works great) with an inch of water. Fold a lint-free tea towel in half and place it next to the dish. Make sure your prepared fillings are within reach. Combine the green onion, cilantro and mint in a small bowl, and stir.
- Place one rice paper in the water and let it rest for about 20 seconds, give or take. You’ll learn to go by feel here—wait until the sheet is pliable but not super floppy. Carefully lay it flat on the towel.
- Leaving about 1 inch of open rice paper around the edges, cover the lower third of the paper with a few pieces of butter lettuce, followed by a small handful of rice noodles, some cabbage, and a few strips of carrot, cucumber and jalapeño. Sprinkle generously with the herb mix.
- Fold the lower edge up over the fillings, rolling upward just until the filling is compactly enclosed. Fold over the short sides like you would to make a burrito. Lastly, roll it up. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
- To make the peanut sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, rice vinegar, tamari, honey, sesame oil, and garlic. Whisk in 2 to 3 tablespoons water, as needed to make a super creamy but dip-able sauce.
- Serve the spring rolls with peanut sauce on the side. You can serve them whole, or sliced in half on the diagonal with a sharp chef’s knife.
Notes
*Noodle note: I always opt for whole grains when I can, so I used Annie Chun’s brand of maifun brown rice noodles. I found them with the Asian ingredients at Whole Foods.
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten free noodles and tamari (not soy sauce, which typically contains gluten).
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.
Make it peanut free: Substitute almond butter (if not avoiding nuts altogether) or sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter.
Prepare in advance: You can definitely mix together the peanut sauce in advance. You can also prepare the veggies several hours or up to 1 day in advance, and store them in an air-tight container (they will lose freshness with time). The spring roll wrappers tend to dry out with time or once chilled, so spring rolls are best assembled shortly before serving. If you’d like to keep them fresh for an hour or two, store them under a lightly damp, lint-free tea towel at room temperature (the skin tends to harden in the refrigerator).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Great recipe I super loved the sauce
Thank you, Sara!
Awfully bloody good. Simple, tasty and healthy. I guess I’ve made over 100 now. Fantastic
I’m glad you loved it, Paul! I appreciate your review.
These were terrific!! Fun to make and even more fun to eat. The peanut sauce is the real deal sealer. A hidden gem I’ll be using for all kinds of different dip-ables. I regret not doubling this to have for weekday lunches.
This recipe was outstanding! It was thoroughly enjoyed by both the adults and kids in my family! I highly recommend it! I added thinly sliced bell peppers in place of the jalapeno peppers as they were what I had on hand at home.
I’m glad it was a hit, Melanie! I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
I was thinking of making these for my husband’s lunch but it sounds like you wouldn’t recommend letting the spring rolls sit in the fridge over night. Is there a way to work with this?
Hi! You can try it, but they are best right away. Let me know what he thinks!
I wrap them up tight with plastic wrap then store overnight in a sealed container in the fridge. My husband loves taking them for lunch :)
My daughter is allergic to peanuts… do you think it’s possible to make the sauce using sunbutter or wowbutter instead? Or do you have any recommendations on a substitute?
Hi! Sure, you can try with sunbutter. Let me know what you think, Amanda!
Really plain, and I feel they need some sort of protein. The good thing is that spring rolls are versatile.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this recipe as written.
You can put them in a ziploc or wrap them individually in plastic wrap.
These were tasty and so fresh! I only had chunky natural peanut butter and added diced ginger and bit of fish sauce. Whizzed up in a blender jar the sauce was so smooth and a great accompaniment to the rolls. I didn’t have mint, but loved the bold flavor of jalapeno, cilantro and ginger. It was great to see my family devour so many veggies!
super easy and yummy! peanut sauce doesn’t need the garlic but some lime juice is a nice addition. also added some fried tofu for protein :)
You could add tofu strips with a spray of soy sauce on it. And you could add Sambal to the peanut sauce to give it a kick. Thank you for this yummy recipe!
After a winter’s worth of heavy, filling, dense foods, THIS is exactly what I’ve been craving! Your recipe looks wonderful and your photos are absolutely beautiful. Well done! I’m going to make this recipe this weekend for a bunch of people that I love. I wish I could make them ahead of time, but it looks like that’s a no-no? Is there any way to refrigerate them overnight?
Hi Amy! They are best right away. You could try prepping your filling and then assembling them when you are ready to serve.
I’ve made these for many different friends now that had never heard of fresh spring rolls/summer rolls before and absolutely every single one loved them, even the picky eaters and meat lovers!
I love adding mango strips as well, it adds a lovely fresh sweetness to the rolls.
It’s a very interactive dish to make. I like for everyone to chop up all the veg together, then put everything out on the table and let everyone make their own creations, it’s good fun!
The peanut sauce is so lush and complements the whole dish perfectly.
Sounds like a great way to change it up, Kira! Thank you for sharing.
I came here only for the peanut sauce as I had made my spring rolls before looking at this recipe. I added purple kale, cucumbers and carrots to mine. But I have to rave about this peanut sauce! The recipe for it is amazing. I never had peanut sauce before and was weary about whether I wanted to make it. But I am happy I did. This is delicious!
Sounds delicious! I’m glad you enjoyed them, Kendra.
I am a beginner cook and this recipe was very easy and delicious. Loads of compliments. It helps that we have a great Asian grocery store not too far away. Can we agree that toasted sesame oil is the elixir of life? The spring rolls are fun to make. It seems like this recipe could lead to a good family activity (our kids are away so haven’t tested this theory). The peanut sauce is out of this world!
This was so good! I made the sauce and added shrimp to the rolls. 10/10!!
Maybe I’m overlooking it, but where exactly did you get the rice wraps? I can’t find it anywhere in the recipe. Thanks!
Hi Michelle! You should be able to find them in the International section of your grocery store. It should be by the nori and other Asian items. I hope that helps!
My first time attempting spring rolls and they turned out wonderful!! Your detailed instructions on how to handle the rice paper and building the rolls was the difference in my outcome. Thank you for that.
Does the leftover peanut sauce have to be refrigerated? If so, warm in microwave when I’m ready for next round of spring rolls?
That’s great, Peggy! Yes, you can rewarm portions as needed.
This is the best thing EVER!! First timer. Made these for my veggie sister and omgg!
I added King prawns and Thai chillies to this recipe because I am spice obsessed and they were AMAZING! I really love how much veg are in these rolls, they are so fresh and crunchy.
It’s everything I want on a sunny afternoon.
I struggled with the rice paper at first but soon realised not to wet it for too long, just a dip on each side of the paper and off you go.
Peanut sauce was also incredible.
I have used so many of your recipes and I love them all, so thank you!
I made the peanut sauce.
TWO questions: when you call for rice wine vinegar, are you talking about the “seasoned kind ” ( that is already sweet ) or just the plain rice vineagr.
Also I added the tamari, and found the end product good, but over-salty.
I like the plain, but you can use seasoned if that’s all available.
These were sooo good! My husband and daughter didn’t care for the mint but I thought it gave the combination a nice flare. Either way, this will definitely be made again, maybe tomorrow. :) Thanks for the delicious recipe.
You’re welcome! Thank you for sharing, Karen. You can always omit the mint next time!
I have made these many times and they are always a hit, but I would like a seasoning to add to the veggies. What do you suggest?
Hi Kim, I prefer this as written. You could try some more fresh herbs if you like.
I’m pretty sure the peanut sauce is crack! I couldn’t find the paper spring rolls so used what our grocery store had. Egg Rolls/Spring Rolls. They were more like pasta but were fantastic! Boil them for 15 seconds, put in cold water dish and take out after a few seconds. Then follow the recipe. I didn’t like the mint but was glad to try it. The wrappers were to last a week so over the course of a week I ate these non-stop and go to bed craving more. I’m telling you the sauce is crack. Worth the time and effort to make these.
I’m glad to hear that, Laura! Thank you for your review.
These were so fun to make! Got the hang of rolling them after the first one. The peanut sauce was delicious.
Great to hear, Julia! I appreciate your review.
Greetings and thanks from Oaxaca. The family loves this especially during hot season when we need cool food. If this is BOLD peanut sauce, gimme more!
I wonder how they would turn out fried? Have you tried frying? Would you reccomend?
Hi, I didn’t for this recipe. Sorry!
these were the best spring rolls / pb sauce I’ve ever had, thank you! I’ll be making these many times this summer
I’m happy to hear that, Lilly! Thank you for your review.
So good. Easy to assemble once you have all the ingredients prepped. Thank you for the recipe. I love your site.
I love this recipe so much! It takes a bit of prep but they are fun to make :) I added crispy onions for a crunch! Yummm
Hi Kate! Really excited to try this recipe out, especially for packed lunches. I was wondering if you have any experience with freezing the rolls itself?
I don’t think these would hold up well frozen, sorry!
So this was the only recipe of yours that I sadly hated. The peanut sauce is delicious but using rice paper and rolling it was a complete disaster. So much work for nothing. Disappointed.
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love this.
I love this recipe the sauces is so delicious… I replaced the peanut sauce with wowbutter …
They were great! Only problem was my hubby loved the peanut sauce so much he ate the whole bowl like it was soup!
Hooray! Thank you for sharing, Kim. I appreciate your review.
These look wonderful and I will be making them soon, however, they are not spring rolls. They are summer rolls. If you want to get technical, in Asian cooking, spring rolls are fried and summer rolls are not.
Thank you for your feedback, Terry.
In my country we eat the peanut sauce with fries, over rice, with meat.. We love it! We do make it a bit diffrent, but for sure it needs some spice from sambal oelek!
I am Vietnamese and I would love to have either mango (still hard, not fully ripen) or pineapple (sliced into strips) for two reasons – the orange/ yellow color to add to your tropical summer pallet, and they provide the (missing) sweet-sourness. I also think, to make shopping easier and cheaper, iceberg lettuce is totally fine, in fact it is even crunchier (the trade-off is losing green color). (As someone mentioned, for yellow and red, bell peppers are also great, sweet, crunchy, colorful, but they are slightly expensive and a bit curvy to work with). Love how simple the ingredients for your peanut butter sauce is!
Thank you for sharing!
For me spring rolls are only as good as the sauce and this one tastes great! Adding this one to my recipe book.
I’m glad to hear you are adding this to your recipe book. I appreciate you taking the time to share and review, Valerie!
Sounds great. I take the rice paper and run it quickly through the water from the kitchen faucet so both sides are wet. I use a plastic cutting board to place the paper with a third hanging over the edge with the board at the edge of the counter. I fill the paper and when the third hanging over the edge hangs down, I roll it. Excellent way to get out vegies..
I made these and will make them again. Like, maybe tomorrow. I left out the noodles And wrapped my rolls in 2 sheets of rice paper, one sheet at a time. It also made my fat rolls a little easier to eat because they weren’t as fragile. I made my peanut sauce with fresh ground peanut butter too. For me it tasted so much better without the extra sweetness.
This was so good. Especially the peanut sauce. I added some red pepper flakes to kick it up a notch. I’ll certainly be making this again. Thank you for this recipe :-)
You’re welcome, Angela! I appreciate you review.
I absolutely loved this recipe❤️
I’m a chef in Long Island and I thought to try these beautiful looking spring rolls which I’ve tried before at restaurants , totally out of my comfort zone , and I was so delighted at how much flavor a simple dish can have . The sauce really packs a punch , delicious!! It’s true what they say , start with fresh , good quality ingredients and they will do most of the work for you. I tried the recipe at home first! It as a great hit. Now I’m making this dish for clients. Thank you for the easy instructions , anyone can make these!
That’s great to hear, Grace! I appreciate your review.
Loved this recipe! I added tofu and just used cilantro (no mint) because that is what I had on hand. Would love to try it with shredded or thinly sliced chicken breast and avocado next time. Thanks for the easy and healthy meal!
I love how customizable these are. The peanut sauce is to die for!
I made the peanut sauce exactly to the recipe… but I’ve found that the sauce is WAY to vinegary…. anyone else? Been adding more maple and peanut butter to counter it which is just helping.
Hi Laura, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like this sauce. I appreciate your feedback. You could try adding a little more sweetener to balance it out.
I tried so many peanut sauce recipes before and it was never perfect…FINALLY the best sauce ever… I love my vegan spring rolls and homemade is unbeatable… Love the recipe I add some avocado and home grown wheat sprouts and voila. Thank you!
Hooray! Thank you for sharing you loved it, Val.
Thank you for this. Just made the spring rolls for the first time. (didn’t have time to make the peanut sauce), and they taste amazing. My friends gave me 10/10. Next time I’d probably put less filling as mine were rather fat/lots of filling!
Wish I could post a pic.
Best time I wanna make the peanut sauce
Thanks I’ll try today and let you 3how good they taste.
Hi from DR!!! Love love love them, I am so grateful for this recipe. I added Basil and its amazing so refreshing. And the sauce wow!!!
Many manyThanks,
Maria Esther
So perfect!! Thank you so much!!
You’re welcome, Caroline! I appreciate your review.