Spring Rolls
When it comes to good for you, fresh, and delicious, these Spring Rolls are it. Get ready to elevate your taste buds with these delightful rolls stuffed with shrimp, mint, carrots, cabbage, spring mix, and cucumbers! They are a flavor explosion wrapped in a bite-sized package, perfect for dipping in homemade peanut sauce.
When it comes to an easy appetizer, simple lunch, or light dinner, these spring rolls are the perfect solution. Kind of like these Pork Dumplings, not only are the quick and easy to make, but they taste amazing. And make a complete meal if needed. They are stuffed with succulent shrimp, crunchy cabbage, cool cucumber, crisp carrots, fresh spring mix, and aromatic mint all rolled up in a translucent rice paper. Giving each bite variety, flavor, and texture!
I am completely obsessed with Thai food, Thai cooking, and even have taken Thai cooking classes while visiting Bangkok. I have been studying Thai cooking for years because it is my absolute favorite, with recipe like Pad See Ew and Instant Pot Pad Thai, can you blame me? But I like to put my own spin on it, and one of the things I love about this spring roll recipe is I skip the rice noodles in the rolls.
This allows room for more veggies, and crunch, and also makes these a totally non-cook meal, which is awesome and so simple. I love being able to throw these together with just a few minutes, and no hassle.
Here are the reasons you’ll love these spring rolls:
- Fresh and Flavorful Packed with crisp greens and fresh vegetables like cabbage, carrot, and cucumber, along with aromatic mint, every bite is fresh and delicious.
- Hearty Indulgence: These rolls are both great for you, and hearty. They are packed with lean protein from shrimp and an abundance of veggies, making them a wholesome choice that doesn’t compromise on flavor.
- Versatility: While this is my favorite combo of veggies, the beauty of these spring rolls is you can really customize them as you wish. You can add fruit like mangos, or you can change the shrimp to chicken, or add a sauce inside, or a dipping sauce. Other fresh herbs make a great addition. Customize to your heart’s content! Additionally, they work as a snack, appetizer, lunch, or dinner!
- Vibrant: There is vibrant texture, as well as color, and flavor. You get the soft rice paper, crisp veggies, tender shrimp, etc. And they are colorful and visually appealing. Just a delightful wrapper of color and flavor.
- Dipping: While I love the flavors og these rolls, that is just the beginning. You can change up the overall flavor with various dipping sauces like peanut sauce, chili sauce, soy, sriracha, etc. or try any of these Asian Dipping Sauces.
What You Need to Make Spring Rolls
Making these shrimp spring rolls is eazy peazy and the ingredients are easy to find (full printable recipe below), here is what you need:
- Spring roll rice wrappers
- Carrot
- English cucumber
- Cooked shrimp
- Fresh mint leaves
- Red cabbage
- Spring mix
Substitutions
One of the lovely parts of spring rolls is you can customize them to your preferences, and add extra ingredients, or take things away without totally changing them. Here are a few fun additions or substitutions you can make:
- Avocado Slices: I love adding a strip of creamy avocado to my spring rolls, it adds a rich flavor and added texture that pairs beautifully with the freshness of the other ingredients.
- Rice Noodles: Traditionally spring rolls have rice noodles in them, I like the simplicity of leaving them out, but for an extra element of heartiness, adding them is great, they also add a satisfying chewiness to the spring rolls.
- Fruit: I love adding fruit to spring rolls. Add a sweet and tropical twist with thinly sliced mango, or how about some strawberries? It complements the freshness and adds some fun.
- Bean Sprouts: Enhance the crunchiness with the addition of fresh bean sprouts.
- Different Lettuce Leaves: I used spring mix, but you can add romaine for more crunch if desired, or green leaf.
- Other Fresh Herbs: Skip the mint, or add even more fresh herbs, like basil or cilantro. This can help to elevate the flavor profile or give it a different twist.
- Nuts and Seeds: Crushed peanuts or cashews are a fun way to add even more texture, protein, and fun to your spring rolls. Or try a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.
- Dipping Sauce: While my favorite is a peanut dipping sauce, you can change things up by changing the dip sauce, try something gingery, or a hoison sauce, or a soy based sauce, or even a sweet chili sauce.
- Other Proteins: Try switching the shrimp for cooked chicken, or even strips of tofu! There are so many options.
How to Make Spring Rolls
This is a simple, no cook recipe, making it a great option for busy days. And once you get the hang of wrapping your spring rolls, you will find it is truly so simple:
Step One: Prep Ingredients
The first step is simply getting all of your ingredients ready. The process goes quickly once you start, so slice and clean, and cut everything up and have it ready to go, so you can simply assemble.
Step Two: Prepare Rice Wrapper
The wrappers are rice paper, and you have to reconstitute them by soaking them in water.
To do this, simply fill a shallow dish or pie plate with an inch or so of water. Cold or luke warm works best.
Then working with the rice paper one at a time, you are going to take them out of the packaging and place them into your water to soak. Let them soak for about 15 seconds, and then remove them to a cutting board or counter top.
The paper will still feel pretty firm when you take it out of the water, but you want to have it be starting to soften, but not be too soft yet, as if it is, it will tear when you try to roll it.
The wrapper should still feel pretty firm after soaking, now it is time to assemble.
Step Three: Add Filling
Take your prepared ingredients and layer everything on the ⅓ of the spring roll.
Lay things out so you have shrimp across the roll, and then a few slices of cucumber, some carrots, cabbage, mint leaves and lettuce. You want to have enough to make each spring roll filling, without over filling it.
Step Four: Wrap
Once you have all the ingredients on the wrapper, it is time to wrap it or roll it like a burrito.
You do this by picking up the sides of the spring roll wrapper, and folding it over the toppings, then take the edge and snuggly secure it over the toppings and roll it up like a burrito.
It may take a few times to get it right, but you will get it.
The goal is to roll the ingredients tightly together as you roll everything up, without tearing the wrapper.
Step Five: Dip and enjoy!
Once made, it is time to enjoy them! The best way to do this is to dip them in something delicious. Thai chili sauce is great. Peanut sauce is great.
This is my favorite Peanut Sauce recipe.
Serve With
This recipe is so perfect for a light meal on its own, or I love pairing it with one of the following, making it a fresh and delicious appetizer:
- Chicken Fried Rice
- Easy Thai Coconut Chicken
- Thai Peanut Skillet Chicken
- Thai Peanut Shrimp Noodle Bowl
Tips and Tricks
Making this recipe is Eazy Peazy, but working with rice wrappers for spring rolls can be a bit delicate, and frustrating if you don’t know the tips and tricks. With a little forethought, and the use of these tricks, you will have the art of wrapping spring rolls down in no time:
- Soaking Time: Do not dip the spring roll wrappers in hot water, or they will get too pliable. Dip in cold or lukewarm water for about 10-15 seconds until it becomes pliable but still slightly firm. It will soften up more as you work with it, so be careful to not over soak or it will become fragile and difficult to work with.
- Use a Damp Cloth: One of the problems you can run into is the rice paper getting sticky and sticking to the surfaces and tearing while being rolled. So place a damp kitchen towel or paper towel on your work surface, it will keep it from sticking or tearing.
- Work Quickly: The reason you want to have everything prepped is so you can work quickly. Load the wrapper up, and wrap quickly so it does not get too soft and sticky.
- Don’t Overfill: Overfilling can make it hard to roll the spring rolls neatly, so use a moderate amount of ingredients, placed carefully in the center.
- Roll Tightly: You want it to be snug, so make sure to roll the wrapper tightly, which will make it not just more appealing but also prevent it from unraveling.
- Seal the Edges: As you roll, press the edges of the rice paper to seal the seams. If you need to dip your finger in water, do that!
- Practice Makes Better: It’s okay if the first few rolls aren’t perfect, they will still taste great. Be patient, and enjoy the process, you will get better at it.
- Storing: If you’re making spring rolls ahead of time, place a layer of plastic wrap or a damp paper towel between each layer to prevent them from sticking together.
- Serve Fresh: Spring rolls are best served fresh.
Make Ahead and Storage
Spring rolls are best made and served fresh.
If you want to make them ahead of time, the best way to do this is to prep all the ingredients separately, and store them separate until ready to assemble.
Other Great Recipes:
- Pad Thai Spring Rolls
- Southwest Spring Rolls
- Baked or Fried Shrimp and Veggie Egg Rolls
- Avocado Egg Rolls
- Lemon Chicken Egg Rolls
- Pineapple Fried Rice Stuffed Egg Rolls
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Shrimp Spring Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 package spring roll rice wrappers
- 1 carrot peeled and shredded or sliced into thin strips (or use ½ cup shredded carrots)
- 1 English cucumber peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 pound small, cooked shrimp deveined, tails removed, and shrimp sliced in half
- 1 bunch fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup red cabbage
- 2 cups spring mix
1 recipe of peanut sauce
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients together, and make sure they are prepped, veggies chopped, herbs washed and de-stemmed, shrimp cooked and sliced. Get them in an assembly line.
- Add about 1 inch of lukewarm or cold water to a large, deep dish, or pie pan.
- Place one rice wrapper at a time into the water and let soak for just 10-15 seconds. It should still feel pretty firm, but beginning to be pliable.
- Set it on a plate or counter, it will continue softening as you work with it.
- Layer ingredients onto the wrapper, with shrimp down the center, 1-2 slices of each veggie, a few leaves of mint, and plenty of spring mix.
- Now wrap the spring roll like a burrito. Fold the sides of the spring roll in over the ingredients, and pull the edge over the ingredients, rolling it tight, and sealing it as you go, rolling it like a burrito.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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