Crispy Rice Paper Spring Rolls

What to expect from this recipe?

Our rice paper spring rolls recipe is closer to the classic Chinese spring rolls than to Vietnamese spring rolls. There is a huge difference between these two:

• The Chinese version has a pre-cooked filling, while the Vietnamese version contains raw, fresh ingredients.
• The Chinese dish is deep-fried, pan-fried, or baked, while the Vietnamese dish is served uncooked as a cold appetizer.
• The Chinese rolls are wrapped in yellow spring roll wrappers, while the Vietnamese rolls are wrapped in opaque rice paper wrappers.

If you try our spring roll recipe with rice paper wrappers, you can expect a crunchy filling of cabbage, carrot, scallion, sprouts, and red pepper.

The addition of caramelized shredded tofu in a sweet Hoisin sauce will add a savory and slightly sweet taste, reminiscent of vegan shredded duck.

The rice paper wrappers will provide a delicate and slightly chewy texture, complementing the flavorful filling perfectly. Overall, this dish is a great option for an appetizer or snack.

Ingredients

The following list of ingredients will provide you with everything you need to make a batch of delicious rice paper spring rolls.

• Rice paper wrappers → We have a complete guide on rice paper wrappers with everything you want to know about how to choose it, how to prepare it, and how to roll it.
• Sesame oil
• Red cabbage → You can use other types like white, green, or even savoy cabbage. We choose the red one purely for its lovely color.
• Scallion
• Carrot
• Red bell pepper → You can use other colors like yellow or green, but we thought red looks the best.
• Sprouts → Any type of sprouts works here, we do love radish and bean sprouts.
• Soy sauce → choose tamari to make it gluten-free
• Tofu → The best tofu to shred is firm tofu.
• Hoisin sauce

Instructions

Preparing the ingredients

• Wash, peel and shred carrots using a grater or cut them in julienne-style with a knife. Julienne means thin matchsticks, so cut them as thin as you can.
• Wash and cut spring onion and bell pepper in julienne-style with a knife.
• Take the outer leaves of red cabbage. Shred them using a grater with large holes, or cut them into shreds with a knife.
• Wash bean sprouts if you bought them unwashed.

Pre-cooking the veggie filling

1. Take a frying pan or a skillet and heat it over medium heat. Add sesame oil.
2. Add all cut veggies (scallion, carrot, bell pepper, and red cabbage). Stir and cook them for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add bean sprouts and soy sauce (or tamari). Stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
4. The filling is ready when the veggies have softened, but they are still a bit crunchy. You don’t want them too soft and mushy. You can check the texture in the below picture.

Making marinated shredded tofu

1. Use a grater with large holes and grate the firm tofu. We used ⅓ of a 12-oz tofu block to make 16 spring rolls.
2. Take a frying pan or a skillet and heat it over medium heat. Add sesame oil.
3. Add shredded tofu and soy sauce (or tamari). Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add Hoisin sauce. Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the tofu gets dark brown. See the below photo for texture reference.

How to roll rice paper spring rolls?

It is easier than it looks. We will walk you through it step by step. For detailed info, read our guide to rice paper wrappers that answers all the questions you may have. For a shorter version, read our Cooking Tips section below.

1. Let the filling you want to use cool. We don’t recommend starting rolling while any of the ingredients are hot or too warm.
2. Pour water in a large shallow bowl. You should use a large enough bowl so you can submerge the rice paper in one go.
3. Soft rice paper can be sticky, so prepare a non-stick parchment paper to place the rolls on it.
4. Gently submerge the rice paper in lukewarm water. (See our Cooking Tips section on how to know the correct duration.)

5. Once the rice paper is soft, transfer it to a dry and smooth surface. (I wipe my surface more or less dry after each roll.)

6. Place the filling around the lower third of the rice paper. If you have a standard size rice paper (approx. 20-22 cm /8-9 inches), you can fit 2-3 tablespoons of filling, which would make an approx. 10 cm (4-inch) long spring roll.

7. First fold the sides gently but tight towards the middle.

8. Take the bottom seam and fold it upwards gently, but tight.
9. Use your fingers to tuck the filling tight within the rice paper before rolling it all the way up.

10. Roll it all the way up, but use your fingers to keep the filling tucked tightly.

11. Place your finished spring roll on a parchment paper with the closing seam on the bottom.

Baking the rolls

1. Preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (ca. 202 °C).
2. Place the rolls on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.
3. Spray it with a bit of oil. Don’t brush them, as you might end up adding too much.
4. Bake them for 10-15 minutes. The rice paper will not change color really, so don’t wait for them to be golden brown. I usually flip them after 10 minutes to make sure that they are crispy all around.

Cooking Tips

Learn all about rice paper wrappers in our guide. Discover how they are made, their differences, and why the rolling method varies based on the type. To make rice paper spring rolls successfully, these are the 3 most important tips from the guide:

• Use dry hands → Make sure to dry your hands before handling rice paper wrappers to avoid them sticking together. Wet hands can activate the rice papers.
• Damp towel or submerging in water? → The method of softening rice paper depends on its tapioca starch content. Check packaging for ratio of tapioca and rice flour, use a damp towel for high tapioca content and submerge in water for high rice flour content.
• How long to submerge rice papers wrappers? → Submerging time varies by type. Typically, you will need 7-8 seconds for wrappers made of 100% rice flour, less for those with tapioca starch. Test by submerging your rice paper for 3-4 seconds. Place it on the smooth, clean surface and wait for 2-3 seconds. If it is still not soft, submerge it again.

Variations

• Change the filling: You can change the ingredients of the filling based on what you like. We recommend vegetables you can shred or on the softer side like oyster mushrooms, shiitake, or button mushrooms, lettuce leaves, bok choy, spinach, kale and so on. Instead of tofu, you can add tempeh, or TVP as vegan ground beef. Vietnamese spring rolls do have rice noodles or vermicelli noodles, but they do not really fit with precooked veggies that much.
• Change the cooking method: You can bake, deep-fry, pan-fry and air-fry these rice paper spring rolls. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Baking results in the least crispy of all, but you can make a large batch. Deep-frying and pan-frying will result in a heavier, oil-infused rolls and work better for smaller batch. Air fryer might not be an appliance you have. Even if you do, not a lot of rolls can fit inside its basket.
• Change the wrap: While this is specifically a rice paper spring roll recipe, there are actually 10 different things you can use as spring roll wrappers.

Serving ideas

Classic dipping sauces are soy sauce, sweet chili sauce or peanut sauce, but we have collected 15+ spring roll dipping sauces you can try.

Equipment

• Rice paper water bowl – While we use a simple, large, shallow bowl to soften the wrappers, these water bowls have many advantages. They are compact and take up less space than a bowl. It is easy to work with to submerge the rice paper.
• Rice paper tray – While it may not be too elegant, but does its job perfectly. Meaning the rice paper doesn’t stick to it, and any excess liquid can leave the tray through the holes. I use a plastic cutting board and have to wipe it dry between every new roll.

Storing tips

• Fridge: You can store fresh spring rolls in a refrigerator on a plate covered in plastic wrap. We recommend placing them loosely, as unfried and unbaked rolls will stick together. Separating them may create holes. Baked and fried rice paper spring rolls can be stored in an airtight container. They will lose their crispiness as time goes by.
• Reheat: We recommend quickly reheating them in a lightly oiled frying pan. You may even get back some of the crispiness that is lost due to storage.
• Freezer: We recommend avoiding freezing if you plan to have them crispy, as the texture may change to be soggy and not appealing. The filling will release moisture that will soften the wrappers.

More rice paper rolls recipes

Try one of these delicious rice paper recipes, or choose one from below: