ABOUT COOKBOOK SHOP SUBSCRIBE SAVED

▸ RECIPES & SEARCH

Our cookbook, Love Real Food, is here!

Get your copy ↣

Fresh Spring Rolls with

Peanut Sauce
309 Comments JUMP TO RECIPE

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

00:00 / 01:03

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

h SAVE n PRINT
Author: Cookie and Kate Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 8 spring rolls 1x Category: Appetizer
Method: By hand Cuisine: Vietnamese
★★★★★ 4.8 from 147 reviews

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.

SCALE 1X 2X 3X

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

ADD TO SHOPPING LIST

Save recipes, create shopping lists,

meal plans and more.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 INFORMATION

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for
you! Leave a comment below and share a
picture on Instagram with the hashtag
#cookieandkate.

Share !is Post

p Pin

f Share

t Tweet

e Email

▸ C ATEGORIES appetizers, Asian, dairy free, egg free, fall,

gluten free, recipes, spring, summer, tomato free, vegan
▸ INGREDIENTS cabbage, carrots, cilantro, jalapeños, mint,
peanut butter, spring rolls, tamari

↢ NEWER

Blistered Shishito Peppers

OLDER ↣

45 Recipes that Pack Well for

Lunch

BY KATHRYNE TAYLOR
Vegetable enthusiast.
Dog lover. I'm probably
making a big mess in my
Kansas City kitchen right
now.
More about Cookie and
Kate »

Follow us! Instagram ⋄ Pinterest ⋄

Facebook

Never miss a new