I love rice paper spring rolls for any meal or snack. With just a handful of veg and some noodles or grains, you can create a beautiful, delicious, plant-based, savory vegan meal. Alternatively, when using tasty coconut sticky rice with fresh fruits, they are the perfect dessert. Traditionally, Vietnamese rice paper rolls have pork and/or prawns within them alongside rice noodles, herbs, and various vegetables. These rice paper rolls are completely meat-free though, vegan, gluten-free, and a super plant-dense meal! For these fresh spring rolls, I’ve combined a variety of rainbow fruits and vegetables with rice- however, you could also use rice noodles if you prefer or whatever leftover grains you have. In fact, the entire point of this post is to give you all the options for wonderful mix and match rolls of your choosing – using the grain, vegetable/fruit, herbs/seeds, and even dip of your choosing. This post even contains recipes for three dips: Mango sweet Chilli, Peanut dipping sauce, and Avocado cilantro sauce. With options for further dips. As healthy vegan meals go, this veg spring roll recipe ticks all the boxes for nutrition, taste, and style (because who doesn’t love to eat food that looks as good as it tastes).
Reasons you’ll love these rice paper spring rolls
They are quick to prepare and easily customized to the whole family’s taste buds – a super easy vegan meal. These rolls are ridiculously versatile! I’ll be suggesting a long list of fruits and vegetables that I think are delicious within your rice paper rolls. However, you can use whatever your favorites are and what is lying around the house. This means that they are great for using up leftover grains and produce that you have in the house – rice, quinoa, noodles, etc. Not only are these naturally incredibly plant-based, but these rolls can be wonderfully nutritionally balanced with healthy fats, protein, fiber, and a selection of vitamins/minerals. A wonderful way to eat more raw vegetables too! Helping you get even more of the nutrients. These make for a light but super satisfying snack/meal.
Having harped on about how versatile these wraps are, let’s get into the various filling options you have available;
The Fillings
First, grain/fiber
Thai Sticky Rice Brown Rice Quinoa Other grains – such as barley Rice noodles
Vegetable Options
These are just a few of my favorite options. However, I’ve found that most veggies that I often have to-hand work well.
Mixed bell peppers red cabbage Lettuce Spring greens purple cauliflower Carrots – mixed colors in red, orange, and purple Avocado Lemons Mini Cucumbers Radish Corn Mangetout/ sugar snap peas Beetroot Edamame beans (high protein)
Fruit Options
If you decide to make sweetened coconut sticky rice, this pairs wonderfully with a whole range of fresh fruits.
Strawberries Kiwi Mango Passionfruit Pomegranate Figs Dragonfruit Pineapple Banana
Seeds/Nuts & Extras
Poppy seeds Sesame seeds (white and black) Chia seeds Hemp seeds Nigella seeds Pumpkin seeds Pistachio nuts Salted peanuts Mint/ Coriander leaves Basil/ Thai Basil Alfalfa sprouts Edible flowers
For added protein
Try adding some homemade tofu or tempeh that has been marinated in a simple teriyaki/soy sauce-based sauce. You’ll also get added protein from the various nuts, seeds, and ingredients like the edamame beans.
How to Chop/Prepare your ingredients
This is entirely up to you, but here are a few options for my favorite ways to prepare some of these ingredients.
Julienne: Peppers, dragonfruit, carrots, some cross-section of purple cauliflower, bell peppers Mandolin: Carrots (as small round slices and ribbons), cucumber (as small round slices and ribbons), beetroot, radish Slice lengthways: Avocado (placed on plates with lemon juice to maintain the freshness and color), Mango Cut into shapes (using special shape cutters): Avocado, Kiwi, Strawberry, carrots, beetroot, radish, strawberry
How about the dipping sauces
Since I’m all about the versatility of these rice paper rolls, you know that I have multiple sauce options too. These three dipping sauces are wonderful options for your savory vegetable spring rolls. However, if you’re looking for something for your sweet ones – I usually use some slightly watered down jam, a sweet peanut butter sauce with maple, or even a cheeky dip into this DIY Homemade Vegan Nutella.
For the Mango Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce
This sauce yields around 1/2 cup of sauce and is a delicious sweet and spicy sauce that pairs wonderfully with the savory rolls.
1/2 cups mango chunks 1-1.5 Teaspoons chili paste, to taste 1/2-1 Tablespoon sweetener such as maple syrup, agave, etc. 1/3 clove garlic, minced 1 Tablespoon lime juice 1/4 Tablespoon coconut sugar Pinch of salt
Peanut Dipping Sauce
A delicious blend of sweet and savory (and creamy) – which takes these rolls to a whole new level. Yields around 1/2 Cup.
1/3 cup natural peanut butter 1 Tablespoon Soy sauce 1-2 Tablespoons of lime 1 Tablespoon of honey 1/2 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger 1 Tablespoon sesame oil dash of hot water to thin, add more if needed Garnish with crushed peanuts (maybe flowers)
Avocado Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Rich and creamy with a kick of spice – this is a delicious dip for any avocado lover. Yields between 1/2-1 Cup sauce depending on how much water you add.
1/2 avocado 1/4 cup plain yogurt (plant-based if wanting a vegan recipe or dairy) Juice of 1/2 lime Small piece of jalapeno (more or less depending on how spicy you like it) 1/2 garlic clove 1/2 teaspoon salt Pinch of pepper 1 cups cilantro (leaves +stem) 1/4- 1/2 cup water to thin (or less depending on the consistency)
For all of the above dip recipes, I end to add all the ingredients to a small blender (except the water), then I’ll add warm water, as needed, to thin the sauce down to perfect dipping consistency. Next, moving on to the most important part of all.
How to prepare your rice paper rolls
There are only a few steps to preparing these rolls, including preparing your grain/rice, preparing the vegetables/fruits, and then preparing and filling the rolls. Of course, you’ll also need to prepare the dips, but these take just a couple of minutes. I like to begin by preparing the rice/noodle/grain filling in advance, to allow it to cool down before filling the rolls. If making general grains/noodles, simply follow the instructions on the packet. I usually make my grains in advance, sometimes even the day before (or wait until I have leftover grains and veggies to make these). The only exception is rice noodles, which usually just take a few minutes to boil in water and cool down quickly.
To Make sweet coconut sticky rice: (if not using a rice steamer)
To prepare the rice paper rolls
If you’re not used to using rice paper spring roll wrappers, then these may be slightly fiddly for the first couple that you may – but you’ll easily get the knack of working with them.
How to store the rice paper rolls
These rolls are best eaten immediately. If you’re wanting to spread the fillings over a day or two, then you can meal-prep the fillings (apart from avocado and any that are best prepared closer to the time) and simply wrap the rolls as and when needed. If you do have some extra filled rolls that you want to save, then you can try tightly wrapping each roll in cling film and placing in the fridge overnight. Make sure to allow them to come back to room temperature, before consuming. If you give this recipe a try, then let me know your thoughts in the comments. Also, feel free to tag me in your recreations @AlphaFoodie. .
