Shrimp Spring Rolls
If you want a light lunch or appetizer, serve these fresh shrimp spring rolls with a tangy and sweet peanut dipping sauce. Shrimp Spring Rolls are filled with rice noodles, juicy shrimp, healthy crisp vegetables, and fresh herbs. This shrimp spring roll recipe will impress your friends and family.
Vietnamese food has become increasingly popular in recent years, and shrimp spring rolls are one of the easiest dishes you can make. These delicious little rolls are super healthy because they’re packed with lean protein and healthy veggies.
The trick to mastering the perfect shrimp spring roll is to carefully soak the rice paper wrapper. Properly soaking the spring roll wrappers will ensure that the rolling process is easy. Wrapping your spring rolls only takes seconds, so make sure you have all your ingredients ready to assemble the spring rolls.
Stuffing Ingredients
Traditional Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls are made with a delicious combination of shredded carrots, spinach leaves, bean sprouts, and red cabbage. The vermicelli rice noodle makes the fresh spring rolls a little heartier, but these fresh spring rolls are still quite light.
Adding some fresh herbs like cilantro or mint gives a nice flavor and makes every bite delicious. Be careful not to overstuff the wrappers or wrap them too tightly, as this can cause them to tear.
Looking to add more flavor to your spring rolls? You can add some fresh lime juice or lemon juice to the peanut sauce, or sprinkle lemon juice on the cooked shrimp.
Prepare the shrimp
To prepare the shrimp for your spring rolls, boil your shrimp in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. You want the shrimp to be opaque and pink, but not overcooked. You can buy pre-cooked shrimp to make these fresh spring rolls.
We like to use extra jumbo shrimp (16/20 count). Pink or white shrimp are perfect for spring rolls. Cut the prawns in half lengthwise so that they lie flat when you roll the spring rolls.
How to use rice paper wrappers
You can buy Vietnamese spring roll wrappers at most Asian markets and large supermarkets. If you don’t have access to them through your local market, you can also buy them on sites like Amazon.
Spring roll wrappers are dried, very thin circular sheets that are translucent and made from rice. A spring roll wrapper, about 9 inches wide, can be filled with anything you like.
Preparing Vietnamese spring rolls
Follow these steps to make your own Vietnamese spring rolls.
- Cook rice noodles in boiling water. After that, rinse thoroughly under cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain the noodles and store them in the refrigerator until ready to use. If you’re worried about your rice noodles sticking together, you can add a little olive oil or vegetable oil to the cooking water. Do not use too much oil. A tablespoon of oil is enough to keep your noodles from separating.
- Cook the shrimp in hot water using the blanching process. Let them cool in the fridge, then cut them in half. Pre-cooked shrimp can also be used. Look for cooked shrimp in the seafood section of your supermarket, or buy frozen shrimp. If you are using frozen shrimp, be sure to cut them in half and thaw them before adding them to your spring rolls. Also, make sure the cooked prawns are dried with paper towels so they don’t make your spring rolls too soggy.
- Place a paper towel or damp kitchen towel on a large cutting board.
- Fill a pie dish or bowl with cold water.
- Dip the rice papers one at a time in cold water and let them sit in the water for 15-20 seconds.
- Place the rice paper in a wet bowl.
- Place the spinach leaves on a third of the bottom of the rice paper. After that, add carrots, rice noodles, bean sprouts, and cabbage to the spinach.
- Roll the spring rolls halfway up onto a rolling pin. Then fold the spring rolls from the sides.
- Top with shrimp halves, parsley, and mint.
- Roll tightly into a cylinder to seal.
Process for assembling
Assembling your shrimp rolls is easy. Just soak rice paper in water for more than 20 seconds. Then, place the rice paper on your paper towel or wet bowl. The towel should be damp so that the rice does not stick to the paper towel.
When the rice papers are taken out of the water, they will thicken. However, don’t soak them for longer than the recommended 20 seconds, as this makes them harder to work with. The starch in the paper becomes sticky and gluey when wet.
After you add the ingredients, the rice wrapper will be more flexible than rigid. If the rice paper wrappers start to get too sticky, you can dip your fingers in a bowl of water to separate the parts that stick together.
Make the peanut sauce
The salty and sweet peanut sauce makes these shrimp spring rolls even better. Best of all, this peanut sauce is incredibly easy to make. The ingredients are creamy peanut butter, hoisin sauce, and rice vinegar (rice wine vinegar).
The consistency of this peanut sauce is delicious and thick, perfect for dipping your spring rolls. You don’t need fish sauce or soy sauce for this peanut sauce because hoisin sauce has a great umami flavor.
These Vietnamese spring rolls have more fish sauce or oyster sauce. Also, peanut butter has some sweetness and gives you all the flavor you need.
If you’re using homemade or natural unsweetened peanut butter, you’ll need to adjust the amount of sweetness in your spring rolls. You can use brown sugar, honey, coconut sugar, or maple syrup to add a delicious sweetness to your peanut butter.
If you like yours sweeter, consider using sweet chili sauce or red pepper flakes to make this peanut sauce.
Other options to fill
Want to try this shrimp spring roll recipe with other ingredients? no problem!
- Protein: Chinese barbecue pork, grilled chicken breast, or tofu
- Fruit: Pineapple, mango, or strawberry
- Vegetables: Cucumber, sliced capsicum, spring onion, spiralized vegetables
You can experiment with different ingredients to make this shrimp spring roll recipe your own. Consider different types of meat, more vegetables, and different herbs.
How long do shrimp spring rolls keep?
It is best if you eat the shrimp spring rolls within a few hours of rolling them. Ideally, the fresher the spring rolls are, the tastier they are. However, you can make your spring rolls ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Be sure to cover it with plastic wrap.
One problem that occurs when you store spring rolls for too long is that the rice paper wrapper hardens. This happens because the wrappers lose moisture.
