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Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe
I love Vietnamese spring rolls or cha gio in Vietnamese, which roughly means “minced pork rolls.”
The filling is made of ground pork, shrimp, crab meat, shredded carrots and mung bean noodles (cellophane noodles or glass noodles).
These deep fried and crispy rolls are usually served with Vietnamese spring roll sauce called nuoc cham made with fish sauce.
You can also wrap the cha gio with fresh lettuce leaves and herbs such as mint leaves and cilantro.
How to Make Vietnamese Spring Rolls?
To make these crispy and delicious fried Vietnamese rolls, you need to first make the filling, which is made of the following simple ingredients:
- Ground Pork
- Shrimp
- Crab Meat, optional
- Carrots
- Mung Bean Noodles. They are also called cellophane noodles or glass noodles.
- Garlic
- Fish Sauce
- Egg
Mix all the ingredients above before wrapping the filling with Vietnamese rice paper.
Deep fry in oil until the inside filling is cooked through and serve with the dipping sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Vietnamese Rolls Have Gluten?
The rice paper and the mung bean noodles are both gluten free so this recipe is gluten free.
What Are the Clear Noodles in Vietnamese Spring Rolls?
They are mung bean noodles, cellophane noodles or glass noodles.
They are a type of transparent noodles made from mung bean starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch or tapioca starch and water.
Can I Serve the Rolls with Peanut Sauce?
These fried rolls are commonly served with nuoc cham or Vietnamese fish sauce dipping sauce.
Peanut sauce is not common, however you can refer to my recipe here.
How Many Calories per Serving?
Vietnamese spring roll is only 57 calories per roll.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
This dish is best served as an appetizer. For a wholesome Vietnamese meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 oz (30g) mung bean noodles (or cellophane noodles or glass noodles , soaked in hot water for 30 minutes or until soft)
- 6 oz (175g ground pork
- 2 oz. (60g) shrimp, minced
- 1 oz (30g) crab meat, coarsely chopped, optional
- some shredded carrots
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 shallot (minced)
- 3 dashes ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- salt to taste
- 1 small egg (lightly beaten (use only half))
- Vietnamese rice paper
- oil (for deep frying)
Instructions
- Chop the soaked mung bean noodles into shorter threads. In a bowl, mix the ingredients together (except Vietnamese rice paper) to form a sticky filling.
- To roll the Vietnamese spring rolls (cha gio), place a piece of the rice paper on a clean, wet kitchen towel. Dip your fingers in a bowl of warm water and run them all over the entire rice paper to soften it. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling on the moist rice paper, fold the rice paper over the filling, tuck in the sides, then roll to form a cyclinder about 3 inches (7cm) long.
- Heat oil over medium heat in a wok or a large frying pan. When the oil is heated, gently put in a few rolls in the oil. Fry them slowly until they turn light brown. Dish out and drain the excess oil by lining them over some paper towels.
- Serve immediately with nuoc cham or roll it up with a fresh lettuce leaf and some aromatic herbs and then dip into the nuco cham.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I’ve made so many of your incredible recipes. Every one has turned out fantastic! Your easy to follow instructions are perfect. I love all the information you tell us about the dish. Best Asian food website ever!! Thank you
Instead of deep frying these rolls, can I use the air fryer. Has anyone tried this yet.
You can try!
Try dipping rice paper in beer instead of water that will help browning
I love this recipe! I’ve made it a few times and they’re always a hit.
I wanted to know if I can toss them in an air fryer instead of deep frying them? I’ve only seen recipes using the wonton style egg wrappers for egg rolls in the air fryer but I prefer these rice paper cha gio.
You can try. I don’t recommend.
Hi, do I need to make sure the rice paper is dry before frying?
Yes, they should be dry.
Thank you for all your lovely recipes.
But I tried to look for some
Of your Vietnamese recipes in your
Site but they come out blank . Wondering why ?
It’s not blank: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipes/vietnamese-recipes/
I made these and they are so good! Thank you for posting. I will try your other recipes.
Awesome.
What brand of wrapper did you use? Can you please send a picture of the wrapper you used for this please?
Thank you,
Lei
Banh Trang Rice Paper.
Hi Rasa,
Not sure what I’m doing wrong but my fried rolls are not coming out crispy, rather it’s chewy. I’ve tried both the 3 ladies and bamboo logo rice paper and the even after frying for about 10 minutes the rolls don’t turn brown.. they remain white. Please help.
I am so sorry to hear that. Certain brands need extremely high heat to become crispy. Also, they won’t become brown like regular spring rolls wrapper.
A tip I learned if its not turning brown, the warm water you use to dip the rice paper in, add sugar and stir until dissolves. This will allow it to caramelize and get the color you want.
Hi Kat that’s an amazing tip! I really appreciate it. I will try out the next time! :)
Try adding a few tsp of sugar to your warm water before sipping the rice paper ….. caramelizes the sugar and browns them up nice
Thanks for trying, Sharon.
Hi Rasa
Can you take picture of the rice paper you used? I encounter the same result, it’s white, soft n not cooked,
Check the video.
Can u freeze these egg rolls rolled rice paper?
Not a good idea to freeze these Vietnamese egg rolls.
Freeze the Vietnamee spring rolls alo thetime make upfour pounds ofpork wt a timeand roll and freeze oncookie sheet thenputintoplastic bags or cookie tins to keeep well. They are every bit as good as when you orignally made them…
I’ve made so many of your incredible recipes. Every one has turned out fantastic! Your easy to follow instructions are perfect. I love all the information you tell us about the dish. Best Asian food website ever!! Thank you
Hi Jen, thanks for your sweet comment. Please try more recipes on my site, all my recipes are good: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Do I precook the pork and shrimp?
No, you don’t.
Delicious! Could I store the rolls to fry later when my guests arrive. If yes what way is the best?
Yes, you can. Just cover them up and deep-fry before they arrive! :)
will they not stick together if stored for a couple of hours before frying?
They shouldn’t in dry countries like USA but if you are in humid countries make sure you leave a gap between them.