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The crispiest and best spring rolls filled with vegetables and deep-fried to golden perfection. This spring roll recipe is easy, authentic and 100% homemade.
Spring Roll Recipe
Everyone loves spring rolls. It’s a delicious Chinese appetizers filled with shredded vegetables and deep-fried to crispy goodness.
There are many recipes and almost every country in Asia has its own version of this iconic appetizer.
In the Philippines, they are called lumpia and come in smaller packages.
Vietnamese spring rolls are called Cha Gio. They are made with rice paper and filled with ground pork and cellophane noodles.
There are also fresh spring rolls with no deep-frying involved, for example: Popiah in Malaysia and Summer Rolls.
Spring Roll Wrappers
There are two types of wrappers in the market: thin wrapper and thick wrapper.
The thin wrappers are made of wheat flour, water, oil and salt. They are packaged and frozen. This wrapper produces crispy results after deep frying.
The thick wrappers are pale yellow in color. They are specifically made for egg rolls, which are thicker rolls popular in Chinese-American restaurants.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Spring Rolls
The recipe calls for a three-step process. First, make the filling with the following ingredients:
- Shredded cabbage
- Pork
- Seasonings such as oyster sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil
Next, assemble and wrap the rolls with the wrappers. Please refer to my recipe card for the step-by-step picture guide on wrapping.
The final step is deep frying. Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.
Cooking Tips
For the best Chinese restaurant quality results, please follow my cooking tips below:
- Use a vegetable with lower moisture content, for example: cabbage. This will ensure that the filling is not wet.
- Use thin wrapper to make crispy rolls. Avoid egg roll wrapper at all cost.
- For the best flavors, use pork and shrimp with shredded cabbage in the filling.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Former are crispier and smaller in the size. They are made with thin wrapper and the taste is more authentic.
Egg rolls are the bigger, fatter version of spring rolls. They are made with thin wrappers and the ingredients might include eggs.
After deep frying, egg roll wrappers will appear rough with little bubbles on the surface. Please see the picture below for the difference between the two
Americans love a watery and pink color sweet and sour sauce as the dipping sauce. This is not authentic but made popular by Chinese-American restaurants in the United States.
For authentic flavors, serve without the dipping sauce. If you like, you may serve with a mild chili-garlic sauce or sweet chili sauce.
Each roll is just 82 calories.
What to Serve With This Recipe
Serve this dish with other Chinese food (such as shrimp and broccoli). For a healthy meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Spring Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz (175g) pork butt, cut into thin strips
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 6 oz (175g) cabbage, sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons Chopped scallions
Seasonings:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 3 dashes ground white pepper
- 1 packet frozen spring roll wrappers, thaw to room temperature
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
- To make the Filling, heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the pork and stir fry until the surface turn white. Add the cabbage, stir a few times before adding all the ingredients in Seasonings.
- The filling is ready when the cabbage becomes somewhat dry and not wet. (Wet filling will make the spring rolls soggy and not crispy.) Transfer the filling to a big bowl, let cool.
HOW TO WRAP SPRING ROLLS:
- To wrap a spring roll, place a piece of spring roll wrapper on a flat surface. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the filling lengthwise onto the center of the wrapper. DO NOT OVERFILL. Using a small brush or your index finger, dab the beaten egg around the outer edges of the wrapper.
- Fold the bottom part of the wrapper over the filling.
- Fold the left and right sides of the wrapper over the filling. Make sure the filling is packed tightly. Roll the spring roll over until it reaches the other end of the wrapper. Make sure the spring roll is sealed tight and there is no leakage. Repeat the steps until you use up the filling.
- Heat 2 to 3 inches (5-7cm) of oil in a wok or a small sauce pan to 350°F (176°C) for deep frying. Gently drop the spring rolls into the oil and deep fry in batches. Deep fry until golden brown.
- Remove the spring rolls using a strainer or a slotted spoon, draining excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Lucia – well, I don’t blame you that you don’t like Popiah – there are too many delicious foods to savor in Penang!!! And yes about the prawns…I would eat anything with loads of prawns inside. :)
Irene – Thanks and welcome to Rasa Malaysia and thanks for leaving me a comment. Do pop in again.
Elmomonster – thanks for your kind compliment. Yes, everyone has a maid or two in Malaysia and I am not surprised to hear that it’s the same in Indonesia. I think it’s an Asian thing – forget about significant others, maids are more handy. LOL. ;)
Marketingguy – can I charge my Spring Rolls $20 instead of $10. :P
Is this an asian creation? You can also find the variations in central and south America. It’s also a staple in Northern American’s tapa restaurants. RM, this will go US$10 (at least) in NY.
Great pics as always! And should I say what great maid or significant other you have.
Impeccable shots Bee. And thanks for sharing the recipe. By the way, the part about letting the maid do the unpleasant chores is funny to me. We had a maid in Indonesia, just like everyone else. I sometimes wonder if the maids had maids of their own. Anyway, great post, as always.
That lumpia look scrumptious! =)
although i know poh piah taste nice but i don’t like them and rarely eats them… esp. the wet type. fried type once in a while, yes. ah but if the poh piah is fill with prawns, i will eat it!!
Tummythoz – yep, that’s the wonder of food photography. ;)
TehSee – Welcome to Rasa Malaysia and thanks for leaving me a comment.
Chubbypanda – thanks so much for your kind words, awww, you are so nice! I am trying my best to shoot good food pictures using my Canon SD450. I am planning to get myself a digital SLR so I can work more on food photography. :)
I will definitely try out your frying tips in the future. Yep, my spring rolls turned soggy after while. Another way that my aunt taught me is to dip the spring rolls into a rice flour batter– and that would seal in the crispiness too.
Boo – yes do cook and I can’t wait to see your cooking posts.
Wow, now I really feel like having a springroll for brekkie or firing up the wok to make some.
Hey RM,
Your photos and food always look so beautiful.
I thought I’d share a Chinese eggroll frying technique that I like to use which involves two woks, one heated to ~325 degrees Fahrenheit, the other to 450-475 degrees Fahrenheit. I fry the eggrolls in the lower temperature wok until they’re almost done, then transfer them directly to the hotter oil, blasting them with heat to crisp the skins and seal in the flavor. The result is eggrolls that aren’t greasy and resist getting soggy for hours.
My gramma taught it to me.
– Chubbypanda
I am having spring rolls now….Yummy..
Thanks for the recipe.
TehSee
Nice touch of a single green long bean dice in the pictures.