It’s summertime and I cannot get enough fresh vegetables and healthy seafood into my body! I just made a Vietnamese Dipping Fish Sauce, but didn’t have anything to dip. I needed to make some Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls ASAP, but I didn’t want the carbs that come with the ‘traditional’ ingredients, so I decided to make my Fresh Spring Rolls Without Noodles. Let me know what you think!
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What Are Fresh Spring Rolls?
Fresh Spring Rolls are spring rolls that are NOT fried. A traditional Vietnamese dish that can be served at any time of the year, although I prefer to eat these in the summer.
Coincidentally, Fresh Spring Rolls are oftentimes called Summer Rolls or Summertime Rolls to distinguish them from the fried version.
My favorite spring rolls are, decidedly, NOT fried! I usually fill my rolls with fresh vegetables and shrimp, but the shrimp is optional.
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To keep these fresh spring rolls entirely vegan and low-carb you can used sliced, or julienned, cucumbers as a substitute for the noodles.
I like the crunch of the fresh veggies and I am a HUGE shrimp fan, as you may have guessed from some of my other recipes, like my Easy Grilled Shrimp Kabobs so I had to add them!
What Are Fresh Spring Rolls Made Of?
Typically, the wrappers are made with rice vermicelli, a type of ultra-thin rice noodle.
What Is Usually In A Fresh Spring Roll (Without Noodles)?
Spring rolls can have all types of vegetables, such as shredded carrots, purple cabbage, julienned cucumbers, shrimp, and other vegetables. Noodles are NOT included in my recipe, but are another common element in traditional Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls.
How Do You Wrap Fresh Spring Rolls Without The Rice Paper Skin Tearing?
The first thing to do is make sure you buy the rice paper skins that contain tapioca (this makes them easier to roll without tearing)
Next, soak your rigid rice paper skin in lukewarm water (fully submerged) for 5 seconds before attempting to wrap.
Add ingredients (stuffing) right at one edge of the rice paper skin, grab hold of everything and roll forward one time.
Next, fold each side of the wrapper inward.
Finally, grab everything with both hands and roll forward while preventing the veggies, shrimp and any other stuffing items, from falling out.
For best results, start rolling your spring rolls even when the rice paper wrappers still have a little stiffness to them!
Viet World Kitchen has an excellent demonstration on the best way to wrap fresh spring rolls – check it out!
How Do You Keep Fresh Spring Rolls From Sticking Together?
The trick to keeping fresh spring rolls from sticking to one another is to either wrap each roll individually in a non-stick plastic wrap – but this can be time consuming.
I like to simply place my fresh spring rolls on a plate and make sure they are not touching. Then lay one sheet of non-stick plastic wrap over the bottom row of spring rolls before placing the row on top. This usually does the trick!
What You Need – Ingredients
For my vegetable component, I like to use sliced carrots, purple cabbage, and cilantro, (cucumbers are optional and I did not use them in this recipe).
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1 whole carrot (sliced)
1 whole purple cabbage (pull and shred as much as needed)
1 ounce fresh cilantro
16 frozen shrimp (2 shrimp per roll and this recipe makes 8 rolls)
2 tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 container of rice paper wrappers (the kind that contain tapioca). These will often be called Spring Roll Wrappers or Spring Roll Skins (view)
I like the crunch from the cabbage and carrots and the aromatic flavor of the cilantro. Plus the shrimp and cilantro pairing is one of my favorite flavor combinations.
Also, the vibrant purple, orange and green of these veggies shows nicely through the thin spring roll wrapper and make for a pretty sweet food blog photo!
As I mentioned in the introduction, I LOVE shrimp so anytime I can add shrimp to any of my seasonal recipes, I do. Shrimp is an optional ingredient as these Fresh Spring Rolls are delicious, either way.
You can never have too many frozen shrimp!
Frozen shrimp last a long time and all you need to do before you cook them is to thaw them in a bowl of warm water until they are soft (usually less than 10 minutes). Fresh shrimp are also an option.
Even though I love the shrimp, I do think that the sliced cucumbers I mentioned above probably even make a better substitute for the noodles/carb element when making these spring rolls without noodles.
1 Container of Spring Roll Rice Paper Wrappers (Skins) – Make sure they contain tapioca (tapioca makes these spring roll wrappers easier to roll without tearing).
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If you ever decide to make Vietnamese Pizza, make sure to use one-hundred percent rice paper, which is better for frying.
What You Need – Recipe Equipment
1 Bowl (to thaw the shrimp)
1 Large Casserole Dish to dip or soak your wrappers briefly in warm water
1 Saute Pan (to cook the shrimp)
1 ‘Y’ Peeler like this one to slice carrots or other vegetable (some people like to add cucumbers to their fresh spring rolls as a substitute for the noodles.)
Fresh Spring Rolls Without Noodles
4
servings25
minutes5
minutes162
kcalFresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Without Noodles), sometimes called Summer Rolls, are just as fun to make as they are to eat. Once you master the art of ‘soaking your rice paper’, this becomes a quick and easy recipe that even your kids will enjoy helping you prepare!
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Ingredients
1 whole carrot
1 head purple cabbage
1 ounce fresh cilantro
16 jumbo shrimp (frozen)
8 whole rice paper skins (with tapioca)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 whole cucumber (optional)
Directions
- Start by preparing your fresh vegetables to be used as the filling in your Fresh Spring Rolls: Slice (or julienne) one large carrot with a ‘Y’ peeler, shred purple cabbage leaves, wash and separate fresh cilantro.
- Place all ‘prepped’ vegetables on a plate (as shown below) so that they are easy to grab and stuff into your spring rolls later
- Put 16 frozen shrimp in a bowl filled two-thirds full of warm water to thaw your shrimp (Note: You can use more or less shrimp as desired)
- Place saute pan like this one drizzled with olive oil over medium heat on your stove top.
- Place thawed shrimp (you know they are thawed once they are soft to the touch) in saute pan and saute for 4 minutes over medium heat (turn shrimp over after 2 minutes). You know they are ready when their color becomes more white vs translucent and their tails turn pink).
- As the shrimp cook, have a large casserole dish (or large bowl) filled with lukewarm water (this water is used to soak the rice paper wrappers to make them more pliable before wrapping your Fresh Spring Rolls.)
- As the shrimp finish cooking, soak one rigid rice paper wrapper in the lukewarm water for 5 seconds, place the damp wrapper on a plate, add 2 shrimp along with sliced carrots, purple cabbage, and cilantro and start slowly wrapping the ingredients into the rice paper skin, which should now be very pliable.
- Add a dipping sauce to pair with your fresh spring rolls (without noodles). Check out my Vietnamese Dipping Fish Sauce recipe here. I am also a huge fan of this sweet chili dipping sauce for spring rolls!
Notes
- Even though I LOVE shrimp, they are an optional ingredient.
- To keep this recipe for Fresh Spring Rolls without Noodles entirely vegan, skip the shrimp and substitute sliced cucumbers for the noodles.
- Make sure that your rice paper wrappers or skins, as they are sometimes called, contain tapioca. It is the tapioca that allows them to become pliable so that they can be rolled without tearing.
- I like to use lukewarm water and entirely submerge each rice paper skin for about 5 seconds prior to rolling, or wrapping, my Fresh Spring Rolls.
- Please check out my Vietnamese Fish Sauce for Dipping recipe – this makes for a great sauce to dip your spring rolls in!
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