Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe (Gỏi Cuốn)

Fresh, healthy, and easy traditional Vietnamese Spring Rolls filled with vegetables, lean pork, and shrimp dipped in a creamy savory peanut sauce is perfect as an appetizer, lunch, or even dinner. You can eat about 10 of this guilt-free. Plus, they are one of the easiest dishes to make.

Growing up, this was a staple dish in my family. Every month whenever we had a family gathering with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. we would make gỏi cuốn. It is one of those dishes that is so easy to make in bulk and brings the whole family together because each person makes their own spring rolls with their personalized touch. We would go around the table and present our different rolls—some would make perfect dainty rolls while others would create burrito-sized monsters bursting at the seams requiring multiple rice papers to patch it together.

What's great about this recipe is that you can personalize it any way you want. You can add more or less meat, noodles, or herbs. Moreover, you can dip these Vietnamese spring rolls in fish sauce or peanut sauce or no sauce whatever you prefer!

What are gỏi cuốn or Vietnamese spring rolls?

Gỏi Cuốn is a Vietnamese dish traditionally made up of pork, shrimp, rice vermicelli noodles, and herbs rolled in Vietnamese rice paper. They were given their name because they were originally filled with seasonal spring vegetables. Typically, you can find gỏi cuốn at any Vietnamese restaurant as an appetizer, but normally they only give you about 2-3 cut rolls.

These Vietnamese spring rolls are one of the most popular and recognized Vietnamese dishes. They may appear simple, however, these rolls showcase a culinary technique with lovely texture and contrasting flavors that when combined create so much more than the sum of their simple parts.

What sauces do you dip spring rolls in?

The sauces range from every region, restaurant, and chef. I've included two of my family's favorite sauces for you to try out.

1. Garlic Lemon Chili Fish Sauce: this fish sauce is traditionally used in North Vietnam (my dad's personal favorite). You will need fish sauce, water, sugar, fresh lemon or lime juice, minced garlic, and garlic chili paste. All of these ingredients you can find in your local Asian grocery store.
2. Peanut Sauce: the peanut sauce is normally served in Central Vietnam (my personal favorite). You will need the garlic lemon fish sauce above and peanut butter, peanuts, minced garlic, hoisin sauce, cornstarch, and water. All of these ingredients you can find in your local Asian grocery store.

Ingredients For This Recipe

• Pork Roast Loin: Try to find a pork loin that isn't overly fatty and boneless.
• Shrimp: I love using the biggest, juiciest shrimps I can find. Cook the shrimp before peeling and deveining.
• Salt and Sugar: are used to softly season the boiling water
• Rice paper: Vietnamese rice paper (bánh tráng) is a thin flat rice circular sheet that is made with rice, tapioca flour, salt, and water. You can find rice paper online here or from the local Asian supermarket. My favorite brand is the Three Ladies but any brand will do. They last forever in the pantry.
• Vermicelli Rice noodles: Thin vermicelli rice noodles are a common staple in Vietnamese cuisine. You can find the Vermicelli Rice Noodles online or in your local Asian grocery store.

Fresh Herbs and Vegetables

The herbs and leafy greens are what brightens up this dish. You can always mix and match your herbs based on preference but I have listed out the traditional herbs most commonly used. You can purchase all of these at a Vietnamese grocery market or your local Asian grocery.

• Lettuce
• Mint
• Cucumber
• Vietnamese Coriander (Rau Ram)
• Vietnamese Purple Perilla (Tia To)
• Thai Basil

How To Make This Recipe

1. Boil the Pork. In a large saucepan, fill the pot with water covering the pork with about 1 inch of water. Add salt and sugar. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium heat and simmer for roughly 30 minutes. Take the pork out and leave the water for the shrimp. The pork is done when it floats to the top and is no longer pink in the middle. Lastly, thinly slice the pork.
2. Boil the Shrimp. In the same saucepan, heat to a boil, add the shrimp into the pot. Cook until the shrimps turn pink about 2-3 minutes. Next, peel and devein the shrimp. (Optional) Slice the shrimp in half along the body.
3. Boil the Noodles. In a separate large pot, fill the ¾ of the pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the Vermicelli rice noodles and boil for 8 minutes. (Follow the instructions on the package.) Drain and run cold water over the noodles to stop it from cooking.
4. Wash and dry the vegetables. Peel and slice the cucumbers vertically into thin sticks

How to Assemble the Spring Rolls

1. In a large bowl or rice paper bowl pour in warm water around 120 F. Next, dip the rice paper into the water submerging the entire paper, and then lay it on a plate that is slightly larger than the rice paper.
2. Add your vegetables. Place the lettuce first then the cucumber, and herbs on the edge of the rice paper closest to you leaving about 1-2 inches for you to grab onto.
3. Layer in the noodles. Then, add in your preferred amount of vermicelli rice noodles. The more noodles you add the bigger and fatter the roll will be. Careful not to add too many noodles you will risk bursting the rice paper.
4. Add in the pork and shrimp. About 3 pork slices and 3 shrimps. To have the shrimp appear on the outside of the roll, place the shrimp in a horizontal line directly on top of the rice paper above the veggies.
5. Begin rolling the rice paper. Lift the rice paper on the edge closest to you and make your first fold.
6. Fold in the left and right edges of the rice paper to seal the ends and prevent the contents from spilling out.
7. Continue tightly rolling the roll upward until no more rice paper remains. Use your hands to tightly roll the spring roll and prevent too much air from entering.

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How to Make the Dipping Sauces

1. Garlic Fish Sauce
   1. In a medium bowl, mix together the fish sauce, minced garlic, lemon juice, sugar, and garlic chili paste.
2. Peanut Sauce
   1. Add oil in a small saucepan and saute the minced garlic until browned and fragrant
   2. Next, mix in peanut butter, hoisin sauce, hot water, cornstarch slurry (cornstarch mixed with water), and garlic fish sauce.

Tips For This Recipe

• Buy fresh herbs: the bold flavors of the herbs taste best if they are fresh.
• Don't overcook the pork! Keep an eye out for how high the heat of the water is. After 30 minutes, take the pork out and slice it in half to see if the pork is fully cooked.
• Have all the ingredients laid out around you before you roll. This helps make the process infinitely times easier.
• Use a rice paper bowl for easy dipping. When this plastic half-moon rice paper water bowl was invented, it changed my family's life forever. It takes up so much less space than a large bowl and makes dipping the rice paper 100x easier.
• To prevent the rolls from breaking, use a limited amount of filling. Layer the filling ingredients in horizontal lines and add more layers from the bottom up. To roll, wrap up your spring roll similar to a burrito: fold in the left and right sides and fold up the bottom flap, and keep rolling in an upwards motion.
• Roll as you eat or wrap in plastic wrap immediately after. The rice paper will dry out and harden if the roll is not eaten immediately or wrapped in plastic wrap.

Storage Instructions

The meat, noodles, and herbs are best stored separately. If you make these Vietnamese spring rolls ahead of time, the rice paper will dry out within 1 day even if wrapped in plastic wrap. I recommend storing the meat and noodles in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

For the lettuce, Vietnamese coriander, Vietnamese perilla, loosely wrap each herb in a paper towel and store it in a large ziplock bag. For the mint, place the stems in a cup of water and loosely cover the cup in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

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Check out my other Vietnamese favorite dishes like my Bo Bia Recipe!