These vegan rice paper rolls are a perfectly fresh and nourishing meal! They’re completely customizable and best when served with creamy, flavor-packed peanut sauce.
While you can make these rolls in advance, they’re better if made right before eating. I like to lay out all the filling options on the table and let everyone assemble their own rolls. This way, everyone gets what they want in each bite!
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What are Fresh Spring Rolls?
Sometimes called rice paper rolls or summer rolls, fresh spring rolls are uncooked rolls wrapped with rice paper.
Rice paper is a thin sheet of rice that becomes soft when dipped into water. Since you don’t need to cook it, it’s perfect for summer when you want a cool and refreshing meal. They’re typically cheap to buy and can be found at most grocery stores (or online).
Fill fresh spring rolls with whatever you like! Fresh vegetables, herbs, rice noodles and a source of protein are common fillings.
If eating out, many fresh rolls are not vegan (they often contain shrimp or chicken). I like to use cooked tofu in this recipe for plant-based protein.
Rice Paper Roll Ingredients
If you have rice paper, you can make rolls! I also highly recommend making peanut sauce to serve with them; the peanut sauce is really the best part.
You can fill your rolls with whatever you like; the filling options in this recipe are simply suggestions. My favorite ingredients for rice paper rolls are:
- Rice paper: As mentioned above, all you really need to make rice paper rolls is rice paper!
- Marinated baked tofu: I add tofu for a tasty and hearty spring roll. If I have the time and forethought, marinated baked tofu is my favorite. Any type of cooked tofu can work for this recipe but use other plant-based proteins if you’d prefer.
- Lettuce: I always add some type of lettuce or leafy green vegetable to my rice paper rolls. Store-bought coleslaw mixes are great to use for minimal prep work.
- Carrot, cucumber, red cabbage: All veggies are fair game in spring rolls, but I love the flavor and color combination of these three. Cooked sweet potato, bell pepper and avocado are my other favorites and highly recommended.
- Cilantro: This is completely optional, but fresh cilantro adds tons of flavor to summer rolls! Other fresh herbs like bail, parsley or even mint also offer irresistibly fresh flavor.
- Peanut sauce: This is essential for serving with fresh spring rolls, in my opinion. Peanut sauce is ultra creamy and loaded with flavor. You could use other sauces to dip your rolls in, sweet chili sauce is also quite tasty.
Rice noodles are another common ingredient used in fresh spring rolls. You can certainly include those if you like!
How to Make Vegan Rice Paper Rolls
This recipe is simple enough to make; you’ll need to prepare the filling ingredients, make a dipping sauce then assemble the rolls.
If you’ll eat them right away, simply lay out all the ingredients on a table and make each spring roll as you go. Wrapping them all at once is not ideal for me but do whatever works for you!
Step 1: Prepare Marinated Baked Tofu
If you want flavorful plant-based protein in your rolls, start with a batch of marinated baked tofu. This is one of my favorite tofu recipes and is best if marinated fully overnight.
If you don’t have marinated tofu around, any other cooked tofu should work fine.
Step 2: Prepare Peanut Sauce
This peanut sauce is one of the main reasons I love fresh rolls!
You can make my recipe or any peanut sauce you like. If you can find a store-bought option, that’s fine to use as well.
Step 3: Prepare Other Ingredients
Next, prepare whatever other filling ingredients you want. I like to use lettuce, carrot, cucumber, red cabbage and cilantro.
Step 4: Make Rice Paper Rolls
Wrapping the rice paper rolls can be tricky and takes some practice.
Start by filling a large plate or shallow bowl with cool water. Take a rice paper sheet and dip it into the water so the water touches the entire rice paper surface, on both sides.
Place the damp rice paper onto a cutting board, countertop or plate. Then, add the fillings!
Put fillings into the center of your rice paper, creating a rectangle. Once all the fillings are layered in, it’s time to roll.
Fold the right and left sides of your rice paper over the filling, pulling carefully but tightly.
Then, grab the bottom edge of the rice paper (closest to you) and fold this up and over the filling (away from you).
Try to pull the right and left edges in while you fold the roll away from you, until you’ve reached the far side of the rice paper. While doing this, it’s helpful to also try and press the filling tightly together.
Press the rice paper into itself – it’s very good at sticking and should easily form a seal that holds together.
You’re now ready to eat your rice paper roll, dipped in peanut sauce of course!
Tips for Vegan Rice Paper Rolls
Some of my top tips for making vegan fresh spring rolls include:
- Try to not over-fill rice paper rolls. Additional filling makes it harder to roll.
- Dip the entire surface (both sides) of the rice paper in water. Dry areas won’t soften enough to roll.
- Rice paper continues to soften while you add the fillings. If the rice paper still feels hard when you go to roll it, let it sit for another 10-30 seconds to soften further.
- If you’ll eat the roll right away, add peanut sauce directly into the roll. Dipping the rolls into sauce can be tricky, so save yourself the effort!
- Rice paper easily sticks to itself; keep multiple rolls apart from each other. Rice paper also sticks to wooden cutting boards so don’t leave your rolls sitting on one for too long. Ceramic plates and plastic cutting boards seem to prevent most sticking, and glass would also likely be okay.
How to Create a Balanced Vegan Meal
I consider a balanced meal one that contains a good source of plant-based protein, carbohydrates, fats and lots of vegetables or fruits.
This recipe has all the above! Tofu provides plant-based protein and healthy fats while rice paper offers some carbohydrates. If you’re looking for extra carbohydrates, consider adding rice noodles or cooked sweet potato to the filling.
There’s plenty of colorful, nutritious veggies in each roll as well.
The peanut sauce offers additional satiating healthy fats that make this a truly delicious and satisfying recipe that should keep you feeling full!
Fresh Rolls Variations
There are endless variations you can create with this recipe’s filling options! Get creative and try out some of these delicious rice paper roll filling ideas:
- Bell pepper
- Red or green cabbage
- Cucumber
- Carrot
- Lettuce (or store-bought coleslaw mix)
- Rice noodles
- Cooked quinoa
- Fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley, basil, mint)
- Avocado
- Cooked/ steamed sweet potato
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Sesame seeds (white and/or black)
- Peanuts
- Cashews
- Fresh or pickled ginger
- Sriracha or another hot sauce
- Vegan seafood alternatives (crab, shrimp)
- Bean sprouts or other sprouts
- Green onion
- Baby corn
- Bok choy (steamed or pan-fried)
- Eggplant (steamed, grilled or pan-fried)
- Zucchini (raw or cooked)
- Radish
- Red onion or pickled red onion
- Pineapple or other fruit
- Sauteed mushrooms
- Shredded beets
- Kale or spinach
Let me know what filling options you like in the comments below!
Vegan Rice Paper Roll Sauces
While I love peanut sauce, you can also use different sauces for dipping you spring rolls for even more variety. You could try:
- Hoisin sauce
- Sweet chili sauce
- Almond butter sauce (instead of peanut sauce, make it with almond butter)
- Miso sauce
- Tahini sauce
- Avocado sauce
- Plum sauce
- Teriyaki sauce
- Chili lime sauce
How to Store Leftover Rice Paper Rolls
Rice paper rolls are best eaten fresh, but you can store leftovers for later.
If you plan to store extra rice paper rolls, keep any moist ingredients in the center of the rolls so they don’t touch rice paper. The rice paper can become soggy and break easily if it’s too wet.
Store rice paper rolls in a plastic container with airtight lid and try to prevent the rolls from touching each other as they’ll stick together. Use plastic wrap or another barrier between rolls (or a large container where they don’t need to touch).
Rice paper can become a little gummy/ chewy after a day or two, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the roll.
These are great to make one night for lunch the next day (just keep any sauce separate on the side)!
Your leftover rice paper rolls should be okay in a fridge for up to 3 days; I wouldn’t recommend keeping them any longer as the rice paper won’t hold up well.
If you make this recipe, please rate and comment below to help others benefit from your experience!
Vegan Rice Paper Rolls (Fresh Spring Rolls)
Equipment
- Large plate
Ingredients
- 1 batch marinated baked tofu *
- 12 sheets rice paper
- 3 cups lettuce (45 g) **
- 1 cup carrot , thinly sliced or shredded (120 g)
- 1 cup cucumber , thinly sliced or shredded (120 g)
- 1 cup red cabbage , thinly sliced or shredded (120 g)
- ¼ - ½ cup cilantro (8 – 16 g)
- peanut sauce (to serve) ***
- water (to soften rice paper rolls)
Instructions
Step 1: Prepare Marinated Baked Tofu
- Prepare a block of extra firm tofu however you like. I like to use my recipe for marinated baked tofu.1 batch marinated baked tofu
- Cook the tofu first so it has time to cool before assembling the rice paper rolls.
Step 2: Prepare Peanut Sauce
- After the tofu is cooked (or while it’s cooking) prepare a batch of peanut sauce.peanut sauce
Step 3: Prepare Other Ingredients
- Next, prepare the other ingredients you’ll include in your rice paper rolls. I use lettuce, carrot, cucumber, red cabbage and cilantro. Use any vegetables you like.3 cups lettuce, 1 cup carrot, 1 cup cucumber, 1 cup red cabbage, ¼ - ½ cup cilantro
Step 4: Make Rice Paper Rolls
- To assemble rice paper rolls, add water to a large plate or wide bowl.water
- Dip the rice paper into your water, so water touches all parts of the rice paper. Place the damp rice paper onto a cutting board or other surface.12 sheets rice paper
- Add filling ingredients to the center of your rice paper; leave room on all edges for rolling and try to create a rectangle shape with the ingredients.
- To roll, fold in the right and left edges of the roll, over the short end of the rectangle of ingredients. Then, pick up the back edge of the rice paper (closest to you) and fold it up and over the filling. Hold the folded in edges while you do this to keep the wrap tight.
- Roll the rice paper forward, over all the filling, towards the top edge. Secure the rice paper by making sure it’s pressing into itself. (Watch the short video below for a visual on how to roll rice paper.)
- Repeat for all 12 rolls.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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About Nicole Stevens
Nicole is a vegan Registered Dietitian (RD) and founder of Lettuce Veg Out.
She helps people thrive on a vegan diet with balanced recipes and easy-to-understand nutrition science.
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