Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

With no cooking experience required, you can roll up a batch of these refreshing and nutritious Vietnamese spring rolls. A spicy peanut dipping sauce makes this meal extra tasty and filling.

Hello friends!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Tuesday!

Last week, I binged watched the Netflix original series, STRANGER THINGS, with Mario. Yeah, this was all the hype last year, but I finally got around to it and HOLY COW. The suspense, the scenes, the characters...all had me going Ooooooh~~ (O_O) and AHHH! (during scary scenes). I'm typically a so-so on thrillers, but this show had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Whether you're a fan of thrillers or nah, I'd highly recommend this show! 

For any movie, TV series. K-drama, anime or whatever viewing your heart desires, food is a necessity. Before our Netflix binge, Mario and I made tons of refreshing Vietnamese spring rolls and a spicy peanut sauce for dipping!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I love Vietnamese spring rolls because they're easy to make, portable and, most importantly, THEY TASTE AMAZING!!! Crunchy and crisp, these rolls make a satisfying and healthy meal or snack, PLUS, they will have you rolling for more. Am I funny yet? Haha. JK. Never hire me as a comedian. 

Spring Roll & Spicy Peanut Sauce Ingredients (not pictured: spicy chili sauce, honey, crushed peanuts and oil)

Two ingredients that may be hard to find outside an Asian market are Thai basil and Cha Lua/Gio Lua (Vietnamese steamed pork roll), so don't fret if you can't find them in a generic American store like Trader Joe's. Just check out your local Asian market!

Layer filling on one end.

You can honestly put whatever you want into your roll. But, remember, the more filling you have, the harder it will be to close your roll without breaking the rice paper. Other delicious filling items could be shrimp, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, steamed fish cake, egg, cucumber and avocado. Since I didn't take pictures of how to wrap a spring roll, I made this very, very basic diagram. I hope this helps!

If this is your first time making spring rolls, don't worry if your first few rolls fall apart. It takes practice to master the wrapping of spring rolls. Even now, my first few rolls fell apart because I didn't wrap it tight enough or because I overstuffed it. You'll feel more comfortable wrapping by the second or third roll. Don't give up & enjoy your yummy creation! :)

For this roll, we placed the sauce inside the roll. Two thumbs up!

print recipe

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

by Cindy Ma

With no cooking experience required, you can roll up a batch of these refreshing and nutritious Vietnamese spring rolls. A spicy peanut dipping sauce makes this meal extra tasty and filling.

Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes Total time: 35 minutes Servings: 8 Serving Size: 2 rolls + 2 1/2 tablespoons sauce

Ingredients

• 2 bundles thin vermicelli noodles (makes 2 cups cooked)
• 4 cups bean sprouts
• 1 medium bunch Thai basil, destemmed
• 1 medium bunch cilantro
• 1 small carrot, sliced into thin strips
• 1 16-ounce block extra firm tofu, drained and sliced into thin rectangles
• 1 roll Vietnamese steamed pork roll (Cha Lua/Gio Lua), sliced
• Jalapeños, sliced (optional)
• 16 sheets rice paper

Spicy Peanut Sauce Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons spicy chili sauce
• 3/4 - 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons crushed peanuts

Instructions

1. Boil water in two pots. In one pot, turn off heat and soak vermicelli noodles for 5 minutes, or until chewy. Drain and dry. In the second pot, blanche bean sprouts by cooking them for 2 minutes in boiling water and then rinsing with cold water. 2. Meanwhile, prep all other ingredients. 3. Heat a large skillet with water until warm (about 95 degrees F). Place rice paper in warm water until it turns flimsy (about 5 seconds). 4. Place wet rice paper on a clean, flat surface. 5. Starting with flat ingredients (like tofu and steamed pork slices), layer filling on one edge of the paper. 6. Following the picture diagram above: roll bottom, roll sides and roll up. 7. Repeat for all rolls until you run out of filling. 8. SAUCE: Fry garlic until crispy brown. Then, mix in peanut butter, honey, hoisin, spicy chili sauce and water. Heat until sauce drips off your mixing utensil. Sauce will thicken as it cools. Garnish with crushed peanuts.

Nutrition Information: Calories: 353 Total Fat: 13g Carbohydrates: 38g Protein: 18g Fiber: 3g Sodium: 549mg Sugar: 6g

If you try out this recipe, comment, tweet, facebook, or instagram me and let me know how it went! :)