These Vietnamese spring rolls (or summer rolls) are fresh and packed with flavour. Filled with tender prawns, juicy pork belly, fresh herbs, soft lettuce, and soft rice noodles, they're perfect for a light and healthy meal. I share recipes for a creamy hoi sin peanut sauce and a zesty green sauce. Making them at home is easier than you think!
About These Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Fresh Vietnamese spring rolls (or summer rolls) are different from traditional Chinese spring rolls in that they are not deep fried. They are wrapped in rice paper and filled with fresh rice noodles, salad, prawns and pork. They are usually served with a range of dipping sauces from a delicious hoi sin peanut sauce or a spicy Nuoc Cham dipping sauce.
Today I'll show you how to make a traditional pork and prawn spring roll plus I'll also show you how to make 2 sauces!
On my recent trip to Vietnam I learned how to make the best spring rolls with the most delicious hoi sin and peanut dipping sauce. Plus I'm sharing a recipe for Muối Ớt Xanh or "green sauce" that I also loved. I learned how to all of this at Alma Resort in Cam Ranh when doing a cooking class with Zazen travel's Christine Nguyen and the hotel's Chef Ben.
Ingredients For Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Prawns - I used tiger prawns for this but use your favourite cooked and chilled prawns
Pork belly - Pork belly is the best cut to use in fresh rice paper rolls as it has a great flavour and juicy texture. I used pork belly bites and these worked well. You can also use a slab of pork belly. You can also use pork shoulder which is leaner.
Rice paper - For these I used a round rice paper but you can also find rectangular rice paper at the Vietnamese grocery store.
Soft lettuce - use a butter or soft lettuce for rice paper rolls only. Harder lettuce like iceberg will cause the rice paper to break more easily.
Mint and coriander - I love both of these herbs so I use them in abundance. If you hate coriander you can omit it and just use mint and vice versa.
From The Vietnamese Grocery Store
These items are not easily found at the supermarket
Fresh rice noodles - these are sold in bags at room temperature. Once you open the packet you need to refrigerate them.
Carrot and daikon pickles OPTIONAL - find these in the fridge at the Vietnamese grocery store.
Garlic chives - these are skinnier and flat. Fresh chives can also work as can skinny spring onions
Lime powder - this is optional and an ingredient for the green chilli dipping sauce.
Other Filling Ideas For Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls
1 - These rolls are really best when they aren't filled too much. You'd be amazed at how little noodle and salad goes into one roll! The fuller they are, the more likely they are to split.
2 - I prefer using already cooked prawns as it is easier.
3 - Only use cold water to dip the rice paper in. Hot or even warm water makes the paper too soft and it will fall apart.
4 - You want to cool off the filling ingredients too just to take the steam off them before rolling them up as they may split the rice paper otherwise.
5 - Use the top of the soft lettuce and not the base as you don't want anything that will make a hole in the rice paper.
Step by Step Guide to Rolling Fresh Spring Rolls
1. Adding most of the ingredients except the prawns and garlic chives
2. Place prawns above and have garlic chives ready
3. Fold over the sides and roll up
4. Ta-da!
Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe
Did you make this recipe? Share your creations by tagging @notquitenigella on Instagram with the hashtag #notquitenigella
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott, adapted from Zazen cooking class
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes concurrently
Makes: 8 summer rolls
Ingredients Needed
For Rolls
300g/10.6ozs cooked Tiger prawns
150g/5ozs pork belly
8 sheets rice paper
125g/4ozs thin, fresh rice noodles
60g/2ozs carrot and daikon pickles (optional)
30g/1oz soft lettuce, top 2/3rd of the leaf only
20g/0.7oz garlic chives
1/4 cup each fresh mint and coriander leaves
For Peanut Hoi-sin sauce (makes enough for 32 rice paper rolls)
100g/3.5ozs peanut butter
50ml/1.7flozs hot water
50g/1.7ozs hoi sin sauce
25ml/0.9oz coconut or evaporated milk
20g/0.7ozs sugar
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
For Green Chilli Sauce (makes enough for 32 rice paper rolls)
50g/1.7ozs green capsicum
25g/0.9oz green chilli
100ml/3.5flozs lime juice
10g/0.3ozs lime powder (optional)
150g/5ozs caster or superfine sugar
25g/0.9ozs sweetened condensed milk
20g/0.7ozs salt
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 - First make the sauces and cook the pork belly. Place the pork belly in a small saucepan and cover with water. Simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes. Remove from the water and allow to cool.
Step 2 - While the pork belly is cooking make the sauces. To make the green chilli sauce place all ingredients in a blender or Thermomix and blend on high speed until smooth (Thermomix, 8 seconds, speed #8). Allow to settle and the sugar to dissolve.
Step 3 - To make the hoi sin sauce, in a small saucepan whisk the peanut butter and hot water and bring to a simmer on low heat making sure that the peanut butter doesn't burn. Add the hoi sin sauce, milk, sugar and fish sauce and bring to a boil again. Stir well and simmer for a minute. Remove from heat to cool. This sauce will thicken upon cooling so you can add a little water to thin it out.
Step 4 - Prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat the rice noodles in the microwave for 20-30 seconds or until soft and then leave to cool off for a few minutes. Peel the heads and shells from the prawns and slice them in half lengthways so that you get two thin halves. Remove the sand vein. When the pork is ready, slice off the rind and top of the fat so you have mostly meat left. Wash the vegetables and measure out the pickles. Wash and pinch the ends off the garlic chives that may contain any trapped dirt.
Step 5 - Dip the rice paper briefly (2-3 seconds) into a bowl of cold water. Place on a clean surface and on the bottom third add some lettuce, noodles, pickles, coriander and mint in one rectangular shaped pile. Place the prawns in the centre just above them colourful side down. Fold over the sides and roll up starting from the lettuce and noodles. When almost finished, tuck the garlic chives into the paper and roll up. You should be able to see the prawns through the rice paper. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and make sure to not have the rolls touching each other on the plate. Serve with one or two sauces.
Personal Note
I loved making these in Vietnam and I think doing the cooking class there was the best way to learn how to make these properly. We just came back from Vietnam a couple of weeks ago. During our hotel stay, I was in a bit of a rush to get to breakfast one day. I did a workout and didn't realise that breakfast finished at 10:30 and not 11am. I quickly put on some makeup and rushed downstairs forgetting to put in contact lenses.
The woman that greeted us looked at me a bit oddly and did a double take but asked for our room number and showed us to a table for breakfast. I took a seat and then Mr NQN leaned in. "You look kind of weird" he said squinting. "Like you've got powder all over yourself".
There's this make up powder technique called "Baking" where you cover your face with lots of loose powder and then let it sit for 5 minutes or so. It then absorbs and then you brush away the excess. It really works but that day I had forgotten to brush it away! And because I didn't have my contacts in I had no idea! I am guessing that a hotel's staff see a lot of strange things every day ;)
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever left the house without having a good look in the mirror?
Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls with 2 Dipping Sauces was written by Lorraine Elliott and published on Monday, November 17, 2025 in
Delicious Recipes and
Vietnamese.
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