Vietnamese Vegetable Summer Rolls

Ginny McMeans

Ginny McMeans

Published:

June 20, 2021

Last Modified:

May 8, 2024

Vietnamese Summer Rolls are a healthy, delicious, and colorful lunch or dinner! Loaded with lots of veggies to serve alongside the perfect peanut dipping sauce.

Sliced halves of summer rolls with lots of veggies & peanut dipping sauce.

My favorite part about summer rolls is that they are super adaptable and customizable! I include some of my favorite veggies, but you can use your favorites or whatever you have on hand.

I love using a mixture of veggies to get a variety of textures.

What is a Vietnamese summer roll

Vietnamese summer rolls are thinly sliced fresh vegetables wrapped in a rice paper wrapper. They also have rice vermicelli noodles included and those also don’t need to be ‘cooked’.

This makes an ideal delicious and fresh meal to dip into the traditional peanut dipping sauce.

Huge platter full of half rolls showing all of their interior beauty.

Load up the rice paper with fresh veggies and roll tight! The peanut dipping sauce recipe uses mainly pantry staples that you might already have on hand!

An array of fresh ingredients to make a fresh hot weather meal.

Ingredients

  • Rice Wrappers 
  • Rice Noodles or Vermicelli Rice Noodles (traditional)
  • Baby Bok Choy
  • Carrots – I prefer to use regular carrots vs baby carrots as they’re easier to cut into thin sticks.
  • Cucumbers
  • Red and Green Cabbage
  • Bell Peppers – use your favorite color.
  • Radishes
  • Pea Pods
  • Mint Leaves
  • Peanut Dipping Sauce – Creamy Peanut Butter, Rice Vinegar, Tamari or soy sauce, Sriracha or Chili Paste, Sugar (or maple syrup), Toasted Sesame Oil, Garlic, Ginger. Check out the recipe card!

I promise that making homemade Vietnamese summer rolls is easy! No cooking involved and I include all the instructions you need to perfectly roll them. See the steps below:

How to make fresh summer rolls

  • Make the Peanut Sauce – Add the peanut sauce ingredients to a blender or small food processor and blend until it is smooth and creamy. You can use a rubber spatula to scrape the sauce out into a bowl and set aside.
All of the ingredients for peanut dipping sauce and then mixed together.
  • Prep the Ingredients – Cut the veggies into thin sticks, shred the cabbage, and thinly slice the radishes. Dunk the rice noodles in a bowl of hot water – according to the package directions.
Sliced, diced and cut variety of vegetables for Vietnamese summer rolls.
  • Soak Rice Wrapper – Add warm water to a pie plate or other large, shallow bowl. Dip a rice wrapper in the water for about 10 seconds to soften. Hold down the edges to fully submerge to keep the edges from curling up.
Rice paper being slid into a bowl of water for rolling.
  • Assemble Rolls – Remove the softened rice paper from the water and pat dry on a towel. Add some rice noodles and veggies to the lower half of the wrapper. To roll, pull the wrapper over the vegetables, fold in the sides, and roll tightly. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Sliced veggies being layed out on rice paper and then rollup up.
  • Serve with the peanut dipping sauce. 
One rolled Vietnamese summer roll sliced in half with peanut dipping sauce.

They are so fun to customize! Here are some of my other favorite ingredients to swap-in.

What are some substitutes

  • Mango – finely diced mango adds a sweet flavor and juicy texture.
  • Cooked Brown Rice – instead of the rice noodles, you can swap in cooked rice.
  • Bamboo Shoots – to add a little crunch and tasty texture.
Platter of Vietnamese summer rolls and a bowl full of peanut dipping sauce.

FAQ’s

Can these rolls be prepped in advance?

To prepare summer rolls, you can slice and shred up your veggies in advance. You can also mix the peanut sauce up to a few days in advance.

Store the veggies and peanut dipping sauce in the fridge until ready to assemble.

Can you freeze summer rolls?

Due to the rice wrappers and fresh ingredients, they cannot be frozen. They are best eaten soon after assembly.

How to store

Enjoy these summer rolls immediately and store the leftovers for up to 2 days.

Store them in the fridge, but you’ll want to wrap each roll individually in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.

Store the peanut dipping sauce in the fridge in an airtight container. It will keep fresh for up to 5 days. It may thicken in the fridge so you can give it a quick stir after it comes up to room temperature to smooth it out.

Beautiful and colorful close-up of dinner with lots of veggies.

Close photo of sliced halves of summer rolls with lots of veggies.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Ginny McMeans
5 from 7 votes
Vietnamese Summer Rolls are a healthy, delicious, and colorful summer lunch or dinner!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 6 Servings

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Ingredients
  

Making the Rolls

  • 6 Rice wrappers
  • 1 cup Rice noodles or vermicelli rice noodles
  • 1 cup cup Baby bok choy
  • 1 cup Carrots – thinly sliced
  • 1 cup Cucumbers – thinly sliced
  • 1 cup Red cabbage – thinly sliced
  • 1 cup Bell peppers, any color – thinly sliced
  • ½ cup Radishes – thinly sliced
  • ½ cup Pea pods
  • cup Mint leaves 

Making the peanut sauce

  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • cup tamari
  • ½ teaspoon sriracha or chili paste – more if you like it spicy
  • 2 tablespoons organic granulated sugar – or maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 clove clove garlic
  • ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Instructions
 

Peanut Sauce

  • Blend all ingredients in a small food processor or blender until smooth and creamy.
  • Set aside while you making the summer rolls.

Making the summer rolls

  • Cut vegetables in thin sticks, shred cabbage and slice radishes.
  • Add rice noodles to bowl of hot water, according to package directions.
  • Fill pie plate with warm water. Dip rice wrapper in warm water for 10-15 seconds, making sure to hold down edges so they don’t curl up.
  • Remove wrapper and place on towel, gently pat slightly dry.
  • Add noodles and any vegetables you like to lower half of wrapper.
  • Begin rolling by pulling wrapper over vegetables, fold in sides and roll tightly.
  • Serve immediately with peanut sauce.
  • Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Notes

The calories and nutritional facts also come from the peanut sauce so you can adjust easily for yourself.

Nutrition

Calories:328kcal, Carbohydrates:45g, Protein:8g, Fat:12g, Saturated Fat:1g, Polyunsaturated Fat:2g, Monounsaturated Fat:2g, Sodium:800mg, Potassium:320mg, Fiber:5g, Sugar:5g, Vitamin A:5444IU, Vitamin C:51mg, Calcium:103mg, Iron:3mg

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Ginny McMeans

Ginny McMeans

Hi, my name is Ginny and it is fantastic that you have come to visit and see my recipes. I have a positive attitude and can’t seem to be in nature enough. My North American bird count is 678 and I’m always watching for mammals and insects too. My head is stuffed full of recipes that I want to create and life is just to dang short. The recipes feature healthy and delicious vegan food that you can enjoy now or freeze for future meals.

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