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Vegan summer rolls | spring rolls | rainbow rolls
Some people call them summer rolls, rice paper rolls, spring rolls or even rainbow rolls. I love to call them summer rolls since it’s always warm where I live. These vegan summer rolls are filled with so much goodness, they are delicious and healthy. I have made many summer rolls in the past and it seems most people love them. When I posted these vegan summer rolls on my Instagram account @elavegan people often went crazy and asked for my recipe. These rolls are colorful and pretty, they are healthy and a great party snack.
My summer rolls are:
- Gluten-free
- Vegan
- Healthy
- Plant-based
- Egg-free
- Delicious
- Colorful
- Versatile
- A perfect snack
Vegan summer rolls are versatile
I love how versatile summer rolls are. You can add your favorite ingredients, make them look fancy and colorful or keep them simple. I love to include a lot of vegetables, sprouts, legumes like chickpeas, a few nuts or seeds and sometimes even fruits. And yes I often get fancy and color the noodles pink, yellow or blue! I am not using any artificial colors, I color them with beet juice, turmeric and spirulina powder, which are perfect to use as all natural food coloring. Of course, you don’t have to color your noodles and just use them plain.
To make this recipe, you will need rice paper, your favorite veggies/fruits and either rice noodles or any other “Asian noodles”. The noodles I am using are called “cellophane noodles” (glass noodles), they are very thin, transparent and only need to cook for one minute. You can also use regular rice or stuff your vegan summer rolls with veggies and/or fruits only. I like to include glass noodles though as it keeps me full for a longer time.
Serve your vegan summer rolls with a delicious sauce
You can use any dipping sauce of choice. I made a hot peanut butter dipping sauce but when I am lazy I often just dip these rolls in soy sauce. The recipe for the creamy peanut butter sauce is in the recipe notes. You can make it nut-free by using sunflower seed butter! Let me know if you try out my recipe and please report back if you liked it.
Vegan summer rolls / spring rolls
Ingredients
Rice paper
- 7-10 sheets rice paper
Vegetables:
- 1/2 avocado sliced
- 1/4 cup each of green, red and yellow pepper sliced
- One zucchini spiralized or finely cut
- One carrot spiralized or finely cut
- One cucumber spiralized or finely cut
- 1/4 of a small red cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 can chickpeas
Noodles:
- 100-150 g cellophane noodles or rice noodles
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Boil the noodles as per the instructions on the packaging, discard the hot water and rinse with cool water. Optional: Color one part of the noodles with beet juice and stir until all the noodles are pink. You can color the other part with a little bit of spirulina powder (for a nice turquoise color) or with turmeric powder (for a nice yellow color), get creative!
- Finely cut or spiralize your veggies and fruits (in case you want to use fruits too):
- Roast chickpeas with a little bit of oil and soy sauce (optional) in a saucepan:
- Fill a large bowl or pot with water and completely dip your rice paper in the water for about 10-20 seconds. I am using the following brand of rice paper:
- I used a lightly greased parchment paper on my working surface, to avoid that the rice paper sticks to the surface. Place your (cooled) noodles and veggies in the center of the rice paper and a bit in front of it:
- Roll it up carefully, it's a bit tricky since the rice paper is very thin and can burst easily. I always seal the sides first
- Dip in sauce, of choice, for example, soy sauce or peanut butter sauce (recipe below in recipe notes). Enjoy!
Notes
4 tbsp coconut milk, canned
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tsp hot sauce (e.g. sriracha)
1/3 - 1/2 tsp (or to taste) salt (or use 1-2 tbsp of soy sauce) Optional (but very recommended):
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cloves of garlic, minced Mix everything together in a bowl with a whisk. Enjoy!
I always love seeing your beautiful summer rolls and never thought of glass noodles ! I can’t wait to find some , Also your tip about rolling them on wax paper is genius I struggle with them sticking so thank you so much. Your blog is beyond helpful <3 <3
Aww thank you Kirsten! It makes me so happy to hear that my blog is helpful. And yes definitely try it out, I hope they won’t stick the next time. Enjoy ❤️
These summer rolls look so beautiful! I love how colourful they are! They sound delicious! <3
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Harriet. I am so glad you like my colorful summer rolls ????
What is the bright blue and pink filling in the ones pictured? These are so pretty!
Thank you so much for your compliment Catherine. It’s stated in my blog post, the blue is spirulina and the pink is beet juice 🙂
Spring rolls are eaten frequently at our home, but yours are the most colorful I’ve ever seen! Great way to “eat the rainbow” as nutritionists recommend.I’ll have to try coloring the noodles next time. We always wrap with some fresh herbs: cilantro, Thai basil, mint, etc. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I am excited to hear that you are going to make rainbow rolls some day 🙂
Can you share your spicy peanut dipping sauce? ????
Sorry I didn’t take excact measurements. Just mix PB with lemon or lime juice, water and add hot sauce (e.g. Sriracha), salt and pepper to taste 🙂
Ho Ela, I’m going to make your summer rolls for bday dinner 🙂 is it ok to make them a day ahead?
Hey Martina, I just saw your comment. I think it’s better to make them on the same day, as the rice paper will get a bit dry and brittle when you store them in the fridge. So it’s better you don’t make them a day ahead. 🙂
These look delicious, May want to remind people that if they use soy sauce it is not gluten free. Thanks!
Good advice, I make sure to buy gluten free soy sauce 🙂
Do your spring rolls happen to freeze well? I’m a meal prep person who would love to eat these throughout the week!
Hey Maddie, I believe they don’t freeze well, because the rice paper might get dry and brittle (I never tried to freeze them though). I had them in the fridge overnight and next day the rice paper was already a bit dry and brittle. Hope this helps 🙂
Can i get recipe for the sauce?
Hey Andrea, I don’t have the exact recipe for the PB sauce as I made it only once or twice and didn’t write down the measurements. I will just copy and paste what I wrote in my blog post above: “To make the peanut butter dipping sauce you just need peanut butter (or powdered peanut butter aka peanut flour), lime or lemon juice, ginger, hot sauce (e.g. sriracha), spices and water”. I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the sauce to be honest and that’s why I will try out a different sauce with sunflower seed butter soon and write down the recipe. 😉
Add some hoisin, soy sauce and garlic and it’s money. I don’t use sriracha but a different hot sauce that I make that doesn’t contain as much garlic. If you use sriracha, you probably don’t need to add garlic.
Sounds great. 🙂
Dear Ela!!
This recipe got a family favorite in our house!! It takes a little time for the preparation, cutting all the fresh ingredients in stripes , but it is so easy ! While you are cutting you already think about how you put everything together to get a nice colorful result! That’s fun! I tried the root beet coloring and it worked perfectly! The noodles got this nice pink color, it just took a little while so I learnt to start with that first! Thanks so much for your inspirational posts and helpful advices!! You’re simply the best????????
Aww, such a wonderful and thoughtful feedback, thank you so much dear Stephanie. Comments like yours give me the motivation to keep creating recipes. So thank you very much, it really means a lot to me. ❤️
Hi, this looks so amazing. I love to make and eat these, but they look nothing like yours, it’s hard for me to wrap them up.. Also, I don’t know if it’s just me, but i don’t see what you did with the chickpeas. Sorry if i missed it, and i would love to know, since i’m a big fan
Thank a lot, i’ve been strolling on your site for the last hour! 🙂
Hi Eni, I know it can be hard to wrap them up. My first few tries were a disaster, haha. It also depends on the rice paper, I have had fails with many but then found a brand which I love. So definitely check out various brands from your supermarket. Sorry, I don’t understand your question regarding the chickpeas. What exactly do you mean?
And thank you so much for checking out my blog for so long, that’s so kind of you 🙂
Dear Ela, thanks for replying 🙂
Step 3 in your recipe is roast chickpeas, and I don’t see what you did with them, how you used them, that’s what I wanted to check 🙂
thank you so much, next time i try the rolls, i’ll let you know how it went
p.s. your blog is in my bookmarks now
Thanks for your follow-up comment, Eni. I simply added the chickpeas to the rolls (see pic number 4 and 6 in my blog post), as I sometimes fill my rolls with chickpeas or beans which helps me to stay longer full. When I look for a lighter meal I don’t add them and fill them only with rice noodles and veggies like in picture 1 and 2. Thanks for bookmarking my blog. 🙂
Is far as the chickpeas comment goes, I believe was referring to was what combo did you make using the chickpeas. Because you have it in the ingredients list but not in recipes or any made and showing in picture.
Hey, I guess I took out a few of the old pics and added new pics a couple of months ago, that’s why you can’t see them anymore. However, as mentioned before I just fry the chickpeas with a little bit of soy sauce in a skillet. I often add different spices (like cumin, smoked paprika etc). There is not a real recipe, I just use what I have on hand. 🙂
I didn’t have wax paper handy so I put a bit of oil on a plastic cutboard. Worked well for me. Complete novice in the kitchen BTW and appreciate the well thought out recipe.
That’s a wonderful tip, Brian. I am glad the recipe turned out great 🙂
I also am curious as to what the bright pink and blue ingredients are in your spring rolls. I don’t see anything in your list of ingredients that would be that color.
Hello Jane! It’s mentioned in the blog post and in the recipe instructions. Pink = beet juice and blue = spirulina 🙂
Ela, I was wandering through your blog, and I had to stop here and tell you how much your colorful spring rolls are brightening this winter day for me! Thank you! Dee xx
Dee, you are the sweetest! Thank you so much for checking out this blog post. Sending you lots of love 🙂
Hey Ela, I love these wraps! Yours look so beautiful.
I bought some rice paper wanting to make them myself. I like to prepare healthy meals and snacks ahead for the week and was wondering how long the prepared wraps would last in the fridge and be good to eat?
Thank you!
Hello Bee, you can keep them in the fridge only for a short while (a few hours) because otherwise, the rice paper dries out too much. Hope this helps 🙂
Hi Ela,
Would you mind listing the ingredient combinations for each Spring roll. I’d really like to know what you feel bout be compatible together.
Thank you,
Vicki
I just added whatever I had in my fridge. There is not really a recipe which I followed. I love adding carrot, avocado, and chickpeas though. 🙂
Do you have to cook the zucchini and cabbage? I assume so but I didn’t see it in your instructions so I just want to make sure haha.
Hi Kat, no you don’t have to cook it. I leave mine always raw. But if you prefer to cook it, then feel free to cook it 🙂
I’ve been experimenting with these roles on and off for about a year. I aspire to having them look as lovely as yours. Love your posts.
❤️
Thanks so much ❤️❤️❤️
So I just bought a package of rice wrappers because they were on sale. And then looked up recipesthat are gluten free to fill and make.so of course the colors caught my eyes right away. I booked marked and will be experimenting with ingredients and such. So I see the ones with strawberries and such. Did you put anything else with them but strawberries? What other fruits did you use or can you use? I excited because I have 28 different food sensitivities and am constantly looking for new ideas, or new things I can eat. That way not eating the same thing all the time and give me variety. So I have never really eaten spring rolls /summer rolls etc to much. They are fine to eat cold , say especially fruit ones or just raw veggies? If I put meat in can warm up?
I make my own sunflower butter. Did you ever come up with a receipe using sun butter yet? I also make my own chia seed jam so i can use that as well. Or honey for fruit. And did buy a bottle of gluten free s.s
As regards the strawberries, I also add rice noodles in addition. Another fruit that I love adding is mango! And yes, you can add some of your homemade chia seed jam and/or sunflower seed butter. Just try out different varieties. The good thing about summer rolls is, that you can add or leave out whatever you want.
I always eat them cold, never tried to warm them. I don’t think they taste good if you warm them.
ok . is it normal for them to get sticky before you even roll it . i am talking with like a minute? i have never eaten spring rolls before and i did make a couple the other day but they were already sticky before even rolling it. i did just peaches . i like the adding the noodles idea to fruit as well. i guess i will have to play with them more.
Yes, that’s normal. The rice paper gets sticky after a few minutes. You will get used to it once you have made them a couple of times. 🙂
I know you said they turn brittle could make ahead and wrap up in damp paper towel to keep moist
It might work, but I haven’t tried it out yet. Let me know if you give it a try. 🙂
I just made these summer rolls. It was a fun activity to do with kids! I used smoked pepper powder to make the noodles orange.
The ones we did not eat right away, I stroke them with some oil and put them in the fridge.
Thank for this great, delicious and fun recipe.
Sounds amazing! Thanks for your feedback, Corine. 🙂
Hi Ela, can I just ask; when you say beet juice do you mean the liquid in a can of pickle beets?
I’m excited to try this recipe, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such beautiful food.
Mel.
Hi Mel, thanks so much for the sweet compliment! I have made my own beet juice but I am sure you can also use the liquid in a can of pickled beets. 🙂
Ela