Traditional Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon)
Made with shrimp, pork belly, and a variety of vegetables, this traditional recipe for fresh Vietnamese spring rolls or goi cuon is an easy dinner that comes together in a little over an hour and requires very little cooking. It’s a dish that I could eat over and over again all year round! Included in this blog post is a detailed step-by-step guide on how to roll a perfect spring roll.
When I moved to the Bay Area, the one thing I missed most about living in LA was my mom’s cooking. There is no one better in kitchen in my opinion (and I’m including my grandma in this statement). All my favorite dishes are ones that she used to make for me. Part of the reason I learned how to cook was so I could recreate these recipes for myself. One of these dishes is fresh Vietnamese spring rolls or goi cuon in Vietnamese. This one is truly 100% authentic because it comes straight from my mom and grandma.
My lifelong love affair with Vietnamese Spring Rolls
I have eaten spring rolls my whole life. For many, spring rolls refer to the shrimp and pork belly ones, but for me, they’ve included a wide variety like nem nuong spring rolls, salmon spring rolls, and bo bia which is made with Chinese sausage! There are also vegetarian variations like my vegetarian Vietnamese spring rolls. What sets my family’s recipe apart from others is the simplicity. We only include the protein, lettuce, mint, cucumbers, and vermicelli. Other people include a ton of different fillings, but in my experience, less is more when it comes to spring rolls. The more you add, the less authentic it tastes. Personally, your spring rolls should taste mostly like the protein with some freshness thrown in. Everything included in the spring roll is a canvas for that protein to shine.
Some key details about ingredients you’ll need
- Vermicelli Noodles – This dish is traditionally made with vermicelli noodles. I have used other types of rice noodles in the past, but the texture and taste are not quite the same. Do not use other noodles. I highly recommend using vermicelli noodles. Learn how to properly cook these noodles using my step-by-step guide.
- Rice Paper – The brand of rice paper you use is actually important. I had an experience while testing where I used a brand I just found at the grocery store, and it was a nightmare. The wrapper would break easily. It was also really sticky which made it hard to roll, so I vowed from then on to stick to the brand I know and love. That brand is Three Ladies rice paper. This is the one my grandma used, my mom used, and now I use almost exclusively. It’s the best, and doesn’t fail you.
- Hoisin sauce – The most traditional sauce used for spring rolls has hoison sauce as a base, but if you want an alternative, I would recommend using Vietnamese dipping sauce. I have used both kinds of sauces and prefer the hoisin based version for traditional spring rolls throughout the years, but the latter works well too.
How to make fresh spring rolls with process shots!
How I like to hydrate rice paper
I’ve hydrated rice paper hundreds to thousands of times. Here are a few tips and tricks that have helped me do it successfully every time.
- Fill a bowl with warm water.
- Tip #1: There are some debates about warm vs cold water, but to be honest, cold water works just as well as warm water. At best, warm water is marginally more effective in my opinion.
- Tip #2: You can also choose to run water down both sides of the rice paper using the kitchen faucet. This is what I do.
- Dip the rice paper into the water. Make sure the water covers both sides of the rice paper.
- Tip #3: Don’t let it sit in the water. Just wet it on both sides and put it on the plate.
- Lie it flat on a plate.
- Tip #4: The rice paper might not look wet or soft enough initially, but as it sits on the plate and you put the filling on it, it will soften even further.
Did you make this goi cuon recipe?
If you made this dish, I would love to see!
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Get the Recipe:
Traditional Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon)
Ingredients
Vietnamese Peanut Sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp roasted peanuts, optional, chopped into small pieces
Spring Rolls
- 1 lb pork belly, thinly sliced
- 1 lb shrimp, halved
- 5 oz vermicelli noodles
- 12 pieces rice paper, see note 1
- 1 head lettuce
- 1 cucumber, julienned
- mint to taste
Instructions
Vietnamese Peanut Sauce
- Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add hoison sauce and peanut butter. Saute for another 30 seconds.
- Add the water and bring it up to a boil.
- Mix corn starch with 1 tbsp of water and add to the sauce. Simmer until it thickens (1-2 minutes).
- Pour it into a bowl and set aside. Top with peanuts right before serving.
Spring Rolls
- Bring 8 cups of water to a boil and add in the pork belly. Cook the pork belly in boiling water for an hour or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
- While the pork belly is cooking, bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a separate pot. Add in the vermicelli noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes. Sample the noodles to make sure they are done. Set aside.
- After you cook the vermicelli noodles, bring 6 cups of water to a boil in the same pot and add in the shrimp. Cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes or until the shrimp turns orange and the meat is orange and white. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes. Slice the shrimp in half.
- Slice all your vegetables at this point. Slice your cucumbers into thin pieces.
- At this point, your pork belly should be done. Once it's done cooking, set it aside to rest for 10 minutes until it is cool enough to handle. After it rests, shave off the skin and then slice it into thin pieces. The pork belly should be as thin as possible and about 1 inch wide. This shape will help you wrap the spring rolls more easily.
- Now you're ready to create the spring rolls. Dip the rice paper in warm water to hydrate it. Lay the rice paper on a flat plate. Place lettuce, mint, cucumbers, noodles, and pork belly on one end of the rice paper.
- Roll it halfway. Make sure to roll it as tight as possible, so it's easier to dip and eat. Place 3 shrimp right in front of your roll. This will allow for the shrimp to appear neatly at the end.
- Roll over the shrimp as tightly as possible. Tuck in the sides of the roll before completing your last roll.
Notes
- Update 4/30/25 – I’ve tested various rice paper brands, and found that many do not work well. The stickiness and difficulty wrapping spring rolls can be traced back to the brand of rice paper you use. The brand me, my mom, and my grandma swear by is Three Ladies brand. The rice paper doesn’t break and is not too sticky to a point where you can’t even form the spring roll. I had this negative experience with some random brand I got from the grocery store, and vow to never use another brand again.
- For instructions on how to properly hydrate rice paper, refer to the blog post.
Dear Editor,
I am writing to you today after reading a post on your website titled “Gỏi Cuốn: Best Recipe of Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls.” While I appreciate the effort to introduce Vietnamese cuisine to a wider audience, I believe there is a more accurate way to translate “Gỏi cuốn” into English.
The current translation of “Gỏi cuốn” as “spring rolls” is likely to cause confusion with the fried counterpart, “Nem rán” or “Chả giò.” As you can see from the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary definition https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/spring-roll, “spring roll” typically refers to the fried version.
To avoid this confusion, I suggest using the more specific translation “summer rolls”. These terms accurately capture the essence of “Gỏi cuốn” and differentiate it from the fried “Nem rán” or “Chả giò.”
By using a more precise translation, you can provide your readers with a clearer understanding of Vietnamese cuisine and prevent them from making a culinary faux pas.
Thank you for considering my suggestion. I hope you will take it into account for future content.
Hi Van. Thanks for your feedback. I agree with that perspective but most people refer to this dish as spring rolls, even Vietnamese people at Vietnamese restaurants, so I will keep the title as it is but I did add a line in my blog post that specifies summer rolls as an alternative name.
Made these tonight and it wasn’t great the sauce was watery and un flavourful, trying to make wraps that just stick to everything including each other and the plate everything was just watery and loose and not tasty.
I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you! The spring roll wrappers can be sticky, especially if you over hydrate them. You just need to dip them into warm water once. The stickiness can also vary depending on the brand of wrappers you use.
Could you use chunky peanut butter instead of adding chopped peanuts at the end?
Hi Maddie. Yes you can! My mom actually loves using chunky peanut butter, and then adds chopped peanuts on top because she loves peanuts that much. But using just chunky peanut butter works!
I’m making these for dinner tonight. I used a different recipe a couple of weeks ago, and the filling was the same, but the dipping sauce recipe was underwhelming. I just finished making your sauce recipe and it is exactly what I was looking for, super flavorful! I’m pretty excited to eat them, thanks!
It’s my mom’s recipe! I’ll make sure to tell her you loved the sauce!
I have made these three times now starting over every time from scratch cutting up all the vegetables making sure everything is ready to go. I have also been extremely disappointing because I couldn’t wrap one roll it was so frustrating I guess I’m just too old I’m 68 years old and I just ended up with a nothing but a mess those wrappers are impossible to get to wrap they just get all wadded up in a ball.
It was so disappointing every time and so frustrating because I love spring rolls just love them love them love them but we have to drive about 20 miles just to get them from our Vietnamese restaurant you’re lucky you can have them consider your self a very fortunate.
Hi Antoinette! Don’t get discouraged! It’s definitely hard. I think I messed up the first 20-30 times before I could do 1 pretty well. I am not sure how you are wrapping yours but what I tried to do in the beginning is try to put less in the wrapper. That makes it easier to roll. You could also try using a pastry brush and brushing them with warm water instead of dipping them in a bowl of warm water. Let me know if that helps!
To Antoinette. I’m a newcomer to making and rolling these wonderful guys. I’ve taught a lot of my friends how to roll once I learned how to do mine. Like you, I was frustrated in not being able to buy these rolls whenever I wanted to- so I learned. Each of my friends that I showed how to roll have come up with their own new and interesting techniques. One which really made a difference at first was using a cutting board that you spread a thin layer of sunflower oil for each roll, and this really helped the rice paper not stick to the wood so fast. This was a major help at first, as this gave me the time to learn my techniques to the point of rolling my Goì Cuons fast enough before the rice paper got to the point of sticking too much to the surface.
Another thing is I’ve found; the vietnamese square rice paper to be really nice to roll with, and perhaps a wee bit easier than the circular ones. However, I’m not sure if you can find those at your Asian food market. The biggest difference however, is what ‘Becca mentioned, is not packing your roll much. And 2nd biggest one was oiling a bit your rolling surface for each time you roll. The rice paper will absorb it like crazy and no worries, it won’t affect the taste much. I use the cutting board to roll and sunflower oil or avocado oil.
Hey! I love the sauce. Been eating summer rolls for the last three weeks now 😅 Don’t know how authentic it is, but I found that adding some siracha sauce makes it even better.
I’m so excited you enjoyed them! Adding sriracha sounds like an amazing addition!
Beautiful website
Thank you Angie 🙂