Traditional 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.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 820kcal
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.
Video
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.
Nutrition
Serving: 3spring rolls | Calories: 820kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 65g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 368mg | Sodium: 997mg | Potassium: 687mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 3278IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 210mg | Iron: 4mg