How to Make Healthy and Delicious Summer Rolls *VIDEO*
I love summer rolls — crunchy, fresh, and flavorful all wrapped in a delicate rice paper wrapper. Summer rolls are one of those things I never thought I could make at home. The wrappers, the rolling, the sauce! Not only are they way easier than I imagined, but they can be quite the nutritious dish to boot. Filled with loads of raw veggies and herbs, a summer roll is like a salad all wrapped up in a neat little package. In the video above, I go a pretty traditional route with avocado, cabbage, carrots and herbs, but also I use less traditional roasted sweet potato sticks and shredded Brussels sprouts. Rice paper is so neutral. Who says you couldn’t put a cobb salad in there or poached chicken, corn, cabbage and barbecue sauce? I say the sky’s the limit and can we talk about perfect these would be for school lunches?! Per-fect!
If you want to make these in advance, cover them with a damp paper towel and refrigerate for ideally up to one day, but I’ve even kept them 2 or 3 days.
Healthy and Delicious Summer Rolls
Ingredients
- For the sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter preferably organic (or cashew or almond butter)
- 1 Tablespoon unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- ½ Tablespoon raw honey choose a mild flavor
- ½ Tablespoon water
- ½ Tablespoon shoyu or gluten-free tamari
- pinch sea salt
- pinch cayenne pepper
- For the summer rolls:
- 8 8-inch rice paper rounds, plus additional in case some tear
- 1 large sweet potato (peeled if desired) and cut into ¼” matchsticks
- unrefined coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 4 medium brussels sprouts thinly sliced or shredded
- ¼ head of small red cabbage thinly sliced or shredded
- 2 medium carrots shredded, grated, or julienned
- 1 large avocado cut into thin slices
- handful each of fresh mint leaves basil leaves and cilantro leaves
- Other possibilities: cooked shrimp chicken, tempeh or tofu, cooked rice noodles
Instructions
- To make the sauce: whisk together all of the ingredients in a bowl or a glass jar and set aside. *
- To make the summer rolls: Drizzle the sweet potatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 18-20 minutes until tender.
- Fill a shallow baking dish or a skillet with warm water. Soak 1 rice paper round (make sure there are no holes) in warm water until pliable, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the water and transfer to a plate or cutting board.
- Spread 2 teaspoons of peanut sauce on the rice paper (or omit and use as a dip once rolls are assembled) and top with 2-3 large mint leaves, 1-2 large basil leaves, a pinch of cilantro leaves, a
- pinch each of the Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and carrot, a few sticks of sweet potato, and a couple of avocado slices, taking care not to overstuff. Roll up rice paper tightly around filling, folding in sides and continue rolling.
- Transfer summer roll to a plate and cover with dampened paper towels.
- Make the remaining rolls in the same manner. Serve rolls halved on the diagonal.
- Store in the fridge covered with a damp paper towel 2-3 days.
Notes
You are going to have so much fun making these summer rolls!
By the way, I have a YouTube channel! I would love it if you subscribed over here. Thank you!
14 Comments
Friendly suggestion from a former TV producer: Your videos are way too long. We are too ADD to sit through nearly 13 minutes. Would be so much better to cut them down to 3 – 4 minutes max. I want to learn how to make these but don’t have the attention span or time to watch the whole thing.
Much love, Jenn
Thanks, Jenn! I know, the trend is much shorter videos. When I made this video, the trend was long ones. Sorry!
Personally, I love your videos just how they are!! They are wonderfully informative and we feel like a guest or friend invited in your kitchen… I don’t like rushed videos, they feel impersonal.. Thank you for all your gorgeous recipes and tips, it is a joy to learn new delicious recipes to cook for my family 🙂 I have both of your books QTQ and Kitchen Matters, and they are so easy to follow and the results always tend to please everyone including the little ones
Aww. Thank you, Jen. Really appreciate your support.
I like your long video’s, I didn’t know there was a “trend” for people who can’t focus. We got rid of our tv in 2006 because we felt like shows were being “dumb down”. Walking after dinner has been fun!
I bet! Walking after dinner is super beneficial.
Thank you thank you thank you for another wonderful recipe. We love to get fresh summer rolls when we go out to eat, and I was intimidated to make these. But after watching your video, it’s a piece of cake. These will definitely be on a rotation at our house.
Piece. Of. Cake. Exactly! Now that you’ve nailed the technique, you can wrap anything you want!
We made these for dinner last weekend and they were so easy and SO DELICIOUS! We cheated a little and bought pre-chopped “Cruciferous Crunch” and pre-shredded carrots from Trader Joe’s, used basil, cilantro, and mint leaves (again, no chopping!), and julienned some cucumbers. Everyone made their own and they were divine! Also, we used cashew butter instead of peanut for the sauce. It was so yummy, we all fought over it and I ended up having to make a second batch.
Love all these swaps and I wouldn’t call buying Cruciferous Crunch cheating! Sounds super yummy!
WOW thanks for the tips! We so enjoyed this recipe, next time it wil be “Quicker than Quick”! 😉
Glad to hear that! It just takes some practice.
I love this! I never would have tried to tackle this without the video. You make everything look so easy. Thanks for exposing me and by extension, my family to so many new and wonderful dishes!
Thank you Susan, for the kind comment. Makes me happy that you found the video useful. 🙂