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Amazing as per usual. Every recipe from this website is gold! Loved the Swiss chard! I was looking for a recipe to use it up in!
Esther
It’s SUMMMAHHHH.
No, it’s not really. I lie. It’s actually the 2nd day of May. And even May isn’t safe – sometimes you still get the Sn word in May when you live in the Northland.
But just look at that picture and try to not feel all like SUMMMAHHHHH. See? Right?
I mean, I have my windows and doors open all day long, and I find myself doing things like searching all the random compartments in the cars and house and basement for my sunglasses which Bjork stashed away five months ago, and I can finally turn the heat from 90 million degrees to “Away” — umm we have a Nest, like true internet nerds, and so we don’t turn it off because we are fancy and we get to select options like “Away” — and most importantly?
Most importantly –>
I’m munching on fresh, rainbow-colored, RAW vegetables and herbs wrapped neatly (okay but just don’t look too closely at the back side of those five) in deliciously chewy rice paper and dipping them in a homemade peanut sauce and here’s the catch – I’m feeling toe-tingly happy about it. About raw vegetables. !! Watch me unleash the summer self within.
My real brain knows it’s not summer, but all these things? Come ON. The spirit of summer is all around.
Here’s the honest to oh my goodness truth about these summer rolls.
I almost didn’t post them.
Not because of taste! Guys, hello! THE FRESHNESS. The chewy rice paper. The sauce. It’s all so good.
But in the looks department – not so much. On a scale of 1-10, I’d rank my rice paper rolling skills as a zero. Every wrapper broke in at least three places and the ends looked like they were “wrapped” by a three year old. I’d wrap one up and, knowing it wasn’t going to be good enough to be pictured, I’d just stand over the cutting board and eat it. It wouldn’t even make it to the plate, ever. Straight to sauce to mouth. This happened way more times than would be considered normal for a person trying to warm up their rolling skills.
In the end, I had this batch of mediocre-looking summer rolls that I was planning to eat for lunch for the week, end of story. No blog post, no pictures. Time: wasted. Me: crabby.
But then I had the magic food inspiration to do just one simple thing: cut them in half.
And you wouldn’t even believe it but a rainbow of colors and shapes and textures emerged from the cut-in-half summer rolls and covered up all the failure of my wrapping skills. I put them in a bowl to show off the colors aka hide the slopped wrapping and they looked sososososooo pretty.
And I thought: I AM AWESOME AT LIFE RIGHT NOW.
Not only was I eating raw veggies (100 bonus Awesome Points), but I figured out a way to make the average person feel really good about their summer roll rice paper wrapping skills and enjoy the fresh, raw veggies with me. BOOM!
We can do this, you guys.
This recipe is some kind of a cross between Vietnamese spring rolls and the summer rolls I get at my favorite sushi place (see also: these Spring Roll Bowls for a similar vibe!). I couldn’t resist doing the zig-zag with the sauce over the top of these thai summer rolls to give them the looks of sushi summer rolls, but they are, by definition, really similar to my favorite Vietnamese spring rolls.
These portable rainbow mint-and-cilantro-fresh veggie guys dipped in that creamy-sweet peanut sauce are ready to be your perfect summer lunch. Or dinner, or snack, or everythannnggggg.
It totally is summer, okay?
Thai Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 rolls (nutrition is for one roll or two halves) 1x
Description
Thai Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce – these fresh veggie rolls make for the best easy, healthy, portable lunch! with tons of herbs and a delicious sauce.
Ingredients
For the Summer Rolls:
- 8 rice paper wrappers
- a few torn leafy greens like rainbow chard
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1 medium bell pepper
- 2 medium carrots
- a handful of fresh mint
- a handful of fresh cilantro
- 1 avocado
- crushed peanuts for topping
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce (sub a gluten free tamari if you need to make the recipe GF)
- 1–2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoons white distilled vinegar
- 1 tablespoons honey
- a big squeeze of lime juice
- a dash of fish sauce
Instructions
- Place the ingredients for the peanut sauce in a food processor or blender. Pulse or blend until smooth.
- Slice the cucumber, pepper, and carrots into thin strips about 3 inches long. Slice the avocado into pieces.
- Soak one rice paper wrapper at a time into a bowl of warm-ish water for about 30 seconds. When you see or feel the wrapper getting loose and elastic-y, remove it from the water and set it on a damp towel. Pat it dry gently and dry your hands.
- Arrange a few of the vegetables and herbs in the center of the wrapper horizontally, starting with the leafy greens and ending with the avocado. Fold the left and right sides towards the middle; fold the top flap over the vegetables, tuck everything in, and tightly roll it all up. The wrapper will be very sticky and delicate so work carefully.
- Cut the rolls in half and place on a serving platter (because if you’re like me, they’ll look better when they’re cut in half and you’re looking at the pretty vegetables inside instead of the wrap job). Drizzle with the sauce or dip in the sauce or both! I topped mine with crushed peanuts.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: Thai
Keywords: thai summer rolls, peanut sauce, summer rolls
These thai summer rolls look fantastic.
One of my favorite foods for summer. Definitely trying your version soon 🙂
Thanks Mary! Hope you like them!
These are beautiful! Summer and fresh veggies are two things I could really use in my life right now, I’m excited to make these for lunch for work next week (and nervous about using rice paper wrappers for the first time now)!
It’s not terribly hard, it’s just hard (IMO) to get them looking good enough for pictures. Which is why the cut in half move is critical for people like me 😀
Gah! So excited for summer! And now for these rolls!! Spring rolls are the best.
Right? It’s like 75 degrees and I’m wearing shorts and I’M THRILLED 😀
These look amazing! Your idea of serving them cut side up in a bowl is brilliant.
Funny story about me and rice papers: at my favorite Vietnamese place, you can order this plate of all different meats and veggies to make into your own summer rolls. I’d never done that before, and since they brought the rice papers before the bowl of warm water, I totally tried to eat one plain (spoiler alert: it’s not really possible!). Now that I know how the whole thing goes I’m addicted to rolling, but still not very good at it.
That is HILARIOUS! Totally sounds like something I would do. 🙂
I’ve been so into Thai food recently and am so happy you posted this! I’m especially excited about the peanut sauce though, not going to lie. 🙂
Thanks Claire! I adapted it from one of my most popular recipes – the Chopped Thai Salad!
I just ate this yesterday! I also like adding some shrimp to the roll 🙂 -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
Agreed! Love that idea Audrey!
I’ve been trying to buy rice paper for a while but just can’t seem to find it anywhere! Where do you get yours (a regular grocery store or is it a specialty store?) I have to find it somewhere so I can make these; that peanut sauce sounds amazing!!
Hey Matea! I normally shop at Target and I was sad that they didn’t have them there, but I found them at a Cub Foods which is just a local mainstream grocery store. 🙂
These look awesome and I love that you used bell pepper- crunch and a zip of sweetness! 🙂
Yep! Sweet indeed!
These look amazing!! So fresh and so colorful and pretty!!!
Jillian
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that Jillian.
I just learned how to roll rice wraps too! I used the smaller wraps and don’t fold the ends over because there’s not enough room. They still taste great.
I bought a wrap at Whole Foods and it came with this delicious sauce which I think is Nuoc Cham sauce which I really loved but so far I can’t replicate it with recipes I’ve found on the internet. Your sauce sounds good too so will give it a try. I made a very dark peanut sauce.
I have never heard of Nuoc Cham sauce – might need to look that one up!
Thanks for sharing the Vietnamese name for dipping sauces; Nuoc Cham. this will be helpful at the Asian grocer.
I love your blogs and your recipes, but I wish you would avoid terms like “a handful of…”. It is so vague that a misinterpretation (or a different sized hand) could make all the difference between success and failure. Please try to use more precise measurements (volume, weight) so we really know what your vision is.
A wrap is not meant to be exact. She could’ve used the word “some” instead of “handful” because you are not going to use the exact handful of mint, no matter whose hand it is.
Hey Tim, thanks for sharing your feedback. I never measure fresh herbs and always just add them by taste and feel – the specific amount won’t make or break the recipe. But I know not everyone cooks like that so it’s something to think about.
Amazing as per usual. Every recipe from this website is gold! Loved the Swiss chard! I was looking for a recipe to use it up in!
Yes, its summer!! Finally, no more snow! I’m loving the fresh veggies and that peanut sauce looks like it will taste amazing on anything!
Yeah, I’m sort of obsessed… 🙂
In the summer these are almost a favorite food for all the people. I also love these foods. About one thing,I’m so excited especially about the peanut sauce .so,thanks a lot.
Awesome! I hope you like it David!
These look so delicious, and I definitely want to make them. Dismayed, though, at the calorie count. Is it really 440 cal per roll? Guess that most of that comes from the peanut sauce but still…I don’t think I’d be satisfied with one!
I just calculated the calories and it’s actually 177 calories per roll! I was in shock when I saw 440 too so I had to see for myself! I used my fitness pal to import the recipe. Can’t wait to try these I want to eat them all summer!!!
Slush, does 177 calories include the peanut sauce?
Hey Molly! Good catch – something must have been way off with how I entered the recipe, or maybe I grabbed the wrong label or something? Hahah – yikes. I put the updated label in – you’re right, I have it at more like 250 calories per roll including sauce. 🙂
Am sorry to say these beautiful looking rolls would not be a hit in my family. Fresh veggies-yes but with a dip of some sort. BUT!!! I absolutely LOVE – LOVE -LOVE reading your blog. Your words, your expressions- they crack me up! They make my day! Thank you! Thank you!
thanks Janice! 🙂 appreciate that!
54 carbs seems like a lot. Is this accurate? Where are the majority of the carbs coming from as you haven’t included high carb vegetables?
Hey Tricia! Something went wrong with that first label – eek! The new one is in there now, looking much lighter 🙂
Now we’re talking! Can’t wait to make these 🙂
If I could only eat one food all summer, summer rolls would be it. Have you ever tried adding mango? So good!
I’m so glad you ended up posting them! And I love how you cut the veggies!
Yes! I have! And it’s delicious!
Just made these… the lazy version. Delish! I love the peanut sauce 🙂 Sooooo good! By lazy I mean I forgot to buy rice paper wrappers, so I just chopped up all the veggies and put the peanut sauce on top like a chopped salad. So-oo-oo good! I am also very proud of having eating raw veggies for dinner 🙂
Perfect! Thanks for the comment Michelle!
I laughed out loud: “the lazy version” – as in, didn’t actually make rolls at all – excellent idea! Next time, I’m going to just eat ’em with rice noodles and call it a day.
“Lazy Versions of Your Favorite Foods” should be its own blog.
Haha! I love this. 🙂
They look so pretty! These are actually a very popular street food where I live! Need to try your version! And it’s summer all year long here (super hot)! XD
How fun! Love hearing that Chelsea!
Awesome save! I was wondering how you made these look GORGEOUS when I usually SUCK so much with rice paper wrappers.
hahaha – yeah – there’s a reason the back sides are not pictured.
yummy!!! just pinned and will have to make these, thanks!
Awesome! I hope you like them Tereza!
OMG you are too modest… How can you say that those beautiful rolls were horribly wrapped??? Even though you cut them in half, mine probs would have ended up more like a salad with mushed rice wrappers…
AND THAT SAUCE!!!! Lady, you’re too talented!
Thanks Anne! Appreciate that! 😀
I made something so similar to this a few weeks ago and put it on my blog as well! They were SO difficult to roll! I definitely need more practice in that area too- but they were mighty tasty!
Yeah – definitely not one for the “quick and easy” category but still fun to play around with! 🙂
Amazing recipe!!!
Thank you Amanda!
Love this idea! What a beautiful presentation – I could see this as a gorgeous appetizer for a cocktail hour that appeases all the special dietary restriction folks. On another note, is the ad in the middle of the recipe going to be a permanent addition? Definitely don’t care for that. Your blog is so clean and beautiful.
Hey Steph! We are always changing the ads on the site based on what fits, what looks terrible, and what’s performing well. Thanks for the feedback though!
No problem. Keep up the great work! We LOVE the blog and all your tasty food. I was going through our iphoto library and realized we have taken a ton of pics of recipes we’ve made with the intent of showing you, but we always seem to forget. We’ll have to go the snapchat route in the future – less pressure on making it a great pic since your pics are always so amazing.