Vietnamese Spring Roll Salad

Name: Spring Roll Salad
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: ½ lb raw shrimp (or pork, chicken, beef); 3.5-4 oz rice vermicelli noodles; 2-3 cups lettuce (shredded); 2 cups cabbage (shredded); 2 cups carrots (shaved); 1 large cucumber (shaved); ½ cup mint leaves (julienned ); 1 cup peanuts (crushed); 2-3 cloves garlic (minced); ½ cup hoisin sauce; ½ cup peanut butter; ½ cup water; 2 limes (juiced); ¼ cup vegetable oil; ½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Introducing this delicious and healthy Spring Roll Salad, or also known as, Spring Roll in a Bowl! It has all the wonderful components of a Vietnamese spring roll, combined in a yummy and convenient deconstructed way.

You’ll find light and healthy ingredients such as rice vermicelli noodles, shrimp, crunchy vegetables, mint leaves tossed in a creamy peanut hoisin dressing. Yes, it is without a wrapper, but rest assure it is just as refreshing, flavorful and yummy!

Salad utensils are lifting up Vietnamese spring roll salad out of a white bowl.

Table of Contents

Vietnamese Spring Roll in a Bowl

We are a big fan of Vietnamese cuisines in our household, and make our fair share of authentic Vietnamese recipes such as Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork and Vietnamese Egg Rolls frequently.

This deconstructed spring roll salad is one where we are taking the classic Vietnamese spring roll, an iconic Vietnamese dish, and turning it into a salad bowl. No wrapper needed!

We love the authentic Vietnamese spring rolls, but if you are craving the flavors of spring rolls without wanting the do the hard work of rolling them into rolls, this shortcut ‘spring roll in a bowl’ will satisfy your cravings and get you those traditional authentic flavors without much heavy lifting.

What I set out to do was to incorporate all the ingredients that goes into spring rolls – the meat or seafood, rice noodles, raw vegetables, herbs, peanuts, and my favorite…that to-die-for peanut hoisin sauce.

In this deconstructed spring roll salad recipe, you simply toss everything together, drizzled with that signature hoisin peanut sauce.

Spring roll in a bowl is fresh, light, and so perfect for the warmer weather. It also come together SO quickly – just about 30 minutes! Skipping the wrapping saves so much time!

So if you are craving a classic Vietnamese spring roll but don’t want to work too hard, give them scrumptious spring roll salad smothered in peanut hoisin sauce a try!

Top down picture of a deconstructed spring roll featuring shrimp. noodles, and packed with veggies.

Ingredients

To make our spring roll salad, here’s the ingredients you will need:

Vermicelli rice noodles: this is a very thin, long, string-like rice noodles commonly use in Vietnamese and Southeast Asian cooking. They have a soft, delicate and chewy texture.
Raw shrimp: Feel free to use other protein such as chicken, tofu or beef. Pork is another traditional ingredient typically used in Vietnamese Spring rolls
Lettuce: I typically use green leaf or romaine lettuce, but any type of lettuce works just fine
Carrots
Cabbage
Cucumber: crisp, cool and fresh, this will provide a nice refreshing bite.
Mint leaves: This will bring about bites of freshness that makes our spring roll in a bowl super refreshing
Crushed peanuts: Provide a nice crunchy texture to the salad

Sauce ingredients

Lime juice: use freshly squeezed lime juice for best flavor. This provides a nice tangy, fresh touch to the sauce.
Hoisin sauce: this is a popular sauce in Vietnamese cuisine. It can be found in the Asian aisle in most mainstream grocery stores.
Peanut butter: responsible for the creaminess in the dressing.
Water: helps dilute the sauce to provide a ‘salad dressing’ type consistency.

How to make Spring Roll in a Bowl?

Let’s get right into making this delicious spring roll bowl!

Step 1: Cook noodles and shrimp

Spring roll salad begins with preparing rice vermicelli noodles, which easily boils and softens in somewhere between 3-5 minutes.

Cook it according to package instruction because it may vary depending on the brands of noodles. Once they are cooked, drain noodles when complete and set aside.

Rinse noodles in cold water to prevent sticking.

While the noodles boil in water, I typically start working on the shrimp.

Drizzle cooking oil onto skillet and heat skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, quickly cook up the shrimp.

Shrimp are almost fully cooked in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Shrimp cooks super fast (a couple of minutes) – avoid overcooking!

Step 2: Prep vegetables

Next, chop lettuce, shave carrots and cucumbers, slice basil or mint leaves and shred cabbage. And we are pretty much done!

Step 3: Prepare Peanut hoisin sauce

For the sauce, we are taking inspiration from traditional Vietnamese cuisine.

Add sauce ingredients (peanut butter, hoisin sauce, lime juice, garlic, vegetable oil) to a small bowl and whisk to combine.

All of the dressing ingredients have been measured and whisked together.

I love splashing some bright lime juice into my sauce to give it some acidity.

Step 3: Bring salad together

Assemble the salad by bringing all the ingredients together in a large bowl or platter – lettuce, carrots, cucumber, cabbage, mint leaves, lettuce, rice vermicelli, and shrimp etc.

When ready to serve and eat, drizzle the peanut sauce all over it. Toss it if you would like, or eat it as it is.

The sticky peanut sauce will coat the ingredients with salty, tangy, sweet flavors.

All of the salad ingredients have been topped with the dressing and are ready to be tossed together.

You get lots of textures and flavors in every bite, varying from the crunchy raw vegetables, chewy rice noodles, juicy shrimp and fresh herbs.

Spring roll salad a simple mixture, bursting in flavors, and oh-so-satisfying. You’ll discover familiar Vietnamese flavors with each bite.

Variations and Subsitutions

Here are the few things you can do differently when making this spring roll salad. Spring rolls are versatile and usually are made with various sauces, protiens, vegetables etc. This spring roll bowl version is just as flexible!

Proteins: grill or pan fry the shrimp, or substitute with chicken, beef or pork. Tofu is a great vegetarian option.
Vegetables: feel free to swap vegetables out with other crisp, raw vegetables, such as shredded red bell pepper, red leaf lettuce, jalapeño, radish, beans sprouts etc.
Herbs and spices: Basil, cilantro are great adds as well!
Sauce: Other ingredients you can add include brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup (for additional sweetness), fish sauce/ soy sauce/ tamari (for more salty flavors), rice vinegar(for more tangy flavors).

A white bowl is filled with Spring Roll Salad packed full with crunchy veggies, chewy noodles, and delicious shrimp all topped with a yummy peanut butter sauce.

Make Ahead and Storage

This spring roll noodle bowl will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days if stored in an air-tight container.

Be sure to store peanut sauce separately from the vegetables and noodles because you want to only drizzle the sauce over noodles right before ready to eat it.

Tips and Tricks

A few pre-functory notes when making Spring Roll Salad and Spring Roll Noodle Bowl:

Pat dry shrimp: Use a paper towel to pat dry raw shrimp before searing so they sear well. If shrimp is frozen, bring it to a full defrost and pat dry to remove as much moisture as possible.
Avoid overcooking shrimp: shrimp cooks really fast and will be rubbery and hard if overcooked
Rinse noodles with cold water Rinse cooked rice vermicelli noodle with cold water immediately after draining it to avoid sticking and overcooking.
Remove moisture from vegetables: Try to as best as you can to pat dry veggies with a paper towel so that sauce doesn’t get watered down.
Use different vegetables: feel free to use your favorite vegetables! Some good options includes kale, red bell pepper, red leaf lettuce, and radish, etc.
Store sauce and salad separately: if meal prepping and storing it for later, make sure to store peanut sauce separately from the rest of the salad noodle bowl because the noodles/veggies will get soggy if storing it along with the sauce

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use different rice noodles?

I like to use vermicelli because of the long and thin string-like texture. You can use thicker rice noodles but I personally think the string-like texture compliments the salad the best. Vermicelli is also the type of noodles used in traditional Vietnamese spring rolls.

What’s the best way to cut the vegetables?

I personally like to get everything into thin strips so they are similar to the shape of the noodles. This is a personal preference – you can cut them however way you want it.

How do I make this dish spicier?

Add red pepper flakes or Thai chili pepper to either the peanut hoisin sauce or when mixing everything together to make spring roll bowl spicier. You can also add chopped jalapeños to the salad

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