Vegan Vietnamese Spring Rolls – Chả Giò Chay

These Vegan Vietnamese spring rolls are the plant-based version of a family party classic – Chả Giò Chay!

People have been asking me to make spring rolls for the longest time, and I think I’ve been reluctant to make intricate dishes like these because of my eczema. Lately (especially because it’s summer), I’ve been learning to better manage my stress and wear protective gloves so that my skin doesn’t get as mad at me for the excessive hand-washing when it comes to recipe development.

Lately I’ve been energized with cooking and finding it deeply satisfying to re-create so many childhood recipes (like the eggplant dish, thit kho dish, and hot pot), so naturally sharing these Vietnamese party favourites was definitely at the top of my list.

What is the difference between Vietnamese Spring rolls vs Egg Rolls?

Vietnamese spring rolls (chả giò) are different other fried egg rolls or spring rolls from other cultures. We typically have clear bean thread noodles and wood ear fungus used to add a bit of extra texture and moisture into the spring rolls.

In a lot of other cultures, I find the spring rolls studded with onions, cabbage, carrot, and pork. In my experience, I’ve only seen taro, fungus, and noodles in the Vietnamese ones.

I grew up associating egg rolls with the more bubbly, thicker, wheat wrapped vegetable rolls served with plum sauce at Americanized Chinese restaurants.

How do you traditionally eat Chả Giò chay?

You typically eat chả giò with Vietnamese fish sauce with pickled carrots & daikon and lettuce. The combination of lettuce, pickled vegetables and a fried spring roll gives a balance of fresh, crunchy, tender and savoury! With the tangy and savoury Vietnamese nước chấm, it is a classic appetizer and popular party food. We eat it on

My family would always have a platter of these fried on the table during one of our long-weekend family gatherings. I have so many memories of my grandparents plucking one to snack on while they were off entertaining their friends. My mom would wrap hot-fried ones in a paper towel for the kids to snack on!

I have memories of my brother as a tot, blowing gingerly over the spring roll to cool it down. He’d only to take a bite and immediately regret it. He would tearily return it to me or my mom, telling us it was too hot to eat.

Where do I find vegan spring roll wrappers?

The recipe I’m sharing uses the medium sized spring roll wrappers. Feel free to use the smaller sizes if you like!

I’ve been able to find some other vegan brands–I can’t find a picture of it but it has red packaging. If you can’t find any vegan wrappers, use rice paper!

You can find rice paper for frying OR use regular rice paper–just make sure to wrap your filling well. Most rice paper says suitable for frying on it, but you can double wrap to ensure the filling is secure.

Fry just like you would the egg-roll ones. Turn the spring rolls frequently in oil and fry until golden brown. They bubble up and get really crispy! However, I would not recommend air-frying rice paper spring rolls, they always turn out with a stale crunch.

How do you freeze spring rolls?

You can feeze both the egg/wheat rolls and the rice paper rolls and store in an airtight container. For the rice paper rolls, I recommend freezing with space between each spring roll. Once frozen, transfer to an airtight container once all frozen. I like to place a layer of parchment paper between each layer of spring rolls.

My mom would buy a few packs of these from the Asian markets in Toronto, then we’d drive our 2 hours back home and store them in the freezer. On the off chance she decided to make spring rolls that week, she’d thaw them and we’d get to work making spring rolls on the weekend. After a few hours and an assembly line of wrapping, we would fill our freezer full spring rolls frozen. Our freezer would be filled frozen spring rolls on repurposed Styrofoam trays (like the ones meat is packed on) and wrapped in many layers of cling film.

How do you cook frozen Spring Rolls?

You can deep fry frozen spring rolls without thawing! In fact, they keep their shape better that way. I like to heat my oil to around 350F (until the oil is shimmering) and fry until golden brown, turning frequently to cook evenly.

Any time my school or my mom’s work would have a potluck, everyone would ask us to bring spring rolls. With heaps of chả giò at the ready in the freezer, my mom would get to work in the garage, deep-frying a tall pot of these frozen spring rolls, yielding a beautiful stacked pyramid of golden spring rolls.

As far as I know, she still does this for her co-workers and my brother’s school potlucks, but she’s vegetarian now and even still, they are highly requested and devoured despite being meat-free.