Crispy Fried Spring Roll with Rice Paper Wrapper (Cha Gio) — Vicky Pham (2024)

If you tried to make fried spring rolls with rice paper wrappers and didn’t have much luck, I got you!

In this recipe, we will using net rice paper wrapper that I finally found here in northern California. And let me tell you, it fried up to crispy perfection each and every time! These crispy fried spring rolls remind me of exactly how I had fried spring rolls in Vietnam. Read on, my friends, to learn more!

Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls

A traditional Vietnamese fried spring roll is a deep-fried appetizer with a rice paper crust and a filling made of ground pork, vermicelli noodles, and minced wood ear mushroom. These spring rolls are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. It’s crispy, crunchy, and most important of all, delicious!

How to Serve Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls

You can serve fried spring rolls on their own with your choice of dipping sauce. I like to use a homemade Vietnamese dipping sauce but you can also get your favorite store-bought sweet chili sauce.

Serve these spring rolls with a platter of fresh leafy lettuce for wrapping and pickled daikon and carrots (Do Chua). You can also serve them as a component of a noodle dish (Bun Thit Nuong).

Spring Roll vs Egg Roll

I actually call these egg rolls, and not spring rolls. I only titled this recipe as such to appease some people. It turns out what you call it depends on where you are from.

If in Vietnam, don’t call these appetizers egg rolls. “Egg rolls” is an American term and people are quick to correct you. Fist-fights often start over the correct terminology of this appetizer.

In Vietnam, they call these appetizers a type of spring roll. There are fresh spring rolls, Goi Cuon. To differentiate the two, fresh or fried is used. Sometimes, summer roll is used instead for the fresh version to further confuse people.

Fried Spring Rolls with Regular Rice Paper Don’t Work!

In the past, my fried spring rolls made with rice paper don't end up all too great.

The outside is perfectly crispy, just like it should. But the inside layers of the rice paper don't fully cook all the way through, despite frying them a little longer.

The interior where the rice paper is overlapping ends up very gummy. It's hard to chew and sometimes it gets stuck to the roof of my mouth. This creates an unpleasant and awkward eating experience.

Spring Roll Pastry / Lumpia Wrapper

Because regular rice paper never works for me, I opt for a spring roll pastry wrapper made of wheat flour. You can find spring roll pastry wrappers in the freezer aisle in most Asian stores. They come in large square sheets of about 30. Sometimes they are labeled lumpia wrappers.

When deep-fried with these pastry wrappers, it looks like the American egg rolls but with a much smoother surface. It's golden brown and perfectly crispy and flaky, without fail each and every time.

For those in the United States like me, we tend to use these spring roll pastry/lumpia wrappers for crispy spring rolls/egg rolls because it’s readily available.

Vietnam Rice Paper

For those in Vietnam, these wheat pastry wrappers are not available so they use rice paper for their fried spring rolls.

Rice paper in Vietnam is so much more awesome than in the States because of the variety. This is the very reason I pack them home with me in suitcases full, smuggling them across countries like a bandit.

Some Vietnam rice paper is used to wrap fresh spring rolls (Goi Cuon) that first requires a bit of moisture to become pliable.

Then there is a rice paper that doesn’t require moisture at all that is used for immediate consumption in dishes like butter grill beef (bo nuong vi).

They also have solid rice paper that is perfect for deep frying, and a netted rice paper that looks like exactly how it’s described, a net.

Rice Paper Wrapper that Actually Works for Frying

I finally found the net rice paper wrapper here in beautiful California and it works so well for frying.

Look for Net Rice Paper or Netted Spring Roll Wrapper on the label. It’s often labeled with its Vietnamese name, Banh Trang Re. You don’t even need the label. They are physically recognizable.

Because of the holes, the oil can get underneath to fry up those hidden layers nicely. And a quick look at the ingredient list reveals that there’s a small percentage of wheat flour in these net rice paper sheets, which produce that extra crispy texture once fried.

Where to Find Net Rice Paper Wrappers in the Store

I found these net rice wrappers in the frozen aisle of my Asian grocery store. It was located next to the egg roll/lumpia/fried spring roll pastry wrappers. I’m not sure why they were in the freezer section since they looked like regular dried rice paper but with holes. It may require refrigeration because of the small percentage of wheat flour, but who knows.

If you don’t see them in the freezer aisle, check the dry goods aisle where they keep the regular/solid rice paper in case they are placed there instead.

They come in a clear square package of about 30 circular sheets. Each rice paper sheet is separated by parchment paper to prevent sticking.

How to Use Net Rice Paper Wrappers

Wet a sheet of rice paper in a shallow bowl of lukewarm water. Then immediately transfer to a clean flat surface. Add about two tablespoons of filling to the bottom of the rice paper. Roll it up gently. Fold in both sides when you are mid-roll, then continue to roll up to seal.

Dipping the rice paper in water makes the rice paper pliable so they don’t break into a million brittle pieces. However, if you leave the rice paper standing wet for too long, the rice paper will also break into a million softened pieces during handling.

The trick is to wait about 6 seconds for the rice paper to become pliable after the water dip. Then work quickly to wrap the filling. The good news is that if it tears or breaks, rice paper is easily forgivable. Squish the sides together to cover the torn area. After all, they are already full of holes!

Recipe with photo illustrations below to guide you. And a video!

Happy cooking!