Seafood Spring Rolls with Soy & Chilli Sauce

Seafood spring rolls are the one thing on a Chinese takeaway menu I have never been able to walk past, and they are far easier to make at home than they look. Crisp wheat pastry, a filling of mixed seafood and vegetables that still has some crunch to it, and a soy and chilli dip to go with them.

The filling here goes in raw apart from the onions, which is deliberate. It keeps the cabbage, bean sprouts and celery with a bit of bite instead of collapsing into a soft paste, and the seafood steams inside the wrapper rather than being cooked twice. The trade-off is water, and water is what splits a spring roll open in the oil, so most of the technique below is about keeping the filling dry.

I have made these with crab meat and scallops from the fish market and with a packet of supermarket crab sticks, and honestly both were excellent. The mix is the point, not the price of it.

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Seafood Rolls, Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls?

These get called several different things, and the names are worth untangling because they are not interchangeable.

• Spring rolls the thin wheat wrappers you buy frozen, deep fried until they blister and go glassy. Chinese in origin, and named for the spring festival they were traditionally eaten at. This is what these are.
• Egg rolls an American-Chinese cousin, not the same thing. The wrapper is thicker and more doughy, the roll is fatter, and it fries up bubbled and craggy rather than smooth. Swapping one for the other changes the whole texture.
• Seafood rolls in Britain and on Chinese takeaway menus this means exactly what is on this page, a fried roll with a seafood filling. In the United States the same phrase usually means something completely different, cold seafood salad in a split bun, closer to a lobster roll. Worth knowing if you are searching for a recipe and keep landing on the wrong thing.

So if you have seen these listed as Chinese seafood rolls or fried seafood rolls, that is this dish under another name.

Choosing the Seafood

For my first batch I used crab meat and a few scallops bought fresh from the seafood market. The second batch was made with surimi from my local supermarket, and both were genuinely good. This is not a recipe that needs expensive seafood to work, because everything is chopped small and seasoned and wrapped in fried pastry.

• Surimi, or crab sticks the cheapest and easiest option, and the one I would start with. Already cooked, mild, and it holds its shape when chopped. In the UK these are sold as crab sticks or seafood sticks and they are what most takeaway versions use.
• Prawns raw or cooked both work. Chop them small, roughly the size of a bean sprout, so they cook through in the few minutes the wrapper takes to colour.
• Picked crab meat white meat is sweeter and holds together; brown meat is stronger and wetter, so use it sparingly or it makes the filling soggy.
• Crayfish tails sold cooked and usually sitting in brine, so drain them and pat them properly dry. Straight from the tub they will water your filling down.
• Scallops sear them first and chop them, as the ingredient list assumes. Raw scallop releases a lot of liquid and is wasted in a mix like this anyway.
• Lobster lovely, and completely unnecessary. If you are using it, save the claw meat for something where you can taste it and put the body meat in here.
• Squid the one to be careful with. Chop it finely, because squid in larger pieces goes rubbery in the time these are in the oil.

A Closer Look at the Ingredients

• Spring roll pastry the frozen wheat wrappers from the Asian aisle or a Chinese supermarket, not rice paper. Defrost the packet in the fridge overnight rather than on the worktop, or the sheets sweat and weld together.
• Napa cabbage shredded fine. It carries most of the bulk and most of the water, which is why it gets salted and squeezed before it goes anywhere near a wrapper.
• Bean sprouts the crunch. They are also about ninety percent water, so drain them well and chop them roughly if they are long.
• Bamboo shoots tinned is fine and is what most people use. Drain, rinse off the tinny liquid and cut them into fine matchsticks.
• Onions, carrots and celery the aromatic base. Only the onions are cooked, softened gently in sesame oil so they lose their raw bite; the carrot and celery stay raw for texture.
• Toasted sesame oil used twice, two tablespoons for softening the onions and a teaspoon in the dip. Keep the heat moderate, because sesame oil turns bitter if you push it.
• Sweet soy sauce the base of the dip. It is thick and molasses-like rather than salty. If you only have dark soy, use half the amount, because dark soy is saltier and not sweet at all.
• Sweet chilli sauce, lime and mirin the rest of the dip. Both the soy and the chilli sauce are already sweet, so the lime and the mirin are the only things stopping it being cloying.

Equipment You’ll Need

Ingredient Substitutions

• Spring roll pastry filo will crisp but shatters and goes greasy, so brush it and bake rather than deep fry. Rice paper gives a fresh Vietnamese-style roll, not a fried one.
• Sweet soy sauce half the quantity of dark soy plus a teaspoon of honey or brown sugar gets you close. Straight dark soy on its own will make the dip too salty.
• Mirin dry sherry with a pinch of sugar, or rice vinegar with a pinch of sugar. Both do the job of lifting the sweetness.
• Napa cabbage sweetheart or pointed cabbage, shredded just as finely. Ordinary white cabbage is tougher and needs a minute in boiling water first.
• Bamboo shoots tinned water chestnuts, chopped small, for the same quiet crunch.
• Bean sprouts leave them out and add a little more carrot. They are texture rather than flavour, and fresh ones go off quickly.
• Fresh coriander spring onion greens if coriander is not for you. Do not use dried coriander, which is a completely different flavour.

How to Make Seafood Spring Rolls, Step by Step

1. Soften the onions and mix the filling. Heat two tablespoons of sesame oil in a small pan over a medium heat and cook the sliced onions gently until soft and translucent, about five or six minutes. Do not let them colour, and keep the heat moderate, because sesame oil turns bitter when it is pushed. Tip them into a large bowl and let them cool completely before anything else joins them, as warm onion wilts the cabbage and starts pulling water out of it. While they cool, deal with the moisture: shred the napa cabbage, toss it with a good pinch of salt, leave it ten minutes and then squeeze it hard in your hands over the sink. You will be surprised how much comes out. Drain the bean sprouts and the bamboo shoots properly, and pat the seafood dry on kitchen paper. Then add everything to the bowl with the onions, the bamboo shoots, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, celery, coriander and seafood, and turn it over gently until it is evenly mixed. Chop the seafood small as you go, roughly the size of a bean sprout, because a spring roll is thin and only spends three or four minutes in the oil, and anything in large pieces will still be cold in the middle when the wrapper is ready.
2. Set up before you start rolling. Clear a large flat surface and get everything within reach, the wrappers, the bowl of filling, a small dish of sealing paste and a tray for the finished rolls. For the paste, stir a tablespoon of plain flour into roughly the same amount of cold water until it is about the thickness of single cream; cornflour does the same job if that is what you have. Peel the wrappers apart one at a time rather than in a stack, as they stick together and tear if you rush them, and keep the ones you are not using under a clean damp cloth. They dry out within minutes, and a dry wrapper cracks along the fold as you roll it.
3. Lay out a wrapper and add the filling. Put one sheet on the surface in front of you and, if it is square, turn it so it sits as a diamond with a corner pointing towards you. Spoon two to three tablespoons of filling into the lower third, and spread it into a log shape rather than leaving it as a mound. A mound gives you a fat middle that cannot be rolled tightly. Judge the amount by the wrapper rather than the spoon: a 21cm sheet takes about two tablespoons, a 25cm one closer to three. Being generous here is the single most common reason a spring roll bursts.
4. Fold the sides in. Bring the left and right corners in over the filling so they overlap slightly in the middle. Keep the two folded edges parallel to each other rather than angling them inwards, or you will end up with a cone instead of a cylinder. Press them down onto the filling as you go so no air is trapped underneath, because trapped air expands in hot oil and is the other half of the bursting problem.
5. Fold the bottom corner up. Take the corner nearest you, bring it up over the filling and the two side flaps, and tuck it in underneath the filling as you fold so the roll starts out tight. This is the step that decides how tight the finished roll is. If it is loose here, nothing you do afterwards will fix it.
6. Roll and seal. Roll it away from you, keeping it firm but not so tight that the wrapper splits. When you reach the last corner, dab it with the flour paste, finish the roll and press gently to secure the seal. Set each one on the tray seam side down, so its own weight holds the join closed while it sets, and do not stack them. If a wrapper tears while you are rolling, start that one again with a fresh sheet rather than patching it, because a patched roll leaks filling into the oil.
7. Fry them. Heat the oil to 180C, using a thermometer if you have one. Fry in small batches of four or five for three to four minutes, turning them once or twice, until they are deep golden and the wrapper has gone glassy and blistered. Resist crowding the pan: every roll you add drops the oil temperature, and cool oil is drunk in by the pastry instead of crisping it, which is exactly how you end up with greasy rolls. Let the oil come back up to temperature between batches. Lift them onto a wire rack rather than kitchen paper, so the steam escapes underneath and the base stays crisp. To bake instead, brush them all over with oil and cook at 200C for 20 to 30 minutes, turning once. They will be lighter and good, though never quite as shattering as fried.
8. Make the dipping sauce. Stir the sweet soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice, grated ginger, sesame oil and mirin together until smooth. Taste it before it goes to the table, because both the soy and the chilli sauce are sweet already and the lime and mirin are the only things balancing that. If it tastes cloying, another squeeze of lime will sort it. If you have used dark soy instead of sweet soy, use half the amount, as dark soy is saltier and not sweet at all.
9. Serve them hot. Give them a minute out of the oil so the filling is not scalding, then pile them onto a board with the dip in the middle. Crispness on a spring roll is short-lived, so this is not the moment to go and finish anything else; they are at their best within a few minutes of coming out of the pan.

Recipe Card for Seafood Spring Rolls

Storing, Freezing and Reheating

The filling contains raw seafood, so do not let it sit out on the worktop while you work through a big batch. Keep the bowl in the fridge and take out what you need, and get the rolls fried or into the fridge within the hour.

• Uncooked rolls, in the freezer this is the one worth doing. Freeze them assembled but raw, spaced out on a lined tray so they are not touching, then bag them once they are solid. Fry them straight from frozen with an extra minute or two; do not thaw them first, as they go limp and stick to each other.
• Uncooked rolls, in the fridge a few hours is fine if you are making them ahead for the same day. Much beyond that and the filling starts weeping into the wrapper.
• Cooked rolls they keep two days in the fridge in a container. Reheat at 180C in the oven or air fryer for five or six minutes until they crackle again. Never the microwave, which only steams them back to soft.
• One thing to watch if your prawns were sold frozen and you thawed them, do not freeze the rolls raw, because that refreezes raw seafood. Cook the prawns before they go into the filling and freeze the rolls after that.

What to Serve With Seafood Spring Rolls

🍽 I love serving these as a starter or party nibble while they’re still hot and crackling, piled on a board with the soy-chilli dip in the middle for everyone to share. A little bowl of sweet chilli or a squeeze of lime alongside never goes amiss, and a crisp, lightly dressed salad rounds them out nicely if you’re making a meal of them.

Variations

• Vegetarian option - Substitute the seafood with chopped tofu or seitan for a vegetarian version of this recipe. Add in some sliced shiitake mushrooms for extra flavour and texture.
• Thai-inspired version - Add some Thai basil and lemongrass to the filling mixture to give it a Thai-inspired flavour. Serve with a peanut dipping sauce made with peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, and honey.
• Gluten-free version - Substitute the spring roll pastry with rice paper wrappers for a gluten-free option. Fill them with shrimp, avocado, cucumber, and coriander for a fresh and healthy snack.

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FAQ for Seafood Spring Rolls with Soy & Chilli Sauce

Can I make these spring rolls in advance?

Yes, and freezing them raw is much the best way to do it. Assemble them, freeze them on a tray and fry them straight from frozen, which means you can make them weeks ahead and still serve them freshly fried. There is more detail in the storing section above.

Can I use a different type of seafood?

Yes, feel free to use any seafood that you like or have on hand. Chopped shrimp, lobster, or squid would all work well in this recipe.

Can I make these spring rolls without deep-frying them?

Yes, you can brush them with a little oil and bake them in the oven for a healthier option. Just make sure to pack the filling tightly to avoid any air pockets.

Can I use a different type of sauce?

Yes, you can experiment with different sauces if you prefer. Sweet and sour sauce, hoisin, or my homemade plum sauce would all go well with these spring rolls.

Can I use a different type of pastry?

Yes, you can use different types of pastry if you prefer. Wonton wrappers or phyllo dough would also work well in this recipe.

Why do my spring rolls keep bursting or splitting open in the oil?

There are only really three causes, and it is worth working out which is yours rather than changing everything at once. A wet filling steams inside the wrapper and forces it apart, which is why the cabbage gets salted and squeezed in step one. Too much filling stops you rolling tightly, and a loose roll has air pockets that expand in the heat. And a seal that has not taken will simply unwind in the oil.

If they burst along the side, it is usually filling quantity. If they open at the seam, it is the seal. If they split anywhere and leak liquid, it is water in the filling.

How do I stop them turning out greasy?

Greasy almost always means the oil was too cool, so the pastry absorbed it instead of sealing against it. The usual cause is not the starting temperature but the crash that happens when too many go in at once, so fry four or five at a time and let the oil recover in between.

The other culprit is draining them flat on kitchen paper, which traps steam underneath and softens the base. A wire rack fixes that.

Can I cook these in an air fryer?

Yes, and it’s a lovely lighter option. Brush the rolls all over with a thin coat of oil, lay them in a single layer without touching, and air-fry at about 190°C for 10-12 minutes, turning halfway through until golden and crisp. They won’t be quite as deeply crunchy as deep-fried ones, but they come out beautifully crisp with a fraction of the oil.

Can I fry them straight from frozen?

You can, as long as they were frozen raw. Freeze the assembled, uncooked rolls in a single layer on a lined tray first, then bag them up, and drop them straight into the hot oil without thawing, adding a minute or two to the cooking time. One important note: if your prawns had already been frozen before you bought them, cook the prawn filling first before rolling and freezing, so you’re never refreezing raw prawns.

What size spring roll wrappers should I buy?

The frozen sheets come in a few sizes and the common ones are 21cm and 25cm square. Either works here; the 21cm sheets give you neat, takeaway-sized rolls from about two tablespoons of filling, and the 25cm ones make a more substantial roll from about three. Look for wrappers made from wheat flour rather than rice, and buy the frozen ones rather than any dried alternative.

Do not double up two sheets to make a thin wrapper stronger. It seems sensible and it does not work, because the layer in the middle never gets hot enough to crisp and stays pasty.

How many spring rolls per person?

This makes sixteen, which is enough for five as a starter, so three or four each. As part of a spread with other bits and pieces, two each is plenty. If they are the main event with rice and something else alongside, count on four or five per person and make a double batch, since they freeze raw so well.

A Few Words from the Chef

I hope you enjoyed preparing this delicious Spring Rolls with Seafood. Make sure to leave a comment below to let me know how you liked the dish, I am open to any tweaks and suggestions that we can share. Thanks!