Air Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls in Lettuce Wraps

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Air Fryers have become a staple appliance in millions of homes around the world in recent years. They’re a quick, clean, and healthy way to cook delicious meals – avoiding the need for unhealthier and sometimes messier frying alternatives. Through our experimenting with this amazing appliance, we’ve uncovered some dishes that truly flourish being cooked in the Air Fryer. One recipe in particular, our Air Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls in Lettuce Wraps turns out amazing in the Air Fryer

These Vegetable Spring Rolls are filled with a delicious Mushroom and Cabbage filling and are served with a beautiful Sweet and Spicy dipping Sauce. Finally, sticking true to the authentic serving style of this dish throughout Asia, it is wrapped in Lettuce Leaves and served alongside fresh, vibrant herbs. It’s a healthy, easy, and ridiculously tasty recipe!

Any type of Meaty Mushroom will work well for this recipe

We’ve opted for the classic Button Mushrooms for this recipe. They are super versatile and readily available all over the world that they’re a great choice for a Vegetarian Spring Roll filling. Regardless, for this recipe you don’t need to be picky. The dish will turn out great no matter what kind of Mushroom you choose, provided you’re using ones that are relatively meaty in nature

Choose Mushrooms that you enjoy the flavor of, and they’ll taste great in the Spring Rolls. That’s as much decision making as is required when selecting a Mushroom to use. Some other great choices for Mushroom Filling are Shiitake, Portobello, or Trumpet Mushrooms. Each have their own distinct flavor and textures which will create for beautiful filling

All you need to do is ensure that the Mushrooms are diced quite thin, so that the filling can become compact when rolling. Each bite should be a combination of all ingredients, so ensure that all the vegetables are diced finely for the best texture in the Vegetable Spring Rolls

Store bought Wonton wrappers are the only way to go, and will save you a load of time

We’ve got no problems at all with you using store bought Wonton wrappers for this recipe. In fact, we highly recommend it! Making your own Homemade Wonton wrappers is a painstaking task that honestly, doesn’t reap the rewards for the effort involved

Buy some store-bought Wonton wrappers from the frozen section of your grocery store. They’ll be just as good as homemade, and you’re saving hours of time in the process!

The Air Fryer works exceptionally well for crisping up Wonton wrappers. There’s no need for any frying in Oil

For a lot of recipes that involve frying, the Air Fryer can produce mixed results when compared to the classic shallow or deep frying in oil method. For instance, in our awesome Air Fryer Mac and Cheese Bites recipe there is a marked difference in color and texture of the result. The Air Fryer produced a great result; however, the bites were a lot lighter than when we shallow fried them

So, for many air fryer recipes it does come down to personal preference how you prefer the texture of your dish. The Air Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls are a completely different story, however. Wonton wrappers are so light that the heat from the Air Fryer will crisp them up almost immediately, and to the same texture that you would expect from a shallow or deep fry!

This is great news, because you can produce the exact same look and texture for a Spring Rolls, without having to cook them in Oil. Not only is this a healthier food option for you and your family, but it also avoids the complexity and mess of cooking with Oil. So, you’re saving on time, space, and your health when Air Frying these wonderful Vegetable Spring Rolls. It does mean you have less time to make this delicious Sauce however, so you’ll need to move fast!

The dipping sauce is a version of the famous Vietnamese Nuoc Cham sauce

This is our version of the famous Nuoc Cham sauce. While the name may not be familiar, the flavors are. If you’ve ever been to a Vietnamese restaurant and eaten their delicious Spring Rolls in Lettuce Wraps before, it’s almost a certainty that you’ve tried Nuoc Cham Sauce. It is that delicious, sweet, salty, tangy dipping sauce that comes alongside the Spring Rolls. The flavors are complex, yet it is such an easy recipe to make, and we’re going to show you how!

As we were experimenting with getting the right flavors for this sauce what shocked us the most was just how much sugar goes into the Sauce. This sauce requires a lot of sugar! The Sugar is necessary to cut through the sharpness and highly acidic flavors of the Fish Sauce, and of course the Lime Juice. To get the perfect balance of sweetness, we’ve found that you need to add the same quantity of Sugar as you do Fish Sauce and Lime. Yes, it needs that much!

If you’re a little unsure about just how much Sugar to use that is totally understandable. We felt the exact same when making this sauce too. What we’d suggest is to try a little less Sugar to start with, and then taste the sauce

 You’ll find that without the necessary quantity of sugar the flavors will be overly bitter. So, add a little more until you’re happy with the flavor. Remember, it’s just a dipping sauce so you’ll only be having a little bit of it with your Spring Rolls

Add Chilis and Peanuts for spice and texture!

No Nuoc Cham Sauce is complete without a generous helping of freshly chopped Chilis and Peanuts. They add those familiar flavors that you expect from a Southeast Asian recipe, as well as some lovely textures to compliment the Spring Rolls. If you want to make the sauce spicy then add a few of the Chili seeds to the dish. If you’re looking for a more sweet and savory sauce, just exclude the seeds

The only choice for wrapping your Air Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls is Romaine Lettuce

Not all lettuce is created equal, and that is certainly the case when it comes to wrappers. There are several lettuce types that just simply won’t hold the Spring Roll and fillings in place when wrapped, so they are best to avoid

In fact, there really are only two types of Lettuce that makes sense when it comes to wrappers; and those are Iceberg Lettuce and Romaine Lettuce (otherwise known as Cos lettuce)

We highly recommend Romaine Lettuce over Iceberg because they simply taste better! Iceberg lettuce is packed with so much water that it will ultimately dull the overall flavor of your Spring Rolls in the process. Romaine has a much leafier, almost garden-like flavor which compliments all of the sweet, sour, and salty elements of this dish. It wraps great, and looks beautiful on the plate as well

Air Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls Recipe

Ingredients

• 250g Button Mushrooms, diced
• 1 Large Romaine Lettuce
• 4-5 sprigs of Cilantro
• ¼ Green Cabbage (½ cup), finely sliced
• ½ Red Onion, diced
• 1 tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp. Oyster Sauce
• 1 tsp. Sesame Oil
• Wonton Wrappers
• 1 Egg, whisked
• Salt
  
  

Ingredients for the Sweet Dipping Sauce

• Juice of 1 Lime
• 1 tbsp. Fish Sauce
• 1 tbsp. Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar
• ½ Red Chili, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. Peanuts, roughly chopped
• ¼ tsp. Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Place the Mushrooms in a large frying pan over medium heat that has been heated with about 1 tsp. of Vegetable Oil. Cook the Mushrooms while stirring occasionally until the juices have evaporated, about 5 minutes
2. Add Soy Sauce to the pan and mix well to combine. Cook for about 1 minute then place the Mushrooms in a small bowl and set aside
3. In the same Pan add a little bit more Oil, then add the Onions. Fry for 5 minutes, then add the Cabbage along with 1 tbsp. of Water. Cook for 3 minute until the Cabbage is tender, then add the Mushrooms back into the pan along with Sesame Oil
4. Stir well to combine and then remove from heat. Mix in Oyster Sauce then leave the mixture to cool. Once cooled, strain off any excess liquid to complete the Vegetable Spring Roll filling
   
   

Assemble the Spring Rolls for the Air Fryer

5. To make the Spring Rolls, place about 2 tbsp. of Mixture in a strip on the bottom 3^rd of the Wonton wrapper. Roll the wrapper over the top of the filling and tuck it in. with your finger, add a strip of Egg wash around the edges of the remaining exposed Wonton wrapper. Folds the sides in, then wrap the Wonton wrapper tightly until fully wrapped
6. Place the Spring Rolls in the Air Fryer and cook for 8 minutes at 375F, turning once halfway through. Once the outside is a beautiful golden-brown, remove from Air Fryer
7. While the Spring Rolls are cooking, make the Nuoc Cham dipping sauce by combining Lime Juice, Fish Sauce, Sugar, Red Chili, Peanuts, and Salt in a small serving bowl. Mix well to combine and taste for seasoning
8. Serve the Vegetable Spring Rolls on a plate alongside a pile of large Romain Lettuce Leaves and sprigs of Cilantro. Serve with dipping sauce on the side and enjoy!
   
   

Note: Be careful not to overload the Air Fryer with Spring Rolls to avoid them undercooking, or cooking unevenly

These delicious Air Fried Spring Rolls in Lettuce Wraps are the perfect dish to kick off a meal, or to have as a light lunch. If you’re a big fan of bite-sized appetizers and meals such as this one, why not check out some of these awesome recipes:

• Meat Hand Pies
• Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Scallions
• Beef Skewers with Peanut Sauce
• Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps
• Cod Fish Cakes with Potatoes
• Dates Wrapped in Bacon
  
  

Happy Cooking!