These spring rolls are an awesome treat and store very well in the fridge – great for meal prep and eating throughout the week. I make these when I know I’m going to be very busy. I love them because they don’t require a microwave, are super portable for on-the-go eating, have a nice variety of textures and flavors, and have great fiber content from the veggies.
The best reason to give these a try is that they highly macro adjustable. If you want more protein in a certain meal, load in more chicken and/or tofu and reduce carbs by eliminating the rice noodles. Here are two examples with similar calories but adjusted protein and carbs.
I’m huge on habit formation. Preparing these rolls together with your family is a great opportunity to create a social experience and reinforce healthy dinners. You can make them assembly line style as a team. 🙂
For these spring rolls, you will need:
- Rice paper wrappers and rice noodles (can be found at most regular supermarkets, I got these at the local Vietnamese grocery store)
- Cooked chicken breast, cut into thin slices
- Bean Curd (firm tofu) – cut into thin slices
- Thin sliced carrots and cucumber
- Romaine lettuce (other types work too) cut into strips
Cook the chicken breast in a pan and season with salt and pepper, then cook the rice noodles as directed (they cook super fast). Next, cut up the carrots, cucumber, lettuce,chicken and tofu into strips.
After all the fillers are prepped, fill a pan larger than the wrapper with warm water, then take one wrapper and soak for 5 longish seconds. Wrapping tightly takes a bit of practice, but the rice wrappers overall are surprisingly forgiving. Lay the soaked wrapper on a cutting board and lay in your desired fillings in a strip in the middle. Leave a bit of space at the bottom of the wrapper for folding. Fold up the bottom first. Then start rolling from one end, slightly packing the filling as you go so it doesn’t squish out or create too loose a roll. Keep rolling all the way to the other side; the stickiness of the wrapper will adhere it to itself, creating a nice seal.
If I’m watching calories closely, I use sriracha or chili sauce (minimal to zero calories) for a dip. For a Thai flavor, a low cal option is to mix peanut butter powder such as PB2 with some chilli sauce and water, with a small pinch of ground ginger to taste.
After you try them, let me know what you think! I’ll be posting more adjustable macro recipes soon.
Ready to Get Started with Nutrition Coaching? Click here.
