Egg Roll vs. Spring Roll: How Distinct Are They?

As appetizers, egg rolls and spring rolls are often available on the menu of your local Chinese restaurant or takeout. While they are equally wonderful, there are some significant variations between the two.

In the egg roll versus spring roll argument, egg rolls are bigger and often loaded with meat and shredded veggies, and the wrapper is prepared with egg to give egg rolls a bubbling and crispy outside when deep fried. Spring rolls are often prepared with just veggies and no egg. Deep-fried, steamed, or baked spring rolls are all options. Spring rolls are a classic Chinese cuisine that has been around for hundreds of years, whereas egg rolls are a relatively modern American Chinese delicacy.

Just What Is an Egg Roll?

Egg rolls, a direct translation of Jdn jun, are offered with a variety of contents, the most popular of which are pork, braised cabbage, and various vegetables such as bean sprouts and carrots.

The first thing you notice about an egg roll is that it is larger than a spring roll and that its wrapping is bubbled, giving it the appearance of a deep fried tortilla or deep fried noodles. Egg roll wrappers are thicker than spring roll wrappers and are created with flour, water, salt, and an egg. Egg noodle dough is also used to make certain egg rolls.

After making the egg rolls, they are deep fried or pan fried to give them a crispy exterior covering and a chewy within. Hot egg rolls are offered.

Egg rolls are often regarded an American Chinese innovation and have only been around for about a century or so, which is why they may sometimes appear on the Westernized Cuisine list at certain Chinese restaurants. The egg roll is supposed to have originated as a snack created to appeal to coworkers of Chinese immigrants working as railroad employees.

Just What is A Spring Roll?

Spring rolls are a direct translation of Chn jun in Chinese, and they are also known as spring pancakes or pancake rolls. They’ve existed for thousands of years. Traditionally, on the first day of spring, Chinese people would create thin flour pancakes and stuff them with fruits and vegetables. They would then be given as presents to friends and family. Through time, this early spring roll evolved into the one we know today.

There are regional variances in what spring rolls are filled with, although spring rolls may include shrimp, chicken, or pork with veggies, but they are generally prepared with bamboo, bean shoots, and carrots.

Spring roll wrappers are manufactured with flour, water, and salt to produce a light, transparent, silky, and crispy wrapper. Spring rolls are steamed, baked, or fried once the filling is added, unless they are wrapped in rice paper, in which case they are always steamed. Spring rolls may be served either warm or cold. As you bite into a spring roll, the wrapper normally falls apart into crispy, light bits.

While egg rolls have been popular in the United States for some time, spring rolls became popular in the 1980s when people began to reduce their consumption of deep-fried meals such as egg rolls.

Vietnamese Egg Rolls and Spring Rolls

Vietnamese egg rolls, also known as ch gi or nem rn, are similar to egg rolls in that they are prepared with ground pork, crab meat, shrimp, carrot, and noodles. They are then deep fried and served with a sweet and spicy dip (nuoc cham), which may be eaten alone or with a main course.

Vietnamese spring rolls, also known as gi cun, are made using rice paper wrappers with ingredients such as pork, prawns, veggies, and rice vermicelli. They are served at room temperature rather than fried on the exterior like ordinary spring or egg rolls.

Spring Rolls Vs Summer Rolls

Summer rolls are also known as salad rolls or fresh spring rolls in Vietnam. Summer rolls are wrapped in rice paper and filled with pork or shrimp, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, vermicelli noodles, and herbs like cilantro or Thai basil.

Summer rolls are served hot with dipping sauces such as sriracha, peanut sauce, or hoisin sauce.

Egg rolls Vs Lumpia

Several regional cuisines, like Thai and Indonesian, include spring rolls and egg rolls that are comparable to Vietnamese spring and summer rolls.

Lumpia is one of these rolls. Lumpia is an eggless Filipino roll prepared with flour and corn starch or rice paper wrapper. Lumpia, like egg rolls, contains shredded or chopped vegetables such as carrot, cabbage, and bamboo shoots as well as shrimp, beef, or pig; however, the way lumpia is seasoned with coconut, chili, and cilantro distinguishes it from a conventional egg roll.

To further complicate matters, lumpia in rice paper wrappers are often served fresh and cold and are also known as summer rolls, whilst fried lumpia are known as spring rolls.

Egg Roll Vs Spring Roll Nutrition

It is difficult to compare the nutrition of egg rolls with spring rolls since they have various fillings and might be cooked differently. Nevertheless, because egg rolls often contain meat and spring rolls are frequently vegetable-based, egg rolls tend to be a greater source of protein.

A regular veggie spring roll has 60 to 110 calories, however egg rolls have up to 190 calories due to their larger size and meat content, and egg rolls are often higher in fat.

Making Egg Rolls and Spring Rolls at Home

Rather of manufacturing your own wrappers, the simplest method to prepare egg rolls and spring rolls at home is to purchase them from a specialist grocery shop or market, then fill, wrap, and fry the rolls.

To prepare simple egg rolls, sauté your shredded veggies, ground meats, or shellfish with minced garlic before adding a little soy sauce and sesame oil and spooning the cooked contents onto the wrapper.

There are many methods to wrap an egg roll, but one of the simplest is to wrap it like a tortilla. Just lay the wrapper out flat and brush the top and bottom with egg wash before putting the filling towards the bottom, allowing room on each side. After that, fold in each side and wrap it up from the bottom. If it does not stick well when completely rolled, add a little extra egg wash to the edge. You may also fold the wrappers envelope style, which requires a little more effort. Before deep frying, the wrapped egg rolls will need to be coated with egg wash.

Spring rolls are created in the same manner as egg rolls, with the exception that the filling mixture must be allowed to cool completely before being added to the spring roll wrappers. After folding the wrappers, seal them with an egg or a cornstarch slurry before frying, air frying, or baking them.

Egg rolls and spring rolls may also be frozen raw or cooked for later use.

You may be as creative as you want with the dips when it comes to serving egg rolls and spring rolls! Egg rolls are often served with plum sauce, duck sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sweet chili sauce, spicy peanut sauce, or even hot mustard, while spring rolls are typically served with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, or even a Worcestershire sauce-based dip. Vietnamese spring rolls are served with bean paste, whereas traditional Shanghai spring rolls are served with vinegar.

In Conclusion

If you’ve ever wondered what the difference between egg rolls and spring rolls is, we hope you found this article fascinating.

To summarize, egg rolls are a contemporary snack loaded with meats and vegetables, and the wrappers are prepared with egg to give them a bubbling and crispy finish, while traditional spring rolls are smaller, generally vegetable-based, and the wrapper is formed with flour and water, or rice paper. Spring rolls, unlike egg rolls, may be baked, steamed, or deep fried.