If you think of smoked salmon as served on a bagel with cream cheese, you'd be right, but smoked salmon can be so much more versatile! Introducing these Smoked Salmon Salad Rolls you can eat with your hands or easily turn into sushi.
Serve this as an appetizer, lunch, or a tasty side dish – everyone will love this sophisticated finger food with a wicked dipping sauce! You can even make them a little extra fancy by adding roe on top.
Why this Recipe Works
This recipe is light and fresh, and you can customize the ingredients to your taste - I'm sharing all the different kinds of veggie combinations you can use in this recipe so you can use up whatever you have in the fridge.
Spring rolls are perfect, no-fuss finger food to serve for any occasion. I have a special trick to rolling spring rolls to help prevent them from tearing – I roll each one with 2 wrappers, overlapping like a Venn diagram.
You can use any dipping sauce you like, but I love serving these with this Creamy Basil Citrus Dressing. It's the perfect pairing of herbaceous, creamy, and light.
Plus if you want to up the wow factor, I'm sharing a special ingredient to make it a little extra if you're feeling fancy.
Ingredients, Dressing Ideas, & Veggie Combinations
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Smoked salmon - buy as fresh as you can for these, and make sure to buy it without any flavoring or glaze
Veggies - you can choose whatever you like: cucumber, avocado, carrots, cabbage, sweet potato, red onion, sprouts, whatever you like best or need to use up
Salt and pepper - season to your taste, any type of salt or pepper will work
Rice paper - you can buy these online, at an Asian grocery store, or from the ethnic aisle of most grocery stores.
Dipping sauce - you can use your favorite salad dressing, or make it with the dipping sauce in the recipe.
Dressings I love with this recipe
I use my favorite dressing, a Creamy Basil Citrus Dressing, that goes great with these smoked salad rolls, and I'm also sharing other dressing options that can work well, such as:
- Avocado Lime Sauce
- Simple Potsticker and Spring Roll Dipping Sauce
Ingredient Combinations
I love when recipes happen to accidentally turn out wonderfully, as these originally did for me! I had leftover rice paper in my pantry and wanted to use them up, which is how I created these and ended up loving the results. Now, I just use what I have available like:
- Purple Cabbage, Carrots, and Sprouts
- Vermicelli Noodles, Spinach, and Carrots
- Cucumber, Sprouts, and Spinach
So, you can get creative with this one too...what veggies do you already have in your fridge? Sprouts? Carrots? Purple cabbage? It would also be delicious with some rice noodles inside! Try something new and choose your own adventure.
How to Make this Recipe
First make the dressing and set it aside or in the refrigerator, then make the rolls. If you're making this with friends, it's fun to let everyone roll their own.
Dressing
Use your favorite dressing. Following is the one that I enjoy the most with this recipe:
Food process the ingredients for the dressing together until they are emulsified: ½ cup vegan Mayonnaise, 3 scallions, ½ cup fresh basil leaves only, 2 tablespoons of orange juice, 1 clove garlic, ¾ teaspoon ponzu, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon sea salt, and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper.
Smoked Salmon Rolls
You can prepare all your cucumbers and onion by slicing them thinly on a mandoline.
If it's your first time rolling rice paper, my advice is to try not to have too-high expectations until you get the hang of it. And do expect that the first one will likely tear.
Pour some water into a shallow dish that will fit the rice paper wrappers. Dip the rice paper in the water for about 5 seconds per side until it becomes pliable, but isn't completely soggy. Then, transfer the damp rice paper to a damp cutting board or table surface.
My trick is to roll each one with 2 wrappers, overlapping like a Venn diagram. For some reason, it makes it much easier to capture all the filling and roll. Then I cut them in half and they look really pretty.
On top of the rice paper, add 1 layer of smoked salmon, then the cucumber slices, spinach, onion, avocado, basil, and romaine. Don't worry about them being perfect or identical: your smoked salmon rolls don't all need to be the same.
Next, gently roll the smoked salmon rolls up like a burrito. You can serve them as is, or cut them into smaller bitsize pieces. You can top each one with a little roe for added pizazz.
Usually, when I make these, we enjoy eating them with our hands. Simply cut them in half and dipping them in the dressing.
Sometimes, I like cutting them into sushi-sized pieces, about 1 ½-inches, topping them with fish eggs, and eating them with chopsticks (below).
Smoked Salmon Rolls FAQs
These won't keep very well – I advise eating them fresh as soon as, or soon after, you make them.
This is par for the course and they likely will as you make these, especially if you are new to this. I've found that doubling two paper pieces up, as described in the recipe, yields the best result. Or, you can take your whole ripped rice paper roll, pop it in a new sheet, and roll it all up.
Try to cut them in long thin strips, as thin and bitesize as you can, and in a uniform shape. You can easily do this with a mandoline. This makes them easier to eat but also much prettier to serve.
Roe are the unfertilized eggs from fish – the most famous type is probably caviar. Not all roe are caviar, as caviar has to come from a specific fish. Salmon roe and roe from other fish are considered caviar substitutes and are a less expensive option to buy.
More Salmon Recipes
Love cooking with salmon? Here are some more excellent recipes I think you'll love.
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Smoked Salmon Salad Rolls
Equipment
- Mandoline
Ingredients
Smoked Salmon Rolls
- 12 rice paper sheets
- 6 oz. smoked salmon
- 4 persian cucumbers sliced on a mandolin
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 lb. spinach
- 1 small red onion sliced on a mandolin
- 2 avocados sliced
- fresh basil optional
Creamy Basil Citrus Dressing
- ½ cup vegan Mayonnaise
- 3 scallions
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves only
- 2 tablespoon orange juice freshly squeezed preferred
- 1 clove garlic
- ¾ teaspoon ponzu
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- For the dressing, food process all the ingredients until emulsified.
- Pour some water into a shallow dish and dip the rice paper in the water for about 5 seconds per side until it becomes pliable, but isn't completely soggy. Then, transfer the damp rice paper to a damp cutting board or table surface.
- On top of the rice paper, add 1 layer of smoked salmon, then the cucumber slices, spinach, onion, avocado, basil, and romaine.
- Next, gently roll the smoked salmon roll up like a burrito. You can serve them as is, or cut them into smaller bitsize pieces. You can top each one with a little roe for added pizazz.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in October of 2018 but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions, FAQs, tips, and the idea to turn it into sushi in February of 2022.
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