Finally! My friends and I resurrected our long-lost girls’ night last week. It was glorious. We have a few tiny people under our care now, so scheduling has become more challenging. I had all but given up hope on our weekly meet-ups until Alissa proposed a get-together last Monday. I offered to host, naturally, so we could have a whole place to ourselves.
Six months had passed since our last ladies-only dinner, but we all remembered the drill. I’ll tell you how we do it in case you would like to start up your own, which I highly recommend!
Basically, we coordinate plans in our little five-person Facebook group. In the past, we stuck to Wednesdays, which made scheduling easier. Everyone shows up roughly around our standard girls’ night dinner time (6:30-ish).
We keep the dinner simple. Typically, the host offers a main dish and the others contribute a side, drink or dessert (which could be as simple as a green salad, bottle of wine and a chocolate bar). Last week, I cooked up a basic frittata out of leftover vegetables. Alissa assembled a kale salad with tahini dressing while Margaret poured mimosas. Jordan showed up with wine and Tessa brought a ready-made dessert. Ta da! We were all set.
As usual, we started in the kitchen and eventually moved to the table for a long dinner. Cookie was over-the-moon excited to have company and I was equally—but hopefully, more subtly—thrilled to catch up with my dear old friends. We shared more than a few belly laughs throughout conversations about relationships, careers, concerns and good news. All standard themes for girls’ nights, but for good reason.
I’m super excited that Dark Horse sent me a few bottles of their Sauvignon Blanc to serve at my next girls’ night. Dark Horse isn’t kidding when they describe their wine as bold. I don’t remember the last time I took a sip of white wine and went, “Wow!” but that’s the reaction that I had when I tasted their Sauvignon Blanc. It’s light, refreshing and crisp with bold, tropical, citrusy flavors. I have no doubt that my friends will love it, and at under $10 a bottle (yes!), I won’t be surprised when it starts showing up at our backyard barbecues this summer.
Dark Horse’s Sauvignon Blanc inspired these unexpected spring rolls. They feature tropical mango, crisp bell pepper and peppery arugula, dunked in a bold, creamy lime and cilantro avocado sauce. The ingredients might seem like an unlikely combination at first glance, but I promise, they were meant to be together! I can’t wait to serve up this bold pairing at our next girls’ night, which I hope will happen very soon.
Looking for more classic spring rolls? You’re going to love this recipe: Fresh Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce.
PrintTropical Mango Spring Rolls with Avocado-Cilantro Dipping Sauce
- Author:
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 7 rolls 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Thai
These bold, fresh, mango spring rolls make a perfect spring/summer appetizer. They’re gluten free and vegan for all to enjoy. Spring rolls might seem tricky if you haven’t made them before, but you’ll get the hang of them quickly! Feel free to make these spring rolls a few hours ahead and chill them until you’re ready to serve. Recipe yields 6 to 7 rolls, which I served halved.
Ingredients
Spring rolls
- 3 cups lightly packed arugula, roughly chopped
- 2 ripe mangos, sliced into long, thin strips (see photos)
- 1 large red bell pepper, seeded, membranes removed and sliced into long, thin strips
- 2 jalapeños, seeded, membranes removed and sliced into long, thin strips
- 4 green onions, green and white parts, chopped (about ⅓ cup)
- 6 to 7 round rice papers, also known as spring roll wrappers or spring roll skins
Creamy avocado-cilantro dipping sauce
- 2 ripe avocados, diced
- ⅓ cup lime juice (about 2 large limes, juiced)
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Fill a shallow pan larger than your spring roll wrappers (a pie plate works great) with warm water. Fold a lint-free tea towel in half and place it next to the dish. Place your prepared spring roll fillings within reach.
- Place one rice paper in the water and let it rest for about twenty seconds. You’ll learn to go by feel here—wait until the sheet is pliable but not super floppy. Carefully lay it flat on the towel.
- Leaving about an inch of open rice paper around the edge, cover the lower third of the paper with about ½ cup chopped arugula. Top with four slices of mango down the length of the greens, followed by several slices of bell pepper and jalapeño, and finally, a sprinkle of green onions.
- Fold over one long side to enclose the filling, then fold over the short sides like you would a burrito, and lastly, roll it up, stretching the remaining long side around the the roll to seal it. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
- To make your avocado sauce, combine the avocado, lime juice, water, cilantro and salt in a small food processor or blender. Purée until smooth and transfer to a small serving bowl. If you won’t be serving the rolls immediately, press plastic wrap against the surface of the dip to prevent oxidation.
- Slice the rolls in half on the diagonal with a sharp chef’s knife or serve whole, with avocado dipping sauce on the side.
Notes
Recipe roughly adapted from my summer rolls with spicy peanut sauce and Thai mango cabbage wraps.
Storage suggestions: Rolls are best served right away, but they were still in pretty good shape one day later. Just store the rolls in the refrigerator, covered. Press plastic wrap against the surface of the avocado dip to prevent oxidation before chilling.
▸ Nutrition Information
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Dark Horse Wine—follow them on Instagram and Twitter @DarkHorseWine. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Kate
These look fantastic! Would never have thought to put those flavours together but it looks like a stellar combination. And I agree, girls nights are simply the best. My girlfriends and I love having cocktail nights where we all bring the ingredients for one cocktail and make them for each other, so much fun!
Kate
Thanks, Kate! Your cocktail nights sound like so much fun.
B. Sawaya Smith
Love your receipes..just the way I enjoy eating..and I am nuts about dogs!! Thanx
Kate
Thank you! :)
Lauren
100% bookmarked, I need to try spring rolls and anything vegan and containing avocado is what I need!
PL
What a refreshing appetizer to make! Instead of using rice noodle threads, I love this idea of mango with bell peppers. The colours look vibrant, too. And you got a group of creative-minded girlfriends to share it with. I will pick up a bottle of this wine the next time I am the market and give it a go. Thank you, Kate, for this recipe…
Kate
Thank you, PL! I hope you and your girls enjoy these spring rolls. They really do pair well with the wine! Now I want to plan a whole meal around them…
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan
Oh I love love love girl’s nights! Almost all of my friends are far away and spread out, but I love getting together with one girlfriend here in Milwaukee every Friday for pizza and cocktails! These look perfectly summery and lovely : )
Rookie With A Cookie
These look so good! I never thought od using rice paper wrap before.
Cristina
Oh wow! These look so incredibly fresh and crisp! Yumm!
Shelly @ Vegetarian 'Ventures
A girl’s night sounds so perfect! The warming weather is giving me the urge to be more social on the weeknights and I love how you plan it through a facebook group to keep everyone looped in! Love it!
Emily
I cook (at least) one of your recipes each week – always scrumptious! Cannot wait to try these and the wine… always love reasonably priced wine recommendations. Please tell me there is a cookbook of your own in the works! Your blog is my hidden secret, though I recommend it to EVERYONE!
Kate
Emily, thank you! Your comment made my day. I’m working on my cookbook concept… cross your fingers for me! :D
S Lauren | Modern Granola
That sounds like a blast. I love the sound of the dipping sauce. I bet that would be a stellar spread on a sandwich!
Kate
Oh yes, definitely! I’m obsessed with avocado sauce, it goes well on everything!
Eileen
Yay, summer rolls! I love how you’ve mixed up the traditional fillings with zingy arugula and sweet mango And that sauce sounds perfect too.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
I love the mango in these!! They sound great!
Cassie
This would be the perfect recipe for my brown rice spring roll wrappers!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
These are the prettiest spring rolls, love the tropical twist!
Kate
Thank you, Laura! :)
Layne
Hi Kate, and thanks again for such a lovely recipe. I live in Brisbane, Australia and I’m still a bit confused by what you call ‘jalapenos’? I’ve worked out that what you refer to as ‘bell peppers’ we call capsicums (yellow, green, red or orange), but I still can’t work out if by jalapeños you mean the long, thin green chilli or the shorter, thicker green chillis? The thicker, stouter green ones are usually fiery hot, while the longer, thinner ones are not too spicy, so long as they are seeded. Sorry to get so technical! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Layne
Kate
Hi Layne! This is what jalapeños look like. They’re long, thin green chilis.
layne campbell
Got it! Thanks so much for replying, Kate. I know you must be a busy woman!!
Anna
yumm these look absolutely delicious!!
John T
Can you substitute collard greens for the rice wraps?
Kate
Yes, I imagine you could. You might end up with more collard wraps than spring rolls, depending on the size of the leaves.
Deepthi
Made this for dinner last night, kept well for lunch today too. Delicious and refreshing.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Deepthi! Happy to hear it!
kristie {birch and wild}
This sounds like so much fun! And with lovely spring meals like this, I know my friends would be on board :)
Ana @ Ana's Rocket Ship
These are so pretty! And so fantastically colourful!
Kelly
This looks so good! I’d love to try it.
Meghan
this sound divine!!!
★★★★★
Marisa
These sound AMAZING!! Grew up in the tropics so mango in anything makes me smile and I love wraps and avocados so this one is screaming my name!! So glad you were able to get the group together. Nothing better than good food and good friends :)
Joanne
All you need in life is girl’s night, wine, and a fun food – and I’m pretty sure you’ve captured all of the above! The filling for these is so fun.
Matea
What a fun tradition!
Rice paper rolls are perfect for spring! Love all those colors :)
Monika
I made these Spring rolls this weekend and they we fabulous.
We dont like too spicy so i left out the jalapnos and I substituted the Arugala with Baby Spinach.
This was my first tme using rice paper and it was so easy and I will definitly make again
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks, Monika! So glad you all enjoyed the spring rolls. They are pretty fun to make!
Candace
Hi, any suggestions on things to substitute for the jalapeños? I was going to add some cilantro inside the rolls, but would love an alternative for the jalapeño?
Thank you!
Kate
Hi Candace! How about some extra bell pepper instead?
Marianna Pascarella
What a nice recipe! I was searching the web for tipical spring rolls to prepare a tipical asian dinner…but this recipe and photos have captured my attention and I must absolutely prepare it as final fruit dish ;-)
Many thanks for the idea and my compliments for your blog.
Marianna
★★★★★
Margaret
I made these for a party. They were so fun to make and easy. I cut everything up the night before and assembled in the morning. I thought the dipping sauce was improved by a teaspoon of organic sugar. It needed a bit of sweetness for my taste. I also paired it with a second dipping choice: sweet chili sauce — which was yummy. My arugula was more bitter than usual. Thanks you for this recipe!
Kate
Thank you, Margaret! I’m glad you liked these spring rolls.
Lily Tran
Great recipe! Except the rice paper is only supposed to be dipped in warm water for a max of 2 seconds and then laid out for a few seconds to soften , otherwise it will be too soft and will start to stick together. 20 seconds is much too long.
Maria
Can’t wait to try this recipe out. How long would the dip last? Will it turn brown in the fridge?
★★★★
Jenny
Hi Kate,
My girlfriends are coming over for a dinner party – yay! I was hoping to make these but I really dislike cilantro. Should I find an alternative dipping sauce or do you think I could sub parsley for the cilantro? (Or would you suggest something else as a subsitution?)
Thanks for your help!
Kate
Hi, Jenny! I’m sorry if this is late. I don’t think parsley would work well here–what do you think of this peanut dipping sauce?
Jenny
Thank you! I’ll give it a try :)
Kirsten
So delicious! Made these tonight for dinner, and I could have eaten the whole batch myself! (I shared, and my husband thought they were excellent too)
★★★★★
Ellen van Ketel
Okay, so, I cheated. We are NOT vegetarian, so I split large fresh shrimp and included them …a line of lengthwise halves down the wrapper side, so you can see it through the rice paper…and they were just amazing. All the fruit and veggies were a fabulous counterpoint to the sweet shrimp. we added finely chopped 1/2 c. roasted peanuts, finely chopped; a dusting just before rolling each one.
I had better luck not leaving the rice paper in the water for the 20 seconds. I just dipped it ( all but a tiny edge at the “handle”end) and let it sit on the towel as I filled it. It was pliable by then and worked really well.
These are so summery and fresh and cool.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Ellen! I appreciate your review.
anna
I love mango so much, can’t wait to try that recipe
★★★★
Kate
I hope you love it!
Israel
Easy, fun to make together, light, healthy and delicious
★★★★★
Ellie
Yummy! I made this but used oat milk instead of water. I was surprised how filling these were, thanks for these Gluten free and Vegan ideas, I love all the recipes.
★★★★★