Pork Lumpia
A traditional Filipino dish, these pork lumpia are perfect for your next party, family gathering or other event. They are easy to make and use a small amount of easily accessible ingredients.
These pork lumpia are small, tightly rolled Filipino spring rolls, that are filled with a seasoned mixture of ground pork, minced cabbage and carrots. Deep-fried until crispy and served with a plum sauce or other dipping sauce.
What Makes Lumpia So Good?!
- Diverse Ingredients: Lumpia can be filled with a many different ingredients. While this recipe uses pork, cabbage and carrots, you can also use beef, shrimp, onion and many more.
- Crispy: People love the texture of these deep fried spring rolls. The wrapper is nice and crispy when they come out of the hot oil!
- Cultural Significance: For many Filipinos, lumpia is not just a tasty dish but also holds cultural significance. It is often associated with celebrations, family gatherings, and special occasions, contributing to the positive feelings associated with enjoying this dish.
- Perfect For Dipping: whether you like the sweet plum sauce, a spicy sauce with sriracha or a tangy salty sauce, these lumpia are tasty and made better with a nice dipping sauce!
- Bite Sized: Pork lumpia are ideal for parties, birthdays, holidays, church pot lucks and so much more!
Ingredients You Need
Making Filipino pork lumpia is surprisingly easy. More than anything, it just takes some time to do the actual rolling. But, it is not a complicated or challenging appetiser to make. Here are the ingredients you need.
- Spring roll wrappers – I buy frozen square wrappers that are 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches or 12 cm x 12 cm.
- Ground pork – get lean pork because you are going to drain it of any grease.
- Cabbage – you can get a head of cabbage or a bag of cole slaw mix.
- Carrot – one large carrot.
- Garlic – 6 cloves of garlic or you can use some pre-minced garlic that you can buy in a jar.
- Soy sauce
- Dry onion soup mix – there are many different brands of dry soup mix. Any kind should work – we like to use the Knorr brand.
- Salt – for seasoning.
- Corn starch – for the paste to seal the lumpia.
- Oil – for deep frying. I like to use either vegetable or canola oil for deep frying. Peanut oil is amazing for frying, but it is definitely pricier.
Cook The Ground Pork
The first step to making the filling, is to cook the meat. Get a large skillet, and brown the ground pork over medium to medium high heat. Make sure to use a wooden spoon or metal spatula to break up the ground pork into small bits.
Drain The Meat
Once the pork has been fully cooked, turn off the heat and let it cool slightly. Then, drain it of all the grease. It is important to get as much of the liquid out of the meat as possible. Using a mesh strainer, press any liquid that you can out of the pork.
Pulse The Vegetables
The next step in making the filling is to prepare the vegetables. Chop up the cabbage and carrot and place them in a food processor.
Using A Bag Of Cole Slaw – instead of getting a head of cabbage, we find that using a bag of cole slaw mix works just as good. Obviously, this should not include any of the salad dressing, but just the pre-cut cabbage (green or red) and maybe even a little bit of carrot.
Pulse the food processor until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Be careful to not let them blend into a paste. You still want there to be little bits of cabbage and carrots in the mixture.
Mix The Filling
It is time to combine everything for the lumpia filling. In a large bowl, mix together the cooked pork, pulsed vegetables, minced garlic, soy sauce, dry onion soup mix and salt.
Chill Filling Before Rolling
Cover the bowl of filling with a lid or plastic wrap and place the bowl in the fridge for about one hour. This allows the meat to cool down before rolling.
Get Everything Ready For Rolling!
Rolling lumpia takes some time so you will want a work station with everything within reach.
- A bowl with the filling that has been in the fridge for at least an hour.
- A stack of spring roll wrappers that have fully defrosted.
- A bowl of corn starch paste.
How To Make Corn Starch Paste – this is used to seal the one corner of the wrapper when making the lumpia. In a small bowl mix 1 tbsp of corn starch with 1/4 cup of water until dissolved. Heat in a microwave for 25 seconds. Stir again until a paste is formed.
How To Roll Lumpia
Step 1: Place one spring roll wrapper on a clean work surface. Spoon about one rounded tablespoon of the filling onto the wrapper. Place the filling almost in the the middle of the wrapper but a little closer to you.
Rolling With Others Is More Fun! Preparing pork lumpia takes time and is often part of holidays or special events. Get some people to roll with you and it will go faster and be a fun time with family and friends.
Step 2: Take the corner of the wrapper closest to you, and lift it over the filling slightly tucking it under the filling.
Step 3: Start rolling the lumpia away from you. Try and keep it tight and shape the filling into a log in the wrapper.
Roll Tight But Gentle – you want the lumpia to be fairly tightly rolled, but at the same time, the tighter you roll it, the greater chance that the wrapper will tear or rip. So, be careful when rolling. After you have made a few lumpia, you will get an idea of how tight to roll.
Step 4: Take the two side corners of the spring roll wrapper and tuck them in as you continue to roll the lumpia.
Seal The Lumpia
Step 5: After you have rolled the lumpia, you need to seal that last corner of the wrapper. Dip your finger in the corn starch paste, and spread a thin layer of the paste on the inner part of that top corner. Continue to roll the lumpia over that final corner and it should stick because of the paste and be nicely sealed.
Yay! You have rolled your first lumpia! They are simple to roll, and it will not take you long to get comfortable rolling them. Place the rolled lumpia in a baking dish, plate or other container and move on to rolling the next one.
Continue rolling until all the filling is used up. Depending on how much filling is spooned into each lumpia, you will likely get a different quantity of finished lumpia each time. Expect to get approximately 75 lumpia.
Can You Make Lumpia Ahead? Yes! Since rolling Filipino pork lumpia is time consuming, it is a great idea to make them ahead and place them in the freezer. Simply roll all the lumpia and place them in a container. Put a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper between the layers so that they do not stick together. Seal the container with the lid and place in the freezer.
How To Deep Fry Lumpia
You can with use a deep fryer or a large pot with hot oil. If using a pot, the oil should be a couple inches deep and plenty of room between the oil and the top of the pot to ensure that the oil does not splatter out of the pot.
Preheat the oil to 375F. The lumpia should be cooked in batches. I find that cooking 6 to 8 lumpia at a time works well for my deep fryer.
How Long To Deep Fry Lumpia
The pork lumpia will not take long in the deep fryer. They are done once the spring roll wrapper is nice and golden brown. This should take between 3-4 minutes in the hot oil.
How To Cook Frozen Lumpia – if you have lumpia in the freezer, you want to cook them while still frozen. Follow the directions for frying, but just add a couple extra minutes to the frying time.
Once the lumpia has finished frying, take them out of the hot oil and place them in a dish lined with paper towels. The paper towels will allow any excess oil to drain.
Continue frying the batches of pork lumpia. Since each batch only takes 3-4 minutes, it will not take long to get a bunch of them fried. Do not be surprised if people start hovering around after some of them are cooked, looking to see if they can grab one.
How To Serve Pork Lumpia
It is ideal to serve the lumpia while they are still hot and they are best with a bowl of a dipping sauce. We love plum sauce or a sweet Thai chili sauce. This recipe makes about 75 pork lumpia, but they do not last long because they are so good!
Recipes To Serve With Lumpia
If you are looking for some ideas to serve with pork lumpia, then check out these recipes!
- Sweet Thai Dipping Sauce – while you can buy this sauce in most supermarkets, this homemade version is so good!
- Dumpling Dipping Sauce – looking for a nice sauce for lumpia, then check this one out!
- Vegetable Chow Mein – these noodles are delicious are great alongside these spring rolls.
- Singapore Chili Shrimp – spicy and sweet, this recipe is so good, that I look for any reason to make this shrimp dish!
Pork Lumpia
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground pork
- 4 cups shredded cabbage , or one (397g/14oz) bag of cole slaw
- 1 large carrot , peeled and chopped into chunks
- 6 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp dry onion soup mix
- 1 tsp salt
- 75 spring roll wrappers
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1/4 cup water
- oil , for deep fryer
Instructions
How To Make The Filling
- Brown the ground pork in a skillet over medium heat until fully cooked through. Let cool slightly. Drain the grease and using a mesh strainer, press out any of the excess liquid. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.
- Place the shredded cabbage and carrot in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped, but not pulsed into a paste.
- In a large bowl, add the ground pork, pulsed vegetables, garlic, soy sauce and salt. Stir until well combined.
How To Make A Lumpia
- Make the corn starch paste. In a small bowl, stir the corn starch with the water until dissolved. Heat in the microwave for 25 seconds and then stir again.
- Take one spring roll wrapper and place on a work surface. Place a small spoonful of the filling near the middle of the wrapper but a little closer to you.
- Lift the corner of the wrapper by you over the filling and slightly tuck it under.
- Start to roll the lumpia away from you, forming it into a small log top shape.
- Fold the side corners into the lumpia and tuck them under as you continue to roll. Try to roll tightly but be careful not to let the wrapper tear.
- At the point when the lumpia is mostly rolled with just the top corner of the wrapper showing, dip a finger into the corn starch paste. Rub that on the top corner of the wrapper which serves as an adhesive.
- Continue to roll the lumpia over the final corner of the wrapper. Because of the corn starch mixture, the corner should stick easily and seal the lumpia.
How To Deep Fry Lumpia
- Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375F.
- Fry the lumpia in batches, around 6-8 at a time.
- Fry until the lumpia are a nice golden brown. This should take 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from the deep fryer and place on a couple pieces of paper towel to absorb any of the excess oil.
- Continue to fry the lumpia.
- Serve the lumpia while still hot, with some plum sauce for dipping.
Notes
Nutrition
Per serving:
