Egg Rolls vs. Spring Rolls: What's the Difference?

The difference is the wrapper. Egg rolls are wrapped in a thick wheat dough that blisters and bubbles in the fryer, producing a heavy, crunchy shell. Spring rolls use a thin flour-and-water wrapper that fries smooth and shatters when you bite it. The egg roll is an American-Chinese invention from the twentieth century; the spring roll is centuries older. China Jade serves both.

What Is an Egg Roll?

An egg roll is a deep-fried cylinder of thick wheat dough filled with shredded cabbage and seasoned pork. The wrapper is the defining feature: it's a soft dough, not a paper-thin sheet, and in hot oil it blisters into the bumpy, golden, crunchy surface everyone recognizes. The name likely refers to egg in the wrapper dough, though recipes vary and food historians still argue about the etymology.

Egg rolls do not exist in this form in China. The first recorded recipes appear in New York's Chinatown in the 1930s, and the dish spread with Chinese-American restaurants until it became the default appetizer on nearly every menu in the country. It belongs to the same family of American-Chinese classics as General Tso's Chicken: invented abroad, rooted in Chinese technique.

What Is a Spring Roll?

A spring roll (chūnjuǎn, 春卷) is the older, lighter original. The wrapper is a thin sheet of flour and water with no egg, and it fries up smooth, pale gold, and delicately crisp. Fillings lean toward vegetables—cabbage, carrot, mushrooms— sometimes with shrimp or pork in regional versions.

The name comes from the Spring Festival. Spring rolls descend from chūnbǐng (spring pancakes), eaten in China for centuries to mark the start of the new season. Rolled and fried, they became the spring roll found today across China and much of Southeast Asia.

The Differences at a Glance

• Wrapper: thick wheat dough (egg roll) vs. thin flour-and-water sheet (spring roll)
• Texture: bubbly, sturdy crunch vs. smooth, shattering crispness
• Filling: cabbage and pork vs. mostly vegetables
• Heft: an egg roll is a handful; a spring roll is lighter and smaller
• Origin: New York, 1930s vs. China, by way of centuries of Spring Festival cooking

Which Should You Order?

Order the egg roll when you want something hearty and savory—it holds up next to strong flavors and stays crunchy through a takeout ride. Order the spring roll when you want a lighter start, or when you're ordering vegetarian: our vegetable spring roll contains no meat. At under $3 each, ordering one of each settles the question at the table.

Egg Rolls and Spring Rolls at China Jade

Both are in the Appetizers section of our online menu: the Egg Roll ($2.50) filled with pork and cabbage, and the Vegetable Spring Roll ($1.95). Every weekday lunch special includes an egg roll alongside the entrée, fried rice, and soup. If fried appetizers are your thing, our pan fried dumplings are the other order regulars swear by.