LUMPIANG SHANGHAI
Tita Becky •
October 13, 2025
Lumpiang Shanghai is one of those dishes that instantly takes me back to my childhood. Before every family party, there would be an assembly line in the kitchen with everyone assigned a job, and somehow I always ended up helping wrap lumpia. My rolls weren't exactly perfect, some were a little too fat, some were suspiciously uneven, but nobody seemed to mind. Looking back, those days spent filling and rolling tray after tray of lumpia are some of my favorite memories.
And speaking of celebrations, I'm pretty sure it's an unwritten rule that a Filipino party isn't really a party without lumpia! You can forget the balloons, but forget the lumpia and people will notice. Crispy, savory, and endlessly snackable, Lumpiang Shanghai is always the first dish people reach for and somehow still the first one to disappear. No matter how many batches you make, there never seems to be enough. That's probably why it's remained a staple at Filipino gatherings for generations.
My recipe keeps things simple. It’s a mix of ground pork and shrimp for the protein, along with carrots, onion, and celery for crunch and flavor. Everything gets seasoned with oyster sauce, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder, then brought together with egg as the binder. Once everything is mixed, it’s wrapped in lumpia wrappers and fried until golden brown and crispy. The result is exactly what it should be: simple, crunchy, and impossible to stop eating.
Ingredients (14)
Ingredients (14)
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, add ground pork (1 lb), shrimp, (10 pieces) carrot (1 small), celery (1 stalk), onion (1 small), garlic powder (1 Tbsp), oyster sauce (2 Tbsp), salt (1 tsp), black pepper (½ tsp) and egg (1). Mix until everything is well combined. Cover and let it sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
Lay one Spring Roll wrapper (20 pieces) down on a flat surface. Take 3 tbsp of meat mixture and place it on the bottom of the wrapper and spread it like a thin log with your fingers.
Fold over the bottom, tuck, and roll as tight as you can, and seal with water and cornstarch mixture.
Preheat oil (3 cups) to 350 °F Slice the lumpia into 3 pieces, drop in the hot oil in batches and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown.
Drain on a strainer, and serve with sweet chili sauce and enjoy!
Let them cool before eating or you'll burn your mouth.
Notes
Notes
- Make sure the oil is at the right temperature and isn’t too hot to allow the raw meat inside to cook all the way through.
- Don’t overcrowd your frying pan or else oil temp will decrease and will result in soggy lumpia. No one likes soggy lumpia.
- You can also cut the lumpia into 3 pieces before frying.
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