Panda Express Veggie Spring Roll

Veggie Spring Rolls are the meatless appetizer at Panda Express: mixed vegetables rolled in a thin wrapper and fried crisp, 240 calories for the two piece serving, sold a la carte at a store set price or added to any format. They are the only fried starter on the menu with no animal protein in the filling.

The wrapper is thinner than an egg roll's and fries into something closer to glass than bread, so the bite is a sharp crack rather than a chew. Inside, cabbage, carrot and celery keep enough moisture to steam themselves as the outside crisps, which is what stops the filling drying out. They are longer and thinner than egg rolls, and the two piece serving reads as more food than it is.

Veggie Spring Roll calories are 240 for two pieces with 24 g of carbs, 14 g of fat and 4 g of protein. Since the filling is vegetables, most of those calories come from the wrapper and the oil rather than the contents. Sodium sits at 560 mg. Published flags are wheat and soy only, with no egg or dairy, though the fryer is shared with meat items.

How much are Veggie Spring Rolls? No national price is published; the store sets it, with small servings at two pieces and large at twelve.

They suit vegetarian orders, anyone sharing a table with mixed diets, and anyone who prefers a crisper wrapper to a chewier one. Pair them with Sweet and Sour Sauce at 70 calories or Hot Mustard at 10 calories. Eggplant Tofu at 340 calories makes the meatless entree to build the rest of the order around.