The dish is made by the people and diaspora of Fujian province of China (in Quanzhou, Xiamen, and Zhangzhou), neighbouring Chaoshan district, and by the Teochew and Hoklo diaspora in various regions throughout Southeast Asia and in Taiwan (due to the majority of Taiwanese being Hoklo), The origin of popiah dates back to the 17th century.

Depending on the regions in Fujian, it is also commonly referred to as /lun˩piã˥˧/ (潤餅), which is the etymological origin of "lumpia" in the Philippines and Indonesia.

A popiah "skin" (薄餅皮) is a soft, thin paper-like crepe or pancake made from wheat flour.

The filling is mainly finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip, jicama (known locally as bangkuang), which has been cooked with a combination of other ingredients such as bean sprouts, French beans, and lettuce leaves, depending on the individual vendor, along with grated carrots, slices of Chinese sausage, thinly sliced fried tofu, chopped peanuts or peanut powder, fried shallots, and shredded omelette.

Other common variations of popiah include pork (lightly seasoned and stir-fried), shrimp or crab meat.

Two common ways of eating this are holding them like a burrito, which some prefer, while others cut the popiah roll into slices and pick them up with chopsticks.

In some places, they also add noodles, Chinese sausages, stewed vegetables instead of blanched ones, tofu, seafood, sticky rice, and so on.

In southern Taiwan, the popiah stuffing is water blanched without additional seasoning, and flavoured primarily with sugar and peanut powder.

Similar foods in other cuisines include the Filipino lumpiang sariwa and the Indonesian Lumpia Basah spring rolls which are served with peanut sauce, etymologically derived from the Hokkien name Lum Pia.