• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

China Sichuan Food

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Index
  • Sichuan
  • Subscribe
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Index
    • Sichuan
    • Subscribe
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Pantry

    Chinese New Year Recipes

    Last Modified: February 7, 2018 by Elaine| 27 Comments

    509 shares
    • Share on Facebook

    Happy Chinese New Year ahead!

    After the new year holiday, we are quite busy with our Chinese Lunar New Year (2018 is the year of dog), preparing gifts, storing food and buying new clothes. I always feel that I am quite lucky as a Chinese because I can have two New Year and two birthdays. Those post includes Elaine's favorite Chinese new year recipes. If possible, I would love to hear what's your favorite dishes for Chinese new year.

    Chinese new year recipe for 2018

    Chinese New Year is also called as Lunar New Year or Chinese Spring Festival.  We call the festival as 春(chūn)节(jié)(spring festival) in Chinese. Traditionally, Chinese New Year used to be 15 days. The festival ends at 15th, January in lunar calendar. It is the most important festival for all Chinese people. Lots of people including me and my husband are working far from our hometowns, so we are moving back for family reunion almost each year. Spring Festival Travel is one of greatest Chinese phenomenon, though I do not like it at all.

    During the holiday, older generation prepares yummiest childhood food for younger generations.The family gathering meal is called 团(tuán)年(nián)饭(fàn)in Chinese. All the family members should present this yearly meal.China is a country with large landscape and rich culture dense.Foods for Chinese 团年饭 differ from area to area based on local cuisines and custom.  

    Although Chinese meal do not comply with the western cuisine rules with starters, main courses, soups and etc, there are still some commons. Usually we have staple food, soups, salad, desserts, meat dishes (steamed, fried, stir-fried or poached etc), and vegetable stir fries. Following is recommended as they are the most popular Chinese New Year dishes. 

    Staple

    How to make dumpling- dumpling making a great home activity during the holiday. You can quickly arrange a dumpling party during the Spring Festival. Dumplings are the most popular and indispensable staple food especially for Northern people. Chive and Pork Potstickers - In addition to water boiled dumplings, you can always choose to add some crispness to make potstickers by pan-frying.

    How to make Chinese dumplings|chinasichuanfood.com

    Ultimate guide to Wonton Soup-- where you can find ways to cook spicy wonton soup .

    The ultimate guide to wonton soup

    Fried mantou with condensed milk|golden and silver mantou (金银馒头). If you make mantou regularly, the best and simplest way to make the plain mantou suitable for a holiday is to deep-fry half of it. Deep-fried mantou implies golden while steamed white buns implies silver, hoping a prosperous new year.

    fried mantou with condensed milk

    Eight treasure congee (八宝粥) is also known as Lapa congee (腊八粥), usually served at the 8th, Nov in lunar calendar. It indicates the starting of the Lunar New Year. People start to prepare and make Chinese New Year goods, decorate the house and clean the daily stuff. eight treasure congee-Mixed congee-laba

    Desserts and Snacks

    Tangyuan is also known as Yuanxiao. People used to have the custom of enjoying tangyuan for Lantern Festival. Now it is also eaten on the morning of the first day in lunar month in southern provinces. Round foods have a meaning of family reunion. I have listed both black sesame tangyuan and peanut tangyuan this year.  In addition to boiled tangyuan soup, you can also flat the dough and make pan-fried sticky rice cake.

    black sesame tang yuan|chinasichuanfood.com

    Fried sesame balls (煎堆) -  fried sesame balls is a deep-fried version of Chinese Tangyuan. Both of them are made from sticky rice flour (糯米粉). The round shape is a great symbol for family reunion.

    Nian Gao is made with glutinous rice for the New Year. Originally, it is mainly for worship the gods and ancestors. Now nian gao is a popular ingredients for Chinese New Year. The Chinese pronunciation of Niangao has a meanings of increasing prosperous year after year.

    Homemade Nian Gao
    Chinese Spring Roll(春卷) is another must food especially for older generations. Deep-fried dishes are not very popular now but we still need them for holidays. You can make homemade spring roll wrappers with very basic ingredients and kitchen utensils. For vegan readers, shredded taro is a great choice..

    Vegan Spring Rolls with Shredded Taro

    Main Dish (Beef, chicken, lamb, fish)

     Chinese steamed fish - Fish is an indispensable dish on Chinese New Year meal, as the Chinese pronunciation of Fish 'Yu' is loaded with lots of wishes and meanings. 'Yu' means having something accumulated after one year hard working. There is a famous Chinese blessing speech as 'Nian Nian You Yu', meaning bountiful harvests each year. For Chinese New Year meal,  fish is usually cooked as a whole.

    Steamed Chinese whole fish|chinasichuanfood.com

     Sweet and sour ribs (糖醋排骨)| Sweet and sour dishes are a popular group on Chinese table.  In addition to this one, sweet and sour meatballs, sweet and sour pork and sweet and sour fish are also quite common.

    Chinese sweet and sour ribs

    Cantonese roasted chicken| Chinese people love to cook whole chicken, duck or whole fish during the festival. They are good symbols of completeness.  This easy to make roasted chicken is easy to prepare and let the oven to help with the family dinner.

    Chinese roasted Chicken | chinasichuanfood.com

    Chinese Braised Chicken|Another simmered chicken with soy sauce and spices is Chinese style braised chicken. The chicken is full of flavor after long time soaking in a master stock with soy sauce and various spices.

    braised chicken (master stock) steps | chinasichuanfood.com

    Chongqing Mala Chicken (辣子鸡丁)| Though it is not a universal New Year dish across the country, I still want to recommend it since it appears a lot on my family's reunion table.  We love the bright red color of the peppers and the strong aroma of the chicken, hoping a "红红火火" (red and lucky) new year.

    mala chicken|chinasichuanfood.com

    Cookies

    Pineapple Tarts—Enclosed Version (凤梨酥) | Cookies and tarts are quite essential for children during the new year. Pineapple tarts, with sweet and sour taste and a sandy shell, have been imported from Taiwan for years.

    pineapple tarts

    Chinese almond cookie| Chinese almond cookie is one of the yummy and crunchy Chinese style pastries, usually made for festivals (Chinese New Year). It has been the most popular snack for children in my family for years. Similar cookies include walnut cookie and black sesame cookie.

    New Year Almond Cookie|ChinaSichuanFood.com

    Laughing balls, fried sesame balls (开口笑)| A famous Chinese deep-fried snack for Chinese New Year——开口笑 (Chinese smiling sesame balls).

    Chinese laughing balls | ChinaSichuanFood.com

    Hope you will have a great family party in the coming holiday. Enjoy!

    More recipes you may enjoy

    • Spice Infused Lamb
    • How to Make Chinese Dumplings (Jiaozi)
    • Sticky Rice Cake with Black Sesame Filling
    • Curry Fish Balls

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Meghan

      February 17, 2018 at 9:06 pm

      Thank you for publishing these recipes and great cultural information. XIN NIAN KUAI LE! May 2018 bring everything you need.

      Meghan in Xi'an

      Reply
    2. Mevan

      February 18, 2018 at 11:33 am

      Hi Elaine!
      Happy New Year to you and your family.
      - mevan

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 21, 2018 at 9:08 pm

        Thanks Mevan!

        Reply
    3. Heather

      March 05, 2018 at 12:57 am

      These look delicious! So informative!
      Please check out my blog on vegetarianism and veganism in Chinese food in Canada: https://whitegirlchinesefood.wordpress.com

      Reply
    4. Christine

      January 27, 2020 at 4:34 am

      Our family really enjoys your recipes. Can you repost the pineapple tart recipe? The link is broken.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 27, 2020 at 4:21 pm

        I will re-test pineapple tart soon and then re-post the recipe.

        Reply
    5. Andreas

      February 13, 2021 at 3:14 am

      Hi Elaine,

      A happy New Year to you again. What did you cook this this time? Or where you lucky enough that someone else cooked for you? Just wanted to let you know, that I still cook your recipes on a daily basis although I can't always keep up with the new ones. Please continue your great work on this site, I really appreciate it.

      Reply
    « Older Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi Welcome

    Hi welcome to my little corner where I sharing authentic and easy to follow Chinese recipes. Don't be limited by the site name. Know me more from About Page.

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Popular

    • Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Congyoubing)
    • Mapo Tofu Recipe
    • How to Make Boba Pearls at Home -Tapioca Pearls
    • Twice Cooked Pork--Szechuan Pork Stir Fry
    • Red Braised Pork Belly —(HongShaoRou)
    • Pork and Mushroom Stir Fry

    Find Recipes

    Email List

    Subscribe Our Email list to get updates and recipes

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Privacy Policy. Disclaimer. About. Hot Pot cookbook

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 ChinaSichuanFood.com | All Rights Reserved