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    Home » Pantry

    Chinese New Year Recipes

    Last Modified: May 16, 2023 by Elaine| 27 Comments

    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, you can use 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!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Monica

      February 05, 2016 at 12:53 am

      Hi there - just discovered your blog today and what a treasure of beautiful Chinese recipes. I am looking forward to lots of exploring. These Chinese New Year recipes look outstanding!

      Reply
    2. Karen Ferguson

      February 06, 2016 at 5:22 am

      Have a happy, prosperous new year Elaine. Your family reunion sounds fun. Enjoy. I will make some of your recipes to celebrate!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 08, 2016 at 10:42 pm

        Thanks Karen! Hope you a lovely Lunar New Year!

        Reply
    3. Susanne

      February 07, 2016 at 4:39 pm

      Happy New Year to you and your family.
      心想事成

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 08, 2016 at 10:41 pm

        Thanks Susanne! 新年快乐,万事如意!

        Reply
    4. Cynthia

      February 10, 2016 at 9:13 am

      Thanks for the beautiful blog, Elaine! And happy new year!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 10, 2016 at 10:38 pm

        Happy new year! Cynthia.

        Reply
    5. Danielle

      December 31, 2016 at 1:21 am

      I am very much looking forward to making most of these dishes, but especially the homemade dumpling wrappers. I recently discovered this blog, and have made it a goal of mine for 2017 to work on my Chinese cooking skills.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        December 31, 2016 at 7:57 am

        Hi,Danielle
        I'm glad you love cooking Chinese food. Happy New Year and enjoy your cooking!

        Reply
        • podge

          February 23, 2018 at 5:15 pm

          i dont care

          Reply
    6. Sandie

      December 31, 2016 at 8:55 pm

      This site is a treasure of Chinese cookery. It is an education.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 01, 2017 at 11:30 am

        Hi,Sandie
        Thanks for stepping by. I wish I could share more things about Chinese cooking in future days.

        Reply
    7. Gabby

      January 09, 2017 at 3:56 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing your recipes! I love your blog, it makes me proud of my Chinese roots^^ I have subscribed and look forward to trying out the many wonderful dishes you have shared with us!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 10, 2017 at 9:31 am

        Hi,Gabby
        Thanks for stepping by. I'm glad you like it.

        Reply
    8. Daby Wong

      January 24, 2017 at 2:27 am

      Dear Miss Elaine, I am so happy for your 2017 receipt. All the best wished in Year 2017!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 24, 2017 at 9:38 am

        Hi, Daby Wong
        Thank you for your kind comments. Happy New Year for 2017!

        Reply
      • Elaine

        January 26, 2017 at 9:46 pm

        Thanks! Wish you a great new year too!

        Reply
    9. Andreas

      January 29, 2017 at 4:45 am

      Hi Elaine,

      as the Vietnamese celebrated Tet today in my town, I remembered that this is Chinese New Year's Day.
      I'm looking forward to many new and exciting recipes in the year of the rooster (as wikipedia tells me it's called).

      My best wishes and a happy new year to you and your loved ones.

      Reply
    10. Session

      February 07, 2018 at 9:43 am

      Hi,could you explain the link between eating and the lunar solstice?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        February 28, 2018 at 8:30 pm

        Sorry, I know little knowledge about this question.

        Reply
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