A comprehensive list of scrumptious Chinese New Year Recipes 2023: from traditional dishes, savoury snacks and drinks to modern recipes, including some vegan and paleo options!
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Chinese people love food and so food is a big part of celebrating Chinese New Year, also known as CNY, Lunar New Year or Spring Festival! (Fun fact: other countries who follow the lunar calendar have similar celebrations, such as Tet in Vietnam.)
Symbolism is also very important- from giving out tangerines and beautifully decorated red envelopes (containing money) as a gesture of luck for the year ahead, to using food to represent your hopes and dreams for 2023! (The themes are usually: wealth, happiness and unity.)
Which is why I’m using “39+” in the title of this post- the number “4” is considered bad luck to Chinese people!
P.S. If it’s just you in the kitchen and you’re feeling overwhelmed at the thought of cooking reunion dinner alone, check out my CNY menu planning guide for a delicious meal that 1 person can easily handle.
A Whole Chicken = A Good Year
It’s important to serve Chicken as a whole on the CNY table as this represents wholeness and prosperity. (Save the cut up chicken stir-fry for other days of the year!)
If you’re feeling fancy, you could serve Peking duck and these sides instead. Peking duck isn’t a traditional Chinese lunar New Year recipe, but it is associated with special events as it’s quite expensive and hard to make, so not an everyday dish!
Note: if you want to make this on regular days but prefer a quicker recipe, try this simplified braised chicken thigh version.
Soy Sauce Chicken
The chicken is basically poached in soy sauce till it’s fall off the bone tender. (If you prefer a Western-style poached chicken, click here.)
Poached in soya sauce, Chinese wine and aromatics, this is a very tender and fragrant chicken.
Check out this recipe
Ginseng Chicken Soup
Chinese New Year is a time of celebration so what better time to use up your expensive dried ginseng?
This Chinese Ginseng Chicken Soup is really easy to make but so delicious that you can’t tell it only uses 4 ingredients! Plus, it’s made in 1 pot and mostly passive cooking.
Click here for the TCM chicken soup recipe.
Other whole chicken ideas include:
- roast chicken, rubbed in 5-spice powder
- poached in chicken stock with ginger and garlic (basically Singaporean Hainanese Chicken)
Note: You can find more Asian whole chicken recipes here.
Fish = Prosperity
Typically, Chinese people love to serve a whole fish for the family reunion meal as fish in Chinese (魚/ 鱼,“yu”) sounds like abundance, which symbolises prosperity in the coming year.
The head is actually considered a delicacy as the cheeks of the fish are very tender. If you eat the head of the fish, you must also eat the tail to represent wholeness- there’s a beginning (head) and end (tail) for everything!
Nonetheless, many non-Asians find the sight of a whole fish on the table a little unappetising, so if you have non-Asian guests, try 1 of these fish dishes instead!
Fish Curry
Not a typical dish in Mainland China, but commonly seen on the dining table of South East Asian Chinese families, where Chinese people have started incorporating local ingredients and cooking styles in their diets!
Tip: if you want a more Western-style meal, with appetisers and mains, why not serve this spicy Tuna Dip?
An 8-ingredient curry with flaky fish in a spiced, creamy curry sauce. The tamarind juice gives the flavorful Singapore Tamarind Coconut Fish Curry a delicious citrusy acidity (and makes sure there is no fishy flavor)- unusual for a curry, but makes for a super satisfying meal with white rice. (Dairy-free) (Stovetop)
Click here for the Assam Fish Curry recipe.
Sweet and Sour Fish
Sweet and sour is 1 of the most popular Chinese sauces, and is so good with fried fish!
Check out this recipe
Koi Fish Agar Agar Jelly
You can probably tell by now that Chinese people love symbols, which is why it’s common to use the shape of a fish to symbolise wealth when one doesn’t have a real whole fish on the table!
P.S. It’s important to serve Chinese Desserts during the Lunar New Year as their sweetness means you’ll have a sweet year ahead.
Shrimp = Laughter
The word “shrimp” in Cantonese sounds like laughing (蝦/ 虾“ha”), so serving shrimp at your reunion meal is thought to usher in a year full of happiness and smiles!
P.S. Congee isn’t a typical dish for special occasions, but in case you were interested, here’s a shrimp congee recipe.
Honey Shrimp
Another popular lunar new year ingredient is shrimp!
Can’t figure out what to do with that can of condensed milk? Try this 4.88-star Honey Walnut Shrimp!
Check out this recipe
Sweet and Sour Shrimp
The tangy acidity of the pineapple really lifts the dish, and there’s even an option to make it gluten-free! (It can be tough eating GF with Chinese food because of the gluten in soy sauce)
Check out this recipe
Abalone = Good Fortune
The Chinese word for Abalone- 鲍鱼 “Bao Yu”- sounds like an explosion of abundance, so Chinese people like to have an abalone dish for the Spring Festival.
Abalone Noodle Starter
Tangy, sweet, spicy, and savory, this light Thai Vermicelli with Abalone Salad is a great make-ahead recipe for your Chinese New Year 2023 celebration dinner. It can even be a no-cook recipe, and is the perfect dish for beginner home chefs!
Click here for the Thai bean thread noodle with seafood recipe.
Abalone Chicken Congee
A no-fuss, easy Chinese Canned Abalone Porridge recipe, also known as jook or congee, which can be made using store cupboard ingredients. So easy there’s only 1 photo for the step-by-step instructions, it’s the perfect comfort food and a delicious recipe for a weekday dinner.
Check out this recipe
Dumplings = Wealth
Dumplings are more lucky foods in Chinese culture, as the golden morsels look like gold ingots! (Or is it just wishful thinking??)
Potstickers Jiao Zi
If you’re baffles as to what to serve with Chinese dumplings, click here for ideas.
There are so many types of dumplings in the world, so I’ve included a 3rd recipe! These are steam-fried to get a great crispy finish! Easy to batch make and toss in the freezer!
Check out this recipe
Crystal Dumplings
Not the typical dumpling you see, these crystal chive dumplings (jiu cai gao) are crisp, chewy and altogether delicious!
Check out this recipe
Momos
Similar to Chinese dumplings, these momos combine the best of 2 worlds as they’re bursting with flavour from Indian spices!
Check out this recipe
Egg rolls = $$$
Golden spring rolls and egg rolls look like gold bars, so they’re another popular Lunar New Year dish!
Air Fried
Golden Egg Rolls are popular at all times but even more so during Chinese New Year. They’re very versatile as you can always switch to a veggie filling for vegetarians. In Singapore, we make smaller versions of these and fill them with spicy dried shrimp called hae bee hiam.
Click here for the air fryer egg rolls.
Paleo Rolls
Dietary restrictions shouldn’t get in the way of delicious food! If you’re on a paleo diet, try these egg rolls. One of Chih-yu’s recipes uses thinly sliced radish as a dumpling wrapper which I thought was super innovative!
Check out this recipe
Note: For more lucky golden food suggestions for your lunar new year table, check out this post.
Uncut Noodles = Long Life
Noodles are a key part of the Chinese New Year table, thanks to their association with long life in Chinese culture. For CNY longevity noodles recipes, click here.
So far, I’ve never been to a Chinese New Year gathering with soup noodles- it’s always been stir-fried/ dry noodles. If your family celebrates with soup noodles, I’d love to hear about it!
Update: my friend who is Hing Hwa does have mee suah soup for Chinese New Year. (My family is Hokkien so the traditions are different.)
Stir Fried Bee Hoon
Singapore Fried Vermicelli, also known as Bihun Goreng, is delicious, easy to cook and quick to make in under 30 minutes. Using only simple ingredients (no chicken broth needed), it’s a complete meal in itself. It’s also cheap enough that some hawker centres (street food stalls) in Singapore sell it for only S$2/ US$1.50!
Click here for the stir-fried vermicelli noodle recipe.
Mee Siam Goreng
For a Straits Chinese flavor (i.e. the South East Asian Chinese), try this stir-fried tangy, sweet and spicy noodle recipe!
Chow Mein
Pumpkin = A Bountiful Year
Did you know that Pumpkin is not just for Thanksgiving? It’s also eaten during CNY!
Pumpkin Soup with Seafood
A deliciously savory dish, this Chinese Pumpkin Soup with carrots is also very nutritious and really easy to make in a few simple steps! (Basically, cut + steam!)
Click here for the steamed Chinese soup recipe.
Pumpkin Chicken Curry
This easy pumpkin chicken curry is made of juicy, tender chicken morsels simmered in a deliciously aromatic sauce that is full of warm spiced flavor. It’s well- spiced but not spicy and can be bulked up with healthy veggies, all in one pot. Plus it’s super flexible: it can be made with coconut cream, regular cream, pumpkin puree or none of the above!
Click here for the Asian curry recipe.
Nan Gua Bing
Crisp on the outside but soft, gooey and chewy on the inside, Chinese Pumpkin Cake or Nan Gua Bing is a must-make dessert in fall! If you’ve ever felt intimidated by the thought of making your own Asian street snacks, try this easy Chinese recipe to give you confidence! It’s simple enough to make perfectly the very 1st time!
Click here for the glutinous pumpkin Chinese cake recipe.
Note: Click through for more Asian pumpkin lunar new year recipes and here for Japanese pumpkin (Kabocha, not the cuisine!) recipes.
Others
Yu Sheng = Abundance, Fortune, Good Luck etc
Yee Sang or Yu Sheng, is many people’s favourite CNY dish! The dish originated in China donkey years ago, but its current form is a Singaporean invention from the 60s.
It’s great fun as you have symbolic sayings to recite as you add the different components- so there’s an element of showmanship in this dish! Everyone gets together to toss the salad- the higher one tosses, the higher one will climb in the next year so people can get quite competitive!
The bit that you get in your serving also has meanings: for example, if you get the fried wonton skin, it looks like gold nuggets, so you’ll have money coming your way soon!
What to say when serving yu sheng/ yee sang
- as you squeeze the lime (or lemon) say da ji da li (大吉大利) (In English this means good luck)
- As you add the fish (usually salmon), say nian nian you yu (年年有余) – fish is pronounced as “yu” in Chinese as well so this is a play on words to symbolise excess in the next year
- As you pour the dressing oil (do it in a circular motion), say cai yuan guang jin (财源广进)
- As you add the plum sauce, tian tian mi mi (甜甜蜜蜜) – because plum sauce is sweet (tian) your life will be sweet!
- As you add seeds and sesame nuts, aay wu gu feng shou (五谷丰收)
- As you sprinkle the fried bits- many people’s favourite- say jin yu man tang (金玉满堂) (the golden dough looks like gold ingots)
And then you can toss like crazy, whilst saying any of this phrases:
- HUAT AH! (i.e. you’re gonna strike it rich!
- gong xi fa cai (恭喜发财)
- shen ti jian kang (身体健康)
- wan shi ru yi (万事如意) (Happy New Year, May you Get Rich and be healthy and hope everything goes your way)
This is a special dish that’s only served during Chinese New Year and very popular in Singapore and Malaysia! Each element of the dish has a symbolic meaning- for eg, you add sweet sauce to bring sweetness to your life- and there are some phrases to say to match each ingredient that you pour onto the salad! It’s quite long so I’ve included the saying in the text of the post and not here. Note: jellyfish is optional so don’t worry if you can’t get it- a lot of yee sang served locally don’t include that.
Check out this recipe
If you’re interested in Singaporean food, click here!
Nian Gao = Better Year Ahead
Sticky Rice Cake is a traditional New Year dish because its name, Nian Gao, literally translates into “Year Higher” i.e. better times ahead!
It’s usually served as a steamed sweet dish, but sometimes also stir-fried (kind of like Korean tteokbokki!)
As the sweet version is so common, I’m including a savory recipe instead!
Nian Gao (New Year Cake) is a special new year dish but there are so many ways of cooking it: steaming it and having it sweet, pan-fried as a dessert or stir-fried as a savoury dish Shanghai style. Try this 78 5-star review niangao recipe if you like savoury more than sweet!
Check out this recipe
Chinese Meat Jerky
Another of the traditional lunar new year foods is bak kwa or Chinese pork jerky. If you bought too much, here are some delicious recipes for bak kwa leftovers!
Bak Kwa, or Chinese Pork Jerky, is 1 of the most popular Chinese New Year snacks in Singapore & Malaysia. Save yourself time and money by making your own using this super simple recipe with easy-to-find ingredients! It’s tender, savory and delicious!
Click here for the Chinese jerky recipe.
Meatballs
This dish was popular in Taiwan when I was young! To learn more about Taiwanese food, click here.
Pearl meatballs are similar to dumplings but, instead of wrapping with a wrapper, you use sticky rice to coat the meat. On steaming, the meat juices seep into the rice making for delicious dumplings! It’s not a very common dish in Chinese restaurants so learn to make them yourself so you don’t miss out!
Check out these tofu and pork balls.
BBQ Pork
Tip: Char Siu can be served as a main on its own, bulked up by these BBQ pork side dishes!
I’ve never met a (non-vegan/vegetarian) person who doesn’t like Char Siu so even though it’s not a traditional Chinese New Year dish, have added it to the CNY round-up! The fave cut for Char Siu in Singapore is the underarm of the pork (pork shoulder?). Some people go for pork belly but I find it too fatty! If you can’t get the underarm, the collar works well too.
Check out this recipe
Sweet and Sour Pork
I’ve included quite a few sweet and sour recipes in this list- Sour (“suan”) sounds like grandchild (“sun”) in Chinese, and progeny is a big concern of the Chinese elderly so this is considered a Good Dish for a family meal!
Make your festive cooking stress free if you have an instant pot!
Check out this recipe
Instant Pot Pork
The stove can get crowded when cooking for big families, so I’m including some off-the-stove recipes today!
Put these ribs in the instant pot so you can get busy making other dishes on this list!
Check out this recipe
12345 Braised Pork Ribs
So easy it’s like counting 12345, but so delicious, it’s a life-changing recipe in my opinion!
These Chinese Spare Ribs are delicious, finger-licking Asian-style pork spare ribs that are as simple to cook as 12345 (a mnemonic device that will also help you recall the recipe.) Using only the Asian pantry staples of wine, dark soy sauce, vinegar and sugar to braise the meat, with only a few minutes of active cooking, this is the best easy sticky Chinese Spare Ribs for a lazy food lover.
Click here for the Chinese pork ribs recipe.
Sweet Snacks
Every Chinese family puts out a lot of sweet treats that are not desserts for guests to enjoy when visiting!
These can be anything from cookies to actual candies and chocolates!
Chinese Walnut Cookies
If you love Cantonese food, click here for more Hong Kong recipes.
These Cantonese favourites are almost exclusively made during Chinese New Year now. My recipe is easy to make and replaces the hard to find traditional ingredients such as ammonia with baking powder and soda! Some people like it better than my Chinese peanut cookies, which are popular enough that I receive orders in the 10s and 20s of jars.
Check out this recipe
Peanut Cookies (Vegan)
Note: For more nut recipes, try these sweet and savoury Asian nut recipes.
Chinese Mochi
The name of this dish in Teochew also has good connotations, as explained in the post.
Savory Snacks
Chinese New Year is infamous for its sweets but I’m a savory fan, so here goes!
Salted Ducks Egg Popcorn
Instead of splurging on Irvin’s Salted Egg Fish Skin (and risking a lizard or 2), save money and make your own salted egg treats!
Tip: You can even make your own salted egg for this sauce!
Salted Eggs is 1 of the most popular flavours in Singapore- if you’ve never tried it, it’s like an Asian parmesan but richer in taste- and this salted egg popcorn only takes 5 minutes to make!
Check out this recipe
Salted Egg Cornflake Crunch
1 of the most popular Chinese New Year snacks in Singapore, it is also 1 of the easiest and quickest to make, requiring only 4-6 ingredients.
Check out this recipe
Popcorn Chicken
Taiwanese popcorn chicken is a very popular snack at Taiwan’s famous night markets- the key to a good one is the crispy finish!
Check out this recipe
Note: For more Asian snack recipes, check out this Asian party foods round-up that I created for Super Bowl!
Vegan
Traditionally, there aren’t many vegan Chinese dishes, as even vegetable dishes may use chicken or pork stock.
With the growing interest in plant-based diets, I’ve done a round-up specifically for vegan Chinese New Year dishes!
Desserts = A Sweet Year
If you’re looking specifically for Chinese New Year cookies for 2023, click here!
Tang Yuan = Reunion
The round shape of this traditional Chinese dessert- and its name “yuan”- represents reunion and family togetherness, which is why Chinese families eat it on New Year’s Eve and at family gatherings!
Note: If you prefer something more nourishing, stuff these glutinous sweet rice balls with red bean paste or homemade black sesame paste.
Tang yuan, or Chinese glutinous rice balls, are a 2 to 3-ingredient chewy snack that can be served in soup (sweet or savoury) or fried. Served at Chinese family gatherings, especially the Winter Solstice, they also come plain or with filling inside so, as you can see, this is a very versatile and easy dish!
Check out this recipe
Gui Hua Gao
This traditional Chinese sweet is 1 of my most popular Chinese New Year recipes every year!
Osmanthus and goji berries are both TCM ingredients believed to be good for your health- goji berries, in particular, have been very popular in the West recently after research has been done on them but Chinese people have been eating them for centuries. Osmanthus was a very popular dessert amongst Chinese Royalty, as it is believed to result in better skin! If you’re curious, try this delicious os
