A collection of Chinese New Year recipes for the upcoming Year of the Snake. Each recipe includes make-ahead tips.
The Year of the Snake 🐍 (蛇年) is fast approaching! In 2025, the Chinese Lunar New Year falls on Wednesday, January 29, and the celebration lasts at least 15 days. To help you prepare for celebratory meals, I’ve curated 30 popular recipes for this most important occasion.
Each recipe below includes detailed instructions, cooking tips and substitute ideas. Many of them come with tutorial videos. To ease the pressure on the day, I also provide make-ahead tips where possible.
- For more inspiration, explore all 112 Chinese New Year Recipes, organized by category
- For help with menu design and planning, check out my guide on How to Nail a Multi-Dish Feast
Chinese Dumplings
An indispensable New Year dish for many Chinese families, dumplings taste wonderful when made from scratch. Check out the Dumpling Recipe Collection or learn different aspects in detail:
- How to Make Dumpling Wrappers From Scratch
- How to Make Great Dumpling Fillings
- Ten Ways to Fold Dumplings
- Cook Dumplings in Three Ways: Boil, Pan-fry & Steam
- Six Dipping Sauce for Dumplings
🛎 Make ahead: Uncooked dumplings freeze well. Cook the usual way without defrosting.
Peking Duck
If you’re looking for a star centrepiece for you feast, try Peking duck! My recipe introduces a simplified method that doesn’t require special equipment or advanced skills.
🛎 Make ahead: Prepare the duck 1-2 days before roasting. The duck pancakes can be made in advance and reheated on the day.
Steamed Fish
Cooked to a tender texture, seasoned with a delicious dressing, steamed whole fish (清蒸鱼) requires little cooking skill and is very quick to prepare.
🛎 In Chinese culture, fish is believed to bring abundance to the New Year.
Char Siu Pork
Glossy, aromatic, smoky, savoury & a little sweet, Char Siu (Chinese BBQ pork) is one of the tastiest ways to serve pork.
🛎 Make ahead: It can be served either warm or at room temperature.
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Longevity Noodles
Symbolizing long life, good luck, and prosperity, longevity noodles (Yi Mein) are a must have New Year dish for many Chinese family.
🛎 Make ahead: Parboil the noodles in advance, then spend just a few minutes braising them right before serving.
Lion’s Head Meatballs
Routinely appearing at banquet-style meals, Lion’s head meatballs consist of giant pork meatballs, Napa cabbage and a delicious broth.
🛎 Make ahead: This dish can be partially cooked in advance.
Steamed Pork Belly
Melt-in-the-mouth pork belly steamed over richly flavored preserved mustard, this pork belly dish makes a centerpiece for any celebratory Chinese meal.
🛎 Make ahead: Cook in advance then freeze. Defrost and steam to reheat on the day.
Five-Spice Chicken
Tender, juicy and thoroughly flavoured, Chinese five spice chicken brings roast chicken to a new level. It only calls for a few common ingredients to make.
🛎 Make ahead: It can be served either warm or at room temperature.
Sha Cha Chicken
One of the easiest ways to cook chicken, this Sha Cha chicken recipe calls for simple preparation but delivers a delectable result.
Steamed Garlic Shrimp
Elevate your feast with this delicious and elegant dish: steamed garlic shrimp with vermicelli. It’s surprisingly quick and easy to prepare!
🛎 Make ahead: Prepare and assemble the ingredients ahead of time and steam it for 5 minutes right before serving.
Soy Sauce Chicken
Flavourful and visually appealing, soy sauce chicken (豉油鸡) is a popular Cantonese delicacy that can be easily made at home.
🛎 Make ahead: It can be cooked in advance and reheated before serving.
Red Braised Pork Belly
Seasoned with soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar and spices, red braised pork belly offers a wonderful blend of flavours.
🛎 Make ahead: It can be cooked in advance and reheated before serving.
Sweet & Sour Ribs
This is a beginner-friendly recipe for Chinese sweet and sour ribs. With a well-balanced condiment ratio, they are so irresistible.
🛎 Make ahead: These ribs taste great at room temperature too. So you can surely cook them in advance.
Sichuan Boiled Fish
Tender fish fillet poached in well-seasoned broth, then topped with spices, Sichuan boiled fish is incredibly irresistible.
Mouthwatering Chicken
A signature dish of Sichuan cuisine, mouthwatering chicken offers multiple layers of taste that make your taste buds dance.
🛎 Make ahead: As this dish is served cold, you can cook the chicken and mix the dressing in advance, then combine them at the last minute.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Fried to a crispy texture and served with an aromatic seasoning, salt & pepper shrimp can be made at home to a restaurant standard.
🛎 Make ahead: This dish can be partially prepared in advance.
Stuffed Tofu
Pan-fried tofu blocks stuffed with a pork and shrimp filling, and served with an umami-rich sauce, Hakka style stuffed tofu is delightful to eat.
🛎 Make ahead: Cook the tofu blocks in advance. Briefly steam to reheat and serve with the sauce on the day.
Mapo Tofu
Tender tofu cooked in an aromatic and spicy sauce, accompanied by minced meat, Sichuan classic Mapo tofu is simply irresistible.
🛎 You can replace the meat with mushroom to make it vegan.
Shrimp and Egg Stir-fry
A delectable dish with minimum preparation, shrimp and egg stir-fry brings out the best flavour and texture of these two common ingredients.
Spring Rolls
Spring rolls make a wonderful appetiser for festive gatherings. They can be either deep fried or air-fried.
🛎 Make ahead: Freeze right after assembly. Cook without defrosting.
Fried Wontons
Juicy filling wrapped with crispy pastry, fried wontons make a wonderful appetizer for New Year celebration.
🛎 Air-frying: For a healthier alternative, you can air fry these wontons instead of deep-frying.
Yangzhou Fried Rice
Considered the next-level Chinese fried rice, Yangzhou fried rice combines a variety of ingredients harmoniously.
🛎 Make ahead: Store cooked plain rice in the fridge and chop other ingredients in advance. Then, spend just a few minutes stir-frying everything right before serving.
Hot and Sour Soup
One of the most popular Chinese soup dishes, hot & sour soup stands out for its tangy flavour, pleasurable texture and warming nature.
🛎 Make ahead: You can cook it in advance but remember to only add vinegar and white pepper right before serving.
Eggplant Salad
Refreshing, tasty, and healthy, Chinese eggplant salad is loved for its creamy texture and the mouthwatering dressing.
🛎 Make ahead: Steam eggplant and prepare the dressing in advance. Combine them before serving.
Mushroom with Bok Choy
One of the easiest yet most delicious vegetable dishes that you can make, braised mushroom with bok choy makes a great vegetarian addition to a feast.
Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go)
A very popular dim sum delicacy, turnip cake (Lo Bak Go) stands out for its fragrant, umami taste and soft, gooey texture.
🛎 Make ahead: You can steam in advance and pan fry it right before serving.
Hot Pot At Home
Chinese hot pot makes a wonderfully fun meal for festive gatherings. My thorough how-to guide covers all aspects of preparing it at home.
🛎 Every component of a hot pot meal (broth, dipping items and sauces) can be prepared in advance.
Glutinous Rice Balls
A classic Lunar New Year delicacy, glutinous rice balls (Tang Yuan) consist of a sweet, nutty filling and a silky, gooey wrapper.
🛎 Make ahead: They freeze well. Cook them without defrosting.
Chinese New Year Rice Cake
This recipe takes your classic Chinese New Year rice cake (Nian Gao) to another level by adding extra ingredients for a more complex flavour.
🛎 Make ahead: They taste great both at room temperature and pan fried.
Eight Treasure Rice
A delectable treat consisting of sticky rice, dried fruits, nuts and red bean paste, eight treasure rice pudding is a must-have for Lunar New Year.
🛎 Make ahead: You can cook the dish ahead of time then freeze it. Defrost it overnight and steam for 10 minutes to reheat.
I hope this collection of classic recipes has inspired you and I wish you a fun time cooking for this very special festival.
🧧Happy Chinese New Year! 🐍蛇年大吉!
My friend and I refer to white turnip cake as white carrot cake. The turnip resembles a carrot!
Thank you for posting such lovely recipes!
My pleasure to share. Happy cooking!
Thank you for providing these details.
Hi I made that bokchoy and mushroom and the steamed pork belly.i love it..because I love cooking.i like the way you explain it step by step.Tomorrow Chinese new year I will cook the noodles with and sesame balls .
Can u feature the chicken feet recipe and the radish cake.i like it in one of the restaurant in the Philippines. The King Chef.
Thank you for your recipes.Godbless.
That’s wonderful to hear Conchita! Here are my recipes for Chicken Feet and Turnip Cake (radish cake).
Thank You – WOW💝
THAT’S A GREAT TREASURY OF CHINESE RECIPIES. ITRIED THE SPRING ROLLS RECIPIE AND THEY WERE FANTASTIC
SEAN
That’s wonderful to hear Sean! Have a great New Year celebration!
Ive been looking for a website to get the most authentic Chinese recipes and I think I just found it! Thanks! As a foreigner living in Shanghai, Chinese cuisine is sometimes intimidating… is there any book in particular you recommend to learn the basics and some history of your country´s cuisine ?
Thank you!
Welcome to my blog Carolina! You could look into these few books: all the books written by Fuchsia Dunlop, “All Under Heaven” by Carolyn Phillips and “The Taste of China” by Ken Hom.
Xie xie for your wonderful inspirations. Living in Germany with Chinese friends and now all restaurants closed it’s so much fun to follow.
Thanks for the good recipes and videos.
Jack
You’re welcome Jack! Wish you a wonderful time exploring Chinese cuisine!