Easy Chinese Recipes to Celebrate the Lunar New Year!

Chinese and Chinese inspired recipes for the Lunar New Year

The Chinese New Year is a great excuse to bone up on your Chinese cooking skills. Below I’ve got authentic, semi-authentic, ‘inspired by’ and downright Americanized Chinese recipes, but what they all have in common is a passionate love of everything stir fried, chili-sauced, slurp-able, or grab-able by a pair of chopsticks.

Say the words garlic, ginger, scallions, and chili and my mouth will start watering. The four cornerstones of Chinese cuisine are well represented here, and if you’re anything like me you can close your eyes and point to any one of these recipes and be very happy!

Here’s Wishing you happiness, prosperity, and good eats in the Year of the Dragon, 2024!

Quick Chili Oil Noodles

This has literally become my go-to dinner for months now…I never get tired of those noodles, the bright chili oil, and that runny egg!

Homemade Chili Oil

I couldn’t leave you without a fabulous recipe for your very own authentic Chinese chili oil. This stuff is GOLD!

Easy Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Congyoubing)

These easy Chinese recipe for scallion pancakes, or congyoubing, are flaky, chewy, and make a fabulous appetizer or light meal. Don’t forget the perfect 4-ingredient dipping sauce.

Chinese Scallion Oil Recipe

Chinese scallion oil is one of the ‘mother sauces’ of Chinese cuisine The oil has a fragrant, light onion flavor you’re going to want with everything from stir frys to scrambled eggs.

Dan Dan Noodles ~ Easy Weeknight Recipe

Once you try them it’s impossible not to dream about them every single day. It’s the chili oil, it’s the caramelized pork, and those slippery noodles. I love these so much I’ve created a vegan version as well, here.

Easy Vegetable Chow Mein

Wok tossed noodles with the perfect sauce, and lots of cabbage, celery, and onion make this Asian style comfort food of the highest order.

Weeknight Mapo Tofu

Málà, Sichuan’s most iconic flavor is a heady combination of spicy chilis and numbing peppercorns. “The Sichuan pepper will make your lips tingle pleasantly, and the tender bean curd will slip down your throat. It’s rich and warming, a perfect winter dish.” ~ Fuchsia Dunlop/Land of plenty : a treasury of authentic Sichuan cooking.

Weeknight Egg Roll Bowls

I should have called this ‘better than egg roll bowls‘ because they are truly so much better than any egg roll you are every likely to eat. It’s not clear whether egg rolls were a Chinese American invention of the 1930s, or part of an older Cantonese tradition, but one thing is for sure: modern egg rolls are pretty much a universal disappointment. These easy weeknight dinner bowls improve on the situation considerably.

Spicy Tangerine Chicken with Black Rice

This will be a revelation if you’re used to Panda’s or TJ’s orange chicken. While Americanized orange chicken is an overly sweet dish created for Western tastes, tangerine chicken calls on traditional Chinese spices and tangerine peel for a sophisticated dish.

Crunchy Chinese Coleslaw

Traditionally the Chinese don’t eat raw foods and leafy salads, although you’re starting to see them pop up on restaurant menus in urban centers like Shanghai and Beijing. So while not a part of traditional Chinese cuisine, this slaw features classic Chinese ingredients and flavors.

Mahogany Chicken Wings

Deeply burnished and delicious chicken wings with plenty of umami flavor and a melt in your mouth texture!

Baked Orange Tofu

A healthier version of everybody’s favorite Chinese takeout dish: orange chicken!

How to Make the Best Chinese Chicken Salad

Decidedly not authentic, this is nevertheless one of my favorite salads of all time.