A delicious collection of our favorite Lunar New Year Recipes with auspicious ingredients to help celebrate Chinese New Year.
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Updated February 2021
Auspicious Lunar New Year Recipes
Since it’s the beginning of the Year of the Ox for Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year, I decided to republish and update this round-up from a few years ago.
What is Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year is considered the biggest holiday in Chinese culture and the celebration lasts for 15 days. When I was younger, aside from Christmas, it was my favorite time of year since the kids usually always received red packets of money from the adults as a token of good luck. Families gather around to ring in the new year and spend time together accompanied by a large feast of auspicious dishes.
This year will be looking a lot different for most Asian families (mine included – it will be just our family of four this year) due to the pandemic. Many of us will be having a much smaller gatherings and / or having virtual celebrations instead.
Reunion Dinner
The night before the new year is called the big reunion dinner where families will gather to have a big reunion feast. Each dish is chosen for its symbolic meaning based on its pronunciation or appearance. Every family has their own variation of dishes that they serve.
Today I am sharing a few Chinese New Year foods with auspicious ingredients that you might find and enjoy:
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Auspicious Foods to Eat
Dumplings are a symbol of happiness, wealth, and family unity due to their coin shapes.
How to Make Chinese Dumplings – Omnivore’s Kitchen
Xian Potstickers – Omnivore’s Cookbook
Long Noodles are a symbol of longevity. Since noodles symbolize long life, it is considered very unlucky to cut up a strand.
Long Life Fertility Noodles – Steamy Kitchen
Chicken symbolizes family unity.
Chinese Braised Chicken with Chestnuts – Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Instant Pot Kung Pao Chicken
{Slow Cooker} Sweet and Sour Chicken – Life Made Sweeter
Fish has a symbolic significance because the Chinese word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for riches or abundance.
Authentic Chinese Steamed Fish – Omnivore’s Kitchen
Chinese Steamed Fish – Steamy Kitchen
Tea Smoked Fish In A Wok – Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Shrimp symbolizes good fortune and happiness because the Chinese word for shrimp”ha” sounds like laughter.
Fresh Pear Shrimp Stir Fry – Steamy Kitchen
Shrimp Stir-Fry Lo Mein Noodles – Life Made Sweeter
Shrimp Fried Rice – The Woks of Life
Spring rolls symbolize wealth due to their resemblance to gold bars.
Mom’s Spring Rolls – Baked and Fried – Life Made Sweeter
Mother’s Famous Chinese Egg Rolls – Steamy Kitchen
Vegetable Egg Rolls – Steamy Kitchen
Rice / Radish Cakes symbolizes abundance, good fortune and prosperity.
Coconut Sticky Rice Cake – Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Chinese Steamed Sticky Rice Cakes (Nian Gao) – The Woks of Life
Wild Mushroom Daikon Radish Cake – Vegan Miam
Rice Balls symbolizes a rich sweet life and family reunion.
Tang Yuan – Glutinous Rice Balls Dessert Soup – The Woks of Life
Eggs symbolize fertility, prosperity and wealth.
Chinese Tea Eggs – Steamy Kitchen
Chinese Egg Drop Soup – Steamy Kitchen
Hong Kong Egg Tarts – The Woks of Life
Vegetarian dishes symbolizes longevity and close family ties.
Vegetarian Buddhas Delight –The Woks of Life
More great Chinese New Year posts:
Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous Year!
Did you try this recipe?
Sabrina -
so many wonderful recipes here, thank you, love the variety and have never actually made any of them only ordered versions of a lot of them on menus, so appreciate all!
Chastity -
So many of these look amazing! Thank you for sharing. xo
Kelly -
Thanks Chastity!xo Hope you have a great rest of the week!