55 Recipes for a Lunar New Year Celebration

Lunar New Year, also called Spring Festival, is a feast-filled holiday celebrated by many countries and cultures. In its several iterations, including Chinese, Korean (Seollal), Vietnamese (Tết) and more, it’s a time for friends and families to gather, eat and wish for a prosperous new year. The foods you’ll find on the table during this festive season are deeply symbolic, meant to celebrate togetherness and signify wealth and good fortune.

The dishes here range from savory preparations like noodles, dumplings and whole fish to desserts—like these tangyuan (or, chewy rice balls). Tangyuan are traditionally eaten as a dessert during the family reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve. Each bowl of tangyuan symbolizes unity; and the smoothness of each ball represents how smooth the family's year will be. The rice balls have a soft and slightly bouncy texture and a sweet surprise in the center. The traditional filling for tangyuan is made with black sesame seeds, but we chose a less typical version—a sweet, nutty and luscious peanut filling.

While this Korean rice cake soup is a popular comfort food year-round, it’s a must-have on Seollal. The rice cakes themselves encapsulate some of the holiday’s major themes: The hope for vitality, goodness and prosperity in the new year. The white color of the cakes signifies longevity and purity, and they are sliced into disc-like shapes that resemble Korea’s old coin currency, symbolizing wealth in the new year. The broth for tteokguk is typically beef-based, with some versions using marrow bones and some, like this recipe, using brisket. The dish is best served right away as the rice cakes can lose their chewy goodness (or even disintegrate) if left in the broth too long.

Rice cakes are a staple dish of the Lunar New Year spread in many cultures, and this version is popular with Chinese and Chinese American families of Toisan descent. Rice cakes usually resemble gold ingots or coins to symbolize good fortune in the new year, but this version is dyed blackish-green with a powdered plant known variously as skunk vine, stink vine or Chinese fever vine. The powder may not have the most appealing name, but it does offer a nicely earthy, herbal flavor and adds distinct color. It has a hint of cabbage-like sulfur that while not everyone’s cup of tea is nicely balanced here with a light sweetness.

For the Vietnamese diaspora, glutinous rice dumplings are the heart of Tết celebrations. People from Southern Vietnam know these rice dumplings as banh tét and shape them into cylinders; in the north, the cakes take on a rectangular shape and are called banh chưng. Banh chưng fillings vary from family to family, but the three most common ingredients are pork belly, mung beans and sweet rice — which meld together to create a delicious, tender dumpling. Assembling these banana-wrapped parcels is a multi-step process that, like many holiday foods, takes a little bit of advance preparation and time. But that’s all the more reason to gather family and friends into the kitchen to make them together. This recipe makes six banh chưng, but feel free to double (or quadruple) the quantity so you’ll have more than enough to keep for yourself, with plenty to gift all around.

Whole fish is a traditional part of Lunar New Year dinner tables, symbolizing abundance of food, wealth and luck for the new year. But this recipe can also be part of any special-occasion meal with its stunning presentation: a crispy whole fish topped with a tangle of greens — a mix of sliced scallions and fresh cilantro — bloomed upon serving with a scoop of the hot fry oil.

This preparation of steamed fish is a classic dish cooked at home for family gatherings, special occasions and Lunar New Year. It is often included as one of the courses at any Chinese banquet, regardless of the occasion. This dish symbolizes good fortune and abundance, as the Chinese word for "fish" sounds very similar to the Chinese word for "abundance."

While families have their own holiday staples for celebrating Tết, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, the comforting pork and bitter melon soup known as canh khổ qua is particularly popular. Canh means soup, and with khổ qua translating roughly to “hardship has passed,” some believe that eating this dish will guard against difficulties in the New Year.

This impressive dish is a classic at Chinese banquets for weddings and other big celebrations. It’s also popular at higher-end Chinese restaurants. Although “bird’s nest” is in the title, there are no actual birds involved in any way in this Cantonese dish known as hoi sin zoek caau. The basis is a “nest” (zoek caau) made of taro strips that are molded and then deep-fried to form a basket that holds a seafood-and-vegetable stir-fry. Both shrimp and scallops signify luck.

Dumplings with a crispy skirt are essentially pan-fried dumplings with a thin and crisp outer layer (the "skirt") for an added texture. They're popular at izakayas throughout Japan, where they're called hanetsuki gyoza ("gyoza with wings") and at Chinese dumpling shops, where they're sometimes called binghua jianjiao ("ice-flower fried dumplings"). In this recipe, we developed a foolproof method for the skirt. Typically, it's made from a slurry of just flour and water but if the ratio is off, it can result in a thick skirt that is gummy. We added cornstarch and vinegar to the slurry to help prevent gluten from forming, resulting in a super thin and crisp skirt.

These Korean dumplings are stuffed with kimchi, ground pork and tofu – a perfect combination. Kimchi mandu taste best when made with super-ripe, over-fermented kimchi that is pungent and sour, but your favorite store-bought kimchi will work too.

Served during weddings, Lunar New Year and other celebrations, the Chinese dessert known as "eight treasure rice" is made with eight different fruits, nuts and seeds. It’s said to be auspicious because the pronunciation of "eight" in Chinese is close to the pronunciation of the Chinese word for luck or fortune. Although the dessert is brushed with sugar syrup before serving, it’s not very sweet. Our recipe includes extra sugar syrup to serve on the side for those who want to bump up the sweetness.

Abalone and mushrooms, representing gold ingots and coins respectively, are natural additions to a Lunar New Year table and thought to bring wealth and good fortune or prosperity to the family. Recipe developer Andy Liang follows the tradition of braising them in oyster sauce to make a savory gravy that coats every inch of the ingredients. The beautiful ring of vibrant green bok choy provides both a visual and flavor contrast to the finished dish, but blanched yu choy, napa cabbage or even iceberg lettuce could be substituted.

Vietnamese egg roll wrappers are paper-thin and can be made of wheat or rice. They’re super crunchy and allow you to really taste the fillings inside.  But what’s considered a spring roll and what’s an egg roll? And what about summer rolls? Or imperial rolls? It’s a pretty hot debate amongst Asians. And the classification can be entirely regional, even throughout Vietnam.  Gỏi cuốn directly translates to salad rolls. And they’re what recipe developer Nini Nguyen refers to as spring rolls — fresh rolls made with a rice paper wrapper.

A whole crispy fish coated in a brilliant sweet-and-sour sauce is a showstopper for any meal, but is particularly welcome at a Lunar New Year feast. This dish is inspired by a challenging Chinese banquet classic known as squirrel fish. We streamlined the technique for an approachable recipe that preserves the excellent flavors and textures of the original and still wows when you bring it to the table. Angled cuts on both sides of the fish maximize surface area so the fish cooks more quickly and gets amazingly crispy. An easy sweet-and-sour sauce complements the rich fish beautifully. You can enjoy this delicious dish any time of year, but it’s a harbinger of luck and prosperity for Chinese New Year: A whole fish represents abundance, and the red color of the sauce symbolizes joy and prosperity for the coming year.

Kuy teav, a rice noodle soup with Chinese origins, is traditionally served for breakfast in Cambodia. It takes on layers of flavor from shrimp, pork and vegetables. This dish is also popular during celebrations, including Lunar New Year (there is a large Chinese Cambodian population in Cambodia and throughout the world). Noodles are a symbol of longevity, and when combined with the rich stock over crisp lettuce leaves, herbs, sliced chiles, soy sauce and lime, it’s the perfect soul-satisfying celebratory dish.

Lotus root is prized for its characteristic texture, which is similar to water chestnuts. Even after stir-frying, frying, boiling, braising or steaming, it remains crisp and tender. This traditional dish is made during Chinese New Year — in Cantonese, lotus root ("leen ngau") is directly translated to "year have," meaning you should have another year to come — and is a beautiful harmony of crunchy coating, crisp lotus root and savory (and juicy) pork filling.

This dessert is a lightly sweetened sticky rice cake that is beloved for its chewy and bouncy texture. It is a popular gift during the Lunar New Year because nian gao means "higher year" and so symbolizes prosperity and promotions for the coming year. The simplest version of the cake is made with brown sugar, water and glutinous rice flour, but you can find many variations. Enjoy the rice cake by itself or with condensed milk as a dipping sauce to add a sweet and creamy note that borders on dessert. Nian gao is also great with some hot tea for breakfast.

This deep-fried Korean cookie, soaked in a mixture of jochung (rice syrup) and honey, comes in many shapes, textures and sizes. The most common varieties are pressed in a yakgwa press or mold. Since the specialty press may be hard to find in the U.S., our version calls for cutting the laminated dough into bite-size squares. Making yakgwa takes time. But with a little bit of patience and planning, you too, can enjoy these crumbly, pie-like cookies with a side of sikhae, Korean sweet rice punch or herbal tea.

Yaksik, also known as yakbap, is a subtly sweet, slightly salty Korean rice cake made with glutinous rice, honey and a variety of nuts and dried fruits. This recipe highlights the mix-ins most commonly found in traditional yaksik, but feel free to customize to your preference with your favorite dried fruits and nuts. Yaksik can be enjoyed in a variety of ways: Scoop it fresh from the pot and serve it right away; spoon it into muffin or cupcake pans for individual portions to eat later; or like this recipe, mold it into a baking dish, then cut it into bars to eat as a snack or dessert.

Hot pot is a tasty, festive and communal cooking and dining experience that involves little more than a table set with a portable butane stove, a pot of bubbling broth and platters of raw meat and/or seafood and vegetables. Various condiments and a dipping sauce or two are common, as well. In the spirit of hot pot, a winter staple in various Asian countries, our recipe is flexible. Feel free to sub out any of the components according to your taste.

Spring rolls are a Lunar New Year favorite. They look like gold bars — so they are a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Ming Tsai fills his with three types of mushrooms, leeks and a flavorful blend of ginger, garlic and serrano chiles before deep frying each one to the perfect, rich golden color.

For Lunar New Year, recipe developer Tony Nguyen would always eat dumplings for good luck. It is said the more dumplings you eat, the wealthier you will be for the rest of the year! The flavors of these prime short rib and butternut squash dumplings stem from the traditional Vietnamese beef stew: bo kho. The stew is perfect to eat alone, but this fun twist on the traditional recipe turns it into dumplings and gets the entire family involved.

There are as many variations of Korean dumpling soup as there are variations of dumplings and broths — you can mix and match your favorites. Recipe developer Jackie Ji Yoon Park likes to make her broth as simple as possible. This one comes together in less than an hour without compromising on flavor. The meaty dumplings are subtly garlicky from the Korean chives and they pair nicely with the umami-packed dasima anchovy broth.

Japchae is a sweet and savory stir-fried noodle dish that you can make with as many or as few vegetables as you like. (The word “jap” in Korean means to gather and mix many ingredients; “chae” means vegetables.) Served at special occasions, as well as for everyday meals, the dish is generally prepared in large quantities and is meant to be shared. This recipe takes no shortcuts and calls for each component to be cooked and seasoned individually so the flavors are cleaner and more distinct in the finished japchae. With a little bit of planning, though, most of the prep can be done a day ahead.

This vegetarian version of japchae is sure to please both mushroom lovers and meat eaters alike. Soaking the noodles in hot water instead of tending to a boiling pot means you can focus on preparing the rest of the dish while the noodles become soft and pliable.

Noodles are a part of many celebratory Chinese meals, Lunar New Year included. Not only do these yi mein symbolize long life, but eating them is believed to bring prosperity and luck.

Singapore mei fun, a classic noodle dish in Chinese restaurants around the world, did not originate in Singapore – and many Singaporeans have not even heard of the dish that bears their country’s name. It was created in Hong Kong when it was a British colony and curry powder was readily available. Mixed with rice noodles and a variety of proteins and vegetables, it is the perfect seasoning for this satisfying stir-fry. This version of the dish features chicken, shrimp and char siu, but any protein will work. Or substitute mushrooms for a vegetarian version (you can sub vegetarian oyster sauce for regular oyster sauce).

Almond cookies like these are thought to resemble coins, making them particularly popular as a symbol of good fortune during the Chinese New Year. Traditional recipes are made with lard and flavored with almond extract. We used butter and almond flour in these to boost the nutty flavor and create a crumbly texture similar to pecan sandies. Enjoy them year-round, particularly with a cup of tea or coffee.

While a kho is often a weeknight dish that can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes, for the Tết season, you don’t want any old braise. You want a kho that’s worthy of the Lunar New Year table. That means springing for top-quality skin-on, center-cut pork belly, palm sugar and fresh young coconut. Skin-on pork contains plenty of collagen, which will break down during the gentle cooking process to add lusciousness to the caramelized savory gravy, making it perfect for ladling over copious amounts of fluffy new-crop white jasmine rice.

Tender, buttery dough wraps around sweet, sticky pineapple filling in these tasty Taiwanese cakes often gifted and enjoyed during the Lunar New Year, but also found year-round. The filling is made from crushed pineapple that's cooked down with sugar until thick and jammy. The shortbread-like dough is then wrapped tightly around the filling and pressed into traditional molds, then baked until just golden.

XO sauce originated in Hong Kong in the 1980s and is usually credited to Spring Moon restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel. Although the sauce was named after the “XO” (extra old) designation for expensive, aged Cognacs, it doesn’t contain any of its namesake alcohol. The “XO” reflects the luxurious nature of this umami-rich sauce, made with top-quality and expensive ingredients, such as dried scallops, dried shrimp and premium Jinhua ham. It’s worth making a fresh batch for the new year.

Rice cake in Mandarin roughly translates to high year, so there are often sweet or savory dishes involving rice cakes during the Lunar New Year. My family almost always preferred to have them savory. This is an easy at-home version that includes pantry ingredients.

This soy sauce ddukbokki (also spelled tteokbokki) is inspired by gungjung ddukbokki, also known as royal court ddukbokki, which dates back to Korea’s Joseon dynasty. Chewy rice cakes are stir-fried with beef and vegetables, becoming super savory, tender and full of flavor. It’s fantastic for a quick weeknight dinner, but recipe developer Irene Yoo loves it scaled up for a party with friends and family.

Sweet and savory beef short ribs are a surefire crowd pleaser. Serve as the main, or a main among many, on your Seollal spread.

Scallion-ginger sauce is usually served alongside soy sauce chicken, bai qie ji (white cut chicken) and roasted meats with rice (commonly called rice boxes) in restaurants in Chinatowns around the country. There are many methods for making it, from a no-cook version (which results in a very green sauce with a sharp scallion and ginger flavor) to a browned version (which results in a beautiful flavor but less appealing color). Our combination method produces a happy medium. The hot oil brings out the vibrant green of the scallions and mellows the sharpness of the scallions and ginger.

This delicious braised chicken is a traditional Cantonese dish and a standard at Chinese barbecue restaurants, typically hung in a window display along with other sui mei meats. See yao means soy sauce, and gai means chicken. Braising the bird in soy sauce creates its famously rich brown color. Its arresting appearance coupled with flavorful, juicy meat makes it extremely popular, especially for celebrations like Lunar New Year. Plus, it’s easy and fairly quick to make at home. The secret to the dish is gently poaching the whole bird in two different kinds of soy sauce, light soy for saltiness and dark soy for color.

In Cantonese families, bai qie ji is typically made for Chinese New Year reunion dinner because it is simple to cook, results in succulent chicken and pairs well with the other dishes in the holiday dinner. Bai qie ji is usually paired with a soy sauce dipping sauce when made at home, but we've paired ours with a scallion-ginger sauce, a typical accompaniment in restaurants.

This roasted pork is a staple at Chinese restaurants, typically hung on hooks in front of a display window, glossy red on the outside, juicy on the inside. As for the flavor, it can lean either more sweet or savory. We prefer a slightly sweeter char siu with a twist: the addition of peanut butter lends a subtle nutty flavor that makes the meat even more delicious.

This hearty tender pork belly in a rich, savory sauce is made entirely in a rice cooker with flavors inspired by the Chinese classic, steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens (mui choy kau yuk in Cantonese; mei cai kou rou in Mandarin). This celebratory dish is often served on special occasions, like Chinese New Year, with rice on the side. Here, we’ve streamlined the process, cooking the pork and mui choy (preserved mustard greens) all together with jasmine rice. To mimic the deep, long-braised flavor of the original, we fortified the sauce with umami-rich chicken broth, fish sauce and fermented red bean curd.

With its pleasantly chewy texture, jellyfish is a blank canvas ready to soak up whatever flavor one chooses. We opted for a savory-sweet soy vinaigrette for this easy dish that was inspired by the lavish platters of sesame seed-topped jellyfish served on beds of pickled daikon, cold cuts and other sliced meat served in Chinese banquet halls during weddings and celebrations. This recipe focuses on the jellyfish and pickle elements. But feel free to dress it up with your favorite cold cuts, such as sliced roast beef or ham, pickled onions, and even white wine chicken feet for the adventurous.

Thin layers of bean curd skin are rolled around a filling of juicy, flavorful julienned vegetables, soaked in a rich, mouthful sauce. Served as a vegetarian centerpiece on any spread.

Salt and pepper anything (shrimp, squid or tofu) is a favorite stir-fry and offered in most Chinese restaurants. The combination of the wok hey (breath of the wok) and the savory flavors from garlic, chile pepper, spices and particularly the famous salt-pepper mixture is wonderfully satisfying. Instead of the usual black peppercorns, lightly spicy, tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorns are the star here, boosted by white pepper and fragrant five-spice powder. The tofu version, known as ziu jim dau fu in Cantonese, showcases this vegetarian protein at its best: golden and crispy on the outside, lush and pillowy-soft on the inside. The tofu doesn’t stay crispy for long, so serve the dish immediately for its famous texture either alone or with steamed rice.

Traditionally consumed by Buddhist monks, Buddha’s delight (Lo Han Jai) is now popular around the world as a healthy vegetarian option. The dish is also a staple on the first day of Lunar New Year — for lunch or as a side dish for the dinner feast — and is seen as providing a purifying and cleansing start to the new year. In our version, we chose vegetables with texture and flavor in mind, resulting in a pleasant combination of crunchy, tender and crisp elements. (We also included garlic and ginger, which may not align with a strictly Buddhist diet.) Feel free to mix and match with other vegetables, such as bamboo shoots, lotus root, bean sprouts or carrots – to name a few.

Eating copious amounts of dumplings on Lunar New Year symbolizes wealth for the year ahead because the small parcels of dough filled with protein and vegetables resemble bags of money. You won’t have a problem eating all of these scallop wontons tossed in a rich soy-butter sauce. The filling is a simple yet flavorful blend of scallops (which on their own symbolize wealth due their round shape and golden color when seared) and minced jalapeños for a gentle heat and aromatics. The sauce is not traditional, but the rich butter bloomed with chile flakes and salty soy sauce complements the natural sweetness and oceanic flavors of the scallop wontons. Remember, the more dumplings you eat, the richer you will be!

Wontons have a storied culinary history, tracing their origins back to the Qing dynasty in around 1600 and now popular throughout China, Hong Kong and beyond. Our version, known as laat ziu wan tan in Cantonese, are little gems of juicy pork and shrimp served with a sauce of spicy, flavorful chili oil. This recipe makes a generous batch of about 50 wontons.

Dumplings are delicious any time of year, any way you make them — Lunar New Year included. The wonderful thing about enjoying them during the holiday is that they make a great family project. Gather everyone together to fill and fold the dumplings. Then cook and eat!

Sweet red bean soup is a dessert fixture at Chinese banquets and during the Lunar New Year, when many households also enjoy it as a light snack. It may owe part of its popularity to the fact that in Chinese culture red beans are said to provide strength because of their color (red symbolizes power) and the amount of protein they contain. The soup, which contains chewy small tapioca pearls, is typically thin. We wanted a heartier version, so developed this recipe accordingly. You can always thin it with some water, if you prefer. It’s also lightly sweetened, so feel free to add more sugar.

This soup is based on a common Chinese dessert soup, taro sago, which features delightful little tapioca pearls suspended in a creamy blend of coconut milk and taro (and sometimes sweet potato). Young Sun Huh's version omits the taro but includes two kinds of sweet potatoes — orange and vibrant purple — for a taste and color contrast. Similar to tapioca pudding, this comforting dish can be served warm or cold and makes for a restorative snack in the middle of the day or not-too-sweet dessert at the end of a big meal.

These turnip cakes are a great addition to any Lunar New Year celebration. Recipe developer Vivian Chan remembers making about 30 every year with her mom, some to gift to friends and family and a couple to enjoy at home on New Year morning.

Fa Gao, or fortune cake, is a popular Chinese dessert typically eaten during the Lunar New Year to bring luck and money in the coming months. The chewy and lightly sweetened steamed cakes were traditionally leavened with yeast, which helps create the signature cracked flower-like design on top. However, nowadays bakeries often substitute double-acting baking powder; it yields the same effect in far less time. The key to the recipe is to make sure the water is at a rolling boil and generating lots of steam when you cook the cakes. That high heat works with the leavening agent to form the cracks.

With a crispy, fried exterior, soft, chewy dough and sweet filling, the fried sesame balls called zin deoi in Cantonese (also spelled “jin deui” and “zeen doy”) are a staple in dim sum restaurants and some Chinese bakeries. The mochi-like dough gets its texture from glutinous rice flour, while adding wheat starch makes it easier to work with and prevents the dough balls from breaking as they expand. You can find fried sesame balls filled with red bean paste, which is traditional, or with peanut butter or chocolate hazelnut spread, which are less so. We filled ours with a traditional lotus paste, made from dried lotus seeds that are soaked and sweetened. The lotus paste has a subtle chestnut and almond flavor that pairs especially well with the coating of nutty sesame seeds on the fried dough.

Molly Yeh puts her own spin on fried sesame balls with luscious hazelnut spread.

Molly’s spin on serving fish for Chinese New Year has a sweet touch — she glazes the salmon with maple syrup because it’s one of her dad’s favorite flavors.

Molly says, "Xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, are Chinese steamed dumplings that have soup inside of them. They are like magic! I grew up eating these with my family at our favorite dim sum restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown and later learned how to make them by combining my family's go-to pot sticker recipe with the secret ingredient: soup gelatin, which melts down into soup once the dumplings are cooked."