Traditional Lunar New Year Foods for the Year of the Dragon

Lunar New Year is a time to clean and decorate your home, gather with family, honor ancestors, and share a feast with foods that symbolize prosperity in the New Year. Join in and cook up these lucky Lunar New Year recipes for your own celebration.

Chinese New Year Foods

Most of the dishes served during Chinese New Year are symbolic of something positive and hopeful. Here are some of the most popular types of foods served during Chinese New Year celebrations.

Jiaozi (Dumplings)

Symbolizing wealth and prosperity. In some areas of China, coins are placed in the center of jiaozi. Whoever bites into one of these dumplings will have an exceptionally lucky year.

Chinese dumpling recipes to try:

• Chinese Pork Dumplings
• Chinese Dandelion Dumplings
• Cantonese Style Pork and Shrimp Dumplings
• Potstickers (Chinese Dumplings)

Pork

Pork is said to symbolize strength, wealth, and blessings.

• Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu)
• Dong Po (Chinese Pork Belly)
• Stir-Fry Pork with Ginger

Fish

Fish symbolizes happiness and prosperity — especially when served whole.

• Chinese Steamed Fish
• Steamed Fish with Ginger
• Citrus Carp

Chicken

Chicken symbolizes family and unity.

• Chicken in Garlic and Black Bean Sauce
• Chinese Dong'an Chicken
• Chinese Clay Pot Rice with Chicken

More 'Good Luck' Dishes for Chinese New Year

Dishes for good luck are also chosen based on homonyms — words that are either spelled the same or sound the same as other words. Fish (yu) is served because it sounds similar to the Chinese word for plenty; thus, whole fish represents abundance. Turnips are cooked because their name (cai tou) also means "good luck."

Niangao — a steamed sweet cake made of glutinous rice — is a popular dessert for the new year, as it is a homonym for "higher year." Try this baked version topped with sesame seeds, another lucky food:

Dishes made with oranges represent wealth and good fortune because they are China's most plentiful fruit. Bean curd or tofu, however, is avoided because its white color suggests death and misfortune.

Foods for Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year)

Tết is the biggest celebration of the year in Vietnamese culture. As Andrea Nguyen explains on her blog Viet World Kitchen, "While many ideas are borrowed from the Chinese (e.g., firecrackers, lion dances, red money envelopes), the food part is pure Viet!" Enjoy these following must-haves for your Tet celebration:

Caramel Sauce Dishes

• Thit Kho (Caramelized Pork Belly)
• Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Shrimp
• Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Other Tet Food Traditions

• Banh tet and banh chung, rice cakes stuffed with pork and mung beans and wrapped in banana leaves
• Candied fruits and seeds, such as melon seeds
• Vietnamese sausage (gio cha)
• Pickled onion, cabbage, and small leeks (Dua Hanh & Kieu)

Korean New Year Foods

Marking the first day of the Korean lunar calendar, Seollal or Korean New Year, is celebrated by paying respects to one's ancestors, giving gifts, playing games with family and friends, and — of course — feasting on some of these traditional Korean New Year foods:

Tteokguk (Rice Cake Soup)

This is a must-eat Korean New Year dish. As recipe submitter mykoreaneats explains: "Tteokguk is a traditional dish enjoyed by many (if not all Koreans) during the Lunar New Year holiday. The rice cake used to make tteokguk is first made into a long, white cylinder shape called garae tteok. Its shape and length is symbolic, wishing for longevity in life."

Try mykoreaneat's recipe for Tteokguk (Korean Rice Cake Soup).

Mandu (Dumplings)

Manduguk, a soup similar to Tteokguk but with dumplings, is another popular dish enjoyed during Korean New Year.

Try our related recipes for Korean soups and stews and these colorful Mandu (Korean Dumplings).

Rice Cakes

In addition to tteokguk, rice cakes can be served on their own and are a part of many Korean celebrations. Try any of these rice cake recipes for your Korean New Year spread:

• Tteokbokki (Korean Spicy Rice Cakes)
• Korean Rice Cake (Tteok)
• Gungjung Tteokbokki

More Inspiration

Explore our collection of Lunar New Year recipes for plenty more festive traditional foods to celebrate this Lunar New Year. Also browse out our related recipe collections:

• Vietnamese Recipes
• Korean Recipes
• Chinese Recipes