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Meal Prep · A holiday collection

Lunar New Year

Dumplings folded together around the table, long noodles for a long life, a whole fish for a year of plenty, and sweet sticky rice for a higher year. This collection follows Chinese New Year traditions, which vary from family to family and region to region. Pick your menu, get one shopping list, and plan the folding party and the reunion dinner.

🧾 Your menu

Check the dishes you’re making. The shopping list adds them up for your number of guests, and the dumplings follow the party planner below. A typical New Year’s Eve spread is checked to start.

Guests (everyone at the table)8
Dumplings
The reunion dinner
Vegetables and spring rolls
Sweets
📅 Put this menu in my meal planner

The meal planner takes your whole menu in one tap: pick the day on its calendar, then set how many people are coming. From there you can print recipe cards and the list by store section, and mark what you already have.

Shopping list

The shopping list appears here once the recipes load.

Amounts round up to what stores sell. Check your pantry for spices and staples.

⏰ Dumpling party and dinner plan

How many dumplings to fold for your guests (set above), how many wrappers to buy, how long folding takes, and a countdown to the reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve. The date starts on the eve of the next New Year (Year of the Goat begins February 6, 2027).

  1. Loading the plan…

The plan includes the dishes checked on your menu. Dates of the coming New Years: February 6, 2027 (Year of the Goat); January 26, 2028 (Year of the Monkey); February 13, 2029 (Year of the Rooster). The festival lasts 15 days and ends with the Lantern Festival.

Dumplings

Folding dumplings together is the heart of New Year’s Eve for many families, especially in northern China. Make a pork batch and a vegetable batch, and freeze extras.

Pork and Napa Cabbage Dumplings (Jiaozi)Juicy pork and cabbage dumplings, folded together around the table and boiled or pan-fried as potstickers. In northern China they are the dish of New Year’s Eve.1 hr 30 min · serves 6 Vegetable and Tofu DumplingsA meatless filling of napa cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, tofu and rice noodles, seasoned with ginger and sesame. Most families make a vegetable batch alongside the pork one.1 hr 30 min · serves 6 Dumpling Dipping SauceSoy sauce, vinegar, a little sesame oil, ginger and garlic, with chili flakes if you like heat. Everyone mixes their own dish to taste.5 min · serves 8

The reunion dinner

A whole fish, a whole chicken and long noodles carry the year’s best wishes. Pick what suits your table.

Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger and ScallionsA whole fish steamed over ginger, topped with fresh scallions and cilantro, and finished with sizzling oil and soy sauce. The word for fish sounds like the word for “surplus,” so it’s served whole for a year of plenty.30 min · serves 4 White Cut Chicken with Ginger-Scallion SauceA whole chicken poached gently until silky, chilled in ice water, cut into pieces and served with a fragrant ginger and scallion oil. Served whole on the table, it stands for family togetherness.1 hr 30 min · serves 6 Longevity NoodlesLong wheat noodles stir-fried with mushrooms, cabbage and green onions in a savory soy sauce. The noodles stay uncut: long strands stand for a long life.30 min · serves 6 Lion’s Head Meatballs with Napa CabbageBig, tender pork meatballs browned and then braised on a bed of napa cabbage. A dish from eastern China, often served at family celebrations; the round shape stands for reunion.1 hr 15 min · serves 6 Orange Sesame ChickenCrisp-edged chicken bites tossed in a fresh orange, ginger and sesame sauce. A takeout favorite made at home.30 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Beef and BroccoliTakeout-style beef and broccoli in a glossy garlic-ginger sauce, on the table in half an hour.30 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Pork and Bok Choy Lo MeinTakeout-style noodles stir-fried with ground pork, bok choy, cabbage and carrots in a savory sauce.30 min · serves 4 · from our recipes

Vegetables and spring rolls

Greens for the table, golden spring rolls, and the vegetable braise many families eat on New Year’s Day.

Crispy Vegetable Spring RollsThin, golden rolls filled with cabbage, carrots, mushrooms and rice noodles. Fried until crisp, they look like little gold bars, a wish for wealth in the new year.1 hr 10 min · serves 10 Garlic Stir-Fried LettuceRomaine hearts flashed in a hot wok with garlic until just wilted. In Cantonese the word for lettuce sounds like “growing wealth,” so it’s a New Year favorite.10 min · serves 4 Buddha’s Delight (Vegetable Braise)A braise of napa cabbage, mushrooms, tofu, carrots, snap peas, water chestnuts and glassy noodles. Many Buddhist families eat it on the first day of the New Year, when some avoid meat.40 min · serves 6 Garlic Bok ChoyBaby bok choy seared and steamed in a skillet with garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil in about 10 minutes.13 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Tofu, Mushroom and Bok Choy Stir-FryCrisp tofu cubes, mushrooms and bok choy in a glossy garlic-ginger sauce.35 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Sesame Garlic EdamameShelled edamame warmed in a skillet with garlic, sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce. A snack ready in 10 minutes.10 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Fluffy White RiceSimple stovetop long-grain rice. Cook extra for fried rice and burritos.25 min · serves 6 · from our recipes Vegetable Fried RiceDay-old rice, eggs and frozen vegetables become dinner in 20 minutes. Add leftover ham or chicken if you have it.22 min · serves 4 · from our recipes

Sweets

Sticky rice cake for a “higher year,” rice balls for reunion, and a bowl of oranges or tangerines for luck.

Nian Gao (Brown Sugar Sticky Rice Cake)A chewy, glossy cake of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar, steamed for an hour. Its name sounds like “higher year,” a wish for a better year ahead. Eat it in slices, or pan-fry them.5 hr 15 min · serves 12 Tangyuan: Black Sesame Rice Balls in Ginger SyrupSoft, chewy glutinous rice balls filled with a sweet black sesame paste, served warm in ginger syrup. Their name sounds like “reunion”; families eat them on the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the New Year.1 hr 35 min · serves 6 Tropical Fruit SaladPineapple, mango and kiwi tossed with lime juice, honey and fresh mint.20 min · serves 6 · from our recipes

The days after

Leftover chicken becomes noodle soup; extra dumplings go into the freezer for busy nights.

Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup with Bok ChoyA fast, gingery chicken broth with rice noodles, bok choy and carrots.40 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Egg Roll in a BowlAll the flavor of an egg roll filling, made in one skillet with ground pork and shredded cabbage.25 min · serves 4 · from our recipes Cold Sesame NoodlesChilled noodles in a creamy tahini, soy and ginger sauce with crisp cucumber, carrots and sesame seeds.25 min · serves 4 · from our recipes

🧑‍🍳 Make it from scratch

Stock for the noodles and braises, and homemade egg noodles if you’d like to make the long strands yourself.

Chicken stockAbout 3 quarts (12 cups).Vegetable stockAbout 2½ quarts (10 cups).Egg noodlesAbout 14 oz of fresh noodles, which stands in for about 9 oz of dried egg noodles (about 6 cups dry).

🥟 How to fold dumplings

Set up a station: wrappers under a damp towel, the filling, a small bowl of water and a tray dusted with flour. Use a scant tablespoon of filling; too much and the dumpling won’t seal. Three folds, from easiest to fanciest:

Three ways to fold a dumplingLeft: a round wrapper with filling in the center, folded into a half moon. Middle: a half moon with pleats along the top edge, curved into a crescent. Right: a half moon whose two corners are pinched together into an ingot shape.1. Half moon2. Pleated crescent3. Ingot
Wet half the edge with water each time, press out the air around the filling, and seal firmly.

1. Half moon (start here)

  1. Filling in the center.
  2. Wet half the rim with a fingertip of water.
  3. Fold in half and press the edges together from one end to the other, pushing out air.

2. Pleated crescent

  1. Fold in half and pinch only the top center.
  2. On one side, make 3 or 4 small pleats in the front layer, pressing each against the flat back layer.
  3. Repeat on the other side. The dumpling curves and sits up on its flat bottom, perfect for potstickers.

3. Ingot

  1. Make a sealed half moon.
  2. Bend the two corners down and toward each other under the filling.
  3. Overlap them with a dab of water and pinch. It looks like an old gold or silver ingot, which is why dumplings stand for wealth.

🧧 What the foods mean

Many New Year foods carry wishes, often because their names sound like lucky words in Chinese or because of their shape. Families keep different customs, and what’s served in the north differs from the south. These are the meanings most widely recorded:

FoodWhat it stands forWhy
🥟 Dumplings (jiaozi)WealthTheir shape looks like old gold and silver ingots. Families fold them together on New Year’s Eve, especially in northern China, and some hide a coin in one for luck.
🍜 Long noodlesLong lifeThe long strands are served uncut; cutting them would “cut” the wish short.
🐟 Whole fishPlentyThe word for fish (yú) sounds like the word for surplus. It’s served whole, and some families leave a little for “surplus every year.”
🍘 Nian gaoA better yearThe name sounds like “higher year,” a wish for growth and success; its stickiness stands for a close family.
⚪ TangyuanReunionThe name sounds like the word for reunion, and the round shape means togetherness. They’re eaten on the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day.
🌯 Spring rollsWealthFried golden, they look like bars of gold.
🐔 Whole chickenFamily togethernessServed whole, the bird stands for a complete family.
🍊 Oranges and tangerinesGood luckTheir round shape and gold color, and a name that sounds like the word for luck.

Chinese New Year (Grokipedia)JiaoziNian gaoTangyuanYi meinRinging in the Lunar New Year (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)

📜 The holiday in brief

Lunar New Year begins with the new moon that opens the first month of the traditional lunisolar calendar, so it falls between January 21 and February 20. In China it’s called the Spring Festival. Celebrations last fifteen days, from the reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, when families travel home to eat together, to the Lantern Festival. Each year is named for one of twelve animals in turn.

Other countries and communities keep their own New Year traditions on or near the same day: in Korea, Seollal, with a soup of sliced rice cakes (tteokguk) that marks everyone growing a year older; in Vietnam, Tết, with square sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng). This collection follows Chinese customs, and even those vary widely from family to family.

Lunar New Year (Grokipedia)Lantern FestivalKorean New YearTteokgukTết

🌡 Food safety

  • Pork dumplings and meatballs: ground pork is done at 160°F. Cut a dumpling open: no pink, steaming hot (USDA).
  • Whole chicken: 165°F in the thickest part of the thigh and the breast (USDA). Poach gently and check before chilling.
  • Fish: 145°F, or until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork (FDA).
  • Raw filling: keep it cold while you fold, wash hands and boards after touching raw pork, and refrigerate trays of folded dumplings if the room is warm.
  • Frying spring rolls: stay with the hot oil the whole time. If a pan catches fire, slide a lid over it and turn off the burner; never use water (Los Angeles Fire Department).
  • Sticky rice treats like nian gao and tangyuan are very chewy. Cut them small for young children and eat slowly.
  • Leftovers: refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 3 to 4 days; reheat to 165°F.