17 Recipes for a Delicious Lunar New Year Feast

On February 17, families across many Asian countries and diaspora communities will celebrate Lunar New Year with feasting, fireworks and little red envelopes filled with money. From China to Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, people welcome spring and honour their ancestors. And naturally, one crucial element of the celebrations is food.

Auspicious foods on the Lunar New Year table are a must. Changshou mian, or “longevity noodles”, symbolise hopes that diners will lead long and happy lives, while jiaozi (a Chinese dumpling) in the shape of ancient Chinese gold ingots are said to bring wealth – buttressed by fillings like pork or shrimp, which are symbols of abundance.

Beyond the auspicious, one key element of Lunar New Year feasts is simply an abundance of tasty things to eat. To help you fill out your table on February 17, we’ve collected 17 recipes from China, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and beyond. They’re not all necessarily auspicious, but they are definitely delicious.

David Zhou’s hotpot with egg dumplings and pork belly

David Zhou from Oriental Tea House and David’s shares a rich, aromatic hot pot recipe from his childhood. Complete with golden egg dumplings, this communal dish will guarantee good fortune for you and yours.

Tony Tan’s Cantonese lobster

Tony Tan’s luxurious lobster dish is inspired by a version at the three-Michelin-starred Hong Kong T’Ang Court Restaurant. Its red hue symbolises good luck in Chinese lore, and lobster is also said to bring energy and prosperity.

Golden Century’s XO sauce pippies

The Cantonese institution’s signature was once hailed the “best dish in the world” by Momofuku’s David Chang. The dish combines fresh, sweet pippies (carefully removed from the heat just as they open), pungent house XO sauce and a scattering of spring onions.  

Rosheen Kaul’s whole fish with sweet soy sambal

Want an impressive dinner table centrepiece? Get with tradition and serve a whole fish – tail and head included. It symbolises good luck, but if you don’t have a family recipe, mix it up a little and make Rosheen’s gorgeous whole fish. Just be sure to leave a little uneaten fish on the plate at the end – it’ll give you a bit of extra good fortune for the next year.

Brendan Pang’s chicken and ginger jiaozi

Jiaozi – ear-shaped dumplings here stuffed with chicken and ginger – are traditionally eaten on Lunar New Year. They resemble gold ingots that were used in Imperial China, meaning they symbolise wealth and good fortune. Plus, “jiaozi” sounds similar to a phrase that means transitioning from old to new – an ideal sentiment as you enter a new year.

HuTong Dumpling Bar’s xiao long bao

These steamed parcels filled with pork and broth are a labour of love, but the communal act of sharing them from the center of the table symbolises the LNY theme of family reunion and togetherness. Their money bag shape can’t hurt in the prosperity department, either. 

Tommy Pham’s Vietnamese chicken ragout

This French-inflected Vietnamese ragout requires minimal effort, so you can whack it on the stove while you prep the other elements of your LNY feast. While it would typically be served with baguette, here former Masterchef contestant Tommy Pham switches it out for garlic bread for extra “oomph”.

Diana Chan’s Malaysian-style mee goreng

They might not be classic LNY longevity noodles – but any type of nood can still symbolise and generate a long life. Diana Chan’s Malaysian-style mee goreng sees the noodles bathed in a rich, dark and spicy sauce. Bonus: it’s on the table in just 30 minutes, so you can put all those slow-cooking dishes on and prep this while they cook.

Combination fried rice from Raymond’s

Fried rice is a near-universal crowd-pleaser. This version, from regional NSW restaurant Raymond’s, is an instantly familiar take on the classic, loaded with char siu, ham, chicken and prawns, and a dash of chicken powder in its soy-based sauce for the extra-savoury kick that makes fried rice particularly satisfying.

Khanh Nguyen’s canh chua

Khanh Nguyen says canh chua, a sweet and sour tamarind Vietnamese soup, is perfect for a feast: make the broth, then set it on a portable stove on the table to dip in the fish and vegetables to cook. It’ll make for an interactive and vibrant LNY centrepiece.

Dan Hong’s self-saucing cheeseburger spring rolls

You won’t win any brownie points for tradition with this uncanny spin on the spring roll (it genuinely tastes just like a cheeseburger) – but you might earn yourself a bit of prosperity for the year ahead. Spring rolls are typically eaten at Lunar New Year to bring wealth, as their golden colour and shape resemble gold bars.

Rosheen Kaul’s creamy tofu noodles

Yi mein – longevity noodles – are traditionally eaten at Lunar New Year; their impressive length portends a long life. More generally, any long noodle can represent longevity, so if you’re not too tied up with tradition you can pull together this simple Rosheen Kaul noodle dish. They’re draped in a creamy tofu sauce and get a lift from a zippy salty-spicy dressing.

Shu Han Lee’s Singapore-style Hainanese chicken rice

One of Singapore’s national dishes, Hainanese chicken rice is never unwelcome at the dinner table. In fact, a similar Chinese dish, Wenchang chicken, was served to the imperial court for Lunar New Year during the Ming Dynasty. This version is a speedier approach to the classic, freeing up your time to prep the myriad other dishes you’ll likely be serving to ring in the new year.

Jerry Mai’s ga kho gung (braised chicken in ginger)

A homestyle Vietnamese comfort food, this dish is bright with ginger; its flavour is buttressed by cooking the chicken with the bone. It’s a real crowd-pleaser and easily scalable for bigger numbers.

Yang Liu’s sliced potato with cumin

Potato-based dishes are almost guaranteed to elicit rave reviews at any feast. This aromatic, cumin-packing dish, enlivened with a Sichuan chilli sauce, is aromatic and punchy. It stands on its own as a veggie main, or makes a heavy-hitting side dish to sit alongside any other plates you have planned.

Lucky Prawn’s prawn toast

Lucky Prawn by name, lucky by nature according to many Chinese cultures. It’s said the Cantonese word for prawn, ha, sounds like laughter, making the crustacean a harbinger of happiness and liveliness. Regardless of its lucky properties, this prawn toast has become a hit at Sydney bistro Lucky Prawn for a reason.

New Bo Wa’s deep-fried ice-cream

For a long time in Australia, deep-fried ice-cream was the natural conclusion to a Chinese meal. While we’ve since come to realise that this dessert isn’t necessarily traditional, there’s no denying it’s an absolute cracker – that exterior crunch coupled with the shock of cold ice-cream inside and, typically, a hot sweet sauce on top, is an unbeatable combo. We recommend making a batch of these bad boys for your Lunar New Year feast, and another to store in the fridge for later.