20 Surprisingly Easy (and Healthy!) Chinese Food Recipes

Chinese Potsticker Dumplings

If you love dumplings, skip dim sum at a restaurant and learn how to make your own.

The dough for the potsticker wrappers couldn’t be easier – just flour, water, and a pinch of salt. Roll it into little balls, and flatten so they’re ready to stuff with whatever filling you love.

Or skip that step, and use premade potsticker wrappers so all you have to focus on cooking is the pork and cabbage filling. That’s just some chopping for the cabbage, or quickly shredding it in a food processor, and then browning the meat.

Rather than using ground pork, the filling can have chopped shrimp instead, which will cook through when the dumplings are steamed.

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Spicy Sichuan Eggplant & Pork

This pork stir fry only needs ten ingredients, and yet it has lots of bold flavors to enjoy.

Prepare this quick dinner in steps: brown the pork first, then pan-fry the eggplant for only a few minutes. Lastly, it all comes together in the wok with ginger, garlic, and spicy sauce.

Sichuan peppercorns can be added for another level of heat. If you have some readily available, toss a handful in when sautéing the ginger and garlic.

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Kung Pao Shrimp with Peanuts

Everyone who loves spicy food should be familiar with kung pao chicken. While best known as popular Chinese takeout, the flavors of kung pao evolved in the Sichuan province of China, known for its red chili peppers and peppercorns.

The name might throw you off, but Sichuan peppercorns are not related to black pepper and instead have a mild heat similar to chilies. What really sets them apart as an ingredient is the mouth-numbing property, which is thought to help enjoy spiciness without sacrificing flavor.

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Chinese Walnut Chicken

If you’ve got a habit of picking up cashew chicken from the local Chinese restaurant, try this stir fry at home. Walnuts are used instead for flavor and crunch, coated lightly with sugar and then toasted.

The stir fry is rounded out with red peppers and peas. Aside from that, all you need to prepare is a simple stir fry sauce, combining hoisin and soy sauce. And whenever you don’t have Chinese rice wine on hand, substitute dry sherry.

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Crispy Lemon Chicken

Instead of ordering orange chicken, make this crispy lemon chicken at home. You don’t need any special ingredients to make this Asian dinner – unless you want to add a garnish of toasted sesame seeds.

Thinly slice chicken breast, and dredge in flour to fry it. Then it’s finished with a delicious lemon glaze. If you don’t have time to make the lemon syrup yourself, which is simple but requires a few days’ planning ahead, you can add more chicken stock with some fresh lemon zest and juice; check the original recipe for exact measurements.

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Chinese Noodle Soup with Pork & Pickled Greens

This is no harder to make than a chicken noodle soup, and yet it packs in way more flavor. And you can use any kind of Chinese noodles for this, whether you prefer wheat like rice noodles, buckwheat, or fresh wonton noodles.

For convenience’s sake, though, you can always use ramen. That style of soup was popularized in Japan, but ramen is made with Chinese-style wheat noodles.

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Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup

If you love Italian wedding soup, try its Chinese twin which features chicken meatballs, watercress, and egg noodles.

This soup doesn’t need much time to simmer on the stove, so most of the work is prepping the meatballs. From start to finish, you can have this comforting bowl of soup on the table in about an hour.

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Chinese Sponge Cake

Although these simple Chinese cakes are traditionally steamed, now it’s common to find baked versions.

So once you make the batter, it’s your choice whether you want to prepare your cakes in a cupcake pan or pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined bamboo steamer basket.

Either way, it’ll take about 15 minutes for them to finish. But first you need to whip up the eggs and milk light and fluffy, which requires patience even with an electric mixer. Then, one by one, fold in the flour and oil for this four-ingredient cake.

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Beef Brisket in Clear Broth

This simple soup doesn’t need any fancy ingredients to come together. It’s easy to make in a few steps. Boil the beef brisket first, and then focus on the broth. Fresh ginger and garlic are cooked in the bottom of a big wok or stock pot.

Then the beef is added with a sprinkle of rice wine, seasonings, and liquid to boil for a half hour, or until the brisket is tender. Meanwhile sauté radishes to stir in at the end.

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Cantonese Boiled Shrimp

This chili-ginger shrimp makes a great feast for seafood lovers, so it’s perfect to prepare for a backyard cookout. The sauce can be made ahead of time, and the stock can be ready to go in a big pot on the stove.

When it’s time to eat, just add shrimp to the boiling liquid, and as soon as it’s cooked, move it to an ice bath. Serve with hot chili oil, a sprinkle of chives, and thinly sliced peppers.

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Hong Kong-Style Mango Pudding

When you have an abundance of ripe mangoes, this is the perfect dessert to highlight their flavor.

It’s indulgent with a touch of cream and sugar, yet the portions are small, the size of a cup of Jello, which is perfect for an afternoon snack. If you’re in the mood for a filling dessert, serve with extra diced mango as a garnish.

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Chinese Fried Rice

The best time to make fried rice is when you have leftovers from enjoying stir fry the day before. You’ll want to use a medium- or long-grain rice to avoid clumps. Don’t skimp on the oil, but it doesn’t take as much as you think to keep the rice from sticking.

Cook fried rice on the highest heat possible. This is one time where you definitely want to preheat the pan. That’ll help brown the rice for a slightly smoky flavor.

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Five-Spice Edamame

For a healthy snack, boil whole edamame for a few hours, and keep it chilled in the refrigerator. It takes hardly anything to make, just a pot of water and a kitchen timer. You don’t even have to know how to cook.

The only work involved, should you choose to infuse the edamame with Chinese flavors, is to round up the five traditional spices rather than relying on a pre-made blend. In this version, that’s cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorn, and fennel seed.

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Chinese Chicken with Chilies

Your usual Chinese takeout can’t hold a candle to this homemade dish: chicken with chilies like it’s enjoyed in China with ginger, garlic, and rice wine.

How spicy this is will depend on which kind of chilies you use, and if you aren’t worried about the heat level, feel free to throw an extra cup of peppers into the pan.

Both the marinade and the stir fry have five-spice powder to add complex flavor in one quick step. Most grocery stores will carry some version of the Chinese spice blend, or you can make your own by grinding together cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns.

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Chinese Pickled Cabbage

Can’t get enough kimchi? Try this Chinese pickled cabbage with vegetables called suan cai. It’s easy to make at home and requires just three days – compared to three weeks for kimchi.

You’ll find similar ingredients, including cabbage of course and radishes, but the key difference is this is prepared in vinegar rather than fermented with salt. The Chinese pickled veggies are spicy thanks to red chilies and can be served as a side dish to complement stir fries and other entrées.

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Beef, Mushroom & Broccoli Stir Fry

You won’t need much to make this broccoli and beef stir fry – not even in terms of oil. This entrée has three times more protein than fat.

And you’ll also get a serving of veggies whether you use standard broccoli or the Chinese version, which is a vegetable that resembles both broccoli and kale. Or you could use broccolini, a hybrid of both kinds of broccoli.

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Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Pulled Pork

Enjoying Chinese food for dinner doesn’t have to be much harder than ordering delivery. Get out your Crock Pot, and add in everything you need for this honey sesame pork.

Then when you’re hungry, all you have to cook is a pot of rice. This easy dinner can also be enjoyed as Asian pulled pork sandwiches, or served as a filling for steamed buns.

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Turkey Stir Fry

Too much leftover turkey? Make it into an entirely new dish – no gravy included – with this delicious stir fry for two. It doesn’t take much to make this dish, but your taste buds will appreciate the new twist on holiday turkey.

The recipe uses bell pepper, carrot, and celery, although any veggies you have can be cut and stir-fried too. And there’s no elaborate sauce. All it needs for maximum flavor is a little Shaoxing rice wine, ginger, and garlic.

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Chinese Stuffed Tofu

Want to have dim sum without leaving the comforts of home? You’ll need something to go along with those dumplings, and this stuffed tofu is it.

The filling is made with savory ground pork. Just cut the tofu into thick squares, scoop out the middle, and filling. Then they’re lightly coated in an egg wash and flour before being pan-fried for a couple minutes per side. Serve with homemade or store-bought mushroom sauce.

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Asian Buckwheat Noodle Salad

This soba noodle salad is great to serve in the summer. It’s loaded with nutritious cabbage, bell peppers, zucchini, and carrots. Yet most of the prep, except boiling the noodles, can be done with a knife and a whisk in the comfort of your air-conditioned kitchen.

You can even get everything but the noodles ready the day before. For more protein, mix in some shredded chicken or baked tofu.

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