Curated Chinese cooking

Chinese recipes for real kitchens

Looking for a Chinese recipe you can cook tonight? Browse dishes from Mapo tofu and Kung Pao chicken to noodles and dumplings. Each complete guide puts timing and ingredients first, then walks through heat, doneness, substitutions, common mistakes, and storage so you can cook with less guesswork.

13 recipes published

Mapo tofu with intact tofu cubes, minced pork, red chile sauce, and scallions in a shallow bowl

35 min

Mapo tofu

Tender tofu and pork are folded through a fragrant, chile-red Sichuan sauce.

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Kung Pao chicken with chicken pieces, dried red chiles, peanuts, and scallions in a glossy brown sauce

32 min

Kung Pao chicken

Juicy chicken thigh, dried chiles, peanuts, and scallions meet in a bright sweet-sour wok sauce.

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Twice-cooked pork with curled pork belly slices, green pepper, garlic chives, and red bean-paste sauce

1 hr

Twice-cooked pork

Pork belly is gently cooked, sliced, and wok-fried with chile bean paste, peppers, and leeks.

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Dan dan noodles coated in sesame-chile sauce with a pork topping, scallions, and crushed peanuts

30 min

Dan dan noodles

Springy wheat noodles are layered over sesame-chile sauce and topped with savory pork and preserved greens.

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Tomato and egg stir-fry with soft yellow curds, juicy tomato wedges, and sliced scallions in a shallow bowl

Home-style Chinese cooking

20 min

Tomato and egg stir-fry

Soft curds of egg meet juicy tomato wedges in a fast, comforting home-style stir-fry.

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Real finished-dish brief: a shallow white bowl of lacquered golden pork cubes with clearly visible red, yellow, and green bell-pepper squares, onion, ginger, and a few scallion slivers; the red sweet-and-sour sauce should glisten without hiding crisp edges.

Guangdong, China

1 hr 15 min

Sweet & sour pork

Crisp, bite-sized pork tossed with red, yellow, and green peppers, onion, and a bright sweet-and-sour glaze.

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Glossy sliced char siu on a white plate with a small parsley sprig

Guangdong, China

8 hr 50 min

Cantonese char siu (barbecue pork)

Tender pork shoulder marinated in fermented bean curd, soy, honey, and warm spices, then roasted until lacquered.

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Real finished-dish brief: the clay pot itself or a shallow bowl filled with separate glossy rice grains, sliced red-brown Chinese sausage, cured pork belly, ginger, and chopped scallion; show a distinct golden crisp-rice rim at the bottom edge.

Hong Kong / Guangdong

1 hr 30 min

Hong Kong-style clay-pot rice

Jasmine rice steams with Chinese sausage and cured pork belly, finishing with a savory soy dressing and crisped rice at the base.

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Real finished-dish brief: a dark oval plate of glossy, intact wide noodles with browned beef ribbons, crisp pale bean sprouts, ginger slivers, and scallion sections visibly distributed; no gravy pooling underneath.

Guangdong, China

50 min

Dry-fried beef chow fun

Wide rice noodles seared with velveted flank steak, bean sprouts, ginger, scallion, and dark-soy seasoning over very high heat.

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Real finished-dish brief: a deep white bowl with 8–10 plump, semi-translucent wontons in clear golden broth, a whole baby bok choy beside them, ginger threads, and fresh scallion rings floating visibly on top.

Northern and Cantonese China

1 hr 20 min

Pork-and-shrimp wonton soup

Silky square wontons filled with pork, shrimp, ginger, and scallion, served in a clear sesame-scented chicken broth.

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Plump boiled jiaozi with smooth, lightly translucent wrappers on a white plate

2 hr

Northern Chinese pork-and-cabbage jiaozi

Hand-pleated wheat dumplings with juicy pork, napa cabbage, ginger, and scallion, boiled and served with vinegar and chili oil.

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Golden scallion-pancake wedges stacked on a plate, with crisp blistered surfaces, flaky layers, and green scallion at the cut edges

1 hr 10 min

Flaky Chinese scallion pancakes

A chewy, layered wheat pancake rolled with scallions and oil, pan-fried until crisp and blistered, with a soy-vinegar dip.

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Real finished-dish brief: a platter of thin mahogany duck slices with visibly crackled skin, a stack of translucent Mandarin pancakes, cucumber batons, scallion slivers, and an uncovered dish of sweet bean sauce; every wrap component must be visible.

25 hr 40 min

Home-style Peking duck with Mandarin pancakes

Air-dried duck roasted upright for crackling skin, sliced with cucumber and scallion, and wrapped in thin Mandarin pancakes with sweet bean sauce.

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