Chinese New Year is more than just a festive celebration, it’s a time when food carries deep meaning and symbolism. Every dish served during the festivities is believed to influence luck, prosperity, and happiness for the year ahead. From reunion dinners to open-house feasts, Chinese New Year food plays a central role in welcoming good fortune and abundance.

In this guide, we’ll explore a complete Chinese New Year food menu, including symbolic dishes, traditional favorites, and popular traditional Chinese food in Malaysia that are commonly enjoyed during the Lunar New Year.

Chinese New Year Food Menu List and Their Symbolism

Chinese New Year dishes are chosen not only for their taste but also for their symbolism. Many foods are associated with wealth, longevity, unity, and success, often based on their pronunciation, shape, or color. This is why presentation, preparation, and even how the food is eaten matter just as much as the ingredients themselves.

Families typically enjoy these dishes during the reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, but lucky foods are eaten throughout the 15–16 days of celebration. Here are chinese new year food list and their symbolism:

1. Fish: an Increase in Prosperity

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In Chinese, “fish” (鱼 Yú /yoo/) sounds like ‘surplus’. Fish is a traditional Chinese New Year dish on the Chinese New Year dinner menu. Chinese people always like to have a surplus at the end of the year, because they think if they have managed to save something at the end of the year, then they can make more in the next year.

The fish should be the last dish left with some left over, as this has auspicious homophonics for there being surpluses every year. This is practiced north of the Yangtze River, but in other areas the head and tail of the fish shouldn’t be eaten until the beginning of the year, which expresses the hope that the year will start and finish with surplus.

2. Chinese Dumplings: Wealth

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Dumplings (jiaozi) have over 1,800 years of history and are a classic lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year’s Eve, especially in North China. Shaped like ancient Chinese silver ingots, they symbolize wealth and prosperity—traditionally, the more dumplings you eat, the more fortune you’re believed to gain in the coming year.

They are made from thin dough wrappers filled with minced meat and vegetables, such as pork, shrimp, fish, chicken, beef, or mixed vegetables, and can be boiled, steamed, fried, or baked. Dumpling-making is a common household tradition, involving preparing the dough, rolling wrappers, filling, shaping, and cooking them together as a symbol of unity and good luck.

3. Whole Chicken: ‘Luck’ and ‘Wholeness’

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Chicken is considered an auspicious dish because its pronunciation, ji, sounds like the word for good fortune and prosperity. This makes it a staple at Chinese New Year reunion dinners. It is traditionally served whole, complete with the head and feet, to represent unity, completeness, and a smooth beginning and ending to the year.

For festive meals, chicken is commonly braised or roasted using simple seasonings such as ginger or soy sauce. Before being served, a whole chicken is often presented as an offering to ancestors and deities as a way of seeking blessings and protection.

An interesting custom surrounds the chicken feet, which are usually eaten by the family’s main provider. This symbolizes the ability to “grasp” or hold onto wealth, as the word for grabbing sounds similar to the term for a chicken’s claws.

4. Chinese New Year Cake: a Higher Income or Position

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Glutinous rice cake (年糕 Niángāo /nyen-gaoww/) is a lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year’s Eve. In Chinese, glutinous rice cake sounds like it means “getting higher year-on- by year”. In Chinese people’s minds, this means the higher you are, the more prosperous your business is a general improvement in life. The main ingredients of niangao are sticky rice, sugar, chestnuts, Chinese dates, and lotus leaves.

5. Spring Rolls: Wealth

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Spring rolls, known as chūnjuǎn, are named for their close association with the Spring Festival and are a popular Chinese New Year dish, particularly in East China and southern regions such as Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.

These cylindrical rolls are a classic Cantonese dim sum item, typically filled with a mix of vegetables, meat, or sweet ingredients. The fillings are wrapped in thin pastry sheets and deep-fried until crispy, giving spring rolls their signature golden color that symbolizes wealth and prosperity. It also considered as a traditional chinese food in Malaysia.

6. Sweet Rice Balls: Family Togetherness

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Sweet rice balls, known as tāngyuán, are traditionally associated with the Lantern Festival, but in southern China they are commonly enjoyed throughout the entire Spring Festival period. Their name and perfectly round shape symbolize togetherness, unity, and family reunion, which is why tāngyuán hold special meaning and are a beloved treat during Chinese New Year celebrations.

7. Longevity Noodles: Happiness and Longevity

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Longevity noodles, known as chángshòu miàn, naturally represent wishes for a long and healthy life. Their extra-long length and the tradition of cooking them without cutting symbolize the continuity and longevity of the eater’s life. These noodles are considered a lucky dish commonly enjoyed on Chinese New Year’s Day, especially in North China. 

They are typically prepared either by frying and serving them whole on a plate, or by boiling them and presenting them in a bowl with broth, always kept unbroken to preserve their auspicious meaning.

8. Lion’s Head Meatballs: ‘Family Unity’

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Lion’s Head Meatballs (狮子头, shīzitóu) are a popular Chinese New Year dish, especially in Shanghai. Tender and juicy homemade pork meatballs are steamed/braised, served with vegetables, and tossed in a sweet and sticky sauce. They are so named because of their shape, which resembles the head of a lion. Lions represent ‘strength’ in Chinese culture, while the meatballs signify ‘family unity’ (because of their roundness).

9. Steamed Pork Belly with Taro: ‘Prosperity’

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Steamed pork belly with taro is a well-loved dish commonly served during Chinese New Year celebrations in southern China. Pork symbolizes wealth, abundance, strength, and a prosperous life, making it an auspicious choice for welcoming the New Year. Serving steamed pork reflects the hope for continued prosperity and good fortune.

The dish features tender slices of pork belly with a balanced blend of sweet, savory, and slightly tangy flavors, paired with soft, starchy taro that absorbs the rich seasoning, creating a comforting and harmonious combination. 

10. Shrimp: ‘Happiness’

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Shrimp is a popular dish during Chinese New Year celebrations, especially among Cantonese families. It symbolizes liveliness, happiness, and good luck, as the Cantonese pronunciation of shrimp, ha, resembles the sound of laughter, making it an auspicious and joyful food to enjoy during the festive season.

11. Vegetables: ‘Spring’, ‘Wealth’, and More

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Vegetables are an essential part of a Chinese New Year reunion dinner, as they symbolize springtime, renewal, vitality, progress, and prosperity. Various traditional vegetables are served during the celebration, each carrying its own auspicious meaning.

Lettuce is associated with wealth, as its name in Chinese and Cantonese sounds similar to the phrase for “gaining riches.” Baby bok choy represents luck, prosperity, and good fortune in the year ahead, while gailan, also known as Chinese broccoli, symbolizes harmony and balance within the family.

12. Fruit: Fullness and Wealth

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Certain fruits are traditionally enjoyed during Chinese New Year, including tangerines, oranges, and pomelos. These fruits are chosen for their round shape and bright, golden color. Which symbolize abundance and wealth, as well as for their auspicious pronunciations. Tangerines and oranges are believed to attract good luck and success. This because their Chinese names sound like the word for “success.” 

In addition, one way of writing the Chinese character for tangerine includes the character for good fortune, further enhancing its lucky meaning. Pomelos, also known as shaddocks, are associated with ongoing prosperity. Their name sounds similar to the words for “having” and “again”. Symbolizing repeated wealth and continuous abundance, the more you eat, the more prosperity it is believed to bring.

Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Horse in 2026, filled with wealth and good fortune.