Top 20 Delicious Chinese New Year Snacks You Can't Miss
During Chinese New Year, every household is filled with a variety of snacks and fruits, carefully arranged on candy plates. These treats are not just for satisfying your taste buds, but also symbolize good wishes for the upcoming year.
Here are 20 of the most popular Chinese New Year snacks that everyone loves.
Sunflower Seeds – More Children, More Blessings
During Chinese New Year, sunflower seeds are a must-have snack. Their small, round shape and easy-to-share nature symbolize having many children and grandchildren, as well as family prosperity.
People snack on sunflower seeds while visiting relatives, watching TV, or gathering with old friends, helping to strengthen communication and bonds between family members.
In addition to sunflower seeds, other seed-based snacks like watermelon seeds and pumpkin seeds are also widely enjoyed.
Peanuts – Good Things Happening
In traditional Chinese culture, peanuts are known as "longevity fruits" or "fruits of good fortune." The word for peanut, "hua sheng," sounds like "happening," which reflects people's hopes for a year filled with continuous good events.
During Chinese New Year, peanuts are commonly found in snack bowls at home and as gifts when visiting others, representing people's wishes for a happy and prosperous life.
Walnuts – Harmony and beauty.
The meaning of eating walnuts during Chinese New Year is "harmony and beauty", symbolizing family harmony and happiness. The shell of walnuts naturally cracks open, just like a grinning mouth that cannot be closed, implying that a harmonious family makes everything prosperous.
Pistachios – Happiness and Joy
With its cheerful name and smile-like appearance, pistachios have become a symbol of joy and happiness during the New Year. They represent a year filled with happy moments, where happiness follows you everywhere. When friends and family gather, enjoying pistachios together fills the air with laughter and cheer.
Chocolate – Sweet Life
During Chinese New Year, the sweetness of chocolate symbolizes a sweet and happy life in the coming year. Additionally, chocolate represents wealth and good fortune, especially chocolates shaped like gold ingots or coins, symbolizing prosperity and wealth!
Candy – Sweet Happiness
Candy is an essential part of Chinese New Year snacks, especially loved by children. With various types like fruit candies, milk candies, and crisp candies, eating candy symbolizes that all struggles will be rewarded, and your life in the coming year will be sweet. Giving candy as a gift is also a great idea, especially when wrapped in red or gold packaging.
Candied Fruit – Harmony and Bliss
Candied fruits, such as preserved plums, hawthorn cakes, candied winter melon strips, and kumquat cakes, are sweet and sour snacks made by preserving fruits. As a traditional Chinese treat, they symbolize a sweet life like honey in the coming year and a harmonious, happy family.
Red Dates – Prosperity and Vitality
Red dates are bright and red, symbolizing a vibrant and prosperous life. Their pronunciation, "zao," also sounds like "early," bringing auspicious meanings like having children early or making a fortune early. During Chinese New Year, red dates are often used in making various dishes or enjoyed as a snack, adding to the festive atmosphere and expressing the hope for a bright year ahead.
Longan – Wealth and Reunion
Longan, pronounced similarly to "gui" (wealth), symbolizes wealth and honor. Its round shape represents reunion, symbolizing the wish for a prosperous and united family in the new year, where everyone gathers together to share happiness and enjoy family bliss.
Dried Persimmons – Everything Goes Smoothly
Dried persimmons are coated with a layer of pure white sugar, resembling the first snow of winter—pure and beautiful. The word "shi" for persimmon sounds like "shi" (things), symbolizing that in the new year, everything will go smoothly, and life will be free from trouble or worry.
Spicy Strips – Full of Energy
Spicy strips, with their bold flavor and red packaging, represent the liveliness and festivity of the New Year. As a signature snack from Hunan, they symbolize vitality and the courage to face new challenges in the year ahead, filling life with passion and energy.
Sesame Balls – Rising Step by Step
Sesame balls are round and plump, covered in sesame seeds. Sesame in traditional culture signifies "rising step by step," and the sesame ball as a whole symbolizes a complete and fulfilling life in the new year. Whether in career, studies, or personal life, it represents the wish for continuous improvement and success.
Fried Dough Twists – Abundant Harvest
Fried gough twists, made from many strands of dough twisted together and fried to a crispy golden brown, is often made from a variety of grains. It symbolizes an abundant harvest. The twisted shape of the dough also represents good luck tightly wrapping around you, bringing continuous blessings, and filling your life with hope and prosperity in the new year.
Fruit Platter – Abundant Harvest
During the New Year, almost every household displays a fruit platter to greet guests. Common fruits served include:
Apples – Peace and Health
Apples are round, cute, and colorful. During the New Year, they symbolize peace and health, wishing for good health for all family members in the coming year.
Tangerines and Oranges – Wishes Come True
The word for "orange" in Chinese, "cheng," sounds like "success," symbolizing that everything you wish for—whether in your career or personal life—will come true in the New Year.
Dragon Fruit – Vibrant and Full of Life
Dragon fruit is bright and eye-catching, with its vibrant red color symbolizing a lively and prosperous year ahead. It represents a life full of vitality, energy, and endless possibilities.
Beef Jerky – Strong and Healthy
With its high-quality protein and chewy texture, beef jerky symbolizes strength and resilience in the New Year. In regions like Qinghai and Tibet, yak jerky is a must-have snack during the holiday season.
Pork Jerky – Abundant and Happy
With its firm texture and rich flavor, pork jerky symbolizes a fulfilling and prosperous life. In Jiangsu, pork jerky is a local specialty, and its sales soar during the New Year.
Hawthorn Balls – Delicious and Flavorful
Tart and sweet, hawthorn balls symbolize a flavorful life in the New Year. They are also known for their ability to aid digestion. In Tianjin, hawthorn balls are a beloved traditional snack during the holiday season.
Raisins – Sweet and Bountiful
Plump and juicy, raisins symbolize sweetness and abundance. As a specialty of Xinjiang, raisins are a popular treat for guests during Chinese New Year.
Dried Mango – Sweet and Energizing
With its rich mango flavor, dried mango represents a year full of sweetness and energy. In Hainan, dried mango is a distinctive regional snack enjoyed during the New Year.
Pineapple Cakes – Good Luck and Prosperity
Pineapple cakes have a strong pineapple fragrance with a crisp, melt-in-your-mouth texture. In Hokkien dialect, "pineapple" is pronounced "wang lai," meaning "prosperity arrives." They symbolize continuous good fortune in the New Year, success in business, and smooth financial progress. Whether enjoyed personally or given as a gift, pineapple cakes are filled with blessings and good wishes for the future.
What are the 7 Lucky Foods for Chinese New Year?
1.Dumplings
Meaning: Dumplings symbolize reunion, happiness, good fortune, and bidding farewell to the old year while welcoming the new one. Their shape resembles ancient gold and silver ingots, representing wealth.
Tradition: On New Year's Eve, families gather to make dumplings together, symbolizing unity. In some regions, there’s a tradition of putting a coin or thread in a dumpling, and the person who finds it is believed to have good luck.
2.Rice Cake (Nian Gao)
Meaning: Nian Gao symbolizes progress and growth, as it sounds like "higher year," suggesting advancement in career, income, and health.
Preparation: Nian Gao is mainly made from glutinous rice, giving it a sweet, soft, and chewy texture.
3.Tangyuan (Sweet Rice Dumplings)
Meaning: Tangyuan represents unity and completeness. Though it’s the main food for the Lantern Festival, people in southern China enjoy it throughout the entire Chinese New Year period.
Characteristics: The dumplings are made with glutinous rice flour, filled with sweet or savory fillings.
4.Fish
Meaning: Fish in Chinese culture symbolizes abundance, as the word for fish "yu" sounds like "surplus," signifying prosperity.
Choice: Fish served at the New Year's dinner is typically whole to symbolize completeness and a bountiful harvest. Popular choices like carp, tilapia, and catfish are favored because of their auspicious homophones.
5.Spring Rolls
Meaning: Spring rolls represent good luck and wealth. Their golden, crispy exterior resembles gold bars, a symbol of fortune.
Preparation: Spring rolls are typically filled with vegetables, meat, or sweet fillings, and then deep-fried to a golden crisp.
6.Chicken
Meaning: The word for chicken sounds like "ji," which is a homophone for "good fortune," symbolizing good luck and prosperity.
Regional Tradition: In Guangdong, chicken is a must-have dish during Chinese New Year to ensure a year of good luck and happiness.
7.Longevity Noodles
Meaning: Longevity noodles symbolize health and long life, traditionally prepared for elders during the New Year. The long shape of the noodles represents longevity and an unending life.
Preparation: Typically made with long, thin noodles, they can be served with various vegetables and meats for enhanced flavor and nutrition. Serving a bowl of longevity noodles to elders is a way of expressing respect and wishing them a long life.
What to Bring to a Chinese New Year Potluck?
If you're attending a Chinese New Year potluck, here are some thoughtful gifts to bring to express your blessings and good wishes:
Food Gift Box
Including a variety of snacks, pastries, and specialty dried goods, a food gift box symbolizes reunion and happiness.
Wine Gift Box
A bottle of high-quality red wine or white liquor is a great choice, representing good fortune and happiness, perfect for enjoying during the meal.
Fruit Gift Box
Fruits symbolize health and good luck. For example, apples represent peace, and oranges symbolize wishes coming true.
Eight-Treasure Rice
This dish symbolizes family unity and good fortune. It's a popular sweet dessert during the Chinese New Year season.
Red Envelopes (Hongbao)
Giving red envelopes to children or elders symbolizes blessings and good luck for the year ahead.
Spring Festival Decorations
Decorations like couplets, "Fu" characters, window decals, and Chinese knots add festive cheer to the gathering place and convey good wishes for the New Year.
Health Gift Basket
A basket containing health supplements like goji berries, ginseng, and bird’s nest shows care for your loved ones' well-being and reflects modern interest in health and vitality.
