30 Chinese Dishes You Need To Try At Least Once

More people reside in China than in any other country in the world (via Statista). Coupled with the fact that China happens to be among one of the largest countries by area, it's safe to say that Chinese food is far more illustrious than the orange chicken that many in the U.S. associate it with — a culinary invention that is entirely American, thanks to Panda Express.

Even within the culmination of what is considered to be Chinese food as a whole, are various regional Chinese cuisines, each influenced by varying climate, terrain, and its people. The simple, salty, and vegetable-less foods like clear broths come from the regions of Northern China; light and seafood-heavy dishes like dim sums come from Eastern provinces; and the West eats more halal food due to a Muslim and Tibetan influence in the region. The hot, spicy, and fiery red foods that are synonymous with Sichuan cuisine are mostly eaten in Central China. Such is the diversity of Chinese food.

Chinese cuisine is vast and its dishes plentiful, but if you were to narrow it down and couldn't figure out where to begin, this list goes over Chinese foods that you should try at least once in your lifetime — if not a thousand times more.

Peking duck when brought whole to a table looks like a food delicacy that belongs more in one of the many portraits of feasts and banquets thrown by mid-century kings and queens. It turns out, the roasted duck has long been a favored dish of Chinese emperors. The Qianlong Emperor of China is even said to have eaten eight Peking ducks over the span of two weeks at some point in 1761.

A well-known Chinese food today, the roasted duck is much sought after perhaps for its glossy brown and crisp skin, widely considered to be the best part of the entire dish. The traditional method of roasting a Peking duck involved hanging ducks over burning wood in brick ovens, which required chefs to be attentive to the needs of the roasting duck. Now, the roasting is often left to an oven. The roasted duck is then sliced using a special knife called pianya dao, and a single duck can produce as many as 100 trimmings under a skilled chef. The trimmings are accompanied with thin pancakes in which the duck can be rolled into alongside leeks, cucumbers, pickled vegetables, and a sauce.

Tang yuan, or yuanxiao as it goes by in Northern China, is a sweet dish of rice balls with rich symbolism in Chinese festivities. Each year, the Chinese celebrate a two-week-long Chinese New Year, which ends with the mesmerizing Lantern Festival. While families gather to light lanterns, they also gather to eat delicious Chinese foods, in particular tang yuan — a colorful dessert of bite-sized chewy rice balls that symbolize harmony and reunion. In fact, when spoken out loud, the sound of the word tang yuan sounds the same as "tuán yuan," which is the Chinese word for reunion.

Although tang yuan can sometimes be prepared with a savory filling of walnuts, peanuts, and minced meat, more often than not it is filled with a sweet paste of sesame seeds or red bean, lard, and sugar. The rice balls are either steamed or fried and served swimming in a ginger, sugar, and water syrup sprinkled with osmanthus flowers. Even the round shape of the balls, the pink or red-tinted color of the dough, and the bowl in which they are served are all interlinked with joyous symbols associated with the beginning of a new year. It is also believed that the rice balls should be eaten in pairs of two — a sign of good luck.

While rice predominates foods that have come from the southern regions of China, wheat-based items like noodles and dim sums are staples in foods of Northern China, thanks to a stark difference in terrain, climate, and agriculture between the two regions. This is why you've likely tried plenty of noodles from Chinese takeouts already, but it is biang biang noodles that should be next on your list.

The word biang, much like hiss and bang, is onomatopoeic. It doesn't exist in official dictionaries and yet, it is used as a name for a noodle popular in China. In reality, biang biang noodles are made by hand-pulling long ropes of dough and smacking them against counters. The sound that the noodle creates upon being smacked is "biang," hence the name biang biang noodles.

The chewy wheat noodle is wide enough to be closer to a belt than a noodle in appearance and is often so long that a single noodle is enough for one serving. It tends to come dunked in hot chili oil along with a leafy vegetable like bok choy.

Chinese New Year celebrations see the preparation of a wide array of delicacies, each with a symbolic meaning of its own. Nian gao — a sweet and sticky cake made from glutinous rice flour — is mostly eaten during Chinese New Year celebrations as a symbol for growth and prosperity. According to folklore, nian gao is served to effectively shut the mouth of the Kitchen God present in all households (with the help of the rice cake's stickiness) to stop him from making any complaints about you to the Jade Emperor at the end of the year. Nian gao pretty much prevents you from being on the Jade Emperor's naughty list.

The preparation of nian gao varies in each region of China. In the north, the cake is usually white or yellow, steamed or fried, and has a sweet taste. In the east, slices of nian gao are often stir-fried and served alongside scallions, meat, and cabbage. In the south, the Cantonese version of nian gao is stickier and darker in color due to the use of brown sugar. In some parts, the rice cake is stuffed with peanuts, dates, seeds, and nuts or with a red bean paste and jujube paste. They can be eaten plain, dipped in egg and fried, steamed in banana leaves, or served with shredded coconut on top. Regardless of its fillings and variations in flavor, nian gao is a food almost always sold in complete festive gear. The cakes are often wrapped in red cloth and ribbons and packed in plush boxes or hampers with New Year wishes written on them.

Hot Pot is a dish designed to be eaten in the company of a group and nearly impossible to eat alone; you could try, of course, but it wouldn't quite be the same. Indeed, hot pot, or huo guo, is more so an eating experience than a dish, at the center of which is a huge pot of hot broth perched over some sort of burner and is accompanied by several smaller plates of dipping ingredients. Eating involves sharing the ingredients and cooking them yourself in the bubbling stock or broth at the center of the table.

A typical broth is made of chicken, ginger, and aromatics but its Sichuan version can be much spicier with the addition of the region's signature peppercorns and red chilies. Dipping ingredients on the side include all sorts of small foods, such as sliced meats, meatballs and fish balls, noodles and rice cakes, as well as veggies. These ingredients are then accompanied by an equally vast array of sauces.

While the exact broth, ingredients, and sauces you get may depend on the "theme" of the hot pot that you're ordering, the eating process more or less remains the same. Strategically pick your ingredients (keeping the general cook time of each in mind), dunk it in the simmering broth till it cooks, dip it in your choice of sauce, and enjoy. Keep repeating the process till the many plates are empty or till your stomach can't fathom eating another bite of food.

What xiao long bao is to Shanghai, rou jia mo is to Shaanxi. Deemed in 2016 to be Shaanxi Province's Intangible Cultural Heritage, rou jia mo literally translates to meat in a bun and looks like a hamburger or a sloppy joe.

Dating its origin back to the Qin dynasty of 221 BC to 207 BC, rou jia ma is said to have originated in the Shaanxi province and is a popular snack of choice bought from a street vendor and eaten on the go. The hamburger has two components: a bun and a filling. The bun, or mo, is a chewy and pillowy mix of steamed or baked wheat flour, yeast, and water. The filling, la zhi rou, is usually made from shredded pork belly cooked in spices like ginger, cloves, and star anise.

If you've ever taken part in the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, you will have noticed tiny cake-like treats with beautiful decorations and inscriptions on top. These little cakes have a rich history sprinkled with colorful legends and hold great significance for the autumn celebrations. The round cakes have a pastry skin with a paste of jujubes, lotus, or sweet red beans for filling. The filling can also have fruits, nuts, seeds, salted egg yolks, and occasionally, the savory ingredient like ham.

The cakes are thought to be Chinese food symbols of family reunions and happy times. At one point, they were even thought to be perfectly suitable presents for the emperor of the Tang Dynasty to give to visiting nobility, perhaps because of the myths surrounding the mooncake. According to one legend, the Chinese goddess of the moon, who happens to be at the center of the Mid-Autumn Festival, accidentally consumed an immortality potion. Separated from his wife, her grief-struck husband placed her favorite food items in front of the moon in her memory, one of which was the mooncake. As for the Chinese characters stamped on the crust of the mooncake, tales suggest that they were supposed to be hidden messages conveying all sorts of secrets between the people of the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of the legend behind the mooncake that you think is most believable, when you try one for yourself, remember to cut a mooncake into several pieces and share them while eating. Eating an entire mooncake alone is very much frowned upon.

Statistics say that China alone accounts for half of the world's pork consumption, with a single person in China eating up to 40 kilos of pork in a year (via The Economist). It comes as no surprise then that Chinese cuisine is also responsible for some of the best pork dishes. Dongpo pork is a dish made from pork belly that is slow-cooked for a very long time in a liquid of soy sauce and Shaoxing cooking wine. The liquids break down the fat in the meat and the result is a pork so tender that it only requires a gentle nudge from a pair of chopsticks to fall apart. Because the pork requires hours of cooking to become so deliciously tender, it is recommended that people reserve their meals at least a day in advance when going to a restaurant that is famous for its dongpo pork.

Dongpo pork may seem like it was an invention born in a Michelin-star kitchen but it turns out the discovery seems to have been entirely accidental. Su Dongpo, an exiled man living in Hangzhou, was simmering braised pork on the stove when he was challenged to a game of chess by a friend. Engrossed in the game, he forgot all about his pork till it was way overcooked. Thanks to his absent-mindedness, the juicy and tender dongpo pork was born, a dish fondly named after its accidental creator.

Fried dough in all forms are universally enjoyed all over the world — beignets, bombolini, churros, doughnuts, you name it. China enjoys its fried dough in the form of youtiao. A beloved breakfast item in China you should try, too, youtiao are strips of dough that are deep-fried till they are golden and crisp on the outside with pockets of soft dough and air on the inside. They can be eaten alongside a bowl of congee but are traditionally eaten dipped into sweetened soy milk.

Youtiao always has two strips of dough that are pinched together. This is because the two strips are meant to represent two people of the Song Dynasty — Qin Kuai and his wife Madam Wang. The Chinese legend goes that the duo had wrongly framed a well-loved army general Yue Fei for treason which led to his execution. In protest, street vendors decided to cut two strips of dough, attach them together and symbolically throw Kuai and his wife in hot oil. This is also why youtiao goes by the name of yauhjagwai in Cantonese, the word for oil-fried devil. But it turns out, the symbolic burning of two evil characters resulted in a tasty deep-fried snack that has turned into a Chinese food favorite!

Similar to a candied apple, tanghulu is a dessert, candy, and snack all mixed in one. A Chinese snack easily available pretty much anywhere in China, tanghulu is made out of fruits covered in sugar, rows of which are skewered onto a bamboo stick. Some say that the candied confection dates back to the royal household of the Song Dynasty. A royal concubine fell ill with a strange sickness when a physician recommended she eat a few hawthorns — a type of sweet berry thought to have various health benefits in traditional Chinese medicinal practice — every day. And the only way she could eat hawthorns every day was if they were dipped in sugar and sweetened.

While hawthorns are still the preferred fruits to make tanghulu, strawberries, apples, and grapes are equally good alternatives to try and make tanghulu at home. Make a simple sugar syrup and dip your skewered fruit stick in it while it's still hot. The snack is best eaten as soon as it cools down so that the sugar doesn't become rock hard. Additionally, tanghulu is more popular in the months of winter when the summer heat isn't melting the sugar coating and turning the candied fruits into a sticky mess.

Chow mein is a popular Chinese takeout noodle dish that is similar to another noodle dish called lo mein. The difference between them goes a bit deeper than the fact that chow mein includes a sprinkling of crispy fried noodles.

The word "chow" means fried, and the star of chow mein is fried noodles. As such, the sauce and other ingredients are meant to take a back seat to the noodles. The sauce should be minimal in chow mein, to prevent the fried noodles from getting soggy. By comparison, lo mein is supposed to be a saucier dish with generous amounts of vegetables and meat. If you're looking to tackle this dish at home, the key to making great chow mein, according to chef Jet Tila, is to use quality noodles. Also, make sure you are frying your noodles, not cooking them in the sauce.

The late, great Anthony Bourdain was known for his love of meat, and pork in particular. However, his favorite Sichuan dish — "improbably enough" — features tofu as its main ingredient. In episode three of season eight of "Parts Unknown," the late T.V. host called mapo tofu "the apex of Sichuan food."

The food of Sichuan province famously features a lot of chilies. In mapo tofu, chilies, ginger, garlic, and onions combine in a fermented black bean sauce that coats cubes of firm tofu in a volcanic bath. In case that isn't enough stimulation for you, the dish also includes Sichuan peppercorns, which have a mouth-numbing effect when you eat them. Fun.

To be clear, many traditional recipes for mapo tofu do call for ground beef or pork. So, this isn't a vegetarian dish, per se, but it can be. Our recipe for vegetarian mapo tofu skips the meat and can be made with ingredients from your local supermarket. If you're looking for something a bit more traditional, add some Sichuan peppercorns and dried chilies. Then, buckle up for a delicious and pleasantly punishing meal.

Available on takeout menus across the U.S. and featuring traditionally non-Chinese ingredients like ketchup and pineapple, sweet and sour pork is a saucy stir-fry dish that often gets derided as inauthentic by both Americans and Chinese people. However, the dish known as goo lo yok has been around for centuries, and the story of sweet and sour pork is a story of the interaction between Chinese culture and Western culture.

When waves of Chinese immigrants came to the U.S., they brought sweet and sour pork with them. Over the years, Chinese restaurants adapted the dish to the American palate, along with others. As with many things mid-century, sweet and sour pork eventually fell out of fashion toward the end of the 20^th century. But everything old is new again, and some restaurants are reclaiming sweet and sour pork in the name of authenticity, which is why we still think this dish is worthy of being on this list.

If you are used to getting flapjacks from your local diner, the idea of a scallion pancake might seem pretty straightforward. Just pour some batter on a flattop grill, sprinkle in some green onions, and cook both sides, right? Actually, making a Chinese scallion pancake is a lot more involved and the result is a much more intricate flatbread than your typical diner flapjack.

To make Chinese scallion pancakes, a dough of flour, water, and salt is rolled into a long, thin rectangular shape. The dough is then brushed with and thin coat of oil and seasoned before chopped scallions are sprinkled over top. The elongated dough is then rolled into a tube shape, and that tube is then coiled into a disc. This disc is then lightly rolled before the entire flatbread is pan-fried. The result is a finger-thick pancake with little layers of seasoned dough that is studded with scallions.

It's important to note that there are popular versions of scallion pancakes in nearby countries like Vietnam and South Korea. The difference between the Chinese scallion pancake and the Korean version is pretty significant in that Korean scallion pancakes are more like traditional flapjacks.

Although the term Chinese eggplant encompasses hundreds of different varieties, this type of eggplant is defined by its long and skinny shape. These eggplants can come in a variety of shades, from pale violet to deep purple. Chinese eggplants are also defined by their lack of seeds compared to other varieties of eggplants. Because seeds are responsible for the better taste of uncooked American eggplants, Chinese eggplants tend to have a milder and sweeter taste. A lack of seeds also translates into a firm texture that becomes creamy when cooked.

One of the best uses for Chinese eggplants is in a dish called liang ban qie zi — or seasoned steamed eggplant. Steaming Chinese eggplants unlocks all kinds of good things, including a subtle earthy flavor and that silky texture. After the eggplants are cooked, they are topped with garlic, ginger, and scallions. Then, the hot oil is poured over both the eggplant and the aromatics, and finished by drizzling a mixture of soy sauce, black vinegar, and sugar.