10 Quick & Easy Chinese Home-Cooked Delights

Chinese cuisine is fabulously diverse with a dazzling array of flavours to explore. But the vast majority of Chinese home-cooked dishes are actually simple, tasty and satisfying. In fact, Chinese family cooks often serve up a few dishes per meal to share and enjoy with loved ones, because they’re easy to make. All you really need is to get acquainted with the staple sauces and flavour ingredients, and master a few basic techniques such as stir-fry, deep-fry and steaming. All of which you can easily pick up with our linked features and detailed recipes!

Whether you’re just trying out home-cooking or a seasoned home chef, here are 10 quick and easy Chinese recipes to please your taste buds and sate your appetite!

Minced Meat in Lettuce Cup

Let’s start with an appetizer that can also be a scrumptious meaty meal for two with rice. Stir-fried pork mince, water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms and carrot, enriched with the aroma of garlic and onions. Flavoured with savoury oyster sauce and hoisin sauce. Served in crunchy lettuce wraps for a refreshing, tasty munch. Have your fill with our recipe!

Jiaozi Dumplings

Don’t let the bite-size serving fool you. Classic Jiaozi dumplings are stuffed with savoury pork mince and veggie fillings that can easily make a full meal, and more meals than one too. Just wrap a load of them on the weekend, store them in an airtight container and freeze them. Voila, you can have steam-cooked dumplings any day you like. Come watch Chef Lillie Giang show you how to make them! Also check out our basic dumplings-maker guide.

Chinese Fried Rice

Every Asian cuisine has fried rice, and even within Chinese cuisine there are different styles and flavours of fried rice. But the most basic Chinese fried rice actually relies on the natural flavours of what you choose to cook with it, and uses very little condiments. Which actually makes it among the healthiest fried rice you can have. Also great to cook up your leftovers into a hearty, yummy meal.

In our featured recipe: peas, corn, green beans and carrots give their layers of comforting sweetness. Paired with savoury char siu roast pork, fluffy beaten eggs and just a pinch of salt. Made fragrant with garlic and sesame oil. To get a soft, crisp taste in every mouthful, use cold rice, ideally kept overnight in the fridge. Fast to prep and easy to cook for a tasty one dish meal!

Stir-Fried Rice Vermicelli with Beef

Want a non-rice carb food that has the taste, aroma and versatility of rice? Try the Chinese Mifen. Ultra-thin vermicelli noodles made of rice flour that are easy to cook, can take on any flavour you like, and have a pleasant soft, chewy texture. Whip up a scrumptious vermicelli meal with beef, capsicum, carrot and onions in this 10-minute recipe!

Cantonese Soy Sauce Fried Noodles

For a slurpy noodle dish, get the wheat-based yellow Chow Mein for the superbly simple Cantonese soy sauce fried noodles! A staple fast-food dish of pretty much every Chinatown in the world and a home-cooked Chinese fave for gatherings and quick meals.

Our recipe features crunchy bean sprouts and fragrant spring onions. Flavoured with a combo of light and dark soy sauces, oyster sauce and a pinch of sugar for a richly savoury taste. You can also add minced meat, lean meat slices and seafood morsels of your choosing to the fry. Or pair your Chow Mein with any meaty mains and veggie sides you like!

Salt and Pepper Chicken Ribs

Salt and pepper are all you need to marinate some chicken ribs for this Chinese deep-fried delight. Coated with beaten egg and cornstarch for a golden crispy bite, and tossed with pan-fried garlic and chilli for a tantalizing aroma. Finger-licking yums all the way! Grab the easy recipe here.

Stir Fry Garlic Chives with Pork Mince

Among the oddly-named wonder dishes of Taiwanese cooking, the Cang Ying Tou or ‘Fly Heads’ is a simple pork mince stir-fry with savoury fermented black beans, green garlic chives, minced ginger and deseeded red chillies for a spicy fragrance. Flavoured with light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, garlic and sesame oil. An easy, hearty meal dish to enjoy with rice! Cook it up with our recipe, and check out the dish’s full story here.

Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken

Also from Taiwan is the legendary Three Cup Chicken. Flavoured with a perfectly balanced blend of light soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil that accentuates the chicken’s flavour to a rich, fragrant and complex savoury taste. 3 easy seasonings to make one unforgettable dish, hence the name. Pamper your taste buds with Chef Karen Chan’s Three Cup Chicken recipe!

Mapo Tofu with Pork

Prefer a lighter protein dish that still packs a flavour-punch? Then wow your taste buds with the iconic Sichuan Mapo Tofu. Once a street food for commoners in ancient times, this mouthwatering tofu sensation has long become a favourite meal dish from fancy restaurants to family homes. Zested up with Sichuan peppercorns, ginger and spicy bean paste, the fiery flavour is a quick burst that tapers off to a comforting savoury taste. Add some yummy pork mince to your Mapo Tofu as well, with our easy recipe here!

Chicken & Corn Soup

Some days, what you really need is a warm treat to soothe your soul. Here’s a lovely Chinese chicken soup that hits the spot, with fluffy egg, sweet corn, and spring onion garnish. Simply flavoured with soy sauce, chicken stock and thickened with a dash of cornflour. Cosy and savoury to the last sip. Cook it up with our recipe.

Make Your Cooking a Breeze

Cooking can be a joy and is always worth the effort. But you can also make it go smoother and easier with these simple kitchen hacks! Also check out our top picks of Asian noodle faves and fish delights that are fast and easy to cook.