35 Vegetarian Chinese New Year Recipes 2026

Want popular easy traditional chinese recipes vegetarian for your Chinese New Year reunion dinner 2026? These authentic chinese new year recipes vegetarian, from fried rice to soup and noodles, are perfect for chinese food recipes lovers. Save these authentic chinese recipes to yoru chinese new year food board.

Jump to:

• 🥟 Savoury Snacks
• 🍜 Soup & Noodles
• 🍞 Bao Buns
• 🥦 Vegetables
• 🧈 Tofu
• 🍰 Desserts
• 🍵 Drinks
• 💬 Comments

Sometimes, Chinese New Year snacks can feel like sweetness overload, what with sweet glutinous rice balls, walnut cookies, Koi Fish Agar Agar...

If you are more of a savoury person- like me!- try these recipes instead!

To make this street snack vegan, substitute the lard for regular vegetable oil (tried-and-tested FYI) or just vegan lard instead. If you're short on time, try this Korean Pancake with green onions instead.

P.S. If you don't have enough spring onions, here are some substitutes!

The main ingredients of the filling are potato and onion, but you can also add carrots and peas to bulk it up. (You won't get this in China but Singaporean Chinese eat it often.)

Tip: remember that you need cold water to get a crisp dough!

These soft peanuts are often stewed in soy sauce and sesame oil then served at Chinese restaurants as an appetiser.

Note: For more Asian Nut recipes, such as these crunchy yet melt-in-your-mouth Chinese New Year peanut cookies, click here.

This is a super easy vegetarian Chinese starter. We used to make this weekly in my house!

Tip: if served not fried, this is a very healthy Chinese food recipe!

You will need

• spring roll wrappers (can be substituted with filo pastry if baking/ deep-frying)
• If using spring roll wrappers, remember to cover the opened packet with a damp cloth to keep them from hardening (whilst you are wrapping. After wrapping, extras must be put in the fridge or frozen)
• A mix of Napa cabbage, carrots, mung bean vermicelli (soaked in hot water till soft), fresh Shiitake mushrooms (for umami, if replacing with dried ones, they need to be soaked in hot water for a few hours to soften) and green onions
  • Add bean sprouts if you want more crunch
• Seasoning: soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce/ mushroom sauce, vegetarian chicken bouillon and salt

How to Make

1. Shred or julinenne the vegetables/ mushrooms till they are all in thin slices whilst soaking the bean thread noodles.
2. Stir-fry the shredded ingredients then add the seasoning, to taste
3. Once cooked, allow the filling to cool slightly.
4. Wrap the spring rolls in the wrappers- you will need to dab a bit of water to seal them well, so that they don't burst when frying.
5. Deep fry till golden brown and crispy (or air-fry/ bake)

Dumplings

Vegetable dumplings are a popular side dish. This recipe uses mainly Napa cabbage and Shiitake mushrooms, but you can also vary it up with firm tofu and even water chestnuts for crunch!

Note: don't forget the Chinese dipping sauce, such as this Toyomansi Soy Sauce!

Note: For other Chinese Long-Life Noodle dishes (such as stir-fried vermicelli, mostly non-vegan), check out this link.

Note: if you don't have bok choy, you can use replace with Chinese cabbage, green beans or bell peppers.

This Sour Soup Recipe (酸辣汤 (Suān là tāng)) is easy and delicious. Best of all, this vegan recipe is done in 30 minutes!

The trend in Chinese communities is to make baos that resemble the zodiac of the year, so for 2026 it should be horse shaped mantou buns... which could be difficult to achieve.

Note: these can be made weeks before CNY, frozen and steamed from frozen for Reunion Dinner. Much less hassle! (And all your relatives will be super impressed that you made them from scratch!)

Green Tea Buns

Also known as Buddha's Delight, this is 1 of the best vegetarian Chinese food recipes cooked during the Spring Festival. Delicious with just a bowl of white rice!

Note: it requires a lot of specialty ingredients that you'll need to hit up the local Chinese grocery to find, such as bamboo shoots, dried beancurd and black fungus. You can also add wheat gluten, although it's not specified in this recipe.

Chinese people have been making tofu for centuries so we have a LOT of tofu recipes! (I've kept it to just 3 here as many vegans complain about tofu overload.)

Vegan Orange "Chicken"

The next time you make this crispy tofu, try using homemade Chinese 5-spice powder mix. It's much more fragrant than shop-bought and makes a ton of difference in the flavor!

If you like your food bold and flavorful, you'll love this Kung Pao Tofu, with its numbing Sichuan peppercorns!

Note: if you really, really can't get Chinese black vinegar, try Balsamic Vinegar or 1 of these Chinkiang vinegar substitutes.

🍰 Desserts

Chinese New Year is all about symbolism.

The foods we eat represent a better year ahead, and dessert recipes are a must as they represent a sweet year ahead! For more symbolic (sadly not vegan) Chinese New Year foods, try these 12 Golden CNY recipes.

Note: for more Chinese New Year dessert recipes for 2023, or if you're looking just for Chinese cookies, click here.

For more Papaya sweet recipes, click here.

For more ways to use goji berries, click here.

The Lunar New Year is the season for overeating, so some of this Chinese preserved plum tea would be great as it promotes digestion!

If you make any of these Chinese Vegetarian Recipes, don't forget to tag me on social media! (@greedygirlgourmet) If you've enjoyed them, would you like to subscribe to my Asian recipes newsletter?