Chinese Food Vocabulary

Popular Chinese Food

Bao — bāo zi (包子). Nigel Killeen / Getty Images

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Updated on January 27, 2019

Chinese food is one of the most popular types of cuisine worldwide. It's no wonder! Chinese food is tasty, healthy, and the wide variety means there's something for every taste.

As with many cultural exports, the names of some Chinese dishes have changed by the time they arrived in other countries. So if you visit China or Taiwan, you may find that the names of dishes are unfamiliar.

List of Popular Chinese Food Names

If you visit a Mandarin-speaking country, this list of popular Chinese food dishes will help when it comes time to ordering food. The items have been roughly arranged by type of food.

Click on the links in the Pinyin column to hear the audio.

English	Pinyin	Characters
boiled dumplings	shuǐ jiǎo	水餃
sticky buns	mán tou	饅頭
steamed stuffed bun	bāo zi	包子

fried noodles	chǎo miàn	炒麵
plain noodles	yáng chūn miàn	陽春麵
fried rice noodles	chǎo mǐ fěn	炒米粉
steamed white rice	bái fàn	白飯
sushi	shòu sī	壽司

vegetarian platter	sù shí jǐn	素什錦
white radish patty	luóbo gāo	蘿蔔糕
spicy tofu	má pó dòufu	麻婆豆腐
beef and rice	niúròu fàn	牛肉飯
egg omelet	dàn bǐng	蛋餅
chicken leg and rice	jī tuǐ fàn	雞腿飯
Peking duck	běi jing kǎoyā	北京烤鴨
pork chop and rice	páigǔ fàn	排骨飯

fish cooked in soy sauce	hóng shāo yú	紅燒魚
fried rice with shrimp	xiā rén chǎo fàn	蝦仁炒飯
crab	páng xiè	螃蟹

egg and vegetable soup	dànhuātāng	蛋花湯
seaweed soup	zǐ cài tāng	紫菜湯
hot and sour soup	suān là tāng	酸辣湯