50 Chinese Food Recipes That Beat Your Favorite Takeout

Chinese food recipes are best served hot and fresh. So, if you're bringing your takeout across town just to chow down, it's not the most ideal situation. It doesn't get any easier when you're living on a budget, either. That plate of sweet and sour chicken for under 10 dollars might sound good, but what if it's cold? Even reheating your Chinese leftovers has its pitfalls.

That's where home cooking — and this big range of recipes for Chinese and Chinese-American classics — comes in. Turns out, making your own fried rice is far cheaper and fresher than anything piled into takeout containers. You may not be able to get the real deal, but you'll be darn close and you'll be sporting some bragging rights for how you made some of the most amazing Chinese dishes out there right in your own home. Cooking from scratch also allows you to control some of the more unhealthy aspects of the popular dishes you know and love as well, from the amount of sodium in your soy sauce to whether or not you use MSG (which really you shouldn't be worried about, by the way).

The only question that's left is: What do you want for dinner tonight? Are you looking for crispy and saucy sesame chicken that takes under a half-hour to cook, or wondering how to get the lowdown on lo mein? Well, get cooking. It's time to talk the talk and to wok the wok with Chinese food recipes that beat your favorite takeout.

Ever eat an order of sesame chicken from a Chinese restaurant and you may find yourself somewhat mystified by how it's both crispy with saucy without being soggy. How do they do that? Believe it or not, you can actually make it yourself with a bit of know-how and this recipe from chef and food writer Cecilia Ryu. Restaurant-level sesame chicken may seem a bit daunting to do on your own at first, but as Ryu says, "you realize that it's simply about going step-by-step, not about any secrets or serious culinary chops." Just follow the steps as written and you'll be perfecting your own restaurant-quality poultry in no time.

Recipe: Sesame Chicken

One of the most beautiful things about making fried rice is simply where it comes from. By using the dried-up leftover rice from the last time you ordered Chinese food for takeout, you get even more Chinese food. Brilliant!

By using the most basic quantities of fresh (or leftover, you do you) chicken and veggies, a couple of sauces, and some aromatics, you too can be chowing down on this chicken fried rice recipe within mere minutes. Once your prep in the kitchen is all lined up, which is known as mise en place, you may find the dish cooks up far faster than you anticipated!

Recipe: Chicken Fried Rice

Got a hankering for some Panda Express but can't make it out of the house for whatever reason? No problem. This copycat Panda Express orange chicken promises to deliver the right amount of orange flavor in its sauce that will have you convinced you're eating the real McCoy. You might need to go out hunting for a few ingredients to accomplish this take on a Panda Express menu favorite, like safflower and grapeseed oil. But once you have them, your pantry game will have leveled up to the point where you can make this dish again, and again, and again.

Recipe: Copycat Panda Express Orange Chicken

This chicken stir fry recipe has to pretensions of being an authentic concoction, but don't think that means you can't do it. Stir frying is a fast and effective cooking technique, and this recipe is among many out there that introduces you to the basics of an incredibly versatile way to cook up every last scrap of vegetable and protein in your fridge. Best of all, it's a great way to cook up dinner if you've got a lot of mouths to feed at the same time, as this recipe is fit for eight servings right out of the pan.

Recipe: Chicken Stir Fry

The speed at which some Chinese restaurants can pump out order after order make them exceedingly reliable spots to pick up dinner. But what if we told you that you could make yourself a plate of sesame chicken almost as fast as the chefs at your favorite takeout joint? This 20-minute sesame chicken recipe keeps things quick and simple by keeping everything in one pan — a nice bonus when it comes to the clean-up stage — and it pledges to be a crave-worthy dinner that stands alone. "This is a dish so good that it doesn't really need any sides," says Mashed contributor and recipe developer Carina Finn.

Recipe: 20-Minute Sesame Chicken

Spicy chicken potstickers like these can make for a nice platter of appetizers, but we won't blame you if you fix up and chow down on a bunch of them yourself. You can also freeze a bunch for later, as there are just that many to make here. Stuffed with ground chicken, cabbage, carrot, shitake mushrooms, and sweet potato vermicelli, these dumplings are both light and filling. Whether you take them boiled or fried, we're positive you'll return to this recipe again and again. Intimidated by making dumplings from scratch for the first time? No sweat, as the process isn't that hard, to begin with, and gets even easier as you go.

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Potstickers

Ksenia Prints and her blog At The Immigrants Table are the sources for a lot of delicious plates, but this recipe for orange chicken stands out. It coats some crispy-on-the-outside-juicy-on-the-inside cuts of fried chicken in a bright, tangy orange sauce that balances sweet with sour nicely. If you want to maximize the flavor of this recipe, however, make sure you don't skip the marinade stage. "We found that marinating the chicken in the orange sauce gave the best results in terms of flavor and texture, resulting in and chewy, soft pieces," Prints writes.

Recipe: Classic Orange Chicken

It takes a lot of guts to say your recipe will put an order of the same thing for takeout to shame, but that's what this recipe for classic sesame chicken does and dang it, it delivers (no pun intended). Made in less than 10 steps and less than 30 minutes total, the only thing you really need to watch out for is when the oil gets hot. Just make sure to follow some of these tips for cooking with oil to keep you safe while keeping your food crispy. Once you've got that down, this recipe will help you reach sesame chicken glory.

Recipe: Classic Sesame Chicken

"Make it for dinner and discover how much better homemade Chinese can be than take-out!" this Mashed contibutor proclaims about her recipe for sweet and sour chicken. It's a take on the classic dish originating in Shanghai that's bursting with the tang and sugary tastes of chicken fried up with sweet red and yellow peppers and pineapple, balanced by its sauce's kick. Taking little more than 30 minutes, we're positive that this easy recipe ought to find a place on your table, and maybe even trump those nights you plan on ordering Chinese for dinner.

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Once you whip up this recipe for beef and broccoli lo mein yourself, you'll wonder why you ever ordered it for takeout (or paid for it when you see just how cheap it is to make this dish). As it goes for any of these Chinese dishes, however, you need to make sure all your ingredients are chopped and ready to go before you start cooking. That way, you can make sure you can make it in the advertised timespan, which can start to move pretty fast when cooking gets underway. That's just labor, though — the fun part comes from both cooking this up and eating it.

Recipe: 20-Minute Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

There's a lot to be said for the noodle-based and crispy-saucy chicken dishes that folks jump to when thinking of Chinese food. Yet, sometimes there's nothing quite like a classic plate of juicy, marinated beef and broccoli stir fry on a bed of fluffy rice. There's only one thing better, actually: when you make it yourself within 30 minutes' time. When you see that it's cost you just a fraction of what a restaurant charges per serving, you'll be even more in love with this recipe. The only issue is that orange slices and Chinese fortune cookies aren't automatically included, though that's an easy enough fix for a motivated home cook.

Recipe: Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

A pillar of the dim sum experience, har gow — or shrimp dumplings — are undeniably delicious. But why wait until an occasion comes up to enjoy them when you just can make them yourself in the comfort of your own home? We're not talking about stuffing a bunch of chopped shrimp in some wonton wrappers, either. With this recipe for Cantonese-style shrimp dumplings, you're even making the wrappers from scratch! As technical as that may sound, it still only takes under an hour to put together a tasty dim sum experience for yourself.

Recipe: Cantonese-Style Shrimp Dumplings

Not only are these copycat P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps filled with saucy, aromatic chopped chicken that's just like the real thing, but they're a solid and relatively carb-free dish that's as much as easy fit for a quick lunch as it is a delicious appetizer course for dinner. If you're a fan of P.F. Chang's, you're in luck, as Mashed contributor Lindsay Mattison has gone to considerable lengths to test the types of ingredients, cooking methods, and sauces for you, all to come up with something far cheaper than the restaurant's offering without sacrificing an iota of quality.

Recipe: Copycat P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Because of its deconstructed presentation and the removal of a deep-fried wrapper, this recipe for egg roll in a bowl isn't exactly an example of traditional Chinese takeout. However, it's still a delicious stir fry at heart that we'll make for dinner any day of the week. The recipe calls for a 20-minute burst of cooking that results in a sweet, sour, and salty dish you can wrap up and fry before digging in. That said, it's perfectly fine to eat over fresh rice, too. If you do want to want to wrap it up, however, feel free to skip the original recipe's garnish!

Recipe: Egg Roll in a Bowl

The best thing about this twice-cooked pork with cabbage, apart from how tasty it is, is that it's also quite thrifty! The pork belly called for here is so rich that a single pound can stretch to feed four people, while the bulk of this dish is made up of cheap, filling cabbage. Most of the other ingredients necessary to make this dish are pretty easy to come by, as five-spice powder and oyster sauce are now available in most grocery stores. If you can't find the Shaoxing wine, though, feel free to sub in rice wine, sake, or dry sherry. You could also just leave it out; your twice-cooked pork will still have plenty of flavor.

Recipe: Twice Cooked Pork With Cabbage

Fried rice is a classic "use up the leftovers" dish that can repurpose anything from leftover steak to fried shrimp. But what if you have no leftovers to supply the protein, or else you're having a meatless Monday? That's no problem at all, as long as you have a carton of incredible, edible eggs on hand. Scramble a few eggs, stir in some cooked rice and sliced green onions, season with soy sauce, then grab your chopsticks and dig in! (A spoon works, too.)

Recipe: Easy Egg Fried Rice

While adding the word "smashed" to a recipe tends to make it sound just a bit edgy in a late 20-teens/early 2020s kind of way, this salad actually takes inspiration from a traditional Szechuan dish. It's a perfect salad to serve in summertime as the cool cucumber pairs nicely with a dressing of soy sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar. Our recipe calls for quite a bit of crushed red pepper as well, but you can always tone down (or ramp up) the heat by adjusting the amount to suit your own preferences.

Recipe: Smashed Cucumber Salad

Is fried rice still fried rice if you're actually pressure-cooking it in an Instant Pot? Well, technically, no, but we'll set aside this semantic quibble when it comes to this shrimp "fried" rice recipe as it's tasty enough to earn a pass. It's not exactly "instant," either, as it will take about half an hour to prepare, but this includes fully cooking the rice. In fact, our estimate even accounts for the pressure cooker's needing to let off steam. As any Instant Pot owner knows, the steam release may be the most time-consuming part of any recipe involving this appliance.

Recipe: Instant Pot Shrimp Fried Rice

The term Szechuan is often synonymous with super-spicy cooking, but that's not the case with this particular Szechuan chicken recipe. The only peppers called for here are of the bell variety, which have no heat whatsoever. The dish does get plenty of flavor from soy sauce, garlic, and green onions, however, and makes a great "starter Chinese" dish for young children or other people who really don't care for spicy food. If you prefer something with a bit more kick to it, though, you can always bring the heat by adding fresh or dried chiles.

Recipe: Szechuan Chicken

Stir fries are one of the simplest dishes a home cook can make, and they can be thrown together in minutes. All you need to do, as the name implies, is to add some chopped meat and veggies to a hot pan and stir until they're cooked. If you want a dish with some real flavor, though, you'll need to mix in a few condiments. There are numerous options you can use, ranging from Sriracha to fish sauce to rice wine, but if you want something sweet, salty, and super-simple, this 3-ingredient sauce may be just what you're looking for. It's a combo of soy sauce and sugar, while the third ingredient, cornstarch, not only thicken the sauce but the entire stir-fry.

Recipe: 3-Ingredient Stir Fry Sauce

Vermicelli may be an Italian word (one with the not-so-appetizing literal translation of "little worms"), but the type of vermicelli called for in this recipe is made from rice and is more typically used in East Asian cooking. The noodles themselves are ready after a quick soak in hot water, and here we're stir-frying them with shrimp, eggs, green onions, and bell peppers. The real flavor comes from the sauce, though, which is made with soy sauce, rice wine, curry powder, garlic, chiles, and ginger.

Recipe: Authentic Pan Fried Rice Vermicelli

Congee is not a dish that's found on the menus of too many Chinese restaurants in the U.S., but then, how many of them are open for breakfast? This rice porridge is pretty much the Chinese answer to oatmeal — different grain, somewhat similar texture. Unlike oatmeal, though, congee isn't usually served with milk and sugar, much less flavored with maple and cinnamon. Instead, it's more often salted and may be topped with savory add-ons such as soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, or a soft-cooked egg.

Recipe: Congee

If you shop in a particularly well-stocked or diverse grocery store or are a fan of Asian markets, there's a good chance you've come across lotus roots. You may not have known just what to do with these, however, so you passed up on purchasing them for this reason. Well, next time you see lotus root, go ahead and a few to your cart, then take them home and cook up this delicious pork rib soup!

Recipe: Lotus Root Pork Rib Soup

How much fun is mei fun? Quite a bit, actually. If you're not familiar with it, it's one of numerous Chinese noodle-based dishes, and in this case, the noodles are made of rice. In this recipe, noodles get stir-fried with pork, eggs, carrots, cabbage, bean sprouts, and green onions, but you can swap out the meat or vegetables for whatever you have on hand, or even use it to re-purpose a leftover roast or veggies that may be starting to go soft in your produce bin.

Recipe: Quick Pork Mei Fun

While kung pao chicken is a staple of every American Chinese restaurant, it's actually Szechuan in origin and usually has the fiery flavor often associated with foods from that region. This recipe, which is made in the Instant Pot rather than wok-fried, is actually on the mild side. It gets a little bit of spice from some Sriracha and crushed red pepper, but if you want to turn up the heat, you could increase the amount of red pepper and/or toss in some chiles to supplement the bell peppers used in this dish.

Recipe: Instant Pot Kung Pao Chicken

Moo goo gai pan is a mild-flavored Cantonese dish with a name that means something along the lines of "chicken and sliced mushrooms." It comes as no surprise, then, that this dish includes both ingredients, but our recipe calls for a whole bunch of additional produce, as well: carrots, celery, snow peas, water chestnuts, and green onions. Been skimping on your vegetables lately? This moo goo gai pan will help you atone for that omission.

Recipe: Easy Moo Goo Gai Pan

Lo mein is something you can find on nearly every Chinese takeout menu, but in hardly more time than it takes to pick up the phone to place an order, you can easily whip up your own homemade version. Not only won't you have to wait for a delivery driver (or worse, have to go pick the food up yourself), but homemade lo mein will also be a lot less expensive. This version of the noodle dish is meat-free — either serve it as a side or make it a main course by tossing in some shrimp, pork, or chicken as you're stir-frying the vegetables.

Recipe: Classic Vegetable Lo Mein

Mongolian beef is one of those country-named dishes that really don't have anything to do with the country at all, as it's no more Mongolian than German chocolate cake is German. We're not sure what inspired the name, but it was created in Taiwan and popularized in America. Just to keep the fusion train rolling, we bring you a version created by a British recipe developer — the "chilli flakes" she calls for are what we call crushed red pepper, aka chiles. (One-l "chili," in U.S. English, refers to the dish, not the pepper.) Whatever its provenance may be, though, this Mongolian beef recipe makes for a tasty ginger and garlic-flavored crockpot beef stew.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

If you're planning an Asian-inspired meal and want a side dish that's far more flavorful than plain old rice, might we suggest these delicious ginger sesame noodles? They're the kind of dish you can throw together with some pantry staples — the noodles are plain old angel hair pasta, and in a pinch, standard spaghetti would work. If you don't have both rice and balsamic vinegars, you can use one or the other, and if you have no chili garlic sauce, the milder sriracha could be substituted. The sesame seeds, too, are a nice touch, but it's not a deal breaker if you don't have them.

Recipe: Ginger Sesame Noodles

What is shabu shabu? Does it come from Bora Bora? Or perhaps from Walla Walla? No, and — true confession — it's actually not Chinese, either. Instead, shabu shabu is a Japanese version of hot pot, but it is fairly similar to the types of hot pot you might enjoy in a Chinese restaurant. While some of the ingredients called for in this recipe are kind of specialized, you can always skip the fish cakes and/or the daikon, sub in spinach for the chrysanthemum greens, and use just one kind of mushroom instead of the three different varieties used here. Hot pot, after all, is meant to be a forgiving dish where you make use of whatever's on hand.

Recipe: Easy Shabu Shabu

Eggplant isn't everyone's favorite veggie, to be sure. It doesn't have a whole lot of flavor, but that can actually work in its favor. (There's a good reason there's no such thing as broccoli parmesan, after all.) In this dish, eggplant gets a Chinese-inspired taste makeover by being stir-fried with ginger, garlic, chiles, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. It would make for a great non-starchy side dish for an Asian-spiced chicken or pork dish — something a little unexpected, perhaps, but with the first bite you'll know it was the right choice.

Recipe: Spicy Chinese Eggplant

Egg rolls might seem like something you'd only buy from a supermarket freezer case or tack on to a takeout order, but they're actually not all that difficult to make at home. Well, it might be kind of tricky if you want to go 100% scratch and make your own egg roll wrappers, in which case, we wish you the best of luck. For a far easier version, however, you can save yourself the trouble and use store-bought wrappers instead. Add your choice of fillings (such as the ground pork/cabbage mixture suggested here), roll them up, then deep-fry them for a tasty, crispy snack.

Recipe: Delicious Egg Roll

If you have a low opinion of chow mein, we'd venture to guess that it may have been formed by the prepackaged supermarket version that passed as Chinese food in the 70s (and somehow still exists, go figure). You may also associate the name only with the crunchy fried noodles, an essential component of many a Midwestern cookie recipe. It may come as a pleasant surprise, then, to find out that properly-prepared chow mein can make for a simple yet tasty stir-fried meal. One note on the ingredients: While this recipe calls for egg noodles, the developer is referring to the Chinese kind, not the German style that is sold in most supermarkets. If you can't find Chinese egg noodles where you shop, spaghetti or ramen would be a better substitute than those flat, ribbon-like ones.

Recipe: Quick Chow Mein

Okay, we all know that General Tso's chicken isn't the most authentic Chinese food out there, but it's still pretty darn tasty. If you're embarrassed to order General Tso's when you're out because you feel you must opt for something trendier like mapo tofu, that's ok, you can still make this dish at home and enjoy it in judgement-free solo splendor. It requires no ingredients more specialized than the widely-available hoisin sauce and can be made from chicken thighs for a budget-friendly indulgence.

Recipe: Homemade General Tso's Chicken

What makes something a "bowl" besides the use of that particular kind of dishware? There don't seem to be any strict stipulations apart from the bowl itself, but in this particular dish, what you have could be seen as a deconstructed stir-fry. On one side, there's a heap of plain steamed rice, on the other side some stir-fried vegetables (broccoli and zucchini are used here, but feel free to sub in your favorites). In the middle, there's a small pile of shrimp cooked in a mildly spicy honey-sriracha sauce. As you prepare to serve your shrimp bowl, here's a puzzler to ponder: how can you "plate" a dish if it's not served on a plate? Are you, instead, "bowling" it? If so, here's hoping you keep on bowling strikes!

Recipe: Spicy Shrimp Bowl

Egg foo young may not be the kind of dish they eat in China, but it's an American Chinese classic, and for a very good reason. After all, it's made with the most budget-friendly of ingredients: eggs and leftovers! While this particular recipe calls for using pricier ingredients such as shrimp and Chinese cooking wine, feel free to skip the latter and swap the former for last night's Costco rotisserie chicken to make a low-cost version instead. Serve your egg foo young with a side of rice for a cheap, belly-filling meal.

Recipe: Egg Foo Young

Like Szechuan food, Hunan food is notorious for its mouth-burning properties. But if you're not a super-fan of spicy foods, don't worry! This recipe gets all of its heat from a single ingredient, and of course you can dial down (or up!) the amount of chile paste to suit your own personal preferences. Apart from the chile kick, this chicken/veggie stir fry is flavored with garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice vinegar. The vegetables used here can be changed at your discretion, so if you shun celery or say blecch to broccoli, you can always swap these for onions, mushrooms, baby corn, and/or bamboo shoots instead.

Recipe: Spicy Hunan Chicken

While many egg roll recipes call for pork, chicken makes for a less-fatty filling. To make things even simpler, these egg rolls are made with ground chicken so there's no need to pull or shred the meat. The filling is padded out with budget-friendly shredded cabbage and carrots and flavored with garlic and ginger. Using store-bought wrappers makes these egg rolls easy to put together, and after a few minutes of frying they'll be ready to eat. They're tasty on their own, but even better with your choice of duck sauce or hot Chinese mustard. (Scroll down for an easy DIY version of the latter condiment.)

Recipe: Easy Chicken Egg Roll

You know those little packets of hot Chinese mustard you get with every takeout order? They're a must-have with egg rolls or Chinese-style spare ribs, but what do you do if you're skipping the takeout and attempting these dishes at home? In that case, of course, you DIY your own mustard, too! All you need is dry mustard powder, salt, oil, and water, and you're in business. Disclaimer: We have no clue which of the numerous "Imperial Palace" restaurants this recipe claims to take inspiration from, but it's safe to say it's a taste-alike for the mustard found in all of them.

Recipe: Copycat Chinese Imperial Palace Hot Mustard

While stir fries are often thought of as quick and easy one-pan meals, you can also do an all-vegetable one to work as a side dish. This recipe calls for baby corn, carrots, sugar snap peas, and zucchini, but you can exchange any or all of these for onions, mushrooms, peppers, water chestnuts, bok choy, or any other vegetables you enjoy in a stir-fry. If you want to make this into a meal, you can add your protein of choice to the vegetables as they are sauteing. Should you have cooked meat on hand, stir it into the vegetables when they're done.

Recipe: Simple Vegetable Stir Fry

If there's one thing Buffalo Wild Wings commercials have taught us, it's that wings come in numerous varieties besides the ones sauced in Frank's RedHot. Long before BWW took over strip malls and TV airwaves, however, Chinese restaurants were serving their own version of this quintessential game day snack. These Chinese restaurant-style wings, rather than being slathered in a thick, messy coating, are instead delicately flavored with a marinade of honey, soy sauce, and five-spice seasoning. They're not only far less likely to stain your shirt than their buffalo-sauced brethren, but they make for a delicious change of pace for Wing Wednesday or any other wing-eating occasion.

Recipe: Easy Chinese Five Spice Chicken Wings

Szechuan cooking is often spicy, but it may also involve a complex interplay of different flavors. While it doesn't require a laundry list of ingredients, this Szechuan beef dish still includes a variety of different taste sensations. The spiciness comes from three different ingredients: chili oil, crushed red pepper, and Szechuan peppercorns. Salt comes into play from the soy sauce, while brown sugar sweetens things up and mirin adds a certain je ne sais quoi. If you have no Szechuan peppercorns on hand, you can use a blend of dried coriander seed and black pepper, while dry sherry or white wine can be substituted for the mirin.

Recipe: Spicy Szechuan Beef

This spicy sesame cauliflower recipe doesn't attempt to replicate a traditional Chinese dish, but instead repurposes the vegetable as a stand-in for chicken. Cauliflower chunks are battered and baked (healthier than frying!) before getting doused with a sticky mixture of maple syrup, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic. The result is a dish somewhat reminiscent of a vegan General Tso's. Want something a bit less maple flavored? Honey would make a great alternative to the syrup.

Recipe: Sticky Sesame Cauliflower

Egg rolls make for a great party snack ... well, sometimes. Not the kind that go from the freezer into the microwave — those are just limp, soggy, and sad. Sure, you can up your egg roll game by deep-frying the frozen ones, but if you really want to wow your guests, you can make these homemade mini egg rolls with a delicious shrimp filling. A note for the budget-conscious: Sure, shrimp aren't the cheapest protein for feeding a crowd, but the cabbage, noodles, and bean sprouts used in the egg roll filling go a long way toward stretching out the spendy shellfish.

Recipe: Crunchy Mini Shrimp Egg Rolls

While this roast pork recipe comes from the Vietnamese-Australian "MasterChef" contestant Jenny Lam, Vietnam and China do share a border and the dish closely resembles something you might find on a Chinese restaurant menu. It's made from pork belly marinated in Chinese five spice powder, soy sauce, and Chinese cooking wine or brandy, and is then roasted until the skin is crispy enough to shatter into crackly bits of deliciousness.

Recipe: Jenny Lam's Crackle Roast Pork

Pineapple fried rice may be a Thai dish, but it's a spin on a Chinese classic so we're claiming it for this recipe roundup. In addition to fresh pineapple chunks, this rice dish also includes onions, carrots, and bell peppers, with Sriracha, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce providing the flavoring. As-is, this rice dish could be the perfect side for an Asian or Hawaiian meal, but it would make for an amazing main course if you added some shrimp or chicken to the mix.

Recipe: 20-Minute Pineapple Fried Rice

Bok choy is a type of Chinese cabbage that finds its way into many a stir fry. That's not the only way you can prepare it, though. Here we're cooking it on a backyard barbecue grill and seasoning it with an Asian-inspired blend of sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, and crushed red pepper. Try it alongside soy-glazed grilled chicken for a perfect summertime meal.

Recipe: Grilled Bok Choy

Tofu is pressed into a plethora of purposes these days, used to make non-dairy ice creams, condiments, and scrambled egg substitutes to the point where we tend to think of it as yet another lab-created all-purpose plant-based stand-in. It's actually quite an ancient ingredient, though, one that originated in China many centuries before the word "vegan" came into our lexicon. Take tofu back to its simpler roots with this basic preparation that stir-fries it with spices and vegetables.

Recipe: Salt And Pepper Tofu

Do you find green beans a bit blah? Unless you're a real fan of green veggies, you may not be too excited to see string beans sitting on your plate. Dress them up with Szechuan-inspired seasonings, however, and those boring beans are transformed into a far tastier dish. In addition to a little heat from crushed red pepper (as much or as little as you want), these beans are cooked with garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar.

Recipe: Spicy Szechuan Green Beans

Ok, you caught us -– yes, we know, gyoza is technically a Japanese dish, not a Chinese one. But wait, hear us out! These dumplings may well have originated in China and then been introduced to Japan via travelers (merchants, soldiers, wandering minstrels, or what have you — people in the ancient world got around a lot more than we give them credit for). The pork, cabbage, mushrooms, onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, garlic, and ginger used in the filling are all well-known in Chinese cooking, while the preparation method of wrapping the dumplings in dough and frying/steaming them is pretty popular throughout Asia, if not the entire world.

Recipe: Authentic Fried Pork Gyoza