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30-Minute Chinese recipes

Soups that simmer themselves and one-pot braises — the dishes Chinese families actually make on weeknights.

30 minChaoshan (Teochew), Guangdong

Chaoshan Daikon & Pork Soup (Chao Shan Qing Tang)

The soup this whole site was built around: a whole chunk of pork and a daikon, half an hour, then celery and salt. That is the recipe.

5 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minCantonese

Steamed Fish with Ginger & Soy (Qing Zheng Yu)

The Cantonese gold standard of "let the fish be fish" — steam 10 minutes, smother in hot oil and soy.

5 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minGuangdong home kitchens

Corn, Carrot & Pork Soup (Yu Mi Hu Luo Bo Tang)

The sweetest soup in the Chinese canon — corn does all the flavor work while you do nothing.

4 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minShandong (via national chain fame)

Easy Braised Chicken & Potatoes (Huang Men Ji, simplified)

The dish behind China's biggest chicken-rice chain, simplified to one pot and six ingredients.

7 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minTaiwan / everywhere

Soy-Braised Eggs & Tofu (Lu Dan Lu Dou Fu)

The braise that lives on Chinese stoves all week: eggs and tofu steeping in a soy broth you reuse.

5 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minHubei (the pride of Wuhan)

Lotus Root & Pork Soup (Lian Ou Tang)

Wuhan's beloved soup: lotus root turns starchy-silky and slightly threads like cheese when you pull it apart.

4 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minCantonese

Easy White-Cut Chicken Legs (Bai Qie Ji)

The dish Cantonese grandmothers judge each other with, made foolproof with just legs and a pot.

5 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minHome style, everywhere

Garlic Steamed Eggplant with Soy (Suan Rong Zheng Qie Zi)

All of the melty eggplant glory, none of the oil lake — the steamer does what frying usually does.

6 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minCantonese dim sum

Black Bean Steamed Pork Ribs (Dou Chi Zheng Pai Gu)

A dim sum cart classic at home: butcher-chopped ribs, a black bean marinade, and 25 minutes of hands-off steaming.

6 ingredients · 3 steps →
30 minCantonese home kitchens

Shiitake Steamed Chicken (Dong Gu Zheng Hua Ji)

The homeliest of Cantonese classics: chicken and mushrooms steaming in their own juices into something silky.

6 ingredients · 3 steps →