Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake)
A dense, chewy steamed cake of glutinous rice flour and dark brown sugar, studded with jujube and walnut, eaten at Lunar New Year because its name puns on rising higher each year.
Chinese · medium · serves 8
prep 20 min · cook 45 min
~501 cal · 6g protein · 89g carbs · 14g fat · 3g fiber · 31g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Nian gao is the sticky rice cake that appears on Chinese tables around Lunar New Year. Its name is a pun: gao sounds like the word for high or tall, so eating it carries a wish to rise higher, in work, study or fortune, in the year ahead. The round tin it is steamed in echoes the reunion spirit of the holiday.
The sweet, steamed style made here dissolves dark brown sugar in water with a little ginger, then pours the near-boiling syrup over glutinous rice flour cut with a little regular rice flour. That scald half-cooks the starch, giving a cake that steams through cleanly to a glossy, bouncy chew rather than a raw, gummy centre. Soaked jujubes and walnuts add caramel-tart depth and crunch.
Leftover slices are excellent pan-fried until the edges crisp, and in Shanghai and the south the same cake is also eaten in savoury, stir-fried form.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
450 g glutinous (sweet) rice flour
100 g regular rice flour
180 g dark brown sugar (or Chinese brown rock sugar)
about 470 ml water
1 thumb fresh ginger, sliced
3 tbsp
100 g dried red (jujube), pitted and chopped
100 g walnuts, chopped
Instructions
1
Mix the glutinous and regular rice flours in a large bowl with the chopped dates and walnuts (or pumpkin seeds).
2
Bring the brown sugar, ginger and water to a boil, then simmer covered 3 minutes. Remove the ginger, stir in the oil and whisk to combine.
✎ Chef’s note
The syrup must be near-boiling when it meets the flour; that scald is what gives nian gao its clean, chewy set instead of a raw centre.
3
Pour about 90 percent of the hot syrup over the flour mixture, mixing and lightly kneading to a soft, slightly translucent dough. Add the rest a splash at a time only if needed.
4
Oil a 20 cm cake tin, line the base, and press the dough in level. Steam over medium heat about 45 minutes, until a chopstick comes out clean with no wet paste.
✎ Chef’s note
Top up the steamer only with boiling water, and do not pull it early: an under-steamed cake stays gummy in the middle.
5
Cool completely before slicing. Serve as is, or pan-fry the slices in a little oil until the edges crisp.
Chinese Lunar New Year tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Shanghai. Hairy crab is a season more than a dish. The Chinese mitten crab, most associated with Yangcheng Lake, is steamed whole through the autumn and picked over slowly with vinegar and ginger. Xiaolongbao come from Nanxiang in Jiading on the city's edge, where they are still called xiaolong mantou.
🗺️
China. A meal here is built in two halves: the staple that carries the calories, rice in the south and wheat noodles or steamed buns in the north, and the dishes that go with it. Each person keeps their own bowl of the staple while the dishes sit in the middle and are taken a mouthful at a time, which is why ordering is done for the table rather than for yourself.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer, Mould or tin, Whisk.
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
Make it a China meal
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Themes
Frequently asked questions
What is Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake)?
A dense, chewy steamed cake of glutinous rice flour and dark brown sugar, studded with jujube and walnut, eaten at Lunar New Year because its name puns on rising higher each year.
Where does Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) come from?
Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) is a Chinese dish from Shanghai, China.
Can Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Nian Gao (New Year Rice Cake) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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