Chinese Food Vocabulary: Learning Chinese Mandarin Cuisine and Food Terms
Last updated: December 2, 2025
No, no, no, don't limit your ordering at Chinese restaurants to just Kung Pao Chicken!🍗The sizzle of a wok, the fragrant steam from a bamboo basket, the vibrant chaos of a night market—this is the symphony of Chinese cuisine. To truly savor the experience, you need the words to match. This guide is your menu to the basic Chinese food vocabulary for different types of ingredients, cooking methods, tastes, and textures!
Common Chinese food vocabulary for core food groups & staples
Every great dish begins with its core ingredients. Mastering these foundational food groups in Mandarin is the first step to decoding any Chinese menu or market stall. The vocabulary is very logical, often combining characters for clarity, like (literally means "cow meat") for beef. Start by learning Chinese food key categories that form the backbone of the cuisine: proteins, vegetables, and staple carbohydrates.
Proteins | Vegetables | Staple Carbohydrates |
|---|---|---|
鸡肉 Chicken meat | 青菜 Leafy vegetables | 米饭 Rice |
牛肉 Beef | 土豆 Potatoes | 面条 Noodles |
猪肉 Pork | 西红柿 Tomatoes | 饺子 Dumplings |
鱼肉 Fish meat | 洋葱 Onions | 粥 Porridge |
This is a simple display of some of the Chinese vocabulary for basic ingredients, as you might be aware that there are so many more vegetables and meats which are not listed in this table. To learn Mandarin Chinese ingredient words, the most thorough way would be to go through the translation of an online shop's web page. Some online food stores, like Starry Mart, provide both Chinese and English names for the listed items, and you just need to switch the language. Or you can go through the Western online shop and translate the food names into Chinese with the help of machine translation!
Mandarin words for different cooking methods with examples of popular dishes
In Chinese cuisine, the cooking method is as vital as the ingredient itself, defining a dish's texture, aroma, and taste. A single ingredient transformed by a different verb becomes an entirely new experience.
Cooking Methods | Explanations | Examples |
|---|---|---|
炒 To stir-fry | The quintessential wok technique. Ingredients are tossed rapidly over high heat with a small amount of oil, resulting in a signature aroma and crisp-tender texture. | 炒饭 Fried rice 炒青菜 Stir-fried greens |
炸 To deep-fry | Submerging food in hot oil to create a uniformly crispy, golden exterior while sealing in moisture. This method is used for anything from delicate proteins to dough-based snacks. | 炸鸡 Fried chicken 炸春卷 Fried spring rolls |
蒸 To steam | A healthy and gentle method using boiling vapor, which preserves the natural flavor, color, and nutrients of ingredients, yielding a soft and tender texture. | 蒸鱼 Steamed fish 包子 Steamed buns |
煮 To boil | Cooking food in a large amount of bubbling water or broth. It's fundamental for soups, noodles, and dishes where a flavorful broth is integral. | 煮面条 To boil noodles 火锅 Hot pot |
烤 To roast or grill | Applying dry, radiant heat to cook food, often imparting a smoky flavor and charred exterior. This can be done in an oven or over open flames. | 北京烤鸭 Beijing roast duck 烧烤 Barbecue |
Chinese words for tastes and textures
To move beyond simply saying — delicious—is to truly engage with your meal. Chinese culinary philosophy often speaks of the core (Five flavors). Mastering these taste adjectives allows you to articulate preferences, navigate spice levels, and describe what you're experiencing.
Describe the taste of food in Chinese
Tastes | Explanations | Examples |
|---|---|---|
甜 Sweet | The comforting flavor found in sauces, roasted meats, and desserts. | 红豆沙 Sweet red bean soup |
酸 Sour | The sharp, tangy kick essential to dishes that taste sour or have vinegar flavor. | 酸辣汤 Hot and sour soup |
咸 Salty | The foundational flavor, primarily from soy sauce or salt, that enhances other tastes. | 咸蛋黄 Salty egg yolk |
辣 Spicy | The pungent heat from chilies, defining cuisines like Sichuan's 麻辣 - numbing-and-spicy. | 麻婆豆腐 Numbing-and-spicy tofu |
苦 Bitter | A less common but appreciated flavor, found in ingredients like bitter melon, 苦瓜. | 清炒苦瓜 Stir-fried bitter melon |
Describe the texture of Chinese dishes
Equally important is the language of mouthfeel, the texture that completes the sensory experience. Describing texture tells you about the cooking technique and the freshness of the ingredients. As you can imagine, the best way of picking up these terms is to watch some Chinese food advertisements!
Textures | Explanations | Examples |
|---|---|---|
脆 Crispy/crunchy | The highly desired sound and feel of perfectly fried skin or fresh vegetables. | 拍脆黄瓜 Smashed crunchy cucumber salad |
软 Soft | A tender, giving texture, like that of steamed buns. | 软糖 Gummy candy |
嫩 Tender | Specifically describing the succulent, easy-to-chew quality of well-cooked protein, like tender beef. | 嫩牛柳 Tender beef strips |
麻 Numbing | The unique tingling sensation from Sichuan peppercorns. | 椒麻鸡 Peppercorn numbing-flavor chicken |
This is a KFC ad video in mainland China. In this video, you can learn the name of the Chinese , and the words for describing its flavor and texture!
Explore common Chinese cuisine vocabulary via the most popular Chinese food documentary!
Equip yourself with popular Chinese dishes vocabulary via A Bite of China! This documentary not only introduces delicious dishes, but also delves deep into the culinary journey and the Chinese festivals and culture related to food! Migaku app can help you understand the content by generating subtitles and creating flashcards for sentences!
- Switch on YouTube and search for Chinese videos with the app
- Click "Watch with Migaku", and the magic wand at the lower left corner to generate Chinese subtitles
- Click on the new words or sentences in each subtitle and generate flashcards!
FAQs
Collect the vocabulary of common Chinese foods with diverse documentaries!
You now have the essential vocabulary to transform your culinary curiosity into confident exploration. The great news is, there are many Chinese food documentaries on YouTube for you to immerse yourself.
If you consume media in Chinese, and you understand at least some of the messages and sentences within that media, you will make progress. Period.
Dig in!