5 Easy Chinese Dinner Recipes That Will Save You Time and Money

5 Easy Chinese Dinner Recipes That Will Save You Time and Money

Chinese cuisines continue to gain popularity all around the world. One of the obvious reasons is that Chinese food is simply delicious. That is why Chinese restaurants successfully run all over the world. Even with other favourite cuisines, Chinese food is simply a favourite. But eating out and ordering takeout can be quite financially tasking. That is where these easy Chinese dinner recipes come in. once you can whip up your favourite Chinese dish, you will not have to worry about not having money to go out.

Apart from being delicious, Chinese cuisine has a lot of health benefits. These include:

• Chinese cuisine has relatively low calorie contents compared to other cuisines.
• Chinese food is vegetable based making it healthy.
• Most ingredients used in Chinese dishes have medicinal value on top of being nutritious
• Most Chinese foods are sugar free and low in carbohydrates. This reduces the chances of food based obesity
• Most Chinese foods are moist therefore keeping you hydrated even in the absence of water.

Other general benefits of Chinese cuisines are:

• Tasty and flavourful
• Easy and fast to cook
• Readily available ingredients
• They are filling
• Cost effective
• They are vegetarian friendly

If you are trying to cook Chinese food for the first time, you may think it is complicated and hard. We want to remove this negative assumption from your mind.

In fact, with these easy Chinese dinner recipes you will just need a few basic recipes. Some of the common Chinese cuisine pantry ingredients include

• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Cornstarch
• Oyster sauce
• Vinegar

Sesame oil

You will also need vegetables, spices and other herbs. Thankfully, the standard ones are easily available in any fresh produce market. They include:

• Tomatoes
• Onions (white, red or green)
• Peppers
• Garlic

Most Chinese cuisines integrate noodles or rice into the main dish. Both these foods are quick and easy to cook because they only require boiling for the most part. As seen in the list of easy Chinese dinner recipes, Chinese cuisine has deep cultural roots. There are specifics to Chinese cooking that may not be present in other recipes. To understand this, here are a few interesting facts on Chinese food.

• Most Chinese foods are prepared in bite-sized pieces because it was rude to use forks and spoons in ancient China.
• The Chinese are very strict about not wasting food. That is why parts of animals and plants like roots and stalks appear in Chinese recipes.
• Chinese food is amongst the healthiest options in the world.

Learning and trying out these easy Chinese dinner recipes can be fun and exciting, as you will be adding to your scope of cultural knowledge. The best part is, you won’t have to wait ages for your meals to cook. Most of these easy Chinese recipes take a maximum of 40 minutes for preparation and cooking both. These are our top picks.

Oyster Sauce Chicken

Chicken is always a great go-to meal. Not only is it tasty, chicken is easy to cook and is great for people who may be on diets. This stir-fry recipe is among the easiest of our easy Chinese dinner recipes. Apart from the marinade and spice ingredients, you will need chicken thighs, bell peppers and chicken broth. You can either cook the thighs in half pieces or in cube parts depending on your preferences. Like all stir-fried dishes, the smaller the pieces, the better they cook. The oyster sauce brings the whole dish together with a rich and earthy taste. In 30 minutes, you will be enjoying this mouth-watering combination and even have some left over for later!

Oyster Sauce Chicken

Chinese Fried Rice

How can we put together a list of easy Chinese dinner recipes and not mention fried rice? Every Chinese restaurant has fried rice in its menu and for good reason. It is easy to cook and absolutely delicious. Fried rice is also convenient especially when you have a variety of left overs and you want to get rid of them. The best fried-rice dishes mention that pre-cooked rice is always best because the grains are sturdier. However, even a fresh batch will do. You will need rice, peas, carrots, eggs, garlic, onions and optional soy sauce. Serve this amazing dish independently or as a side with stew. You can also add some more ingredients such as beef or shrimp into the rice and cook them all together.

Chinese Fried Rice

Vegetable Chow Mien

If you are a vegetarian, or working on a budget, then Vegetable chow mien is your best bet. Like many easy Chinese dinner recipes, vegetable chow mien is a one-wok kind of dish. You will need egg noodles, bell peppers and mushrooms, soy sauce, oyster sauce and garlic. You can always add other vegetables to make the dish heavier. Good additions include peas, broccoli, zucchini and eggplants. This dish is very nutritious and great for keto diet followers. It is also just good for a busy or lazy dinner.

Vegetable Chow Mien

Orange Pork-Chops Stir Fry

Do you have left over rice in your fridge and you have no idea what to make of it? Look no further, because in our list of easy Chinese dinner recipes is a dish that is very different. And deliciously slow. Orange pork chops steer from the mainstream soy-sauce-only routine and ventures into experimentation. As the name implies, you will need orange juice in your sauce mixture. The orange juice gives the dish a tangy yet sweet taste that meshes perfectly with the pork. Within 40 minutes, you will have your senses feasting on the intriguing site and smell of the same! It works as a great stew for rice.

Orange Pork-Chops Stir Fry

Veggie Infused Beef Stir-Fry

Beef stir-fry is a favourite in most cuisines, Chinese included. For the best beef stir-fry results, you should slice the beef when slightly frozen so that the stripes come out thinner. There are three vegetables infused in this dish namely mushrooms, bok choy and green onions. You can always however add others as you prefer. A mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine and cornstarch makes the delicious marinade used. Have the beef strips covered in the marinade for at least 15 minutes before cooking them. The longer the marinating time, the stronger the flavours will be. You can serve this meal with rice or noodles for a complete feel.

Veggie Infused Beef Stir-Fry

Additional Tips

• To spend the least time cooking your easy Chinese dinner recipes, you can always prepare the sauces and marinades beforehand. A well-refrigerated sauce can stay up to 5 days.
• Alternatively, you can store the marinated meat and other chopped ingredients in the fridge overnight and only have to cook them the following day.
• If you do choose to keep them overnight, make sure everything is kept in airtight containers to avoid moisture absorption.