15 Most Popular Chinese Desserts to Try

Many outsiders think there are few desserts in China. However, the fact is China is rich in desserts, including sweets, cakes, pastry and sweet soup. Compared to western desserts, Chinese desserts are less sweet but healthier. Besides, Chinese desserts are always delicate with beautiful appearances. Here are 15 of the best Chinese desserts to try.
 

As a traditional Chinese sweet, the eight treasures rice pudding is mainly made from glutinous rice, and topped with various candied fruits including red jujubes, lotus seed, walnut kernel, and raisins. It tastes sweet and chewy. This Chinese dessert is a popular bouquet dish and a must-have during the Chinese New Year.

Eight Treasures Rice Pudding

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Candied sweet potatoes are a Chinese sweet made from sweet potatoes and sugar. Fry the sweet potato dices; after, boil sugar in another pot until the sugar become thick; then put fried sweet potatoes into the melted sugar and make them evenly coated with sugar. After cooling down, this dessert has a crunchy exterior but the interior tastes soft and fragrant.
 

Sesame glutinous rice balls (Tangyuan) are one of the traditional Chinese sweets for Lantern Festival. The glutinous rice flour is made into doughs and stuffed with sweet black sesame paste. After being boiled, they are usually served with the soup used to boil them. If you want them to be sweeter, just add some sugar into the soup.
 

Compared with sesame glutinous rice balls, the glutinous rice balls used in this Chinese dessert are smaller with no stuffing. When boiling, fermented rice wine and sugar are added; sometimes egg and dried sweet-scented osmanthus are also added to enhance the flavor.
 

Candied Fruit on a Stick

Also known as Bingtang Hulu, it is one of the best Chinese sweets, originated from Beijing and popular in the North. Fruits are strung on a stick and coated with melted sugar. After a while, it tastes crisp and sweet outside and sweet and sour inside. Common fruits it adopts are Chinese hawthorns. Nowadays, many kinds of fruits are used such as banana, grapes, and kiwi fruits.
 

Mooncakes are traditional Chinese pastries usually eaten on the Mid-Autumn Festival. They are mostly round to symbolize family reunion. The sweet taste are mainly from the fillings, usually made of fruits, red bean paste, lotus seed paste and nuts. There are also salt ones, but they are not as popular as sweet ones.
See more:
10 Best Mooncakes in China - Have you ever tried?

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Traditional Mooncakes in China - 12 Types of Regional Variations

Snow Skin Mooncake - Non-Baked Mooncake

Halal Mooncake - Features, Fillings, Recipe

Jelly Mooncake - How to Make Colorful and Crystal Mooncakes

Mooncake Recipe - How to Make Chinese Mooncakes at Home
 

Almond junket is a Chinese dessert made from sweet almond pulp. Boil the almond pulp and add sugar, which will form a pudding-like texture after cooling and curdling. Eating almonds in moderation can help quench thirst, relieve constipation, and reduce the risk of intestinal cancer.
 

It is one of the characteristic desserts in Zhejiang cuisine. Add the raw glutinous rice into lotus root and boil them with brown and white sugar. When cooked, slice the lotus root and sprinkle the soup used to boil them and dried osmanthus. This Chinese dessert is famous for the osmanthus fragrance and sweet glutinous rice.
See more: How to Make Steamed Lotus Root Stuffed with Sweet Sticky Rice

Steamed Lotus Root Stuffed with Sticky Rice

White Fungus and Lotus Seed Soup

From its name, we can know that this Chinese dessert mainly includes such raw materials as white fungus and lotus seeds. Rock sugar, Chinese wolfberry, red jujube are also mixed to boil. This Chinese sweet soup has the effect of nourishing lung and stomach, maintaining beauty and keeping young.
 

Double-skin milk is a kind of Cantonese dessert originated from Shunde, Gunagdong province. It adopts water buffalo milk, egg white and white sugar as the materials. It is named so because it has two layers, one on the bottom and one on the top. It tastes better if putting in the refrigerator for a while. Usually, fruits are added on the top for sweeter and more delicious taste, such as mango dices and blueberry sauce.
 

Tortoise jelly is mainly made from the powdered shell of turtles and tuckahoe. It is not only one of the best Chinese desserts, but also a traditional Chinese medicine. It can regulate blood fat and blood sugar with low calorie, fat, and cholesterol. It can also remove the inner heat, so very popular in hot summer. The jelly itself tastes a little bit bitter, so honey and milk are added when eating.   
 

It belongs to Cantonese cuisine. The main ingredients are papaya, clam paste, fresh milk, water, rock sugar, etc. Rich in protein and vitamins, this Chinese dessert is good for people’s health.
 

Grass jelly is a traditional Chinese sweet from Fujian and Taiwan. The main materials are Platostoma palustre plant, sugar, fresh milk, honey, purple potato, peanut and so on. With the effect of decreasing internal heat and maintaining beauty, it is favored by many foodies.
 

One of the traditional Chinese pastries, Sachima was originated from the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912). It is made from flour, honey, oil, white sugar, caramel, raisin, and so on. It is cream-colored, and tastes sticky and sweet.
 

Green bean cake, as its name suggests, is a kind of cake made from green beans and sugar. It tastes soft and delicate, with no grease. With the effect of clearing heat, detoxifying, eliminating heat and thirst and so on, it is a popular summer Chinese dessert.