31 Classic Breakfasts You Should Try In China : Ultimate Bucket List (2025)
Introduction
This list has been curated by me, a person who has worked part-time for 8 years in Chinese restaurants and takeouts in a European country. Yes, I’m from a restaurant family. 👨🏻🍳
I am now back in China permanently and frequently explore new dishes, with an aim to recommend them to family and friends. Breakfasts appear to be the least understood meal for tourists. In my experience, people new to China are most familiar with dim sum.
I have hand-picked these dishes to cover a range of tastes for visitors to China. This list covers most of the top breakfast dishes for large parts of China, but there will be local dishes in certain cities not commonly found in other cities.
Many parts of northern China prefer bing, a type of flatbread or pancake. Some people in southern China prefer dim sum or rice based dishes. Buns and noodles are pretty universal across most parts of China. However, please note that local favourites can vary significantly from city to city. There are simply too many dishes to cover here. Be sure to try out a local dish that you don’t see on this list.
You should be able to find high quality versions of most mentioned dishes in any major city. You just need to look for the specific type of restaurant or food stall. For example, bing stalls only sell bing. Go to a dim sum stall or restaurant for dim sum and baozi. 🍜
Wishing you a tasty food journey throughout China! Do your best to “collect” all of these breakfast dishes during your trip! 🥢
Bing 饼
1. pan fried crepe | jiān bing | 煎饼 ⭐
2. scallion pancake | cōng yóu bǐng | 葱油饼
3. baked flatbread | shāo bǐng | 烧饼
4. crispy, multi-layered pancake | shǒu zhuā bǐng | 手抓饼
5. stuffed meat pie | xiàn bǐng | 馅饼
6. rolled pancake | juǎn bǐng | 卷饼
7. thousand layered flatbread | qiān céng bǐng | 千层饼
8. meat flatbread | ròu jiā mó | 肉夹馍 ⭐
Dim sum / dumplings 点心 (see this article for more dim sum)
9. soup dumplings | xiǎo lóng bāo / tāng bāo | 小笼包 / 汤包 ⭐
10. shrimp dumplings + pork dumplings | xiā jiǎo + shāo mai | 虾饺 + 烧卖 ⭐
11. meat or vegetable dumplings | jiǎo zǐ | 饺子
12. wontons | yún tūn | 云吞
13. spicy wontons | chāo shǒu | 抄手
14. rice noodle rolls | cháng fěn | 肠粉 ⭐
15. congee (many varieties) | zhōu | 粥
16. fried dough stick and soy milk | yóu tiáo + dòu jiāng | 油条 + 豆浆
Baozi (Buns) 包子
17. barbecued pork bun | chā shāo bāo | 叉烧包 ⭐
18. egg custard bun | nǎi huáng bāo | 奶黄包
19. salted egg custard bun | liú shā bāo | 流沙包
20. red bean bun | dòu shā bāo | 豆沙包
21. black sesame bun | hēi zhī ma bāo | 黑芝麻包
22. taro bun | xiāng yù bāo | 香芋包
23. pan-fried pork buns | shēng jiān bāo | 生煎包 ⭐
24. Hangzhou steamed meat bun | Háng zhōu xiǎo lóng bāo | 杭州小笼包
25. large meat bun | dà ròu bāo | 大肉包
26. meat and vegetable bun | cài ròu bāo | 菜肉包
27. plain steamed bun | mán tou | 馒头
Mian (Noodles) 面
28. Wuhan hot dry noodles | rè gān miàn | 热干面 ⭐
29. Lanzhou beef noodle soup | lan zhou niú ròu miàn | 兰州牛肉面 ⭐
30. Chongqing noodles | chóng qìng xiǎo miàn | 重庆小面
31. won ton noodles | yún tūn miàn | 云吞面
