The Woks of Life
My Saved Recipes
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Filter
    • View all By Date
    • Our Cookbook: NOW AVAILABLE!
    • Videos
  • How-To
    • Cooking MethodsAll how-to cooking methods
    • Cooking ToolsAll Cooking tools including hand and electrics
    • Wok Guide
    • Garden/FarmWe share our learnings from our new Woks of Life HQ/farm (where we moved in Fall of 2021) on how to grow Chinese vegetables, fruits, and other produce, as well as farm updates: our chickens, ducks, goats, alpacas, and resident llama!
    • CultureCulture related posts
  • Ingredients
    • Chinese Ingredients Glossary
    • Sauces, Wines, Vinegars & Oils
    • Spices & Seasonings
    • Dried, Cured & Pickled Ingredients
    • Noodles & Wrappers
    • Rice, Grains, Flours & Starches
    • Tofu, Bean Curd & Seitan
    • Vegetables & Fungi
    • Fresh Herbs & Aromatics
  • Life & Travel
    • Life
    • Travel
  • Contact
    • Work with Us
    • Press
    • Send Us A Message
  • About Us
Home ❯ Recipes ❯ Zongzi Recipes for the Dragon Boat Festival!

Zongzi Recipes for the Dragon Boat Festival!

Sarah

by:

Sarah

53 Comments
Posted: 6/1/2024

The Dragon Boat Festival is coming up on Monday, June 10th, 2024. That means it’s time to make Zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings! Luckily, we have a few zongzi recipes you can try, including savory and sweet.

We also have a lazy version for those of you who aren’t feeling up to all that wrapping (Though if you’re looking for that classic gooey zongzi texture, try making the real thing!)

Read on to find out more about the Dragon Boat Festival, why we eat zongzi, and our favorite zongzi recipes.

What Is the Dragon Boat Festival?

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday that has been celebrated for centuries. In Chinese, it is known as the Duan Wu Festival or Duānwǔ Jié (端午节).

The holiday occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese calendar, and on the Gregorian calendar, it usually falls in June (though it can sometimes be in May).

Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com
Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com
Zongzi (Cantonese Style), by thewoksoflife.com

The origins of the festival are kind of fuzzy. There are a few different origin stories, the most popular of which is that the festival commemorates an ancient Chinese poet named Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan was not just a poet, but also an advisor to the State of Chu during the Warring States Period. Jealous officials falsely accused him of conspiracy to have him expelled from court, and he was subsequently exiled.

Long story short, Qu Yuan committed suicide on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month by jumping into the Miluo River. The local people believed him to be an honorable man. They searched for him in boats along the river, throwing rice balls into the water for the fish to eat so they wouldn’t eat the poet’s body…

PRETTY GRIM STUFF!

Nowadays, though, the holiday isn’t all that doom and gloom. It’s about family gatherings, an excuse to take a couple days off, dragon boat races, and lots of sticky rice. Go figure.

Dragon Boat Festival Beijing
Dragon Boat racing by thewoksoflife.com

What Are Zongzi?

The traditional food of the Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi. If you are of Cantonese descent, the pronunciation “joong” may be more familiar.

How to Cook Zongzi in an Instant Pot, thewoksoflife.com
Zongzi are boiled/steamed for hours, which is what gives them their signature gooey texture.
Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com
Filling zongzi leaves with sticky rice and sweet red bean paste.

They’re sometimes described as Chinese tamales. Instead of corn masa, they’re filled with sticky rice, and instead of corn husks, we use bamboo leaves/reed leaves.

In addition to the sticky rice, other tasty fillings include meat, salted duck egg yolks, Chinese sausage, beans, or sweet fillings. The rice itself may also be flavored.

Filling Zongzi (Cantonese Style), by thewoksoflife.com
Filling zongzi leaves with sticky rice, pork, peanuts, Chinese sausage, and salted duck egg yolk.
Zongzi (Cantonese Style), by thewoksoflife.com
Here’s what the zongzi looks like all wrapped up. It may look difficult, but we can teach you how to make them!

In China, you can find zongzi all over the place this time of year. Some families make them at home, while others just go to local stores to buy them.

China's Dragon Boat Festival & Rice Dumplings Galore! - thewoksoflife.com
A shop owner making zongzi in advance of the Dragon Boat festival.
China's Dragon Boat Festival & Rice Dumplings Galore!
Judy (my mom) buying zongzi at a shop in Shanghai.

That said, we prefer to make them ourselves. You can not only make exactly the fillings you like, you can also control the ratio of tasty fillings to rice!

Types of Zongzi

In general terms, there are two kinds of zongzi—sweet and savory. Within these categories, zongzi are very regional. They vary widely across China.

Sweet zongzi can have fillings like red bean, dates, or even just sugar in the rice. However, the sweetness doesn’t always necessarily come from the zongzi itself. It can come from what you serve with the zongzi, like sugar for dipping, syrups, or honey.

For example, lye water (jianshui) zongzi, made with an alkaline solution that turns the rice yellow, are usually served with sugar or syrup.  

Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com
Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com

Savory zongzi often feature ingredients like pork belly and Chinese sausage. In Shanghai, where people use a lot of soy sauce in their cooking, soy sauce seasons the rice itself, so the rice comes out an even brown color. 

In Cantonese-style zongzi, on the other hand, the rice is usually white. The flavor of the bamboo leaf is more pronounced. You may also see split mung beans added to the rice.

China's Dragon Boat Festival & Rice Dumplings Galore!
Zongzi (Cantonese Style Rice Dumplings), by thewoksoflife.com

Some regions use mushrooms or seafood, while others use chestnuts, salted duck egg yolks, peanuts, etc.

Zongzi Recipes & Tips:

Ok, let’s talk about our family’s zongzi recipes. My mom, being from Shanghai, has a great Shanghainese version, which she makes with dark soy sauce, and of course, pork belly.

Chestnuts are another delicious optional add-in. In a way, it’s an echo of another famous Shanghainese dish—red braised pork belly, or hong shao rou.

My dad’s side of the family is Cantonese, and Cantonese-style zongzi is a bit different. There’s no dark soy sauce involved, and the fillings include not just pork belly, but also peanuts, salted duck egg yolks, and Chinese sausage.

We also have a zongzi with pork belly and preserved vegetable (meigan cai), which is reminiscent of Mei Cai Kou Rou (or Moy Choy Kau Yuk, if you’re Cantonese). Delicious.

Then there are the “alkaline” zongzi, which we call jianshui zong. This version is sweet, with a red bean filling, but what makes them super distinctive is the potassium carbonate solution that you soak the rice in.

It turns the rice a deep golden color, and gives it a distinctive flavor. Served with syrup, it is a sweet treat you can enjoy right after you finish all your savory zongzi!

Finally, we have a “lazy zongzi” recipe. Making zongzi is a labor intensive process. It can take up a whole day! Just the cooking process can take several hours. While this should be a communal activity for families to do together, it may also be a bit daunting.

For those of you who might be intimidated by the wrapping process, or just don’t have time, our Lazy Zongzi recipe essentially involves steaming sticky rice with the goodies you might find in zongzi, without having to wrap everything in bamboo leaves. The texture of the rice isn’t gooey like zongzi (because you steam the rice, rather than boiling it in the leaves), but it’ll still be tasty!

Practice makes perfect. See how fast this lady can wrap them!

If you don’t mind wrapping your own zongzi, but want a faster way to cook them, we also have instructions for cooking Zongzi in an Instant Pot!

Check out the recipes below, and enjoy celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival with family and friends!

1. Shanghai Style Pork Zongzi

Shanghai Style Pork Zongzi (Sticky Rice Dumplings), by thewoksoflife.com

2. Cantonese-style Zongzi

Cantonese pork zongzi

3. Jianshui Zong

Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com
Jianshui Zong (Alkaline Rice Dumplings - 碱水粽), by thewoksoflife.com

4. Zongzi with pork belly & Meigan Cai (Preserved Vegetable)

Chinese Zongzi with Pork Belly and Meigan Cai

5. Lazy Zongzi (No Wrapping Necessary!)

Zongzi (Cantonese Style), by thewoksoflife.com
Zongzi (Cantonese Style), by thewoksoflife.com

6. How to Cook Zongzi in an Instant Pot

Filling Instant Pot with zongzi, thewoksoflife.com

Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

You may also like…

  • Dragon Boat racing by thewoksoflife.com
    The Dragon Boat Festival
  • China's Dragon Boat Festival & Rice Dumplings Galore! - thewoksoflife.com
    Dragon Boat Duan Wu Festival & Rice Dumplings Galore!
  • Ribs and Rice, by thewoksoflife.com
    Rice Cooker Ribs and Rice
  • Zongzi (Cantonese Style), by thewoksoflife.com
    Lazy Sticky Rice Dumplings (Zongzi)
Sarah

About

Sarah
Sarah is the older daughter/sister in The Woks of Life family. Creator of quick and easy recipes for harried home cooks and official Woks of Life photographer, she grew up on episodes of Ready Set Cook and Good Eats. She loves the outdoors (and of course, *cooking* outside), and her obsession with food continues to this day.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
Rate this recipe:




guest
Rate this recipe:




53 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill cooking together

Welcome!

We’re Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill– a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes.

Our Story

sign up for our newsletter and receive:

our Top 25 recipes eBook

Our email newsletter delivers our new recipes and latest updates. It’s always free and you can unsubscribe any time.

Wok Guide
Ingredients 101
Cooking Tools
Kitchen Wisdom
* Surprise Me! *

Save Your Favorite Woks of Life Recipes!

Create an account to save your favorite dishes & get email udpates!

Sign Me Up

Sign Up For Email Updates & Receive Our

Top 25 Recipes Ebook!

“

“I am proud to say that your genealogy has been the sole tutorial for my Asian-inspired culinary adventures for years; probably since you began. Time and again, my worldwide web pursuits for solid recipes that I know my family will eat has landed me back here.”

Beth, Community Member Since 2013

Shanghai Scallion Flatbread Qiang Bing
Eggs with Soy Sauce and Scallions
Scallion Ginger Beef & Tofu
Bill with jar of haam choy
Soy Butter Glazed King Oyster Mushrooms
Taiwanese Rou Zao Fan
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

All Rights Reserved © The Woks of Life

·

Privacy Policy

·

Disclaimer

·

Site Credits

·

Back to Top
wpDiscuz