The familiar image of a New Year Sweet Rice Cake (红糖年糕), or nian gao, is a welcome sight during Chinese New Year. Nian gao 年糕（高) symbolizes progress, advancement, and growth. Every family inevitably buys or makes this for their Chinese New Year celebration, in the hopes of having a better year ahead. It’s also a popular gift to give when visiting family and friends during the holiday.
Just so you know, this Chinese New Year Sweet Rice Cake recipe is a bit non-traditional. Before you think harshly of me, allow me to explain.
I know all about the traditional sweet rice cake recipe–it takes three to four ingredients: sugar, water and rice flours. Feel free to follow the cooking instructions and make the traditional version using just those basic ingredients listed below. I know many people are looking for that taste from home or from their childhood.
But to me, I just feel that the traditional nian gao recipe is a bit too plain and could use some improvement, so I adapted some western baking elements to come up with this recipe, which I’m quite pleased with (or, dare I say, that I’m actually proud of!). The addition of ginger and orange zest really enhances the subtle flavor of the nian gao.
So this recipe is basically based on the traditional version, but has a bit of oomph! Many readers have asked for a Sweet Nian Gao recipe over the past year, and I hope you’ll like my version of this Chinese New Year staple. I think it’s quite lovely!
A few things you might want to know about nian gao:
1) If you like Chinese dried dates, feel free to remove the pits from a handful of them, chop them up, and mix them in with the batter. The dates would be a great addition.
2) If you want to give these away as gifts, use a foil pan!
3) You can eat the rice cake once it’s steamed…just remember that it’s very sticky and gooey when it’s hot. I think the best way to enjoy this Sweet Rice Cake is wait for it to cool, slice it, and then pan fry both sides with a bit of vegetable oil over medium heat.
4) You can refrigerate or freeze Sweet Rice Cakes. They will harden, but they reheat nicely in a pan when sliced (as described above).
5) This recipe makes two 8” rice cakes.
Nian Gao Recipe Instructions
Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by brushing the insides with vegetable oil.
Add 2 cups of water and the ginger to a medium-sized pot, bring it a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes over low to medium heat with the lid covered. Turn off the heat, and stir in the Chinese Brown Rock Sugar and allspice until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove the ginger slices. Now add 1 1/2 cups of cold water to cool down the mixture so its warm, not hot.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the glutinous rice flour and rice flour together, and then slowly add in the sugar water mixture.
Stir thoroughly until the batter is smooth (without any lumps). Now stir in the vanilla extract, molasses, orange zest, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until thoroughly combined.
The resulting batter should have a consistency similar to condensed milk. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more water a couple tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Pour the batter evenly into two foil pans. Gently tap the pans against your countertop to get rid of air bubbles. Top each pan with three decorative dried dates in the center, if using.
Put both pans in a double-decker bamboo steamer and steam for about 1 hour on high heat (the water should be boiling, but should NOT be bubbling high enough to touch the foil pans). You might need to add hot water into the steamer midway to avoid having the water dry up and burn your bamboo steamers.
After 1 hour, poke a toothpick into the rice cake. It’s done if the toothpick comes out clean–just like a regular cake! Regarding steaming techniques, for this recipe and in general, it doesn’t matter what type of vessel you use. The core goal here is to use steam to cook the food, which means it’s important that the steam doesn’t escape.
For example, if you use bamboo steamer, you will also need a pot that fits the bamboo steamer perfectly so there is no visible steam escaping. If you don’t have a pot that fits the bamboo steamer, you will need to put the bamboo steamer inside a much larger pot with a lid and set the bamboo steamer on a rack above the water. Whatever you decide to use, with the correct set up, you should not see steam escaping!
Again, I like to make these ahead of Chinese New Year. When we’re ready to enjoy, I slice the cooled cake into pieces and pan-fry the pieces on all sides in a cast iron pan with a little canola oil.
Enjoy this sweet Nian Gao for Chinese New year!
Chinese New Year Sweet Rice Cake (Nian Gao)
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (plus more for brushing baking pans)
- 3½ to 4 cups of water (830-950 ml, depending on humidity levels where you are)
- 4 slices ginger
- 2 cups dark brown sugar (400g)
- ½ teaspoon allspice powder
- 1½ pounds glutinous rice flour (one and a half bags, as they generally come in 1-pound bags; 680g)
- ½ pound rice flour (225g; half of a bag)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon dark molasses
- zest of 1 large orange
- 6 dried dates (for decoration, optional)
Instructions
- Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by brushing the insides with vegetable oil.
- Add 2 cups of water and the ginger to a medium-sized pot, bring it a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes over low to medium heat with the lid covered. Turn off the heat, and stir in the brown sugar and allspice until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove the ginger slices. Now add 1 1/2 cups of cold water to cool down the mixture so its warm, not hot.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the two kinds of flours together and then slowly add in the sugar water mixture. Stir thoroughly until the batter is smooth (without any lumps). Now stir in the vanilla extract, molasses, orange zest, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should have a consistency similar to condensed milk. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more water a couple tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- Pour the batter evenly into two foil pans. Gently tap the pans against your countertop to get rid of air bubbles. Top each pan with three decorative dates in the center, if using. Put both pans in a double-decker bamboo steamer and steam for about 1 hour on high heat (the water should be boiling, but should NOT be bubbling high enough to touch the foil pans). You might need to add water into the steamer midway to avoid having the water dry up and burn your bamboo steamers.
- After 1 hour, poke a toothpick into the rice cake. It’s done if the toothpick comes out clean--just like a regular cake! Regarding steaming techniques, for this recipe and in general, it doesn’t matter what type of vessel you use. The core goal here is to use steam to cook the food, which means it's important that the steam doesn't escape.
- For example, if you use bamboo steamer, you will also need a pot that fits the bamboo steamer perfectly so there is no visible steam escaping. If you don’t have a pot that fits the bamboo steamer, you will need to put the bamboo steamer inside a much larger pot with a lid and set the bamboo steamer on a rack above the water. Whatever you decide to use, with the correct set up, you should not see steam escaping!
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
Hi Judy, I see that you can freeze it based on your comments below. How would you serve it after it’s been frozen? Do you need to re-steam it again or let it thaw until room temperature before serving? I’d like to make it ahead of time.
Hi Jan, I usually let it warm up a little from the freezer, then slice and pan-fry. I always serve them pan-fried, never just as is :-)
Can’t wait to try this for the upcoming Lunar New Year! Any success with adding red bean to this recipe?
You can cook the red beans until they are cooked, but not so soft that they turn mushy. Then drain and add the whole beans in the rice batter before pouring into the cake pan.
Hi! Can’t wait to try this but what can I use in place of molasses?
Hi Jenn, the molasses is needed to achieve that rich dark amber color.
Hi, would like to try your recipe, but I have one question, why do you also add rice flour, I’ve only known nian gao to be made with glutinous ice flour?
Rice flour is added to balance out the stickiness and softness of the glutinous rice flour, and to add chewiness :-)
Hi! What’s the shelf life of nian gao? How long can it be stored at room temperature? Can it be stored at room temperature or do you recommend keeping it in the fridge? Thank you! It’s been forever since I’ve had these and I can’t wait to try making it.
Hi Isabelle, they should be refrigerated once cooled, especially in the summertime. FYI, Nian gao can be frozen too.
Judy, help! So basically 6 cups glutinous rice flour and 2 cups rice flour? In the steamer and I hope it works out. Tasted the batter and love your rendition. A nice update to tradition. My mom will love it!
I am first-generation Chinese and mom loves Nian Gao, but didnt know how to make it. Thank you for keeping the traditions alive through food.
Worked out! Mom loves it.
Awesome, Deb! I am so glad to hear that.
Thank you for this fantastic recipe! I doubled the batch and steamed them in mini loaf foil containers to give away as New Year gifts. Everyone loved them!!!
Agree, this is a great Chinese New Year gift for friends and family, especially elders.
These look great! I can’t wait to try it.
I would like to make a large batch but can’t invest in a bamboo steamer at the moment – could I place the foil pan in a larger tray filled with hot water, cover it in foil and leave it in the oven for an hour at ~200-220F instead of steaming on stove top?
Hi Michelle, this recipe will require steaming. Please try out our tips in this post: How to set up a steamer. No purchase necessary :-)
That’s a fun story to tell our kids. I love Nian Gao in banana leaves, too.
I agree!