Northeastern Chinese cuisine (东北菜; pinyin: dōngběi cài), or Manchurian cuisine, relies heavily on preserved foods and hearty fare due to the harsh winters and relatively short growing seasons. Pickling, such as is a very common form of food preservation and pickled cabbage (suan cai)is traditionally made by most households in giant clay pickling vats. Unlike the South of China, noodles tend to be the most common form of starch rather than rice. Popular dishes include pork and chive dumplings, suan cai hot pot, cumin & caraway lamb, congee, tealeaf stewed hardboiled eggs, nian doubao, congee with several types of pickles (mustard root is highly popular), and cornmeal congee.

Many dishes originated from native Manchu cuisine. Traces of Korean, Japanese and Russian cuisines can also be seen.

Another distinct feature that separates Manchurian cuisine from other Chinese cuisines is to serve fresh raw vegetables and raw seafood in Manchurian coastal areas.suan cai