Sandapao and Danhonggao: Chengdu's Sweet and Chewy Street Snacks

World Travel 编辑部 · 2026-09-10 · 7 min read

Sandapao and Danhonggao: Chengdu's Sweet and Chewy Street Snacks

Two of Chengdu's street snacks are famous for how they look and sound. One is sandapao — glutinous rice balls hurled hard at a brass plate, three booms in a row. The other is danhonggao, baked to order in a little copper pan, folded over a filling that can be sweet or savoury — a bite Chengdu people grow up on.

Sandapao: three booms and a sweet rice ball

Sandapao is a Sichuan snack, a small sweet rather like lü dagun. The making is half performance.

Glutinous rice is soaked overnight, steamed until soft over a high flame, then worked on an oiled board with a wooden roller until it is roughly three parts broken down. A small stand is set with brass saucers on both sides, and in front a large bamboo tray heaped with roasted soybean flour. The vendor pulls off a ping-pong-ball piece of rice dough and throws it hard at the stand — "bang" — the ball bounces up and lands in the tray, rolling two or three times until it is coated in fragrant yellow powder. Three of these are threaded onto a bamboo skewer and finished with brown sugar syrup.

The brass saucers are there purely to amplify the sound — three reports in a row give the snack its name: "three cannons".

Danhonggao: a small copper pan, sweet and savoury

Danhonggao is a traditional Chengdu snack that dates to 1843, in the 23rd year of the Daoguang reign, created by an old man surnamed Shi on Chengdu's Wenmiao Street who baked a fermented batter into a cake — crisp outside, soft and moist within. It uses flour, egg and brown sugar, cooked in a special small copper pan into a round, then folded into a half-moon around its filling.

It has regional schools: Leshan danhonggao has a scorched, crisp skin; the Chengdu version is layered; Luzhou adds Sichuan pepper oil. The fillings show its range — the old ones are sesame-sugar, mixed nuts, eight-treasure and pickled cowpea; today you will find cream-and-pork-floss, chilli-oil shredded potato, durian cheese, green pepper chicken, termite mushroom, spicy beef, even Oreo.

In 1990 a two-flavour danhonggao from a Chengdu famous-snack shop was named a "Chengdu Famous Snack"; in July 2021 it made the provincial Tianfu tourism-food shortlist. During the war with Japan it developed its own school at Huaxiba, known to students and staff as "Huaxiba danhonggao". Today it is mostly sold from three-wheeled carts — one of the defining sights of the Chengdu street.

How to eat them

• Sandapao: listen for the bang, watch the throw, eat it hot — the thicker the soybean flour and syrup, the better
• Danhonggao: order it fresh; the skin loses its crispness if it sits
• Fillings: go traditional with sesame-sugar or pickled cowpea, or try the sweet-savoury combos like cream-pork floss or spicy beef
• Both are cart food — made for eating while walking

Practical notes

• Sandapao: glutinous rice, roasted soybean flour and brown sugar syrup, named for the throw and the noise
• Danhonggao: dates to 1843, baked in a copper pan, with Chengdu, Leshan and Luzhou schools
• Honours: a "Chengdu Famous Snack" in 1990; provincial Tianfu tourism-food shortlist in 2021
• Tip: both must be eaten fresh — they lose their edge when left to sit

Related

• Tianshuimian and Dandan Noodles: Chengdu's Two Faces of Noodles
• Kuanzhai Alley: Old Chengdu in Three Lanes

Photos

Sources

• Wikipedia: Sandapao
• Baidu Baike: Danhonggao