The eight ingredients of traditional Laba porridge are glutinous rice, sesame, coix seed, red dates, lotus seeds, rice porridge, longan and mushrooms.

Laba porridge made in different regions has different tastes. In northern China, people usually cook it with millet, red beans, rice kernels, longan, candied dates, soybeans, walnuts and pine nuts. In southern China, people use ginkgo, chestnut, red dates, peanuts, lotus seeds, rice, medlar, mung beans and other ingredients to cook.

Drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival originated in Song Dynasty. Both princes and nobles and ordinary people have the custom of eating Laba porridge. People make laba porridge on this day, first for ancestors, then for relatives and friends, and finally taste laba porridge together. People eat Laba porridge on Laba Festival, which can not only drive away the cold, but also pray for a bumper harvest in the coming year.