According to historical records, the Yellow Emperor cooked cereal for porridge. In Historical Records Biography of Bian Que and Cang Gong written by Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty, the story of Chunyu Kun, a famous doctor at that time, treating diseases with porridge was recorded. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, porridge continued to flourish. Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Pharmacology recorded some recipes and remedies of porridge for emergencies. For example, rice bran porridge can improve athlete's foot, and sheep bone porridge has the effect of warming and tonifying yang.

Porridge was also popular in Song Dynasty. At that time, Taiping Sheng Huifang recorded 100 kinds of porridge. There are also dozens of kinds of porridge recorded in the Book of Offering Parents for the Aged, such as using mutton porridge with meat cistanche to treat fatigue and ginger porridge to treat nausea and vomiting.

During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, porridge also developed. Li Dongyuan, one of the four masters in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, was good at porridge diet therapy. In his book, he specially introduced dozens of most commonly used porridge dietotherapy prescriptions. In the Yuan Dynasty, Zou Xuan continued to expand the space on the basis of "A Book for the Aged" and wrote "A New Book for the Aged and Longevity", supplemented by dozens of kinds of porridge. At that time, the healthy porridge diet was also recognized by the Royal Court. Doctor Tai, who was in charge of court meals in the Yuan Dynasty, collected many porridge prescriptions for nourishing and strengthening the body, assisting in treating diseases and preserving health and prolonging life. As for the Ming dynasty, porridge health has become very common. Li Shizhen, a famous doctor in Ming Dynasty, compiled a book Compendium of Materia Medica, which included many porridge foods, on the basis of summarizing the previous medical theories and combining his own medical experience. The Puji Prescription compiled in Ming Dynasty contains nearly 200 kinds of porridge prescriptions. In the Qing Dynasty, the book Lao Lao Heng Yan also recorded nearly 100 kinds of porridge recipes.

The reason why porridge is widely accepted is that it is simple to make and convenient to obtain materials, which meets people's demand for food to a certain extent. Today, eating porridge has developed into a fashionable and healthy way with cultural accumulation. Not only is the variety of porridge extremely rich, but its popularity is not what it used to be.