Chinese Hot Pot at Home

Chinese hot pot at home is a warm and comforting meal to enjoy with family or a small group of friends. It's one of the most popular social gatherings in China because it's delicious, easy to prepare, and completely customizable to fit all dietary preferences. So whether you are vegan, a meat lover or seafood lover, you can enjoy hot pot easily at home. Plus, making hot pot at home is so much cheaper than ordering at a restaurant, and it always tastes better. And with all of staying home this year, Chinese hot pot at home is a great way to celebrate Chinese New Year this year.

What is Chinese Hot Pot?

Chinese hot pot is a social meal with a simmering pot of soup base at the middle of table over a portable burner and an assortment of raw ingredients on the table that are cut into bite-sized pieces including vegetables, meat, seafood and noodles. All the food gets cooked at the table as you eat, and since the ingredients are cut into small pieces, they cook quite quickly in about one minute. Once cooked, you remove your item and dip it into a delicious personalized dipping sauce and eat.

Hot pot has traditionally been enjoyed during the winter months, but it has started to become more common for people to eat it all year round. When we were travelling across China back in 2018, we had hot pot almost every day. Different regions in China use different flavours in their hot pot soup base. From spicy, to mild bone broth, to seafood-based, there are so many variations to enjoy.

And contrary to popular belief, hot pot is relatively healthy as it's less processed. Everything is boiled (rather than deep fried), so you can get lots of nutrients from your food. But do watch out for portion control because hot pot is so crave-worthy and it's hard to track how much you have eaten, so you will almost certainly eat more than you should.

Required Hot Pot Equipment

To make Chinese hot pot at home, you will need the following equipment:

• portable burner - since hot pot is cooked at the table, you will need a portable burner to enjoy the simmering soup at the table. You can use either a portable induction burner or a portable gas burner. You can also use a special hot pot set that includes pot with a built-in burner.
• hot pot cookware - a round stainless steel pot that is about 11 or 12-inches in diameter and relatively shallow, about 3.5 to 4 inches deep. You can also use a dual hot pot that has a separator to allow you to make two soup flavours at the same time (as we did here). One pot is enough to feed up to 6 people. To feed more people, you will need a second pot and a second burner.
• chopsticks - you will need a set of extra long chopsticks for dipping and retrieving food from the communal hot pot, and a set of regular wooden chopsticks per person for eating.
• hot pot strainer scoops - hot pot strainer scoops are also helpful for retrieving food from the communal hot pot, especially for items which are harder to pick up using the extra long chopsticks.
• eating accessories - you will need small bowls for eating and dip bowls for the individual dipping sauces.

How to Make Hot Pot Soup Base

It is super easy to prepare a hot pot soup base from scratch. We prepared two different hot pot soup bases using our dual hot pot -- a mild hot pot and a spicy hot pot. To prepare, simply add all the ingredients for each of the bases into each compartment of a dual hot pot and mix well to combine. Then, place the dual hot pot on a portable induction burner or portable gas burner and bring to a simmer over medium heat. You can also just make one soup base and use a round stainless steel hot pot instead.

If you have a hard time finding the ingredients for the soup base, you can easily use store-bought soup base that you can find at your local Asian grocery store or online. To prepare a store-bought hot pot soup base, simply add one pouch into hot water or broth.

Ingredients in Tomato-Based Hot Pot Soup Base

To make a tomato-based hot pot soup base, you will need the following ingredients:

• olive oil
• chicken broth - you can substitute this with vegetable broth or bone broth.
• water
• tomato + tomato paste
• green onions
• garlic
• ginger
• bay leaves

Ingredients in Spicy Chili Hot Pot Soup Base

To make a spicy chili hot pot soup base, you will need the following ingredients:

• spicy red chili oil
• chicken broth - you can substitute this with vegetable broth or bone broth.
• peanut butter
• water
• dried red chili peppers
• green onions
• garlic
• ginger
• bay leaves 

Ingredients in Hot Pot

Making Chinese hot pot at home is extremely customizable and you can use almost any ingredients that you have on hand. Hot pot typically consists of a variety of vegetables (including leafy greens, root vegetables, and mushrooms), meat and seafood, noodles and tofu. There are no rules when it comes to the ingredients to use in hot pot, although it's a good idea to pick a few items from each category to keep it interesting. When preparing the ingredients, be sure to cut everything into small, bite-size pieces for quick cooking.

Vegetables

Choose from a variety of vegetables, preparing about 2 cups total per person. We like to include at least one leafy green and mushroom when picking our vegetables.

• leafy greens - such as spinach, baby bok choy, napa cabbage, and watercress.
• root vegetables - such as potato, sweet potato, yam, daikon and lotus root.
• mushrooms - such as shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms.
• other vegetables - such as broccoli, cauliflower and tomatoes.

Meat and Seafood

Choose from a variety of meat and seafood, preparing about 1 cup total per person. Make sure to use only thinly sliced meats for quick cooking.

• beef
• lamb shoulder or leg
• pork
• chicken
• shrimp
• mussels
• oysters
• meatballs and cakes - such as fish balls, shrimp balls, fish cakes and beef balls.

Noodles and Tofu

Choose one or two of noodle and tofu dishes, and prepare about ½ cup per person.

• rice vermicelli noodles
• udon noodles
• rice cakes
• firm tofu
• tofu puffs 
• wontons
• dumplings

How to Make Hot Pot Dipping Sauce

The hot pot dipping sauce might be the most important pot of the whole hot pot experience. In addition to the hot pot soup base, it really determines the flavour of your meal. You can completely customize it to your liking and make it spicy, savoury, sour, or slightly sweet.

To make an easy peanut-based dipping sauce, you will to heat the following ingredients in a shallow saucepan over medium heat for about 1-2 minutes until well blended and smooth:

• soy sauce
• peanut butter
• satay paste
• sesame oil
• sugar
• water 

Once you divide the peanut dipping sauce into the dip bowls, you can stir in some optional toppings. Some popular ingredients to add are: vinegar, minced garlic, red chili oil, sambal oelek or chili garlic sauce, finely chopped cilantro, and white sesame seeds.

Whenever we have leftover dipping sauce, we save it and use it in a batch of noodles the next day. It's so delicious.

More Chinese Recipes

• 10-Minute Wonton Soup
• Vegetarian Fried Rice
• Stir Fried Rice Noodle Rolls with Peanut Butter Sauce
• Spicy Chili Oil Wontons
• Shanghai Style Fried Noodles
• Crispy Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls
• Shanghai Style Wonton Soup
• Vegetarian Steamed Buns

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