The Ultimate Guide to How to do Chinese Hot Pot at Home

Hot pot is a warm and comforting communal meal that is shared amongst family and close friends but because of the social aspect of it, it is also great to entertain big social gatherings with as well. Next time you have a gathering with close friends and family, try having a hot pot party as the social aspect of the event! It's a lot easier than you think!

What is Hot Pot?

In short, hot pot is just a pot of boiling broth in the center of the table with a large variety of ingredients (usually raw) laid out buffet-style that you use to cook in the broth on the fly.
Once the food has finished cooking, you scoop it out onto your bowl which will have a personalized dipping sauce that you created, and you eat it!

Use Portable Cookware and Place it in the Center of the Eating Area 

• I highly recommend using an electric portable induction cooktop to do hot pot with. It's easy to use, super quick to clean up, and safe to use.  When using an induction stovetop, you're going to want to make sure that your pot is magnetic. I found that any type of steel or stainless steel pot will work. If you are not 100% sure if a pot will work with it, just stick a magnet to it. If the magnet sticks to it, you're good to go.
• Alternatively, you can also use a portable gas butane stove as well. You will need to buy gas canisters in order for it to work but you won't have any long cables or plugs laying around to trip over as well.
• Last but not least, there are also portable electric hot plate burners as well, these are the least expensive option but they also take longer to heat up and are not as good at maintaining a consistent heat.

Once you have the cookware, you can use any type of pot. A very large stainless steel one works best. Make sure you don't use something with too high a wall like a stock pot, because everyone needs to see where the food is! If you ever get serious about hot pot, you can even buy special pots dedicated to hot pot that have dividers in the middle that lets you have 2 different types of broth going at the same time!

Hot Pot Tools and Utensils

A very useful tool for hot pot is a hot pot strainer scoop - each person would get their own scoop at the table. This scoop is very helpful with fishing out slippery and hard-to-grab foods out of the pot and into your sauce bowl.
If you can't find these mini hot pot scoops or you don't want to purchase them, you can use a ladle with holes or a  spaghetti/noodle ladle as well.
Other than the hot pot basket scoop, you can pretty much use any type of utensil you feel comfortable eating with such as wooden chopsticks or forks - if you plan on using metal utensils make sure you don't use it to cook the food from the pot since metal conducts heat and it can get really hot.

Ideas for Hot Pot Soup Bases

Having a good soup base in the pot for cooking helps flavor the foods cooked within it so I highly recommend trying a few to see which ones you like!
A few common types to get you started that we like to use are:

1.) Chicken or beef broth - You can also use bouillons as well for this

2.) Miso broth

3.) Curry paste or Tom Yum paste broth - Add a scoop of curry paste or Tom yum paste to the pot of water and voila!

3.) Use instant hot pot broths. They are very common in Asian grocery stores and there are dozens of varieties to pick from. Just add it to the pot of water and you're good to go!

4.) Once you found a broth you like, make it spicy! Add some hot sauce or chili oil into it!

Chinese Hot Pot Ingredients Ideas - Meat & Seafood

When it comes to hot pot meat, you can either prepare them fresh yourself from scratch by slicing your own meats and fish, or you can buy pre-prepared ones that are sliced very thin.
I like to buy the pre-prepared meats mostly because it's easier and they cut them very thin. The thinner the meat, the faster it will cook which makes them great snacking on for while you are waiting for the longer to cook ingredients to finish cooking.

• Shellfish (Frozen or Fresh) - Shrimp, Scallops, Crab, Lobster, Oyster, Mussels (New Zealand), Clams
• Thinly Sliced Beef and Lamb
• Beef Tripe - Tripe is a great ingredient since its texture makes it a great sauce carrier.
• Pork - Slices of pork shoulder, bacon, and pork belly.
• Chicken and Turkey - Thin slices of chicken breast marinated in a bit of soy sauce, oil, and corn starch to prevent overcooking. The cornstarch also helps with velveting it so it keeps it a nice slippery texture.
• Fish (Frozen or Fresh) - Salmon, Basa Fillet, or any type of fish. I like to slice them thick, around ½ inch so they don't fall apart in the hot pot.
• Squid or Octopus - This may be a hit or miss because of how chewy it can be if you overcook it.

Chinese Hot Pot Ingredients Ideas - Vegetables and Mushrooms

When you are preparing vegetables like root vegetables or very hard vegetables like carrots, you want to make sure you are cutting them into small pieces (I usually like cutting things into 2 inch pieces) so they can cook more quickly and more easily.

• Chinese Greens - Any type of Chinese Leafy Greens such as Napa Cabbage, Tong Oh, Taiwanese A-Choy Lettuce, Snow Pea Tips (the leaves), Watercress Greens, Bok Choy, Gai Lan, Yu Choy
• Mushrooms - Enoki mushrooms, Oyster Mushrooms, King Oyster Mushrooms, Shimeji Mushrooms, Seafood Mushroom, Button Mushrooms (cut in half), Shiitake Mushrooms (fresh or dried, dried shiitake will need to be soaked ahead of time until it's soft)
• Root Vegetables - Daikon Radish, Korean Radish, Taro, Lotus Root
• Chinese Garlic Chives - Cut into 2-inch strips.
• Legumes -Snow Peas, Sugar Snap Peas, Bean Sprouts
• Asparagus - Cut these into 2-inch pieces so that it's easier to eat and cook.
• Baby Corn - These are the baby corn that comes in a can. They have a lot of texture, so they make excellent sauce carriers.
• Chayote - I like to use chayote as an alternative to daikon radish. It's very sweet and quite filling as well, so a few will go a long way. To prepare it, remove the pit by cutting the chayote in half, and then cut out the pit at the bottom. Then I cut them into 4-6 pieces depending on how large it is.
• Other Vegetables - Red, Yellow, or Green Peppers cut into strips, Brussels Sprouts cut in half, Cabbage, Carrots, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Zucchini, Kale, Corn (Cut in 3s or 4s)

Chinese Hot Pot Ingredients Ideas - Noodles, Tofu, and Pre-made Balls

• Noodles - Udon, Thick rice noodles, Instant Ramen Noodles (without the flavor packs), Vermicelli Noodles, Shirataki Yam Noodle Bundles, Mung Bean Glass Noodles, Sweet Potato Glass Noodles. If you're looking for something chewy you can also use rice cakes as well but don't use too many, because the starch can thicken the broth.
• Bean Curd Skin Rolls - These are great for absorbing sauce, but you need to soak them ahead of time in hot water for about 20 minutes to a few hours, or else they will take a very long time to cook through. Buy the bean curd sticks, which hold their shape better in hot pot. The bean curd flat skin sheets are too delicate and will break apart in hot pot.
• Wontons and Dumplings (Fresh or Frozen) - Any type of dumpling works very well in hot pot. My personal favorite is the very large shrimp wontons.
• Deep Fried Tofu Balls - Since they are pre-deep fried, they have a bit more texture on the outer layer which helps the sauce stick to it.
• Fresh Tofu (Medium or Hard) - Fresh tofu has a more clean and more refreshing flavor than the deep-fried versions. Try to find medium or hard-textured ones so it doesn't break easily while it's cooking inside the hot pot with other ingredients.
• Gluten Balls - Gluten balls come in many forms and are usually in the fridge section of Asian grocery stores where the fresh noodles are. They come in smooth balls, textured crunchy-looking balls, and square cubes that look like dried cubes of bread.
• Fish Cakes - These come in different sizes, and you can cut them up into smaller rectangles or square pieces to make them easier to cook and eat.
• Meat Balls - These are a staple in hot pot. They come in a variety of proteins like beef, fish, pork, and lobster. Some even come stuffed with meat or cheese! Definitely have fun with this one and try a variety of them until you find your favorites. My personal favorite is the fish balls stuffed with pork.

Hot Pot Dipping Sauce

Although a good broth is important, I personally find the hot pot dipping sauces even more important since this is what is going to flavor most of your foods.
There's no hard and fast rule on how your dipping sauce should taste, and you are not limited to only one type of dipping sauce - so mix and match it to make your own personal mix in your bowl and have fun with it!
Whether you like your sauces, sweet, spicy, tangy, or just savory here are a few popular options that you can use to set up your sauce stations!

1.) Raw Egg 2.) Sriracha/Sambal Olek 3.) Oyster Sauce 4.) Sesame Oil 5.) Chinese BBQ Sauce (aka Shacha Sauce/Satay Sauce) 6.) Soy Sauce 7.) Green Onions 8.) Sesame Seeds 9.) Chinese Sesame Paste 10.) Chinese Black Vinegar 11.) Chili Flakes 12.) Rice Wine Vinegar 13.) Chinese Chili Oil 14.) Hoisin Sauce

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