To do hot pot at home, put a pot of simmering broth on a portable induction hob (affiliate link, opens in a new tab) or tabletop burner in the middle of the table, surround it with plates of thinly sliced meat, seafood, tofu, vegetables and noodles, and let everyone cook their own bites in the broth and dunk them in a dipping sauce they've mixed themselves. Allow about 500 to 600g of raw ingredients per person.
Hot pot (火锅, huoguo) is the ideal winter gathering: almost no cooking happens before guests arrive, everyone eats at their own pace, and the broth gets richer as the evening goes on. It's a favourite for Christmas holidays, New Year's Eve and Lunar New Year. This guide covers the equipment, three broths, what to buy, how to build a sauce bar, how much to get and how to keep it safe, plus a clear chicken-and-ginger broth with a sesame dipping sauce.
What equipment do you need for hot pot?
- A heat source at the table. A portable induction hob is the easiest and safest indoors. A butane gas burner also works but needs good ventilation (see the safety section).
- A wide, fairly shallow pot. A divided pot (yuanyang, 鸳鸯锅) holds two broths side by side, usually one spicy and one mild, which keeps everyone happy. For induction, check the base is induction-compatible: a fridge magnet should stick firmly to it.
- Small wire strainer ladles for fishing out balls, tofu and noodles, and a large ladle for serving broth.
- Two sets of chopsticks per person, or a set of serving chopsticks per plate, so raw meat never touches what you eat with.
- A small bowl each for sauce, a rice bowl and a kettle of hot stock or water for topping up.
Run an induction hob from a wall socket where you can. If you must use an extension lead, use one rated for the hob's wattage, unwind it fully and tape it down so nobody trips over it on the way to the table.
Hot pot broth: mala, clear or tomato?
Most people choose one spicy and one mild broth. Start each pot about two-thirds full, so there's room for ingredients, and keep it at a steady simmer, bringing it back to a rolling boil whenever you add raw meat or seafood.
| Broth | Flavour | How to make it | Good with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mala (麻辣) | Fiery, numbing, rich | Dissolve a block of shop-bought Sichuan hot pot base in water or stock | Beef, lamb, tripe, potato, lotus root |
| Clear chicken and ginger | Light, savoury, gentle | Simmer chicken with ginger, spring onion and red dates (recipe below) | Seafood, fish balls, greens, tofu |
| Tomato (番茄) | Sweet-sour, mild | Fry 4 chopped tomatoes with 2 tbsp tomato purée, add 1.5 litres stock and a pinch of sugar | Beef, enoki, egg dumplings, noodles |
| Mushroom | Earthy, savoury, vegan-friendly | Simmer dried shiitake and kombu in water, season with soy | Tofu, vegetables, glass noodles |
Shop-bought mala bases usually contain beef tallow, so they aren't vegetarian; check the label, as vegetable-oil versions are available. They are also very salty and very hot: start with half a block per 1.5 litres of water and add more once you've tasted it.
What to put in hot pot
Aim for a mix of meat, seafood, things that soak up broth, greens and something starchy to finish. Most of it lives in the freezer and chiller of a Chinese supermarket; our guide to the Asian supermarket frozen aisle explains what to look for.
- Thinly sliced meat: frozen rolls of beef, lamb or pork belly sliced for hot pot. They cook in under a minute.
- Balls and seafood: fish balls, beef balls, prawn balls, fish tofu, crab sticks, raw prawns, squid and white fish fillet cut into chunks.
- Tofu: firm tofu in cubes, fried tofu puffs, tofu skin (yuba) sticks and frozen tofu, which turns spongy and soaks up broth.
- Mushrooms: enoki, shiitake, oyster and king oyster.
- Vegetables: Chinese leaf (napa cabbage), pak choi, spinach, watercress, crown daisy (tong ho), sliced lotus root, mooli, potato and sweetcorn.
- To finish: dumplings, sweet potato glass noodles, udon or instant noodles cooked in the rich broth at the end, plus quail eggs or rice cakes.
Hot pot dipping sauce: build a sauce bar
Put out small bowls of seasonings and let everyone mix their own. A good sauce bar is half the fun. For more about any of these bottles, see our guide to Chinese sauces and condiments.
- Bases: Chinese sesame paste (芝麻酱), shacha (沙茶酱, a savoury dried shrimp and fish sauce popular in Taiwan and Fujian), light soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil.
- Sharp and hot: black vinegar, chilli oil and chilli crisp. Our guide to making chilli oil shows how to make your own.
- Fresh: minced garlic, chopped coriander, sliced spring onion and fresh chilli.
- Extras: fermented bean curd, crushed peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.
Two combinations to try: sesame paste, soy, black vinegar, garlic and coriander (recipe below) for a mild broth; or sesame oil, plenty of garlic, coriander, a pinch of salt and a spoonful of oyster sauce, which cools and softens food from a mala broth.
Recipe: clear chicken and ginger hot pot broth with sesame sauce
This mild, golden broth is a good partner for a mala pot, or a whole meal on its own for anyone who doesn't like heat. Blanching the chicken first keeps the broth clear. Make it up to two days ahead and keep it in the fridge.
Recipe
Clear chicken and ginger hot pot broth with sesame dipping sauce
A light, gingery chicken broth with red dates and goji berries for cooking hot pot at the table, plus a creamy sesame dipping sauce. Enough for one pot for four people.
- Serves
- 4 people (about 2 litres broth)
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 100 min
- Total
- 120 min
Ingredients
- 1kg chicken wings or bone-in thighs, or 1 chicken carcass plus 500g wings
- 2.5 litres cold water
- 50g fresh ginger, sliced into thick coins and lightly bashed
- 4 spring onions, cut into lengths
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
- 6 dried red dates (jujubes), lightly scored
- 1 tbsp dried goji berries (optional)
- 1½ tsp salt, or to taste
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- For the sauce: 4 tbsp Chinese sesame paste (or tahini), stirred well
- For the sauce: 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- For the sauce: 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
- For the sauce: 2 tsp sugar
- For the sauce: 1 garlic clove, finely grated
- For the sauce: 4 to 6 tbsp warm water
- For the sauce: chopped coriander, spring onion and chilli oil, to serve
Method
- 1Put the chicken in a large pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse the chicken and the pan to get rid of the scum. This is what keeps the broth clear.
- 2Return the chicken to the clean pan with the 2.5 litres cold water, ginger, spring onions and Shaoxing wine. Bring just to the boil, skim off any foam, then turn down to the gentlest simmer, with the lid ajar.
- 3Simmer for 1½ hours without letting it boil hard (boiling makes it cloudy). Add the red dates for the last 30 minutes.
- 4Strain the broth into your hot pot, discarding the ginger and spring onion. Pull the meat off the chicken to add to the pot, or keep for another meal. Stir in the goji berries, salt and white pepper; it should taste well seasoned but not salty, as it will reduce at the table.
- 5For the sauce, whisk the sesame paste with the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and garlic. It will seize and thicken; keep whisking in warm water a tablespoon at a time until it's smooth and pourable, like double cream. Divide between bowls and let everyone top theirs with coriander, spring onion and chilli oil.
- 6Bring the broth to a rolling boil on the table hob. Cook raw meat and seafood in it until fully cooked (thin beef or lamb loses all its red, prawns turn pink and opaque), then dip in the sauce and eat. Top up with hot stock or water from the kettle as the level drops.
How much food per person for hot pot?
Hot pot is slow, so people eat more than they expect. Plan on about 500 to 600g of raw ingredients per person, before noodles. For four people, that is roughly:
| Ingredient | Per person | For four |
|---|---|---|
| Sliced meat | 150 to 200g | 600 to 800g (two or three packs) |
| Seafood and balls | 100 to 150g | 400 to 600g |
| Tofu | 75g | 300g, mixed types |
| Mushrooms and vegetables | 200g | 800g |
| Noodles or dumplings | Half a portion | 2 portions of noodles or 12 to 16 dumplings |
| Broth | 500ml, plus top-ups | 2 litres, plus 1 litre hot stock or water |
Hot pot safety: raw meat, chopsticks and burners
- Cook raw meat and seafood through in boiling broth. Wait until the broth is bubbling before adding raw food, cook in small amounts so it doesn't drop off the boil, and check meat is cooked with no pink and seafood is opaque before eating. Avoid raw chicken pieces at the table; thin beef, lamb and pork cook more quickly and predictably.
- Use separate chopsticks for raw meat. Give each plate of raw meat or seafood its own serving chopsticks or tongs, and eat with your own pair only.
- Keep raw platters cold. Lay out a few plates at a time and keep the rest in the fridge, rather than leaving everything at room temperature all evening.
- Ventilate if you use gas. A tabletop butane burner should only be used in a well-ventilated room with a window open, never in a small closed space, as burning gas produces carbon monoxide. Use a pot no wider than the burner is designed for, and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
- Mind children and cables. Keep the pot handles turned inwards, the hob on a stable surface and cables where nobody can catch them.
What you'll need
A split pot and a safe tabletop hob are the only essentials. Always use them in a well-ventilated room.
- Split (yin-yang) hot potTwo broths at once, so spicy and mild eaters can share one pot.See options on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
- Portable induction hobA safer tabletop heat source indoors than a gas burner.See options on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
- Hot pot strainer ladlesFish cooked food out of the broth without chasing it with chopsticks.See options on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
- Hot pot soup baseA ready-made spicy or mushroom base makes the broth in minutes.See options on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
- Chinese sesame pasteThe base of the classic hot pot dipping sauce.See options on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
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Where to buy hot pot ingredients in the UK
A Chinese or pan-Asian supermarket has everything in one trip: sliced meat and balls in the freezer, tofu and mushrooms in the chiller, hot pot bases, sesame paste and divided pots on the shelves. Our directory lists 259 stores stocking Chinese groceries, with the most in London, Edinburgh and Birmingham. 6 listings in the directory specifically mention hot pot ingredients, meats or kits; they are listed below. Shelves get busy in the run-up to Christmas and Lunar New Year, so shop a few days early and call ahead for anything specific.
Stores whose listings mention hot pot
- GG Oriental Snack ShackOxford · EnglandChinese
- Hing Yip Oriental SupermarketLondon · EnglandChineseKoreanJapaneseThai
- Hua Xing Chinese SupermarketEdinburgh · ScotlandChineseKoreanJapaneseThai
- Jiajia China SupermarketBournemouth · EnglandChinese
- PandaBrighton and Hove · EnglandChineseKoreanJapaneseVietnamese
- The Honest ShopStirling · ScotlandChineseKoreanJapanese
Chinese supermarkets by city
- Chinese groceries in London45 stores
- Chinese groceries in Edinburgh11 stores
- Chinese groceries in Birmingham9 stores
- Chinese groceries in Manchester9 stores
- Chinese groceries in Glasgow7 stores
- Chinese groceries in Liverpool7 stores
- Chinese groceries in Cambridge6 stores
- Chinese groceries in Cardiff6 stores