How to Eat Hotpot

Co-authored by Jessica Gibson

Last Updated: March 29, 2019 References

If you're looking for a fun dining experience with friends, try hotpot! This Asian style of communal cooking in a single pot gives you control over making the meal at the table. Decide with your friends what you'd like to order. Once the food arrives at your table, you need to know what order to add the food, so it cooks perfectly. Part of eating hotpot is taking the time to relax and enjoy the company of friends, so dig in and start cooking!

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Ordering

1
Select a broth. Look at the hotpot menu and decide if you're doing a full pot or divided pot. If you're getting a divided hotpot, you can choose 2 broths, usually a mild and a spicy one. Popular hotpot broths include:^{[1]
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- Chicken broth: a basic broth that's great for beginners.
- Tom yum: a slightly sweet and spicy broth that goes well with meat.
- Ma-la: a Szechuan broth that's very spicy and has curry-like flavors.
- Savory mushroom: a good vegetarian broth that's rich in umami.
2
Choose several types of meats and proteins. Thinly sliced beef is one of the most popular hotpot choices since it cooks within 10 to 30 seconds. Chicken pieces are also available, but not as popular since they take much longer to cook. In addition to pieces of meat, you can also pick dumplings or balls made of meat, fish, or pork.^{[2]
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- There are a lot of meat and protein options, such as beef, pork belly, chicken, lamb shoulder, tofu, and offal.
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3
Select a few kinds of seafood. Head-on shrimp is a good choice for hotpot since they cook in their shells and the shells will flavor the broth. If you prefer easier to eat seafood, choose pieces of haddock, seabass, squid, or eel. Shellfish, such as mussels, oysters, crab, and lobster, are also great options.^{[3]
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- If you get the head-on shrimp, you'll need to be careful as you eat it since very hot broth can become trapped in the shell.
4
Order a variety of vegetables. Include some of your favorites and a few new ones to try in the broth. Keep in mind that vegetables cook at different rates. Delicate vegetables will cook within seconds or a minute while hardy vegetables or mushrooms will take several minutes.^{[4]
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Vegetable Options:
Mushrooms: shiitake, enoki, button, straw, oyster
Hardy: turnip, daikon radish, napa cabbage, bok choy, carrot, corn, potato
Delicate: taro root, tomatoes, watercress, lettuce, bean sprouts
5
Pick a few types of noodles. Noodles are a great way to round out a hotpot meal, since they're filling and they cook quickly. You'll probably see udon, vermicelli, chow mein, and shangdong noodles on most hotpot menus.^{[5]
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- If you're trying to cut carbohydrates, check the menu for yam noodle bundles or shirataki noodles.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Adding Ingredients

1
Put meat or fish balls into the hotpot first. Once the broth in your hotpot is boiling, use a hotpot strainer to add the meat or fish balls you ordered. These will take around 5 minutes total to cook, so give them a head start before adding other ingredients. The balls should puff up and float once they're finished cooking.^{[6]
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- Always use caution when adding food to the hotpot because the broth could splash and cause burns.
Did You Know? Hotpot balls come in all different types. Common types of balls are made from beef, squid, fish, shrimp, pork, or steak.
2
Add larger pieces of protein and hardy greens. About a minute after you put the balls in the hotpot, use a hotpot strainer or chopsticks to add pieces of chicken, lamb shoulder, or any other ingredients that take several minutes to cook, such as the hardy greens or vegetables.^{[7]
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- Pieces of meat are finished cooking once they're no longer pale pink. It should take 5 to 8 minutes total for them to cook.
- Stir the hotpot with a hotpot strainer so the meat and vegetables cook evenly.
3
Drop in delicate meats and greens. Once you've given longer-cooking foods a head start in the hotpot, gently lower in quick-cooking foods. These include thinly sliced meats and any delicate vegetables you want to add.^{[8]
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- Only put in a few of these at a time, since they usually cook in less than a minute. This gives you a chance to remove and eat them before adding more to the hotpot.
- Thinly sliced meats, such as beef, will turn brown once they've finished cooking.
4
Stir in noodles at the last minute. After you're about halfway through your hotpot meal, add your choice of noodles to the hotpot. Stir them gently and cook them for a couple of minutes or until they're soft.^{[9]
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- The noodles will soak up the broth that's been flavored by all of the food you've cooked in it.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Enjoying the Hotpot

1
Create a personal dipping sauce. Most hotpot restaurants will have a small sauce bar or will bring a tray with several hot sauce components on it. Take a small dish and combine your favorite ingredients to make your own unique sauce. For example, mix any of these together according to your taste:^{[10]
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- Scallions or cilantro
- Soy sauce
- Chopped garlic
- Sesame oil
- Peanut sauce
- Tahini
2
Lift food out of the hotpot and dip it in your sauce. Use long chopsticks or a hotpot strainer to remove your choice of cooked food from the hotpot broth. Lower the food into your dish of sauce and then eat it. If you're eating tofu or a ball, let it cool off a little and use caution since it will have absorbed a lot of hot broth.^{[11]
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- Always ask the people you're eating with whether the food you want to remove from the hotpot is theirs or not.
- Avoid pouring your sauce into the hotpot. Everyone will have different flavor preferences and doing so could ruin the broth for others.
3
Keep the hotpot set to medium so it constantly bubbles. The broth should always be bubbling gently, so it will cook the food you continue to add. Don't worry about the broth evaporating, since someone from the restaurant will occasionally come and pour more broth in your hotpot.^{[12]
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- Remember to lower new food into the hotpot slowly. This will prevent hot broth from splashing out of the hotpot.
4
Wait to drink the broth until the food is out of the hotpot. After everyone has finished cooking and eating food from the hotpot, ladle some of the broth into your bowl. The broth has now absorbed extra flavor from all the food you cooked in it.^{[13]
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- Remember that the broth will still be incredibly hot, so sip it slowly.
5
Enjoy the hotpot along with salad, nuts, or spring rolls. Although you don't have to eat side dishes, hotpot foods go well with roasted nuts, spicy cucumber or mushroom salad, scallion pancakes, and spring rolls.^{[14]
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- Fresh fruit or creamy ice cream are great desserts to eat after having spicy hotpot.

Warnings

To completely kill bacteria, it's important to bring the hotpot broth to a boil before you put any meat or seafood into it.^{[16]
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