Chinese Hot Pot (The Best Hot Pot Recipe!) - Rasa Malaysia (2024)

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Chinese Hot Pot - delicious ingredients that vary from protein to vegetables are cooked in a hearty and simmering pot of soup stock, similar to fondue.

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Table of Contents

How to Make Chinese Hot Pot

Chinese Hot Pot is a much celebrated delicacy; it’s served on Chinese New Year’s eve as family members gather around the dining table for a scrumptious, hearty and homey meal.

In this Chinese Hot Pot recipe tutorial, you will learn how to serve this traditional delicacy using an Instant Pot, plus all the ingredients you’ll need.

Hot Pot is especially popular during winter months, especially on cold nights. Nothing beats a pot of hot, simmering soup loaded with assortment of fresh ingredients.

There are numerous versions of soup stock but the most basic Chinese hot pot calls for two simple ingredients: chicken broth and ground white pepper. For my recipe, I chose chicken broth.

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Other Recipes You Might Like

  • Nabe (Yosenabe/Japanese Hot Pot)
  • Creamy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup (Instant Pot)
  • Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients for Hot Pot Recipe

For the fresh ingredients, you can get really flexible or creative. As a general rule of thumb, the basics are protein (meat and/or seafood), Chinese vegetables such as Napa cabbage and bok choy, fish balls, tofu, and mushrooms. These are the standard ingredients and they are illustrated in the picture above.

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Cooking Tips

  • To assemble the fresh ingredients, just cut and slice them and then place them on a plate.
  • All family members should gather around the dining table with the hot pot in the middle. The fresh ingredients will be placed alongside the hot pot, and every one will be given a bowl and a pair of chopsticks to savor the meal.
  • First, you have to bring the soup to a boil, then slowly you add the ingredients. Start with the napa cabbage as the stems take longer to cook, then follow by the meat, seafood, fish balls, tofu and mushrooms.
  • Do not cook the fresh ingredients all at once, it will take an average of 2-3 rounds before all fresh ingredients are used up. Slowly, you scoop up the cooked food and soup with a ladle, eat, chat, and then as you finish all the ingredients in the pot, you add more into the soup.
  • As the soup continues to simmer in the pot, the flavor develops and it becomes tastier as the meal proceeds. I love adding garlic oil to the hot pot, which adds an earthy nuance to the dish.
  • For the dipping sauce, you can just use soy sauce. If you like a bit of heat, you can add cut chilies or chili oil to the soy sauce.
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Frequently Asked Questions

What Should I Buy for Hot Pot?

Feel free to buy any thinly sliced meat. Usually, one will also add fish balls, mushrooms, assorted vegetables, eggs, noodles, and tofu.

What Is Hot Pot Broth Made Of?

Mine is made with chicken stock.

How Many Calories?

This recipe has 401 calories per serving.

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What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?

This dish is best served as the main dish. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.

Black Sesame Dumplings (Tang Yuan)

Black Pepper Beef

Chinese Fried Rice

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Chinese Hot Pot

Chinese Hot Pot - delicious ingredients that vary from protein to vegetables are cooked in a hearty and simmering pot of soup stock, similar to fondue.

4.74 from 26 votes

Print

By Bee Yinn Low

Yield 4 people

Prep 20 minutes mins

Cook 30 minutes mins

Total 50 minutes mins

Ingredients

  • 4 oz (125g) napa cabbage, sliced
  • 12 oz (350g) fish balls
  • 6 oz (175g) chicken meat, sliced
  • 4 oz (125g) tofu
  • 4 oz (125g) shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 4 oz (125g) white mushrooms, sliced
  • 6 oz (175g) shrimp, shelled and deveined
  • 4 oz (125g) salmon fillet, cut into pieces
  • 4 oz (125g) scallops
  • 4 oz (125g) baby bok choy, sliced

Garlic Oil:

  • 1 head garlic (peeled and minced)
  • 5 tablespoons cooking oil

Broth:

  • 1 box (32 oz. / 1000 g Kitchen Basics® Original Chicken Stock)
  • 3 cups water
  • 5 dashes ground white pepper

Condiment:

  • soy sauce
  • Cut chilies (optional)

Instructions

  • Arrange the fresh ingredients on plates. Arrange the similar kinds of ingredients on the same plate. See picture above.

  • Add the cooking oil in a skillet. When it's heated, make the Garlic Oil by frying the minced garlic until they turn light brown (do not fry until medium brown). Turn off the heat and transfer the garlic oil to a small bowl. Let cool.

  • Turn on the Instant Pot and set it to Saute mode, for 30 minutes. Add the Kitchen Basics® Original Chicken Stock, water and McCormick Ground White Pepper. Bring the broth to boil.

  • Add the napa cabbage first and cook for 1 minute.

  • Add each ingredient into the Instant Pot in the following order, in batches: fish balls, chicken, tofu, mushrooms, shrimp, salmon, scallops and baby bok choy. Do not use up all the ingredients. The ingredients should be cooked in the hot pot in 2 to 3 bathes.

  • When the soup comes to a boil, add some garlic oil on top. Stir to mix well. Ladle the ingredients and some soup into serving bowls and serve immediately with the Condiment. After you finish the first round, continue to cook the remaining ingredients in the soup until all ingredients are used up.

Notes

You can get different kinds of fish balls in Asian supermarkets. They come in different shapes or form. They are all very tasty. Usually I would get plain white fish balls, fried fish balls (round or rectangle in shapes), and other fish sticks.

Course: Chinese Recipes

Cuisine: Seafood

Keywords: Chinese Hot Pot

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Chinese Hot Pot

Amount Per Serving (4 people)

Calories 401Calories from Fat 252

% Daily Value*

Fat 28g43%

Saturated Fat 4g25%

Cholesterol 161mg54%

Sodium 520mg23%

Carbohydrates 7g2%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 2g2%

Protein 30g60%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.

Chinese Hot Pot (The Best Hot Pot Recipe!) - Rasa Malaysia (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Chinese hot pot and shabu shabu? ›

Traditional Chinese hot pot generally comes already loaded with meat, seafood, and vegetables, but with shabu shabu you'll be given plates of meat, vegetables and other items (dumplings and udon, for example) to cook in the broth.

Are Chinese hot pots healthy? ›

​​​​Hot pot can be healthy when you choose your ingredients, soup base and dipping sauces carefully. The Department of Endocrinology at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) explains. “Let's have steamboat!” This is often a clarion call for some festive, heart-warming get-together with family, friends or colleagues.

What is the Chinese version of hot pot? ›

There are many types of hot pot across China, but at its most basic, Chinese Hot Pot is an interactive meal in which diners sit around a simmering pot of soup at the center of the table with various raw ingredients—meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and starches—in thin slices or small pieces for quick cooking.

What is traditional Chinese hot pot? ›

Hot pot is considered a main course and is usually served without rice or noodles on the side. Hot pots can be prepared and eaten at home or in a restaurant. Typical hot pot ingredients include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, vermicelli, sliced potatoes, bean products, egg dumplings, tofu, and seafood.

Why is shabu shabu so good? ›

Shabu Shabu, one of Japan's many takes on the hotpot, is a super fun and interactive meal to enjoy with family and friends. A glorious array of meats and veggies are beautifully arranged on platters, with some speedy sauces, while a simple broth simmers at the table to cook it all in.

What does shabu shabu mean in English? ›

Shabu-shabu (Japanese: しゃぶしゃぶ, romanized: shabushabu) is a Japanese nabemono hotpot dish of thinly sliced meat and vegetables boiled in water and served with dipping sauces. The term is onomatopoeic, derived from the sound – "swish swish" – emitted when the ingredients are stirred in the cooking pot.

Is hotpot soup unhealthy? ›

Yes, if one is mindful of what goes into the steamboat dinner, it can be a nutritious balanced meal. On the other hand, a single indulgent steamboat dinner may also easily bust a day's — or even two days' — worth of the recommended calorie, fat and sodium intake for each person.

How unhealthy is mala Xiang Guo? ›

The longer you boil your soup, the unhealthier it gets. The spicier it is, the worse it gets too. Stir-fried mala with less spice contained 380mg of sodium and 3.4g of saturated fats per 100g, while the one with extra spice had 519mg of sodium and 6.3g of saturated fats.

Are hot pots Korean or Chinese? ›

Hot pot has been well known in China for about two thousand years. In fact, the first form of hot pot appeared earlier in the Shang and Zhou dynasties (approximately 1600-256 BC).

What is the best meat for hot pot? ›

How to buy meat for hot pot? My parents prefer leaner cuts of meat like beef flank and lean pork chops, but you can also opt for more fatty cuts like beef brisket, ribeye, and etc. There's really no wrong way to go.

What vegetables are good for hot pot? ›

Hot Pot Ingredient List. Hearty and leafy, look for greens that retain texture after cooking like bok choy, watercress, snow pea leaves, Napa cabbage, Chinese spinach, gai lan and green onions. Look for daikon, carrots, small potatoes and either cut into cubes or thinly sliced.

What are the best noodles for hot pots? ›

Though all noodles are good noodles, I've recently started using mostly rice or bean-based varieties because they don't cloud the broth with starch or stick to the bottom of the pot (a pain during post-meal cleaning). My favorites include mung bean glass noodles, vermicelli, pho noodles, and egg noodles.

Do you eat the broth at hot pot? ›

You can drink the broth throughout your meal or save it until the end when it's soaked up all the lovely flavours from your ingredients. Remember, it's a communal meal, so don't be greedy! Share out the food and enjoy the experience together.

How often do Chinese people eat hot pot? ›

Hot pot consumption frequency in China 2022

Six persent of respondents admited doing it twice a week or more.

What makes a hotpot a hotpot? ›

Hotpot.ai is an AI image generation and editing service that helps users create graphics, images, and writing. The platform offers various AI tools to spark creativity and automate tedious tasks, as well as easy-to-edit templates for creating designs such as social media posts, app icons, and marketing images.

Why do Chinese people like hotpot? ›

Hot pot dishes are very healthy; Hot pot is a great way to socialize; Hot pot is a warming activity for cold, winter climates. Hotpot is very easy to prepare.

What is the difference between Chinese and Japanese hot pot? ›

Chinese hot pot will always be paired with thinly sliced steak and pork; Japanese style is tasty with Wagyu beef; Thai broths almost always feature a variety of seafood like fish balls, mussels, and squid. Vegetables across all three styles are not limited to bok choy, mushrooms and napa cabbage.

Why is it called shabu shabu? ›

The creation of Shabu Shabu

In a restaurant setting, diners are served trays of meat and vegetables to cook in a pot at their table. The name comes from the Japanese word for the swishing sound as diners cook the ingredients in the broth.

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