Ultimate Guide to Hot Pot at Home

Step 1

Talk to your guests about their hot pot preferences and how much they think they will eat.

Step 2

Create a food list and grocery shop.

Step 3

Prep the ingredients and dipping sauce station as suggested above.

Step 4

Gather all hot pot equipment and set up the dining table.

Step 5

Make the hot pot broth or use a premade soup base and add enough broth until it reaches 2 inches from the top of the pot.

Step 6

Bring the broth to a simmer in the hot pot over the burner with the lid on.

Step 7

Have guests make their dipping sauces and add rice to their bowls.

Step 8

Start adding ingredients to the hot pot. Once you add an ample amount of ingredients for one round of eating, wait for the food to cook. Before adding more food, wait for the heat to come back to a simmer, and don’t overfill the pot. (see above for cooking times)

Step 9

After about 30-45 minutes of eating, you may need to refill the broth. If you still want to continue eating hot pot, pour some hot water into the broth. Add the lid so it comes back to simmer before adding more ingredients. If your guests want to eat noodles with concentrated broth, add your preferred noodles and cook.

Step 10

When finished eating, discard all the cooked broth (including ingredients in the broth you don’t want to eat). Store all the uneaten vegetables, tofu, and carbs in food storage containers in the fridge. Store the leftover meat and seafood in individual containers in the fridge. Cook all of these ingredients within 3 days.