Building a Chinese Hot Pot Herbal Base From Scratch
Chinese hot pot is one of the great communal meals: a simmering pot in the middle of the table, plates of raw ingredients around it, and everyone cooking their own dinner piece by piece. Restaurants and shop-bought soup base packets have made it easy to enjoy at home, but the broth itself, the heart of the whole meal, is genuinely easy to build from scratch. Making your own means you control the salt, skip the additives, and get to work with the traditional herbs that give a proper hot pot base its depth. Here's how to do it.
What Makes a Hot Pot Base Different From Stock
A hot pot base isn't quite the same thing as a soup. It's designed to be a cooking medium as much as a broth, flavourful enough to season everything dipped into it, but not so intense that it overwhelms delicate ingredients like fish or leafy greens. It also has to hold up to two hours of continuous simmering while the meal unfolds, which is exactly where dried herbs earn their place: they release their character slowly and keep giving as the pot reduces.
Broadly, home hot pot bases fall into two families. The fiery Sichuan style, loaded with chilli and numbing peppercorns, and the gentler herbal style, built on a clear, savoury broth with dried roots, berries, and dates. This article builds the herbal style, which is also the traditional base for the "white" half of the divided yin-yang pots you'll see in restaurants.
The Herbs That Build the Base
Four cupboard staples do most of the work, and if you've cooked our congee or soup recipes before, you'll recognise all of them.
Dried Jujube Dates (Hong Zao) are the backbone of a herbal hot pot broth, releasing a gentle sweetness over the long simmer that rounds out the savoury base. Six to eight is plenty for a family pot.
Dried Goji Berries are the signature you'll spot floating in nearly every herbal hot pot, adding colour and a light, fruity tartness. Unlike in quicker dishes, here they go in from the start.
Dried Astragalus Root (Huang Qi) brings the subtle, faintly sweet depth that makes a broth taste slow-cooked. Its flat slices are easy to fish out at the table, or leave in as a talking point.
Dried Chinese Yam (Shan Yao) softens gradually and gives the broth body. By the end of the meal the slices are tender enough to eat, a quiet bonus for whoever finds them.
A thumb of fresh ginger, three or four spring onions, and a few dried shiitake mushrooms complete the base. The mushrooms bring the deep savoury note that makes the broth satisfying without any meat at all.
The Method
For a pot serving four: 2 litres of water or light chicken stock, 6 to 8 Jujube Dates, 2 tablespoons of Goji Berries, 4 to 5 slices of Astragalus, 4 to 5 slices of Chinese Yam, 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, a sliced thumb of ginger, and the spring onions cut into lengths.
Rinse the dried herbs briefly. Add everything to the pot, bring it to the boil, then simmer gently with the lid ajar for 30 to 40 minutes before the meal begins. That's genuinely it. The broth should be golden, fragrant, and lightly sweet-savoury. Season with a modest amount of salt at the end, remembering that dipping sauces at the table will carry plenty of seasoning of their own.
Then move the pot to the table, bring it back to a simmer on a portable burner, and start cooking: thinly sliced meats first if using, then fish and tofu, with leafy vegetables and noodles towards the end, soaking up everything the pot has become.
Making It Your Own
Once the base is familiar, it takes variation well. A few slices of Dried Angelica Root (Dang Gui) shift it towards the warming, aromatic style popular in colder months, though a little goes a long way. White peppercorns add gentle background heat without chilli. And for a divided pot, run this herbal broth on one side and a chilli-laden Sichuan base on the other, so the table gets both traditions at once.
Top the broth up with hot water as the meal goes on. It concentrates as it reduces, and the final ladleful, drunk as soup at the end of the night, is traditionally considered the best part of the whole meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make the base ahead of time?
Yes, it keeps for 3 days in the fridge and freezes well. Make a double batch and you have the next hot pot night ready to go.
Do I need a special pot?
Any wide, fairly shallow pot works with a portable burner. Divided pots are only necessary if you want two broths at once.
Is the herbal base spicy?
No, this style is gentle and aromatic. Heat comes from dipping sauces or a Sichuan base on the other side of a divided pot.
Can I eat the herbs in the broth?
The dates, goji berries, yam and mushrooms are all pleasant to eat by the end. Astragalus slices are usually fished out, as they stay woody.
What do I serve for dipping?
A classic starting sauce is sesame paste or peanut butter loosened with a little broth, plus soy sauce, chopped spring onion and garlic. From there, everyone builds their own.
Everything you need for the base is in our DaoDi culinary herbs collection. Build it once from scratch and the packet versions never quite taste the same again.
Food supplements and culinary herbs should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet. This article is for general information only and is not intended as medical advice.