Healthy Homemade Hot Pot Broth (Plain + Spicy)

Although hot pot is universally loved by many different cultures and cuisines, it is extremely popular in Sichuan especially the spicy soup plus plain soup combo. It is usually served in a “yin and yang” style pot or a pot with a smaller circular pot in the middle. The spicy pot gives the classic hot and numbing flavor of Sichuan hot pot while the plain side provides a calm and mellow taste for people who prefer a less spicy soup.

It is no secret that you can get a large variety of hot pot soup bases from Asian grocery stores, and most of them mimic the traditional recipe. However, to make the products shelf stable and taste strong, the manufacturers of hot pot bases add a lot of additives and flavoring agents to the soup, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium 5 ribonucleotide, maltodextrin and disodium succinate. Although these additives are generally considered safe, they can cause negative effects to our gut health and overall health. So I no longer purchase these soup packets to have hot pot.

This recipe is a healthy and delicious Sichuan hot pot recipe that is easy to make at home. You can do all the preparation in one day and have hot pot. Or your can prepare the stock one day ahead and have hot pot on the next day. The result is very tasty and you’ll absolutely want to have homemade hot pot a lot!

How to make homemade hot pot broth (not spicy)?

For the plain side, the hot pot broth is simply a stock. You can use chicken stock, vegetable stock or bone stock. In my recipe, I used pork ribs and beef bones to make the stock. In addition to stock, we add some additional ingredients to add flavors and medicinal value to the soup, such as dried morel mushroom, goji berries, jujube fruit, dried mushrooms, Chinese medicine etc. You can purchase a packet with Chinese soup ingredients from Asian grocery stores.

How to make spicy hot pot base healthy?

Since spicy hot pot base has a large amount of oil, using a healthy and good oil is the key to make it healthy. I use extra virgin olive oil to make a healthy spicy hot pot base. Choose your preferred healthy oil to make the hot pot base. Additionally, avoid additives and MSG when making the hot pot base. The main ingredient for spicy hot pot broth is chilies and I use not spicy varieties of dry chilies such as ErJingTiao and ChaoTianJiao to make hot pot base.

Watch full video instruction:

Healthy Hot Pot Broth (Plain + Spicy)

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Servings: 3

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb pork ribs
• 3 lb beef bone
• 30 g dried chilies
• 1 tbsp Sichuan pepper red, green or a mixture of both
• 4 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 cup Olive oil
• 1 star anise
• 1 small piece cassia cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 Chinese black cardamom
• 2 White cardamom
• 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
• 1 Spring onion
• 1 large piece ginger
• 2 tbsp Sichuan chilli bean paste aka Doubanjiang
• 1 tsp fermented black beans rinsed
• 1 tsp rock sugar
• 1 tbsp fermented glutinous rice (aka tian jiu niang)

Method

 

1. Prepare 1 lb pork ribs and 3 lb beef bone, wash clean
2. Add bones to a pot and add water. Bring to a boil. Take out the bones as soon as it boils to remove extra blood and impurities
3. Slice white part of spring onion and ginger
4. Add the bones to a large pot, add 8-10 cups of water, top with spring onion and ginger slice
5. Bring to boil, remove foam on top. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.
6. Prepare about 30g of dry chili. Take out about 5 whole chilies for garnish later. Cut the chilies into sections and shake out the seeds. The purpose of this step is to release the seeds so the hot pot base is not too spicy. You can use a strainer to shake out even more seeds from the peppers. Soak chilies with hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and add to a food processor to process chilies to chili paste ( we will use about 3/4 cups of chili paste). You can also chop up the chilies with a knife or use a mortar and pestle.
7. Prepare other ingredients and spices: 1 tsp of Fermented black soybeans, 2 tbsp of Doubanjiang, 1 tsp of rock sugar, 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn, 2 white cardamom, 1/2 black cardamom, 1 star anise, 1 small piece of Chinese cinnamon, 1 bay leaves and 1 tsp of fennel seeds, 1 tbsp fermented glutinous rice.
8. Combine Sichuan peppercorn and dry spices in a bowl and soak with shaoxing wine to release flavor. We will drain the spices later before use.
9. Add olive oil to a sauce pan. Turn on the heat. When bubbles come out testing with a chopstick, add chili paste. Stir for about 5 minutes
10. Add in the spices. Remember to drain the cooking wine before putting them in. Cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
11. Add Sichuan Doubanjiang and fermented black beans. Stir for 3-4 minutes
12. Add rock sugar and fermented glutinous rice. Stir for 2 more minutes.
13. Turn off the heat and let cool for a while. This is the spicy hot pot base
14. Add to the spicy side of the hot pot. Add water to fill up the hot pot.
15. When the soup stock is ready, take out the soup and add to the plain side of the hot pot. Top with additional flavoring ingredients such as dried morel mushroom, goji berries, jujube fruit, dried mushroom slices, spring onion and ginger.
16. Bring both sides to boil and it's ready. Let the spicy side boil for 5-10 more minutes to release more flavor.