Today’s recipe is an ode to one of my favorite things in the world: hot pot. Hence, hot pot sauce noodles!
What Is Hot Pot?
If you’ve never had a Chinese hot pot dinner before, here’s a quick explanation of what it is: a big pot of simmering broth––ranging from the mild to the face-numbingly spicy––is placed at the center of the table.
You and your friends/family order a variety of raw things, like different kinds of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, noodles, dumplings, thinly sliced meats, and seafood, and you cook all of these delicious things in the simmering broth, digging out the tasty morsels with great gusto.
Then comes the best part. The sauce.
Everyone makes their own dipping sauce with various ingredients. Things like sesame paste, soy sauce, sacha sauce, garlic, herbs, vinegar, chili oil, etc. A hot pot sauce is a highly personal thing––you mix in a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and taste as you go to get the exact flavor you want.
In our family, everyone’s hot pot sauces vary widely! I am a sesame paste fiend, so my version is 80% sesame. My sister’s hot pot sauce has more of a Sacha base, because she loves that seafood flavor. My dad’s has a ton of raw garlic in it, and my mom loves more soy sauce in hers. W
hether you’re standing at a sauce bar in a hot pot restaurant, or you’re gathered around a bunch of bottles and jars at your family dinner table along with an electric hot pot at our house, it’s all about personal preferences.
Hot Pot Sauce, Without the Hot Pot
Of course, with the temperature currently hovering around 90 degrees here in New York, we’re not exactly jumping at the chance to sweat in front of a steaming pot of boiling soup at the moment. That said, we can still enjoy the joys of a good hot pot sauce, and that’s what this recipe is for.
One of my favorite things in hot pot is the noodles, one of the absolute best vehicles for your delicious bespoke hot pot sauce. This recipe involves mixing up your own concoction using various hot pot sauce ingredients, and then mixing in freshly boiled noodles and maybe some blanched leafy greens. If you like, you can also add meat, seafood, or tofu. What could be better?
Here’s how to make it.
Hot Pot Sauce Noodles: Recipe Instructions
Start by mixing up your sauce in a serving bowl. You can use any combination of sesame paste or peanut butter, soy sauce, sacha sauce, Chinese vinegar, chili oil, garlic, scallions, cilantro, or any other ingredients you like. The ones I’ve listed here are only a suggested guideline, but if you have a favorite chili sauce or other condiment that you’d like to add, feel free!
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add about 2 tablespoons oil to the pot, and blanch your leafy greens for 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how tender they are.
Remove the veggies from the water and transfer to your bowl. Then boil the noodles according to the package instructions and add to the bowl.
Toss everything together, and enjoy!
Hot Pot Sauce Noodles
Ingredients
- Sesame paste
- Peanut butter
- Soy sauce
- Sacha sauce
- Chinese vinegar
- Chili oil
- Raw garlic
- Chopped scallions
- Chopped cilantro
- A handful of leafy greens (like bok choy, choy sum, spinach, or chinese broccoli)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 serving of noodles (dried or fresh)
Instructions
- Start by mixing up your sauce in a serving bowl. You can use any combination of sesame paste, soy sauce, sacha sauce, chinese vinegar, chili oil, garlic, scallions, cilantro, or any other ingredients you like. The ones I’ve listed here are only a suggested guideline, but if you have a favorite chili sauce or other condiment that you’d like to add, feel free!
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the oil to the pot, and blanch your leafy greens for 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how tender they are.
- Remove the veggies from the water and transfer to your bowl. Then boil the noodles according to the package instructions and add to the bowl. Toss everything together, and enjoy!
Looks great but still hard to figure out. I pushed to slider to “serves 3” and it says to use 6 tablespoons of oil. The directions say add 2 tablespoons to the pot of hot water. Uhhhhh, not sure where the other 4 go…or if the chili oil might be part of the 6. OR if 6 is too much..because it sounds like it would be ! And then you are not sure how much garlic to use, etc, etc.
Hi Alex, this recipe is about mixing a sauce to your own personal tastes. I personally like a lot of sesame paste in mine, while my husband like more of a soy sauce base. My sister likes a base of mostly Shacha sauce. The amount of garlic too is about personal preference! You’re right though that the instructions don’t scale with the ingredient amounts. We don’t have the ability to scale anything in the method itself, so I will remove the measurement from that part of the instructions to reduce confusion. Thanks for your comment!
Recipe – which looks very nice – not much use without some idea of quantities!
Hi Charles, this recipe is about cooking according to your own taste—much like you would mix up your own hot pot sauce!
Growing up, my parents would like to marinate drumsticks in the sa cha sauce and then grill them on the bbq.
I’ve taken it a step further, making the marinade the equivalent of what I’d use when having hot pot. I step cilantro in rice wine vinegar then purée the mixture before adding it to soy sauce and sa cha sauce. Then I marinate the drumsticks overnight. It’s delicious and the vinegar tenderizes the meat some too.
oooh that sounds amazing, Wesley! Thank you so much for sharing. Will have to give it a try. :)
OMG! Made it. Loved it! The sesame seed base just makes it so beautifully saucy. And it’s versatile enough to adjust for individual tastes!
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi,
Made this teice now with rough estimates of the measures used and its been a slight bit rough around the edges.
Any chance you could clarify the measurement used for the hot pot sauce?
Cheers.
Hi Stephen, it really is whatever suits your taste! But if it helps, here’s how I like to make my sauce:
1 tbsp Sesame paste
1 tsp Peanut butter
1 1/2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tsp Sacha sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese vinegar
2 tsp Chili oil
1 tsp Raw garlic
1 tbsp Chopped scallions
1 tbsp Chopped cilantro
If the sauce is too thick or you’re having trouble incorporating it all together, add a tablespoon of hot water to smooth it out. Hope that helps!
What kind of noodles did you use, I’ve been wanting to try that kind of noodle but don’t know what to buy.
Hi Maria, they’re a Shaanxi-style wide ribbon noodle, which you can find in the dried noodle section of a well-stocked Chinese grocery store.