Hot pot (火锅, huǒ guō) is a pot of simmering broth in the middle of the table. You cook raw meat, tofu and vegetables in it yourself; a split pot gives you a spicy and a mild side.
A pot of broth sits on a burner built into the table. Everyone orders plates of raw ingredients – thinly sliced beef and lamb, meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, greens – drops them into the broth, fishes them out a few seconds or minutes later and dips them into a sauce they mixed themselves. It is a slow, shared meal: one pot is made for four to six people, and a hot pot dinner easily takes two hours. Expect to pay about ¥80–150 per person at an ordinary restaurant in a big city (2026).
The style most visitors meet is the one from Chongqing and Sichuan, with a fiery red broth – almost always as a split pot, with a mild broth on the other side. If you have eaten fondue chinoise in Switzerland or Germany, you know the idea: it is the European version of Chinese hot pot.
What it tastes like. The spicy side hits twice: chilli heat first, then a buzzing numbness on your lips from Sichuan pepper – that tingle is the má (麻) in mala. Everything you cook takes on its broth, so the same slice of beef tastes completely different from the two sides of a split pot. The sauce does the rest: sesame oil and garlic cool the chilli down, sesame paste makes it rich.
1Dried chillies
干辣椒 gān là jiāo
Whole dried chillies give the heat. Nobody eats them – leave them in the pot.
Tap a number on the photo, or a name in the list.
Only if you order it spicy. The red mala broth is hot and numbing, but tomato, mushroom and clear broths have no chilli at all – and a split pot (鸳鸯锅) gives you one of each. You choose the broth first, in the 锅底 section of the menu; these are the words you will see there.
| Chinese and pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 锅底guō dǐ | Pot base. The menu section where you choose the broth. You order it first. |
| 麻辣锅 · 红汤má là guō · hóng tāng | Mala broth · “red broth”. Chilli and Sichuan pepper in beef tallow: hot and numbing. |
| 番茄锅fān qié guō | Tomato broth. Sweet-sour, not spicy. The usual mild side of a split pot. |
| 菌汤锅jūn tāng guō | Mushroom broth. Light and savoury, not spicy. |
| 清汤锅qīng tāng guō | Clear broth. Plain stock, not spicy. Tastes of whatever you cook in it. |
| 白粥锅bái zhōu guō | Rice congee broth. Plain rice porridge, not spicy. A southern broth: you eat the congee at the end. |
| 沙茶锅 · 海鲜锅shā chá guō · hǎi xiān guō | Shacha broth · seafood broth. Southern broths, not or barely spicy. Both contain shrimp or other seafood. |
| 鸳鸯锅yuān yang guō | Split pot. One pot with a divider and two broths – usually one spicy, one not. |
| 九宫格jiǔ gōng gé | Nine-grid pot. Chongqing style: one mala broth, a grid of nine sections to keep track of your food. |
| 小火锅xiǎo huǒ guō | Small hot pot. One small pot per person, each with the broth they chose. |
| 牛油 · 清油niú yóu · qīng yóu | Beef tallow · vegetable oil. The two fats a mala broth is made with. 清油 is the one without beef. |
| 不辣 · 微辣 · 中辣 · 特辣bú là · wēi là · zhōng là · tè là | Not · mildly · medium · extra spicy. The heat levels you can pick for the spicy side. |
Order this
鸳鸯锅：番茄 + 微辣
yuān yang guō: fān qié + wēi là
Split pot: tomato + mildly spicyMild
Taste the spicy side first, then retreat to the tomato side. Even 微辣 (mild) at a Sichuan-style place is hot for most visitors.
In five steps – each one is explained further down, with something to try out.
The pot base comes first on the menu. Not sure about chilli? A split pot gives you a spicy and a mild side.
Go to it ↓Usually by scanning the QR code on the table, sometimes by ticking a paper menu with a pencil. Plates arrive raw; many places sell half portions (半份).
Go to it ↓At the self-service sauce bar. Many restaurants charge a small fee per person for it.
Go to it ↓Drop a few pieces in, fish them out when done, dip them in your sauce. Thin meat takes seconds, potatoes minutes.
Go to it ↓Noodles go in last, into the broth that is left. Pay at the counter or on the same QR-code page you ordered from.
Go to it ↓Most hot pot restaurants now take your order by a QR code on the table: scan it with Alipay or WeChat and order on your phone – it works like our QR-code ordering walkthrough. Others hand you a paper menu to tick with a pencil. Either way the menu is usually in Chinese only, so here are the 22 things you will see most, as they are written on it.
Tap Cook it to see how long each one takes, and Add to order to build a list you can show the staff in large characters.
肥牛
féi niú
Thin-sliced fatty beef
Safe bet
Done as soon as no pink is left. Cook a few slices at a time.
羊肉卷
yáng ròu juǎn
Thin-sliced lamb
Safe bet
Done as soon as no pink is left. In Beijing it comes as fresh slices on a board.
午餐肉
wǔ cān ròu
Luncheon meat, like Spam
Safe bet
Already cooked – it only needs to heat through.
虾滑
xiā huá
Shrimp paste
Safe betAllergen B · Crustaceans
Scrape it into the broth in small lumps with the spoon it comes with. Done when the pieces float and turn pink-white.
牛肉丸
niú ròu wán
Beef balls
Safe bet
Done a minute or two after they float.
鱼丸
yú wán
Fish balls
Safe betAllergen D · Fish
Done when they float and puff up.
鹌鹑蛋
ān chún dàn
Quail eggs, boiled and peeled
Safe betAllergen C · Eggs
Already cooked – they only soak up the broth.
毛肚
máo dǔ
Beef tripe
Adventurous
七上八下 (qī shàng bā xià, “seven up, eight down”): hold it with your chopsticks and dip it in and out of the boiling broth. Left in, it turns rubbery.
鸭肠
yā cháng
Duck intestines
Adventurous
Hold it with your chopsticks; done when it curls up.
黄喉
huáng hóu
Beef aorta
Adventurous
Crunchy rather than chewy. Done when the edges curl.
鸭血
yā xuè
Duck blood cubes
Adventurous
Soft and smooth, like tofu. It sinks, so fish it out with the ladle.
脑花
nǎo huā
Pig brain
Adventurous
Usually cooked in a small ladle sitting in the broth, until firm all the way through.
生菜
shēng cài
Lettuce
Safe bet
Just let it wilt.
娃娃菜
wá wa cài
Baby napa cabbage
Safe bet
Done when the white stems turn soft.
金针菇
jīn zhēn gū
Enoki mushrooms
Safe bet
Cook the bundle whole, then pull it apart.
土豆片
tǔ dòu piàn
Potato slices
Safe bet
Done when soft. They sink – fish them out with the ladle.
藕片
ǒu piàn
Lotus root slices
Safe bet
Stays crunchy even when cooked.
冬瓜
dōng guā
Winter melon
Safe bet
Done when it turns see-through.
冻豆腐
dòng dòu fu
Frozen tofu
Safe betAllergen F · Soybeans
Spongy: it soaks up the broth and stays very hot inside.
腐竹
fǔ zhú
Tofu skin sticks
Safe betAllergen F · Soybeans
Done when soft all the way through.
宽粉
kuān fěn
Wide sweet-potato noodles
Safe bet
Done when see-through and chewy. Stir so they don’t stick.
手擀面
shǒu gǎn miàn
Hand-rolled noodles
Safe betAllergen A · Cereals containing gluten
Order them last and cook them in the broth that is left.
Most places have a self-service sauce bar (调料台, tiáo liào tái): a counter of bowls and jars from which you mix your own dip, and go back as often as you like. Many restaurants charge a small fee per person for it (调料费). Sesame and peanuts are the two allergens to watch – both turn up in several jars. Try it here: tap the containers, or start from one of the three regional classics.
For mala hot pot
油碟yóu diéChongqing oil dip
香油 ×3 · 蒜泥 ×2 · 葱花 ×1 · 香菜 ×1 · 蚝油 ×1
Sesame oil with plenty of garlic. The oil coats each bite and cools the chilli down; many people add a spoon of oyster sauce.
For copper-pot lamb
麻酱má jiàngBeijing sesame dip
芝麻酱 ×3 · 韭菜花 ×1 · 腐乳 ×1 · 辣椒油 ×1 · 香菜 ×1
Thick, nutty and salty: sesame paste with chive-flower sauce and fermented tofu, chilli oil to taste.
For Chaoshan beef hot pot
沙茶shā cháChaoshan shacha dip
沙茶酱 ×2 · 小米辣 ×1
Shacha sauce on its own, with fresh chilli if you like. It contains shrimp and fish.
Tap the containers to fill your bowl – or start from one of the three classics.
Letters are the EU allergen groups; letters in brackets depend on the brand. Every restaurant stocks its own sauces – when an allergy matters, ask before you mix.
Nobody expects visitors to know the rules, and there are not many. 10 situations – do it, or don’t?
1Drink the spicy broth at the end.
Don’t
The mala broth is mostly chilli oil and beef tallow – it is for cooking in, not for drinking. Tomato and mushroom broths are different: ladle some into your small bowl and sip it.
2Tip a whole plate of sliced beef into the pot at once.
Don’t
Thin slices are done in seconds. Cook a few at a time with your chopsticks and eat them straight away – a whole plate gets lost in the pot and overcooked.
3Fish things out with the slotted ladle.
Do it
The slotted ladle (漏勺, lòu sháo) is for potatoes, tofu and anything that sinks. Tip it into your own bowl first – food comes out of the pot very hot.
4Stand your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice.
Don’t
It looks like the incense sticks at a funeral. Lay them across your bowl or on the rest.
5Cook with the chopsticks you eat with.
It depends
Among friends many people do. Many restaurants now also put out serving chopsticks (公筷, gōng kuài) – if they are on the table, use them for raw meat and the shared pot.
6Ask for more broth when the level drops.
Do it
The broth boils down. Wave to the staff and say 加汤 (jiā tāng) – topping up is part of the service.
7Put on the apron the staff hand you.
Do it
Chilli oil splashes. Many hot pot restaurants hand out aprons, and some give you a small bag for your phone.
8Throw your empty skewers away at a chuanchuan restaurant.
Don’t
The sticks are your bill: at the end the staff count them. Put them in the holder on the table.
9Leave a tip for good service.
Don’t
Tipping is not expected in mainland China, not even at the chains famous for their service. Just pay the bill.
10Eat the wild mushrooms as soon as they look done (Yunnan mushroom hot pot).
Don’t
Wild mushrooms have to boil for the full time the staff give you – often marked with a timer or an hourglass on the table. Undercooked, some can make you seriously ill.
Hot pot is not one dish. Every region cooks it differently – 6 styles you can find on a trip, from the mala pot of Chongqing to the coconut chicken of Hainan. Tap a number or a region.
1 · Chongqing & Sichuan
麻辣火锅má là huǒ guō
Spicy and numbing
The style you find all over China – usually as a split pot, with a mild broth on the other side.
Want the bigger picture? The eight great regional cuisines of China on one map.
Not all hot pot is one big shared pot. Three relatives you will meet in China: a pot for each person, everything on a stick, and a pot that is already cooking when you arrive. Tap the numbers on the photos.
At a small hot pot restaurant (小火锅, xiǎo huǒ guō) nobody shares a pot. Every seat has its own little clay pot on its own burner, and everyone chooses their own broth – one person has mala, the next plain rice congee. Only the raw food is shared: fresh-cut beef, seafood, tofu and greens on plates in the middle of the table.
Many places call it Chaoshan small hot pot (潮汕小火锅), after the region in eastern Guangdong known for its fresh beef and its congee. You find it all over the south, often in big, noisy food halls like this one. The usual broths are mala red oil, seafood, rice congee and shacha – all four are in the menu words above.
It is the easiest hot pot for a mixed table. Nobody has to agree on how spicy, nobody else’s chopsticks go into your broth, and with a shellfish allergy you can keep other people’s prawns out of your pot – though the plates and the sauce bar are still shared.
1Shacha broth
沙茶锅底 shā chá guō dǐ
Made with shacha sauce, the savoury paste of dried shrimp, fish and garlic that Chaoshan also uses as a dip. Rich and creamy, at most mildly spicy – and not for anyone allergic to shellfish or fish.
Tap a number on the photo, or a name in the list.
Chuanchuan (串串香, chuàn chuan xiāng, “fragrant skewers”) is Chengdu’s casual take on hot pot. Everything comes on bamboo skewers – beef, offal, tofu, mushrooms, greens. You take the skewers you want from a fridge or tick them on the menu, cook them in a mala broth at your table and lift them out by the stick, so nothing gets lost in the pot.
At the end the staff count your empty sticks, and that is the bill – so keep them in the holder on the table. Chuanchuan is cheaper and quicker than hot pot, and the broth is nearly always mala. In Chengdu you also find cold-pot skewers (冷锅串串, lěng guō chuàn chuan): cooked in the kitchen and served soaking in chilli oil, with no burner on the table.
1Everything on a stick
串 chuàn
Each bamboo skewer holds a few pieces of one thing. Drop a handful in, lift them out by the sticks – and keep the empty sticks, because they are your bill.
Tap a number on the photo, or a name in the list.
Guandong zhu (关东煮, guān dōng zhǔ) is the hot pot nobody cooks themselves: a wide pot simmering all day at a street stall or on the counter of a convenience store, full of fish cakes, fish balls, tofu, radish, kelp and eggs. Point at what you want, take it away in a paper cup with some broth and pay per piece. A cheap, warm snack, especially in winter.
The name, “Kantō stew”, gives it away: guandong zhu is Japanese oden, and it spread across China with the convenience stores. But 关东 (guān dōng) is also an old name for Northeast China, so many people think of it as a northern dish – and in northern cities it is sold at street stalls like this one, not only in shops.
1Pay per piece
Point at what you want. It goes into a paper cup or bowl with a ladle of broth, and you pay per skewer or piece.
Tap a number on the photo, or a name in the list.
All five are things cooked in broth, and they are easy to mix up. The difference is who does the cooking, and how you pay.
| Who cooks | How you choose | How you pay | Where | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot pot火锅huǒ guō | You, in a pot the table shares | Plates from the menu or the QR code | Per plate, plus the broth | Sit-down restaurants; a long evening meal |
| Small hot pot小火锅xiǎo huǒ guō | You, each in your own pot | A broth for each person, plates for the table | Per pot of broth, plus the plates | Restaurants and food halls, mostly in the south |
| Chuanchuan串串香chuàn chuan xiāng | You, at the table | Skewers from a fridge or the menu | Per skewer – the staff count your sticks | Casual Sichuan-style restaurants |
| Malatang麻辣烫má là tàng | The kitchen | Raw ingredients from a fridge, into a bowl | By weight | Fast-food shops; a quick meal for one |
| Guandong zhu关东煮guān dōng zhǔ | Nobody – it is already simmering | Point at pieces in the pot | Per piece | Convenience stores and street stalls; a snack |
Chinese. Hot pot – 火锅, huǒ guō, literally “fire pot” – is eaten all over China. Korea and Japan have their own dishes cooked in a pot at the table, which is where the confusion comes from. Outside Asia, a “hot pot restaurant” is usually a Chinese one: several big Chinese hot pot chains have branches in Europe and North America.
| Broth | How it is cooked | Dip | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese hot pot 火锅 | Your choice: spicy mala, tomato, mushroom, bone broth – two at once in a split pot | You cook raw ingredients yourself, a few at a time | A sauce you mix at the sauce bar |
| Korean jeongol, budae-jjigae | A seasoned stew broth, often with gochujang chilli paste | Everything goes in together and simmers as a stew | Usually none – eaten with rice |
| Japanese shabu-shabu | Kombu (kelp) broth | You swish thin slices through the broth one at a time | Ponzu or sesame sauce |
Tap a card to show it full-screen to the staff. Most of what you need is on the QR-code menu; these are for everything else.
要鸳鸯锅
yào yuān yang guō
A split pot, please
不要辣
bú yào là
Not spicy, please
微辣
wēi là
Only mildly spicy
要半份
yào bàn fèn
A half portion, please
请加汤
qǐng jiā tāng
More broth, please
火小一点
huǒ xiǎo yì diǎn
Turn the heat down a little
请给我们公筷
qǐng gěi wǒ men gōng kuài
Serving chopsticks, please
买单
mǎi dān
The bill, please
The broth itself usually contains wheat and soy – from the fermented bean paste and the ready-made hot pot base in the spicy side. The bigger risk sits at the sauce bar: sesame is in the oil and the paste, peanuts in the crushed nuts and often in the sesame paste. Everything you order adds its own; the cards in What goes in the pot show the obvious ones.
In the broth (split pot)
From the fermented bean paste and the hot pot base in the spicy side.
At the sauce bar
Sesame oil and paste, crushed peanuts; shacha sauce contains shrimp and fish, oyster sauce molluscs.
These are estimates from how the dish is usually made, not a restaurant’s declaration. Every kitchen and every sauce brand is different – always tell the staff about an allergy. Chinese kitchens often fry in peanut oil, and chilli oil may be made with it too; we don’t repeat that for each dish.
Hot pot looks easy for vegetarians and mostly isn’t: the spicy broth is usually made with beef tallow, and tomato and mushroom broths are often made with meat stock. Some restaurants have a vegetarian broth, many don’t – ask before you order. Without beef, ask for the spicy broth made with vegetable oil (清油锅底, qīng yóu guō dǐ).
有素的锅底吗？
yǒu sù de guō dǐ ma?
Do you have a vegetarian broth?
我不吃牛肉
wǒ bù chī niú ròu
I don’t eat beef
我对花生过敏
wǒ duì huā shēng guò mǐn
I’m allergic to peanuts
我对芝麻过敏
wǒ duì zhī ma guò mǐn
I’m allergic to sesame
我对虾过敏
wǒ duì xiā guò mǐn
I’m allergic to shrimp
Two things on almost every Sichuan-style hot pot menu that don’t go in the pot – or only sometimes.
小酥肉xiǎo sū ròu
Not spicySafe bet
Strips of pork fried in a sweet-potato-starch batter and served with chilli powder for dipping – a snack at almost every Sichuan-style hot pot place. Some people drop them into the broth.
¥25–40 · typical in a big city (2026) · allergens A cereals containing gluten, C eggs
冰粉bīng fěn
Not spicyVeganSafe bet
Cold, clear jelly made from the seeds of the shoo-fly plant, in sweet syrup with fruit on top – the usual way to cool down after a Sichuan hot pot.
¥15–30 · typical in a big city (2026) · allergens O sulphites
Eating somewhere without table service? The canteen and fast-food walkthrough covers trays, pointing and paying at the till. More dishes explained: jiaozi, fried rice, chow mein and wontons.
It can be. You choose what goes in, and a tomato or mushroom broth with plenty of vegetables and tofu is a light meal. The mala broth is very oily and salty, and it is easy to eat a lot of processed balls and luncheon meat.
At hot pot you cook at your own table. At a malatang (麻辣烫) shop you pick raw ingredients from a fridge into a bowl, pay by weight, and the kitchen cooks it all in broth for you – a quick, cheap meal for one. Chuanchuan (串串) is hot pot with everything on skewers, paid per skewer. The table under “Small pots, skewers and street stalls” compares them all.
Yes. At a small hot pot restaurant (小火锅) everyone gets their own pot anyway, and elsewhere a single diner with a split pot and half portions (半份) is nothing unusual.
About ¥80–150 per person at an ordinary restaurant in a big city (2026). The broth is charged per pot, the ingredients per plate, and many places add a small fee per person for the sauce bar.
One pot is made for four to six people. Two or three can share one just as well; for a bigger group, ask for a second pot. At a small hot pot restaurant (小火锅) everyone gets their own pot.
Cold drinks that calm the chilli: soy milk, sour plum juice (酸梅汤, suān méi tāng), herbal tea and beer.
Usually not, but popular places have queues at dinner time and at weekends. Going early or late avoids most of it.
All photos are our own: the split pots at restaurants in Shanghai in 2020 and 2021, the copper pot and lamb at a Beijing-style restaurant in September 2026, the small pots and a food hall in southern China, chuanchuan in 2020 and a guandong zhu street stall in 2014. Faces are blurred. Prices come from our dish library and are typical for an ordinary restaurant in a big city; allergens are estimated from the usual recipe. Cooking times are rough guides – when in doubt, cook it longer.
