4 Hot Pot Dipping Sauce Recipes

One of the best things about eating hot pot is the dipping sauce options. While hot pot is shared communally over a simmering pot of broth, an array of vegetables, proteins, and carbs, the dipping sauce is your own and open to endless possibilities. There are infinite ways to make hot pot dipping sauce, from soy sauce to sesame paste, fish sauce, and beyond. Learn how to make an easy and simple hot pot dipping sauce or how to layer flavors to make the best hot pot sauce..

Hot pot sauces in different cuisines

With a long history of communal eating over a simmering pot of broth, hot pot now spans various countries from its origins in China to Japan, Korea, Vietnam, America, and beyond. Each country’s hot pot has different dipping sauces to pair with each carb, protein, and vegetable.

Here’s a general breakdown of each variety and the typical hot pot sauce ingredients they may use:

• Chinese hot pot has several variations depending on the region and can range from mala spice (a mouth-numbing, savory flavor) to a lighter soup base in the northern areas. Chinese hot pot dipping sauce ingredients are unlimited, and you can find ingredients like light/dark/regular soy sauce, black vinegar, oyster sauce, hoisin, fish sauce, cilantro, scallions, garlic, chili oil, and fermented bean curd. Haidilao is a popular hot pot restaurant best known for its large DIY sauce bar. Other famous restaurants also sell prepackaged sauces, like Little Sheep dipping sauce.
• Taiwanese hot pot is one of the most popular styles, and it comes in a spectrum of flavors that range from lighter broths to spice-heavy soups. One of the most important dipping ingredients is shacha sauce, a Taiwanese BBQ sauce with a strong seafood flavor. Other notable ingredients in Taiwanese dipping sauces are minced cilantro, soy sauce, and raw egg.
• Japanese hot pot, or nabe (short for nabemono), can range in flavor from sweet and savory sukiyaki broth to lightly seasoned dashi broth for shabu shabu. You can typically find nabe dipping sauce containing ingredients like goma, ponzu, rice vinegar, mirin, grated daikon radish, and togarashi.
• Vietnamese hot pot is called lẩu and ranges from protein-heavy to vegetarian options. One popular variety is canh chua, which has a tangy tamarind base and optional seafood, like catfish. I’ve also had a vegetarian version of this hot pot with fried tofu as the protein.
• Korean hot pot varieties come in jeongol (a brothy stew made from various ingredients like mandu, vegetables, tofu, and more) or jjigae (a stew mostly made from one ingredient like kimchi or sundubu, which are extra soft pieces of tofu).

How to decide which sauces to make

If you’re making hot pot at homeit’s best to match the sauce type to the country’s cuisine. For example, if you are eating Chinese hot pot brothuse ingredients like shacha (Chinese BBQ sauce) and black vinegar, which are geared toward this type of cuisine. However, you could cross over, too, if you like!

For this recipe, I’ve included four different types of hot pot sauces: a simple soy-based sauce, one traditional Chinese sauce, one goma garlic sauce, and one creamy sesame sauce. I like to have at least two different sauces when eating hot pot for variety.

For example, I like having one lighter soy-based sauce and one richer one or one spicy and one savory. This hot pot combination has never let me down. Different hot pot ingredients like fatty brisket go well with lighter, soy-sauce-based flavors, and tender napa cabbage is tasty with creamy sesame dipping sauce.

Can you make these sauces ahead of time?

If you want to batch out a large serving, you can make some hot pot dipping sauces ahead of time, but I prefer making them right before eating because it’s super fast and allows diners to customize their sauces instead of forcing them to use my creation.

However, you can keep the sauces in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. A few sauces that use fresh herbs like cilantro or green onion are still ok in prepared sauces for 1 or 2 days.

How to craft your own dipping sauce

To make your own dipping sauce, we break it down into four parts: base, seasonings,  aromatics, and spice.

We make our dipping sauces by starting with the basewhich can be an individual ingredient or a mix:

• Ponzu
• sesame sauce/paste (not tahini!)
• goma
• soy sauce (light, regular, or dark soy sauce)

Next, add seasonings:

• black vinegar
• fish sauce
• Rice Vinegar
• mirin
• oyster sauce
• shy
• roasted sesame oil
• MSG
• granulated cane sugar
• white pepper
• black pepper

Then, we add aromatic toppings:

• roasted sesame seeds
• chopped cilantro
• thinly sliced scallions
• minced garlic
• fried garlic
• fried shallots
• daikon radish

Finally, add a little spice or heat to the sauce:

• chili oil
• chili garlic crunch
• Sambal
• sliced Thai peppers
• togarashi

Tasting your dipping sauce as you add ingredients to help you round out the flavor is important. It’s important to follow the general rule of balancing out salt, fat, acid, and heat flavor profiles whenever we make any recipe.