Restaurant-Style Hot Pot at Home: Haidilao Broths and Sesame-Garlic Dip

Restaurant hot pot at home, for about a third of the price. Cook a generous spread for four friends, for a fraction of eating out. Find the Asian ingredients at Umall; the Fenhua pot is optional equipment.

Ingredients for 4

Equipment: a divided hot pot on a stable compatible cooker. Fenhua 304 Stainless Steel Divided Hot Pot 32cm is available as an optional shopping item, unchecked by default and excluded from the main ingredient count. An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml. Keep chilled food at 5°C or colder and thaw meat in the fridge. Use separate utensils and plates for raw and cooked meat. Allow longer for a leisurely shared meal; 30 minutes is an initial cooking allowance. Use an electric cooker suitable for indoor use. Contains soy, sesame and usually wheat; check the soup-base and tofu-skin packets. Nutrition counts all listed ingredients and dip, including the entire amount of base; the amount of broth actually drunk varies. The mushroom base contains soybean and sulphites. Check the actual local packets and all other ingredient labels. The spicy soup base contains soy and wheat according to the store English ingredient card. Use one 80 g base sachet plus one 30 g oil sachet from the 220 g pack; check the actual packet before use.

Method

1. Step 1Prepare the table

   Use a stable electric tabletop cooker with a wide stainless-steel yin-yang pot with an S-shaped divider and black handles. Keep raw meat in covered trays in the fridge until needed. Set out separate raw-food tongs and clean serving ladles.

   

2. Step 2Prepare vegetables and tofu

   Wash and cut the cabbage and greens. Trim the growing bases from the enoki and shimeji; separate into small clusters. Cut the tofu and keep it apart from raw meat.

   

3. Step 3Mix the sesame dip

   Stir 60 g sesame paste with 60 ml warm water until smooth. Mix in 20 ml soy sauce, 12 g garlic and one 90 g pack of Haidilao garlic hot pot dipping sauce. Divide among four bowls. Use clean utensils. Check the local sauce label for soybean, egg, milk and any other allergens; do not use broth that has just received raw meat to thin the dip.

   

4. Step 4Boil both broths separately

   Put 1/4 pack mushroom base (about 37.5 g from the 150 g pack) and 1 litre water in one half, and 1/2 pack spicy base (one 80 g soup-base sachet plus one 30 g red chilli oil sachet, about 110 g from the 220 g pack) and 1 litre water in the other. Check both packet dilution instructions first and adjust water if needed; nutrition below uses these weighed amounts. Bring both halves to a full boil, then keep bubbling on a stable electric tabletop cooker. The red side is hot and numbing; use separate ladles. The mushroom base contains soybean and sulphites. The spicy base contains soy and wheat according to the store English ingredient card. Check both actual packets for wheat, soy, sesame and other allergens. The divider is not an allergen barrier. Add the red chilli oil towards the end as the packet directs; the estimate counts all of it even if you use less.

   

5. Step 5Cook the first vegetables

   Add cabbage stalks, tofu and mushrooms in small batches. Let the broth return to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes, or longer if the package directs. Enoki must be cooked thoroughly, not just warmed.

   

6. Step 6Cook the meat in small batches

   Separate the thin meat rolls and lower a few at a time into the bubbling broth. Wait for the boil to return. Cook thoroughly; use 75°C in the centre as a conservative endpoint where a probe can be used. Colour alone is not a safety test. Do not rely on a fixed few seconds.

   

7. Step 7Finish with greens and tofu-skin rolls

   Once the meat is cooked and the broth is boiling again, add the cabbage leaves, tong ho and bean curd rolls. Cook until the greens are tender and rolls are heated through, following their packet directions. Keep raw-food tongs out of serving bowls.

   

8. Step 8Serve and top up

   Lift cooked food with a clean ladle and dip in individual sauce bowls. Top up with boiling water as the broth reduces. Keep the pot simmering and bring it back to the boil after each raw addition. Bring out more chilled ingredients only as needed.

   

Watch it in 39 seconds

🔇 Tap for sound

Why this version works

• A divided pot lets the table choose spicy red broth or mild mushroom broth; the divider is not an allergen barrier.
• Haidilao spicy and mushroom soup bases bring a familiar restaurant-brand flavour home; retail recipes and restaurant broths can differ.
• Sesame paste, fresh garlic and Haidilao garlic dipping sauce build a rich, aromatic dipping bowl.
• Small batches keep the broth boiling so the food cooks evenly.
• A shared table feeds four without a restaurant outing; there is no fixed price promise.

Swaps and variations

• Wagyu option: use 400 g thin wagyu hot-pot rolls instead of Angus; fat and energy vary.
• For a Lunar New Year gathering, scale ingredients and use extra pots rather than crowding one.
• Shacha alternative: the store has Haidilao shacha dipping sauce and Chaoshan Jijin shacha sauce. Serve separately according to their labels; they replace the sesame dip, and their allergens and nutrition differ.

Nutrition per serve

Estimated using AFCD Release 3 and stated proxies, including all solids, all dip, 37.5 g mushroom base, 110 g spicy soup base and red oil and a full 90 g pack of Haidilao garlic dip across four servings. The garlic dip uses this SKU’s Australian importer label photo; the spicy base remains an overseas label proxy. The optional pot is excluded. Actual broth intake and local packs vary. One half-pack set is 80 g base plus 30 g oil. The existing overseas nutrition proxy is retained for this different SKU and separate sachets, so the result is an estimate, not the exact local label.

Questions about Restaurant-Style Hot Pot at Home: Haidilao Broths and Sesame-Garlic Dip

Sources and credit

Method developed for Umall from the references below, with our own quantities for Australian home kitchens. Nutrition is an estimate; reference photographs are generated illustrations.

• The Woks of Life — Chinese Hot Pot at Home
• 家庭版海底捞番茄火锅 — 下厨房
• Morphy Richards Australia — Chinese-Style Hot Pot, recipe e-book p9
• Haidilao garlic dip — exact Umall SKU Australian importer label (image)
• Yihai US — Haidilao minced garlic sauce, serving suggestions (regional formula may differ)

Browse all recipes