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What Is Hot Pot? Styles and How It Works | Chef 21

October 16, 2026

Hot Pot Explained: One Simmering Pot, One Shared Meal

Hot pot is a shared meal where a pot of simmering broth sits in the middle of the table and everyone cooks raw ingredients in it to order. It differs from every other restaurant meal because the cooking happens in front of you and never stops. This guide covers its origins, styles, how a meal works and where to try it in Greenville, SC.

What Is Hot Pot?

The short definition

Hot pot is a communal pot of broth kept at a simmer, surrounded by raw plates the diners cook themselves. Everyone cooks and eats continuously rather than waiting for courses.

Plenty of diners first ask, “what is the hot pot,” because the name sounds like a single dish. It is a format: the pot is the table, the broth is the base, and the food is whatever you choose to put in it.

What is hot pot food?

Hot pot food falls into a few categories: thin-sliced meat, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, dumplings and noodles. Raw plates arrive at the table and each diner cooks their own items in the broth. For specific ingredients, see our guide to hot pot ingredients.

Are Hot Pots Korean or Chinese?

The honest answer is that hot pot is Chinese in origin and now belongs to a lot of places.

The Chinese origin

Hot pot traces to China, where the format is oldest and most widespread. It is regional within China rather than one national dish. Sichuan, Chongqing, Cantonese and Beijing versions use different broths, ingredients and dipping sauces.

The versions elsewhere in Asia

  • Japan has shabu shabu, thin-sliced beef swished in light broth, and sukiyaki, simmered in a sweet soy-based sauce.
  • Korea has jeongol, a casserole-style pot of meat, seafood and vegetables, and budae jjigae, a spicy stew that includes ramen noodles.
  • Thailand has Thai suki, a pot meal served with a tangy dipping sauce.
  • Vietnam has lẩu, a family of hot pots built on sour, spicy or herbal broths.

The Different Types of Hot Pot

Sichuan mala

Made with chili and Sichuan peppercorn. It is numbing as well as hot, which is the part newcomers do not expect. The word mala combines the Chinese words for numbing and spicy.

Chongqing

The heavier, oilier, more intense cousin of Sichuan hot pot, typically served under a thick layer of chili oil.

Cantonese clear broth

Mild, often seafood or chicken-based, and built to showcase the ingredients rather than the broth.

Beijing lamb hot pot

Plain water or a light broth in a copper chimney pot, with sliced lamb and a sesame dipping sauce doing most of the work.

Yuanyang, the split pot

Two broths in one divided pot, usually one spicy and one mild. The name means mandarin duck, a pair. This is the most common format in US restaurants, and it lets a group with different spice tolerances share one table.

Japanese and Korean styles

Shabu shabu is thin-sliced meat swished in a light broth. Sukiyaki simmers in a sweet soy-based sauce, often with a raw egg for dipping. Jeongol is a Korean casserole-style pot cooked at the table. For details on the Japanese pair, read shabu shabu vs sukiyaki.

How a Hot Pot Meal Works

Choosing the broth first

The broth is ordered before anything else and sets the tone for the meal. A spicy broth makes everything cooked in it spicy, a mild broth lets the ingredients speak, and a split pot gives you both. If anyone at the table dislikes heat, start with a split pot.

Building your dipping sauce

The sauce bar is the most underused part of hot pot. The broth cooks the food, but the sauce carries most of the flavor on the plate. A simple starting combination for a first-timer is a spoonful of sesame paste, a splash of soy sauce, minced garlic, chopped scallion and a few drops of chili oil. Taste it, then adjust.

Cooking order

Dense items and anything that enriches the broth go in first: corn, daikon, mushrooms and meatballs. Thin-sliced meat cooks in seconds, so add a few slices at a time and pull them out as soon as the color changes. Noodles go in last, because by then the broth has concentrated and picked up flavor from everything cooked before them.

Raw and cooked utensils

Use the serving tools, or a separate pair of chopsticks, for raw items, and your own chopsticks for eating. Our hot pot etiquette guide covers the rest.

How Long a Hot Pot Meal Takes

Budget 90 minutes to two hours, since the format rewards grazing. Hot pot is a sit-down evening rather than a stop on the way somewhere else. It also produces steam rather than smoke, so your clothes tend to survive it better than a Korean BBQ meal.

Hot Pot or Korean BBQ?

The core difference is simmer versus grill: hot pot cooks food in broth, and Korean BBQ cooks it over direct heat at the table. Our Hot Pot vs Korean BBQ guide compares the two side by side.

Try Hot Pot in Downtown Greenville, SC

Chef 21 offers hot pot and Korean BBQ tables at its Downtown Greenville restaurant, 500 E McBee Ave #109, Greenville, SC 29601. Broth choices and formats can change, so call 864-263-3018 to ask what is currently available before you book.

Reserve a table at Chef 21 Downtown Greenville and note that you want hot pot. If you would rather watch a chef cook on a griddle, read our guide to what hibachi is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is hot pot Chinese or Korean?
Hot pot is Chinese in origin. Korea has related pot dishes, such as jeongol and budae jjigae, that are distinct from Chinese hot pot, and Japan, Thailand and Vietnam each have versions of their own.
Thin-sliced meat, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, dumplings and noodles, cooked in simmering broth at the table.
A divided hot pot that holds two broths, usually one spicy and one mild, so one table can eat two ways. It is also called a yuanyang pot.
Yes. Raw ingredients arrive on plates, and each diner cooks their own items in the pot, so cooking and eating run together through the meal.

Plan on 90 minutes to two hours. The format rewards grazing, so it is a sit-down meal rather than a quick stop.