You could do a completely vegetarian hot pot, but adding meats requires additional attention to food safety. Always make sure your broth is boiling, and don’t add too many ingredients to the pot at once.This could lower your broth temperature and result in undercooked food. Totally fine to cook Chow Mein in a skillet instead of a wok. Just be sure to use a big one – so your noodles don’t go flying as you enthusiastically toss! Asian grocery stores sell thinly sliced meat (usually beef, lamb, and pork) intended specifically for hot pot. These 15-Minute Chinese Hot Oil Noodles are beyond easy to make. Here’s the basic gist: You boil some noodles and veggies in the same pot, throw them in a bowl with some seasonings, pour a couple tablespoons of hot oil over everything, and mix. DONE. How’s that for easy Chinese noodles recipe!

One of our favorite hot pot chains in China is called Haidilao Hot Pot Restaurant (海底捞火锅), known for their superior service and dancing noodle pullers. Haidilao roughly translates to “scooping the bottom of the ocean,” which is a pretty good metaphor for scooping your ladle through the pot for a fish ball or tofu puff! But I will go out on a limb here and say these Itsu noodles are homegrown here in the U.K. Firstly, because Itsu doesn’t seem to exist in the instant ramen scene in Japan. But the potentially fictitious Yoshihiro is also said to be from “Nagano Valley” near Tokyo. I have been to Nagano before, the prefecture, the city, the snow monkeys, and Google maps don’t even know where Nagano Valley is. Anyway, they seem to be selling a more upmarket ‘Japanese’ pot noodle experience. “Eat with pride” “Eat beautiful” “Solution for foodies” which seems to be an alternative to slobbing away on a Bombay Badboy. We also tried their seafood flavored soy sauce, which has oyster extracts in it to give it a bit of extra umami.

Again I play it safe with Batchelor’s Super Noodle Pot Curry, ‘noodles in a curry flavour seasoning with peas and tomato’. Unfortunately they are worse than I remember, given they’re kind of mushy, and messy, and a bit like baby food. They’re really just not my style of noodles. I prefer a bit of chew in my noodles. And even ground white pepper and dry chilli flakes failed to save them. They’re still good for the saucepan though.

I want to say that Chow Mein is my favourite noodle-child but I’m worried that I’ve said that in another recipe (or two… or three…😂).Okay, there is an obvious pattern here in the top spots, where again the gluten-free rice noodles of Kobuto appear to be the ‘healthy’ option in the world of instant noodles. So if you want healthy noodles – go with rice noodles. Anyway, the branding is also similar to the ‘authentic Asian’ flavours, and, like Itsu, it follows a likely fictitious Japanese origin story of Samurai Master Crispin and his handcrafted recipes from his family kitchen. “With the skill, dedication and discipline of a Samurai warrior”. Similar branding, but cuter, and more anime/weeb-inspired. In a small pot, heat the oil until shimmering. Carefully pour the hot oil over the bowl of noodles… There are twelve flavours of Pot Noodles to choose from, as well as three flavours Pot Noodle Fusions, five flavours of the potless ‘Lost The Pot Noodle’ and four flavours in the ‘Asian Street Style’ sister brand. You do need some special equipment to have a hot pot meal at home. Let’s start with the essential gear. Necessary Equipment for Hot Pot:

The company behind Pot Noodle is working to avoid cross-contamination and is aiming to add the vegan flash onto more Pot Noodle flavours. This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”! Chow Mein However, ‘Lost the Pot’ Noodles and some ‘Asian Street Style’ Pot Noodles are NOT suitable for vegetarians as they contain meat.Nissin Soba Noodles: I would probably eat noodles/noodles soups thrice a week in Asia. And I will always go with the noodles with a bit of meatiness, a bit of bite, a bit of chew. So this is where Nissin Soba Noodles add to this selection. To make your dipping sauce, start out with what you’d like your base to be (sesame sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce, Sha Cha) and add additional flavorings from there, tasting as you go. These soup bases can also be used to make other dishes. For instance, hot pot soup base is a key ingredient in our Ma La Xiang Guo (Spicy Numbing Stir-fry Pot) recipe.