Eating Hot Pot with friends is my happy place. I love sitting around a table of boiling soup and chatting with good company. In fact, vegetarian Hot Pot reminds me fondly of my time living in Beijing. At first, I was unsure of how vegetarian-friendly Hot Pot really was, but once my Beijing friends introduced me to how amenable Hot Pot can be for vegetarians and vegans, I was hooked.
Every business trip to Taiwan afterward, I always made time for a visit to my favorite all-you-can-eat Hot Pot restaurant, Mo-Mo-Paradise. In recent years, I’ve stopped traveling to Asia for work and I’ve really been missing Hot Pot.
So, it is no surprise that when I looked in the kitchen for what to eat for dinner and only found spinach, tofu, mushrooms, red onions, and an acorn squash, the first thought to that came to mind was vegetarian Hot Pot! In my Instant Pot!
Recently, I’ve been wanting to experiment more with non-traditional uses for my Instant Pot, and Instant Pot Hot Pot hit the nail on the head.
The Instant Pot is deep enough to accommodate boiling broth for a small dinner party, and it is super easy to plug in directly from the dining table for immediate access.
Ironically, the depth is also the main con. It is a bit difficult to see everything inside the pot while seated, but as someone who avoids adding appliances to her kitchen, I think it works perfectly for my purposes.
I began by filling the Instant Pot insert with water and miso paste. I used my favorite low-sodium, vegetarian-friendly miso, which comes in single serving packets from Costco, but any miso paste or broth will do.
Using the Sauté function on the Instant Pot, I set the electric pot to heat on Normal for 30 minutes. I figured that if I needed more, I could easily add more time over the course of the evening.
While the soup base heated up, I prepared the vegetables and tofu to add to the Instant Pot Hot Pot.
I used extra firm tofu for protein. As for vegetables, I added fresh spinach, cubed acorn squash, sliced red onions, and brown mushrooms. And, as an indulgence for me, I added a few vegan brown rice and millet ramen noodles.
Once the Vegan miso soup base in the Instant Pot started boiling, it was time to add in the fixings.
For a quick, straightforward dipping sauce, I poured out some soy sauce (which can be substituted for tamari sauce if gluten-free).
Alternatively, I ended up eating the Instant Pot Vegan Miso Vegetable Ramen Hot Pot as a bowl of soup filled with noodles, tofu, and vegetables in a savory miso broth.
Though my vegetables were not exactly conventional Hot Pot ingredients, the experience was fun and the resulting soup was delicious! Who knew Instant Pot Hot Pot would be so easy and versatile? With endless soup bases and ingredients to chose from, this Instant Pot Hot Pot is definitely going into the rotation.
I hope you try out your own Instant Pot Hot Pot and let me know how it goes!
Items used in this post:
- Instant Pot
- Cutting board – this one from IKEA is sturdy and affordable
- Santoku knife – I swear by Japanese style santoku knifes instead of the more common chef’s knife. I love the feel of Calphalon’s Katana series santoku.
- Serving plate – this IKEA MYNDIG plate gets a lot of use at my house during parties
- Dinner set – this IKEA FÄRGRIK dinner set used to come in white
- Metal chopsticks – I got these at a restaurant supply store
- Handmade linen napkin
- 6 cups water
- 2 tablespoons miso paste
- 2 cups fresh mushrooms
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 servings ramen noodles (can use gluten free version if needed)
- 1/2 block extra firm tofu
- 1/2 acorn squash
- 1/2 red onion
- soy sauce (use tamari sauce for gluten free alternative)
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Fill Instant Pot insert with water.
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Switch Instant Pot to Sauté mode normal heat for 30 minutes with lid off. Add more time as needed.
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Add miso paste to water, stir, and wait until the soup base begins to boil.
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While soup base is heating up, prepare Hot Pot Ingredients.
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Wash and chop mushrooms.
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Wash fresh spinach.
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Collect ramen noodles.
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Slice extra firm tofu into desired shape and size.
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Cut acorn squash in half, then proceed by chopping one half into roughly 2x1x1 inch chunks.
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Slice onions into ribbons.
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When the Instant Pot Hot Pot miso soup base has started boiling, gently place a few of each of the ingredients into the Instant Pot.
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Wait a few minutes for ingredients to cook, and then fish them out using a straining ladle.
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Dip into soy sauce or tamari sauce and eat.
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Alternatively, ladle out soup broth with cooked ingredients into a bowl and drink.
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Repeat adding ingredients to Instant Pot until satiated.
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Hearty Black Bean Pasta with Marinara -
Teriyaki Tofu and Veggie Sushi -
Veggie Spring Rolls + Peanut Dipping Sauce
Thank you Nina for a simple yet flavorful looking Instant Pot HotPot. You definitely took some of the intimidation factor out making HotPot. I’m looking forward to trying it out!