Learn how to stir fry baby bok choy, a tender green that is easy to prepare and cooked with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Since I first published this recipe, I updated the recipe and gave it a new photo.
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Shopping for Ingredients
There are two kinds of baby bok choy, some bok choy have a white stem with dark green curly leaves. Baby bok choy with jade green stems with dark green leaves (pictured) are also known as Shanghai bok choy. You can cook and prep both varieties in the same way.
Select smaller baby bok choy as they are more tender, each one is about 3-5 inches long. Try to use them as soon as possible, you know that the baby bok choy is too old if the leaves are yellowed or look bruised or soft (wilted baby bok choy could be revived by soaking in cold water for 5-10 minutes).
If your store doesn’t carry baby bok choy, you can substitute with regular bok choy but just cut them into bite sized pieces. This is a great recipe to use with spinach or cabbage if you aren’t able to buy Asian greens where you live. If you have a green thumb and have time and space, you can order seeds online and grow them in late winter or early spring, the plants will start to bolt when the weather is too warm.
When you buy ginger, pick out pieces that look heavy for their size, free of wrinkles, blemishes, and mold. Uncut pieces will last longer but they will be big and if you need to use it up in a hurry, make some ginger and scallion sauce.
How to Prep
Washing the baby bok choy greens is probably the most painstaking task. I rinse the visible dirt off the plants and then swish them in a big bowl of cold water and soak for a few minutes. Then I trim off the bottoms, discard any spoiled leaves and cut the vegetables in half lengthwise and soak in fresh water for 5 minutes and swish some more and keep rinsing until the greens are clean. Look for dirt where the leaves attach to the stem.
If you have an Instant Pot you can make a simpler variation of this recipe in your Instant Pot using a recipe from my cookbook, Chinese Instant Pot Cookbook. If you don’t have the cookbook yet but want to try the recipe, I shared how to make bok choy in an Instant Pot and it’s worth a peek for my “out of the pot” idea!
Inspired by Chef Martin Yan
Our family went to a cooking demonstration event at a local public library to watch Chef Martin Yan, from the beloved and delightful television cooking show, Yan Can Cook. Chef Martin Yan cooked so fast and entertained us with his quick wit and humor while sharing many cooking suggestions. His demonstration on how to relax a chicken made a lasting impression on my children that they still remember even 4 years later. Check it out on YouTube.
That evening I bought one of Martin Yan’s cookbooks, Martin Yan’s China. It’s not just a cookbook that explores China’s four main regional cuisines but has gorgeous photos of China’s landscape, people, and culture and the photos of the food are mouth watering. Ginger is good for the digestive system and stirfrying vegetables with minced ginger and minced garlic is a traditional way to cook stir-fried Chinese vegetables. This Ginger-Garlic Baby Bok Choy recipe is inspired by Martin Yan’s China.
Allergy Aware Baby Bok Choy
This recipe as written is free of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, shellfish, fish, and sesame.Â
Not only is eating Asian vegetables good for you and so guilt free, this recipe is also simple which lends itself to being allergy friendly. The original baby bok choy recipe calls for using 2 teaspoons of oyster sauce which you can add if you have oyster sauce and don’t have any allergies to the ingredients. I substituted the oyster sauce with more soy sauce. I also left out 3 dried red chili peppers to make it more kid-friendly.Â
If you avoid gluten, substitute the soy sauce with tamari sauce. If you avoid soy, you can either make your own soy-free soy sauce or consider a soy-free soy sauce alternative.Â
I like to use a simple Chinese rice wine for this recipe. But if you have shaoxing wine you can use that instead. For an alcohol-free alternative, you can use broth or water.
For more ingredient recommendations, see what is in my cupboard.
Baby Bok Choy with Garlic and Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 pound baby bok choy
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry, broth, or water
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic ~ 1/4-inch slice
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger ~ 3-4 cloves
Instructions
- Wash and prep baby bok choy: rinse the dirt off of the baby bok choy and then soak in a large bowl of cold clean water for 5 minutes, swish and change the water, trim off the bottom 1/4 inch of the stem and discard any spoiled leaves, split any large baby bok choy in half lengthwise. Drain and set aside.
- Combine the rice wine, soy sauce, and pepper in a small bowl and set side.
- Bring a 4 quart pot filled 3/4 with water to a boil and add the bok choy and parboil for 1 minute. Drain the bok choy in a colander and rinse with cold water, set aside to drain some more.
- Heat a large frying pan over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan (4-5 minutes).
- Add the oil, minced ginger, and minced garlic and stir-fry while coating the entire pan with oil until the garlic and ginger is fragrant (30 seconds).
- Add the parboiled bok choy and rice wine and soy sauce mixture and stir fry until the vegetables are warm and the liquid is slightly reduced (1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl and use a spoon to scoop up the minced garlic and ginger in the pan.
Notes
Nutrition
Related Recipes
I highly recommend my baby bok choy recipe from my Instant Pot cookbook. It’s possible to make delicious, tender-crisp baby bok choy in an Instant pot that is delicious and a timesaver.
If you like stir frying your vegetables with garlic and ginger, you will also love my recipe for Yu Choy with Garlic, Easy Chinese Vegetable Stir-Fry.
Try other Chinese vegetable recipes such as Chinese Eggplant & Egg Rice Bowl (Oyako-Style), or you might enjoy Fuzzy Melon (Mo Gua) with Vermicelli Recipe.
Everyone loves Napa Cabbage Stir Fry: Easy, Kid Approved, and a Super Food.
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Looks good. Will try tonight.