This fast and easy sautéed baby bok choy recipe with soy sauce, lemon juice, toasted sesame oil, and fresh grated ginger is cooked in around 5 minutes.
Baby bok choy cooked with soy sauce is a simple, healthy, and tasty side dish.
Diversify Your Greens and Cook Baby Bok Choy
Eat your greens is what mama always told me. So many times we get caught up cooking the same green vegetable side dishes for dinner: green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach, lettuce....
Take your vegetable side dish game up a notch, and cook baby bok choy with some soy saucefor a tasty, fast, and easy recipe.
This easy baby bok choy recipe is ready to eat in 10 minutes.
Where to Find Baby Bok Choy
Regular bok choy can be found at most grocery stores. Baby bok choy are harder to find so grab 'em when you see 'em.
Bok choy are a cool weather vegetable and more readily available in late spring or the fall season.
Can't find baby bok choy? Nearly every city has different specialty Asian markets. Take a field trip to the local Asian supermarket and get lost in all the beautiful diverse ingredients that are offered.
What Part of Bok Choy Is Edible?
Bok choy is also known as Pak choi, Pak choy, Bok choi, and Chinese cabbage. It's in the same family as cabbage and the stems are firm, watery, and crunchy, and the leaves are tender.
Nearly all parts of bok choy are edible. Trim off the very bottom of the stalk near the stem. The stalks are firmer and crunchier. Both the white stalks and the green leaves are edible.
Because bok choy stalks are firmer they generally take a couple minutes longer to cook. Slice and separate the stalks and cook them first for a couple minutes. Then add the tender bok choy leaves for just a minute or two, and cook them until wilted.
Will Regular Bok Choy Work For This Recipe?
Can't find baby bok choy? This bok choy recipe works with the regular variety too.
Regular bok choy stems are tougher and bigger than baby bok choy and will require a couple more minutes cooking.
Baby bok choy are generally younger, sweeter, and crisper. Large bok choy can become more bitter and / or have tougher stems and not as vibrant leaves.
Baby bok choy also have a larger leaf to stem ratio.
How To Cook Baby Bok Choy with Soy Sauce
Rinse and gently rub the whole bok choy with water. Baby bok choy are generally cleaner than their larger and older counterparts.
If the bok choy still look dirty then slice them and rinse and drain again. There may be imperfections in the stalks that look like dirt but are not. Don't worry about those.
Slice off and discard the very bottom part of the bok choy stalk near the stem. Then slice the rest of the stalk, keeping the leaves separate from the stalk.
Place sliced stalks on one side of the plate and the sliced leaves on another side of the plate. Cooking the stalks first for a couple minutes ensures that they will get softer because the bok choy leaves take just 1-2 minutes to cook.
Follow the easy baby bok choy recipe below and watch the video on this post.
Optional: Garnish this baby bok choy recipe with with Aleppo crushed red pepper or gochugaru (Korean red pepper chili flakes). The crushed red pepper ala pizza hut variety also works just fine :). .
Serving Suggestion
Serve this healthy Baby Bok Choy recipe side dish with spring rolls for a very healthy and light meal, or pair it with lentils or a noodle bowl.
You May Also Like
If you like the Asian inspired flavors in this dish, try a similar recipe like:
Things In My Kitchen:
- Gochugaru - Korean chili pepper flake - will be more affordable at a local Asian Market.
- Aleppo red pepper as a garnish for the recipe. Look for it at your local spice store first. You can also buy it on Amazon if you can't find it.
- Zester for grating the ginger.
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Baby Bok Choy with Soy Sauce
EatSimpleFood.com
Take your game up a notch and cook this beautiful baby bok choy with soy sauce recipe with lemon and toasted sesame oil in just a couple minutes.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp ginger, grated
- 6 baby bok choy, sliced to the core
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce (tamari)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- pinch red chili flakes - optional as garnish
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pan to medium high heat and add oil. Add ginger and cook ~ 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add sliced bok choy stems and cook ~2-3 minutes.
- Add sliced bok choy leaves, tamari, and lemon juice.
- Cook ~ 1-2 minutes or until leaves are wilted. The leaves will be tender while the stem ends will have a soft crispness.
- Add salt to taste and garnish with red pepper flakes. Happy Eating! Beckie
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