There’s no delivery required for this delicious and easy bok choy with garlic and oyster sauce recipe! This is a quick stir fry recipe that only takes 10 minutes to make from start to finish. Pour the savory, sweet and garlicky sauce over rice and enjoy!
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
- Restaurant quality at home. Tender baby bok choy leaves with a soft crunch in a punchy, savory-sweet oyster sauce. This stir fry tastes as good as the restaurant version (maybe better).
- Easy to make. 6 ingredients and only 10 minutes including prep time. Stir frying on high heat cooks the bok choy quickly and gives the dish a smoky wok hei (wok breath).
- So much cheaper than takeout. Baby bok choy is about $3 per pound.
- Versatile. Can be served as a side or main with rice. You can also add flavors as you see fit. Minced ginger and dried chili peppers are obvious contenders.
Baby Bok Choy With Garlic and Oyster Sauce Recipe Video
What is Bok Choy?
Bok choy, also called pak choi, is a type of small Chinese cabbage. It has crunchy white stems and tender green leaves. Baby bok choy is simply harvested earlier than mature bok choy – and is accordingly smaller and more tender.
How to Clean Bok Choy
The tender green leaves and stems have a tendency to collect dirt. Much of it will be hiding inside the bulb where the stems connect to the stalk. You have a couple of choices when it comes to tackling this.
- Cut and Rinse. Trim the end (where the individual stems connect) and separate the leaves. Run the separated leaves under cold water and drain.
- Soak. If you prefer whole or halved bulbs of bok choy, soak (uncut) in a large bowl of cold water and swish from time to time. Any dirt and sand should fall to the bottom of the bowl. You may need to do this multiple times. Gently pull back the individual leaves to check for cleanliness. Rinse a final time and drain before cooking.
Ingredients for Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce
- Garlic: A few minced garlic cloves give the dish a fragrant aroma and a little sweetness.
- Oil: Use any neutral oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil or grapeseed oil.
- Bok choy: Any type of bok choy will work for this recipe. Baby bok choy is my personal preference since it has a tender texture and pliant crunch. You can quickly blanch – then shock the leaves in cold water – for a striking saturated green color.
- Oyster sauce: Oyster sauce mixes sweetness with savory umami, and a marine hint of the sea. A good oyster sauce shouldn’t too sweet, and should definitely be a little pungent.
- Shaoxing wine: Shaoxing wine is a little sweet, vinegary, and briny – with a sharp dry finish. It’s one of those ingredients that instantly makes a dish taste more authentically Chinese.
- Soy sauce: A little soy sauce adds saltiness and umami.
- Ground black pepper: This introduces a little heat without being full-on spicy.
Pro Tip If you don’t have Shaoxing cooking wine in your pantry, dry sherry is a good substitute.
How to Make Bok Choy With Oyster Sauce
- Clean your bok choy and set it aside.
- Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Add the bok choy and blanch for 1 minute.
- Drain and immediately rinse the bok choy under cold water. Once cold, drain well.
- Place a flat bottom wok or large skillet over high heat and add the oil and garlic. Sauté for one minute.
- Add the bok choy – and the soy sauce, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine and black pepper – and toss for around 1 minute, until tender.
- Turn the heat off and transfer to a plate. Serve immediately.
Pro Tip When stir frying, portion out sauces in small bowls and place next to the stovetop. This makes it easier to quickly add them to the pan. When cooking at high heat, fiddling around with measuring spoons and a bottle of sauce could cause your food to burn unintentionally.
Storage
This dish definitely tastes best fresh out of the pan. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight food storage container for up to 2 days.
- Reheat leftovers in the microwave or, better yet, reheat quickly in a hot pan or wok with a little oil.
- Since leftovers may get watery, add a splash of soy sauce or oyster sauce to liven up the flavors.
Frequently Asked Questions
While a simple garlic and oyster sauce is my favorite way to season this recipe, you have plenty of latitude to play with the flavor. Shake it up with dried chili peppers or red pepper flakes for heat. Minced ginger delivers a subtle burn, without being full-on spicy. White pepper is more floral than black pepper with a sharp heat. Like it tangy and sour? Try a teaspoon of rice vinegar. For nuttiness, add a drizzle of sesame oil right at the end (after you’ve turned the heat off).
It’s not obligatory, but I recommend it. Blanching means you are quickly boiling the bok choy in water for 45 seconds to a minute. Then you immediately shock it in cold water. The result is a vibrant, greener-than-green color and bok choy that is tender-crunchy. That said, you can add baby bok choy directly to the wok without blanching it first. It just won’t look as vibrant, and may take longer to stir fry. For more on cooking bok choy, check out this post.
While both baby and full-grown pak choi work for this recipe, I prefer the former. Baby bok choy is less bitter than it’s grown up sibling – and I find the texture more tender and less stringy. But I commonly use both in my kitchen.
Why I Started Making This at Home
Simple economics.
I used to spend a lot of money on delivery. Mainly because I used to think it was cheaper to order takeout than it was to cook for one person.
But, in New York – where ordering food from a normal, no frills Chinese restaurant was anything but cheap – a simple egg fried rice would be like $12, and any vegetable stir fry started around the $16 mark.
Being a bok choy lover, I used to order this pretty much every single time I did takeout. But that changed when I started shopping in Chinatown and saw that a bag of baby bok choy only costs $3 per pound. I did the math and decided to make my own.
It came out tasting even better than the versions I’ve had from restaurants at a fraction of the cost.
What to Serve With Bok Choy Stir Fry
I usually serve this simple stir fry with a side of white rice and a soup. I make this whenever I’m looking to eat lighter without compromising flavor. But I also like to pair it with other takeout classics as well.
And Check Out These Popular Chinese Recipes
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Did you enjoy this flavorful bok choy recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!
Print
Bok Choy With Garlic and Oyster Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
There’s no delivery required for this delicious, healthy and easy Bok Choy With Garlic and Oyster Sauce Recipe! Ready in 10 minutes from start to finish.
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 16 ounces bok choy – or baby bok choy
- 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add bok choy. Boil for 1 minute and drain. Rinse under cold water and drain again, well. Set aside.
- In a pan over high heat, add oil and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add bok choy and all the other ingredients and cook for 1 minute.
- Turn the heat off and transfer bok choy and sauce to a plate. Serve immediately.
Notes
This Bok Choy With Garlic and Oyster Sauce will keep refrigerated for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 139
- Sugar: 0.2g
- Sodium: 440mg
- Fat: 7.1g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 4.1g
- Fiber: 0.4g
- Protein: 0.8g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Questions and Reviews
Delicious. I will make it again.
As always, Another winner! Picked up some baby Bok Choy at our farmers market this morning and headed to your recipes for ideas. it was absolutely wonderful, thank you, will be making this one again.
Thank you so much Karen, you put a big smile on my face this morning! 🙂
Probably don’t need to add this for experienced cooks but the recipe instructions should include “cut bok choy into 3 inch pieces.” Especially when using regular, not baby bok choy. Again, obvious for many but also not so obvious also for many.
My go to recipe for bok choy. Thank you so much. It’s amazing even as a main dish on top of sticky white rice. YUM!
Thank you Danielle! 🙂
Thank you … very fast dinner. We made this with Portobello Mushrooms. I doubled everything. Skipped the wine.
Tastes really good. Easy recipe to use up leftover bokchoy.
Easy and Excellent!
This turned out great! I had some ginger that I needed to use so shredded and added! Great recipe!
I love this recipe! I added a drizzle of sesame seed oil for flavor at the end, and used low sodium soy sauce. It really was restaurant- style! 🙂
This was fantastic! Bok choy never turns out quite right for me but following this recipe did the trick. Is there any way to cook the bok choy to make it less stringy?
That’s a great question Kimiko! I found that cooking it for a shorter time helps with the texture. I also prefer using baby bok choy over regular bok choy since it is less stringy 🙂
What a great easy recipe. I look forward to adding this to my rotation of healthy lunches and dinners. Now just to figure out the protein part…
Making your own dishes is the way to go!! Our option for eating out was all but ripped away when my husband was diagnosed with Celiac Disease (gluten intolerance), you’d be surprised how common cross-contamination really is! This looks like such a simple and easy dish, but I can totally tell it’s packed full of flavor. I’ve been on a serious Asian kick lately, so much husband won’t be surprised to see this on the table, haha! Thanks for sharing <3
Hi Savannah, I also prefer cooking my own food than eating out. I notice I gain weight fairly quickly if I eat out a few times a week – makes you question how much fat, sugar and other bad foods they put in there!
I have to say your Bok Choy recipe is what I would call yummy yummy. Plus it is so quick and easy to make. This is my first time in your site and I just can not wait to see what recipes you put up with next. Regards PT.
Yes making your own dishes are less expensive that take out, always! and you may even have left over for another meal. I have a request could you suggest other oils beside canola oil which is not a healthy choice of oils to use in any recipe.
I would consider adding everything to a wok as well why blanch the bok choy first? One step to many.
Always fun and exciting recipes here. Thank you!
Jeff
Hi Jeff, I suggest canola oil because it is one of the healthiest oils (certified organic). You can read more about it here: http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/how_healthy_is_canola_oil_really If you are only using a little oil, I would also suggest basic good quality extra virgin olive oil since the taste isn’t too strong 🙂
Blanching is to give the bok choy a nice color – you can definitely skip this step if you don’t mind the color being less vibrant!