Steamed bok choy recipe
Steamed bok choy with garlic oyster sauce takes only 5 mins to steam! Learn how to steam bok choy to tender, crisp, and flavorful. This is an easy and fast bok choy recipe that's super healthy and delicious!
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb baby bok choy halved, 4.5 to 5-inch height
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos or 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
- 0.5 tbsp Shaoxing wine or Taiwanese michu, dry sherry, stock
- 1 tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
- 0.8 oz garlic cloves finely minced, 4 large cloves
- Pinch coarse sea salt
- Drizzle toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- If the bottom tip end is tough, trim of the tip ends. Slice the baby bok choy lengthwise in halve. For medium size (regular) bok choy (8-9 inch height), quarter it. For large bok choy (10-11 inch height or more), please see notes section.
- Plunge them into a big bowl of water, and gently separate the stalks between the layers to rinse out the dirt.
- In a bowl small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients with coconut aminos, oyster sauce, and Chinese cooking wine or stock.
- In a large pot with steamer basket and lid, add 1-inch water. Bring it to boiling then lower heat to medium. The water should be simmering but not boiling so that the water won’t spill over to the vegetables.
- Add the bok choy to the steamer basket with stems side facing down and the leafy side facing up. Some overlaps are okay. Try to place them with different angles to allow the hot steam to circle through. The bok choy will look like they are in up-side-down “standing” position.
- Cover the pan with a lid and steam for 5 minutes. The bok choy stems should be crisp and with some bites to them; whereas the leaves should be tender but still in deep green color.
- Remove the bok choy and place them on a large serving plate. Allow them to cool down to room temperature.
- In a separate saute pan, add the oil and saute the garlic over medium heat with a pinch of salt for about 10 seconds. Take care not to burn the garlic.
- Add the sauce and stir with a wooden spoon for 10 seconds. The sauce will thicken slightly, turn off the heat.
- Pour the sauce over the bok choy. Drizzle with toasted sesame oil. Serve immediately or warm.
Video
Notes
- If not using vegetarian oyster sauce, add 1.5 tbsp more coconut aminos or 1 tbsp light soy sauce. And thicken the sauce with slurry (1 tsp starch with 1 tbsp cold water).
- After steaming, the bok choy stems should be crisp and with some bites to them; whereas the leaves should be tender but still in deep green color.
- For large bok choy (10-inch height or more), separate the leaves from the stems and dice the stems into 1.5-inch sections and the leaves to 2-inch sections. When steaming, steam the white color stems first for 3 minutes then add the leafy greens and steam for 2 more minutes. Check and steam further if necessary.
- Chinese cooking wine (and Taiwanese michu cooking wine) are not gluten-free. You can either use stock or gluten-free Japanese mirin in my Chinese pantry staples.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 87kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 394mg | Potassium: 27mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 5047IU | Vitamin C: 53mg | Calcium: 137mg | Iron: 1mg
