This Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce is a healthy Chinese meal served with yummy Chinese gravy. This dish takes less than 20 minutes and is full of protein and veggies to keep you feeling satisfied!
🔍 Quick Look: Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce
- What is it? A light oyster sauce known as Chinese gravy is served over crisp and tender bok choy. This is a common dish is served at Chinese restaurants and made at home.
- Why you’ll love this recipe: You can cook this meal in less than 20 minutes! The sauce is super delicious with an oyster sauce base and minced chicken (or pork, whichever meat you prefer).
- 🕒 Total Cook Time: 20 minutes
- 🔥 Cook Method: The bok choy is boiled. Then, a Chinese gravy is made with minced meat on a pan flavored with oyster sauce.
- 🥰 Versatile & Easy Ingredient List : Switch up the bok choy with boiled carrots, mushrooms, or some spinach. The oyster sauce goes well with almost every vegetable!
- 👩🍳 Flavor Profile: Savory, a little sweet and lots of garlic flavor.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy! Boil your vegetables and make the sauce in less than 20 minutes.
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Key Ingredients
Here’s a look at what you need to make this Bok Choy with Garlic Sauce. The highlights are here but the full ingredient list and quantities of each are in the recipe card.
- Bok Choy – Crisp yet soft bok choy is commonly used for this dish. You can use Chinese broccoli (Gai Lan), or Choy Sum. Both are Chinese vegetables that have similar texture and flavor.
- Ground pork or chicken (optional) – I prefer to add extra protein (and flavor) to the Chinese gravy. When fried, the meat also adds some fat and juiciness to the oyster sauce base. You can omit the meat from this dish to make cooking quicker and easier.
- Shaoxing cooking wine (optional) – The cooking wine helps with the gaminess of the meat and makes the sauce a little bit sweeter. You can also substitute with dry sherry or sake. If you don’t have this or don’t want to add, feel free to omit.
- Soy sauce – a low sodium soy sauce is perfect for this to ensure that the sauce is not too salty. Soy sauce and oyster sauce is the base of the sauce, so make sure you have a high quality one (I like to use Kikkoman).
- Sugar – Chinese cooking usually will have sugar to complement the saltiness of the soy sauce flavor. The sauce is supposed to be on the sweeter end to also pair well with the vegetables.
- Oyster sauce – is the base of the sauce and will give umami to your sauce. You can use vegetarian oyster sauce if you can’t have meat. I prefer to use the Lee Kum Kee brand for the best flavor.
- Corn starch – corn starch is needed to give that glossy finish and thick consistency. When you add cornstarch in the pan, lower the heat to ensure there are no clumps and keep mixing!
If you’re looking for more easy and tasty vegetable dishes, check out my Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, Spicy Lotus Roots, Tofu With Black Bean Sauce and Stir Fried Chinese Green Beans.
Substitutions and Variations
- Greens: Swap bok choy for baby bok choy, choy sum, or Chinese broccoli (gai lan), napa cabbage, or even spinach for a similar texture and flavor.
- Spice it up: Add a drizzle of chili oil for a spicy kick. Try my homemade chili oil or use dried chili flakes.
- Add shiitake mushrooms, baby corn or carrots when you boil the bok choy for a variation in texture and flavor in your dish. Also the colors make the dish look extra vibrant!
How to Make Bok Choy with Garlic Sauce
Step 1: Soak and rinse bok choy in a large tub of water until the leaves are not wilted and there’s no dirt.
Step 2: Slice the bok choy in half (optional). Bring water to a boil (high heat) in a pot. Add salt and bok choy in water. Boil for 3-4 minutes until tender or your desired softness.
Step 3: Strain bok choy until there is no water left. We don’t want a watery vegetable dish!
Step 4: In a bowl, mix together minced garlic, soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, corn starch and water. Set aside.
Step 5: (optional step of cooking meat!) Heat pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add some oil, ground meat, and salt in the pan. Fry for 3-5 minutes until cooked.
Step 6: Mix your sauce as the cornstarch may have sinked to the bottom of the bowl.
Step 7: Turn heat to low-medium, and add your sauce in the pan. Continue stirring so there’s no clumps.
Step 8: The sauce should have thickened up. To plate, add your sauce on top of the bok choy. Serve with hot rice.
Expert Tips
- Before you add your mixed sauce to the pan, make sure you give the sauce a quick stir as the corn starch have sinked to the bottom.
- Strain the bok choy very well. The leftover water from the veggies can make the sauce bland and too thin.
- Don’t boil the bok choy for too long (more than 5 minutes) or the vegetables get too soft. We are looking for a crisp and tender texture to go with the oyster garlic sauce!
- Optional but recommended, add in shiitake mushrooms and sliced carrots for more texture and color to your dish.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, blanching the bok choy is also a very common cooking method for this dish. To blanch the bok choy, cook for one to two minutes in boiling water and then place them in ice water. Make sure to strain well. Your vegetables will be extra crisp!
Bok choy is a type of Chinese cabbage with crisp white stalks and tender dark green leaves. It has a mild, slightly sweet flavor and is commonly used in Asian soups, stir-fries, and steamed dishes. You can also use baby bok choy that is less mature and can be more tender (less fibrous).
Store garlic bok choy in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1-2 days. When reheating, gently warm in a skillet (or microwave in short bursts). I recommend eating the bok choy with oyster sauce in one setting because the vegetables can get more soggy when you reheat it.
This bok choy recipe pairs perfectly with steamed rice or noodles like Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup, and can be served alongside other Chinese dishes like stir-fried tofu, Har Gow – Shrimp Dumplings, Crispy Chinese Chicken or Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly Rice (Lu Rou Fan).
Bok Choy with Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound bok choy
- 3 cups water (to boil bok choy)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Oyster Sauce Base:
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ½ pound ground pork or chicken (optional)**
- 1 teaspoon shaoxing cooking wine (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Soak and rinse bok choy in a large tub of water until the leaves are not wilted and there’s no dirt.
- Slice the bok choy in half.
- Bring water to a boil (high heat) in a pot. Add salt and bok choy in water. Boil for 3-4 minutes until tender or your desired softness.
- Strain bok choy until there is no water left. We don’t want a watery vegetable dish!
- In a bowl, mix together minced garlic, soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, corn starch and water. Set aside.
- (optional step – cooking meat) Heat pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add some oil, ground meat (optional), shaoxing cooking wine (optional) and salt in the pan. Fry for 3-5 minutes until cooked.
- Mix your sauce as the cornstarch may have sinked to the bottom of the bowl. Turn heat to low-medium on pan, and add your sauce in the pan. Continue stirring so there’s no clumps and sauce has thickened.
- To plate, add your bok choy and add sauce on top. Serve with hot rice.
Notes
- Before you add your mixed sauce to the pan, make sure you give the sauce a quick stir as the corn starch have sinked to the bottom.
- Strain the bok choy very well. The leftover water from the veggies can make the sauce bland and too thin.
- Don’t boil the bok choy for too long (more than 5 minutes) or the vegetables get too soft. We are looking for a crisp and tender texture to go with the oyster garlic sauce!
- Optional but recommended, add in shiitake mushrooms and sliced carrots for more texture and color to your dish.
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