When you have a large crop of bok choy from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve bok choy, also known as pak choi:
- Grill it in sesame oil.
- Sauté or stirfry it with garlic and ginger. Add chicken, duck, or beef if desired.
- Sauté or stirfry it with onions and hot peppers like chili peppers, jalapeños, or habaneros. Add chicken or beef if desired.
- Sauté or stirfry it with mushrooms and ginger. Add chicken or duck if desired.
- Stirfry it with shrimp and chives.
- Add it to another sauté or stirfry.
- Steam it with water chestnuts and pine nuts.
- Bake it with garlic and top with soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, or a cayenne-based hot sauce.
- Make a simple soup with bok choy and mushrooms. Options for a base include chicken broth, vegetable broth, and coconut milk.
- Make a simple soup with bok choy, onions, and peppers. Any onions will work, but green onions are especially delicious in this soup. The peppers can be sweet, like bell peppers, or hot, like chili or jalapeño peppers.
- Add it to other soups.
- Add it to egg dishes like omelets, especially alongside garlic.
- Use it as a Base or Partial Base for an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!) Keep in mind that boy choy is a leafy Brassica, so you may not want to consume it raw if you are sensitive to glucosinolates, which are significantly reduced by cooking.
- Make a Simple Salad with bok choy, bell peppers, and carrots. Alternatively, this combination of bok choy, bell peppers, and carrots could be prepared as a sauté or stirfry.
- Add it to other salads. Again, be sure to cook it first if you are sensitive to glucosinolates.
- Add it to pasta.
- Add it to rice, wild rice, or quinoa along with an onion or leek. In other words, add the onion/leek to the pan with the grains while they simmer on the stovetop. This is a fantastic simple dish all on its own. If you have them on hand, you could also add any of the following:
- Dry it for later use.
- Blanch and freeze it to save it for later. Check out this article for more about blanching.
- Pickle it, alone or with bell peppers, carrots, or parsnips. You could also experiment with adding herbs like ginger, garlic, dill, or cilantro. Bok choy is well-suited to both traditional and quick pickles.
- Ferment it as part of an alternative sauerkraut or other ferment.
Further Reading
Growing bok choy? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Bok choy is also featured in these articles: