This simple, delicious sautéed bok choy recipe with fresh lemon and garlic is ready in under 10 minutes.
Bok choy is light, crisp, and crunchy on the bottom, with dark green leaves on top. It tastes mild, and we absolutely love it, especially when we quickly sauté it.
The leaves wilt a little and the white bottoms stay light and crisp. In this recipe, we cook bok choy with fresh garlic, lemon, and we love adding a touch of heat with pepper flakes.
Key Ingredients
- Bok choy: I love baby bok choy for this recipe. It’s easy to prep and cooks quickly in the pan.
- Oil: I like avocado oil for this recipe, but olive oil works, too.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic is excellent with bok choy. I infuse the oil with garlic before adding my baby bok choy.
- Red pepper flakes: Try crushed red pepper flakes Gochugaru (Korean pepper flakes) for some heat.
- Lemon: Brightens all the flavors at the end.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Cook Bok Choy
My bok choy recipe is a happy accident turned kitchen staple. I overcooked it once, and the result was so good that it’s now one of my favorite bok choy recipes!
Tip 1: Remove outer stalks. We like to remove any discolored outer stalks and rinse the bok choy, removing any grit or dirt. Trim the ends and slice the bok choy in half lengthwise or into quarters if it’s large. Pat them dry.
Tip 2: Start with a cold skillet. Combine oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a cold skillet over medium heat. The cold skillet prevents the garlic from over-browning.
Tip 3: Cook bok choy in one layer. This helps them brown instead of steam. Spread the bok choy in one layer and season with salt, then cook without stirring until the bottom starts to brown. Flip it and cook until the green leaves have wilted and the white bottoms are beginning to soften but still have some crunch.
Tip 4: Finish with olive oil and lemon. The browned, caramelized bok choy and toasted garlic is delicious, finished with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil.
Serving Suggestions
This easy bok choy comes together in under 10 minutes and works nicely with many dishes. Try with our brown sugar baked salmon, next to teriyaki chicken, baked tofu, or juicy skillet chicken breasts. I also love it with Cajun shrimp or this cilantro lime shrimp!
It’s excellent with other sides like coconut rice, fried rice, fluffy quinoa, and plain Jasmine or Basmati rice.
More Quick Vegetable Recipes
Easy Sautéed Bok Choy
- PREP
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One of my favorite bok choy recipes, this easy sautéed baby bok choy takes about 10 minutes and has fresh lemon and garlic. I love baby bok choy for this recipe.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) baby bok choy
1 ½ tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt
Half of a lemon, cut into wedges
Directions
1Remove any discolored outer stalks of the bok choy and discard them. Add the bok choy to a colander and rinse it with cool water, removing any grit or dirt between the leaves. Trim the ends, then slice each bok choy in half lengthwise. If they’re large, cut them into quarters. Pat them dry.
2Add the oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes to a wide skillet at room temperature.
3Place the skillet over medium-low heat and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the oil bubbles around the garlic. Be careful not to let the garlic turn light brown.
4Add bok choy to the skillet and spread it out into one layer.
5Sprinkle over ¼ teaspoon of salt, then cook it without stirring for 2 minutes or until the bottom turns light brown.
6Flip the bok choy and cook it for another 2 minutes, or until the green leaves have wilted and the white bottoms have begun to soften but still have some crunch. If the garlic gets too dark, turn the heat to low and cover with a lid (the bok choy will continue to cook).
7Squeeze over fresh lemon juice. Then, serve with extra lemon wedges. I also love a light drizzle of olive oil.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Garlic: The trick to this recipe is toasting the garlic but not burning it. If you are worried it will burn, toss the garlic into the pan a minute or two after adding the bok choy.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
This recipe looks great…I harvested the last of my baby bok choy and using your recipe…simple and yummy…paired it with fresh caught Minnesota walleye and baby red potatoes also from my garden. I know its going to be good…cant go wrong with garlic and lemon!!!! thank you!!!
We completely agree. You are so welcome!
This simple recipe is excellent!!
So happy you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
I used tiny bok choy – smaller than most baby bok choy – and followed the recipe except for the hot peppers due to a family member with a sensitive stomach. Oh, and I used grapeseed oil. It came out great! The preparation is super simple and required a cutting board, and a skillet to cook. Will definitely make again.So many asian dishes require extra bowls or cups, like for corn starch slurry or soy sauce mixed with hoisen sauce, maybe honey added. This simple recipe is well received by the cook at my house (me).
Wonderful! 🙂
Enjoyed this and made as directed. I liked the lemon at the end.
Thanks for the recipe! I had to cook it longer to get rid of the bitterness, about 15 min in total, but it turned out delicious!
This is a question. If you heat pan with minced garlic until oil bubbles, then keep the bok choy in the ban browning for six minutes, how do you keep the garlic from burning? Minced garlic can burn pretty quickly.
Hi Dave, the garlic will take on some dark color, but shouldn’t burn to the point of being bitter. If you are concerned, hold back the garlic until a few minutes before the end of the bok choy cooking time.
The recipe is fantastic, my dish however…….well have you ever eaten pizza with a glass of orange juice after brushing your teeth? yea SO here’s what I did wrong: The chef in me of course wanted to stray away from the recipe DO NOT!. I added lemon pepper and bottled lemon juice to the pan while cooking, Also make sure you use fresh bok choy and I mean from the ground not 1 1/2 weeks old like subway and all the fast food places claim (mine was 1 week)
Perfect recipe for quick weeknight meals. I paired with fresh ahi tuna that I crusted with everything bagel seasoning and pan seared for a minute or so on all sides over high heat.
Literally less than 7 minutes at the stove, delicious and very healthy.
YUM! Seared Ahi Tuna with baby Bok Choy! This is my kind of meal! Thanks for the suggestion!
Awesome!!! Paired it with Asian kabobs with shishitos.
Small adjustment for this recipe, add the crushef pepper flakes and salt to perfume the oil at the beginning then add the bok choy and only half way through cooking add the garlic, never started with garlic, it will over cook and start to burn. Complete with the lemon juice. Fantastic recipe!
Just made this tonight and it was delicious! The only thing I changed was using sesame seed oil instead of olive.
I hate making food with lots of ingredients. This recipe was very easy and came out fantastic. I found that 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of oil was too much for my liking so on the 2nd batch we cut down to 3/4 of a tablespoon. I have an electric stove, not gas so cooking time took longer but well worth the wait. I highly recommend this recipe to everyone. Thanks Adam & Joanne. Next stop is your eggplant recipe, potato recipe and vegetable soup. Bob
Today I cooked and ate Bok Choy for the first time ever following your recipe and it was amazing. It was easy, simple and delicious. Thanks
very tasty! Served with dry garlic pork ribs. Perfect!
This was excellent!!! We loved it and enjoyed every bite. I removed the garlic after it browned and it still perfumed the Bok. The lemon at the end was perfect.
Yum! Had leftover bok choy from a soup recipe and have not really been a fan. This was very good though. Nice and bright with the lemon. Two of my teenagers gave it an endorsement….that’s saying something given their chicken tender and pizza palates. Will definitely make this again!
I’ve never had bok choy so I bought some to try something new, did a quick google search, and found this recipe. SO good! I’ll definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you this quick and easy recipe. I love bok choy but have never been able to make it well. This was great and was the star of the meal. Even the dark garlic bits were tasty. The lemon at the end really brought out the flavor. Delicious and easy! Love your recipes.
First time trying pan fried, VERY yummy! Definitely never going back to steamed. Went perfect with my rib eye steak! Thanks for sharing such a yummy option!!
I had bok choy in my CSA basket and a couple of lemons languishing on the counter, and a Google search brought me to this recipe. It may become my “not Asian” go-to for bok choy. It’s quick, it uses simple ingredients that I usually have on hand, and while I paired it with some meatballs tonight, it would be great alongside, pork, fish… or even scrambled eggs in the morning. The one ingredient I *didn’t* have was red pepper flakes (they’re in my spice order, stuck outside of Dallas because… weather). I substituted togarashi and it worked quite well. Now to explore the other recipes here…
I just made this to go with Chinese braised beef, and it paired beautifully! I love the lemon in this recipe, it gives it a nice burst of citrus. My husband and 2 toddlers devoured it! Thank you for sharing.
Nice recipe..Will try
Great recipe, especially adding the lemon juice in the end. The description is great and the flavours combined make it a great side dish. Thank you
Wow U Are Awesome!
This was my first time ever cooking bok choy. It was so delicious! I served with a tomato and avocado recipe and maple and apple sauce pork, with a slice of Camembert cheese. I felt like a chef.
Delicious! I was looking for a bok choy recipe without soy sauce. This was a perfect side dish for the fish we were having for dinner.
Amazing! My family loved it.
We bought Bok Choy at our local Farmers’ Market this week and I decided to look for a new cooking recipe. What a great tasting, easy and quick recipe. The ingredients are perfect for each other. My husband and I loved this dish! We will be serving this dish to our visiting family and friends.Thank you! Marie
This is a great recipe, will definitely be using it in the near future and II highly recommended it.
During the covid shelter-in, I have noticed I eat much less. As I continue my successful journey to alleviate IBS symptoms in a completely natural way I am always looking for new easy healthy recipes using no processed foods. I looked up easy tasty bok choi and found yours. I’d like to continue using your recipes for awhile to get some variety. I only had the large bok choi on hand and will adapt that to your recipe.
I chopped it for quicker cooking and it was overcooked before it caramelizas. But the flavor was awesome.
I tried this recipe last night and, although he doesn’t like many vegetables, we both thought it was absolutely delicious! You’re very right that caramelizing the edges slightly makes the dish. Thank you, I’ll be making it again very soon.
Thank you for the info on bok Choy I can’t wait to make this and all your meatless recipes
Enjoy watch the bok choy receipt love eating it simple to the point and very delicious. Thanks for sharing
This was absolutely delicious & a perfect accompaniment to my lemon chicken on pasta. It was crispy & flavourful and everyone loved it – must buy a bigger bag next time!
I made this bok choi tonight as a bed for salmon. I was perfect and easy! The bok choi cooked down more than I’d hoped for. I thought I had enough for 3 ppl and it was barely enough for 2. Lesson learned! Thank YOU!!!!
Loved the bok choy recipe! Fast, easy and fits right in to my plant based diet. Will be adding this to my favorites. Thanks!