10 Minute Lemon Garlic Sauteed Bok Choy

I love this easy bok choy recipe! See how to make sautéed bok choy with fresh lemon and garlic in under 10 minutes. Make this as a side dish or add your favorite protein for a full meal. Jump to the 10 Minute Lemon Garlic Sauteed Bok Choy Recipe or read on to see our tips for making it.

Watch How We Make It

What is Bok Choy

If you are wondering what bok choy is, let’s get that out of the way first. More recently, we have been noticing bok choy show up in our local grocery store.

It’s in the same family of veggies as broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. It’s light, crisp, and crunchy on the bottom and has dark green leaves on top. It tastes mild and we absolutely love it — especially when we quickly stir-fry or saute it. The leaves wilt a little and the white bottoms stay light and crisp.

Our Favorite Way to Cook Bok Choy

This recipe was actually the result of a mistake — I was throwing together a quick lunch while using up as much of what was left in the fridge as I could. I threw bok choy into the skillet intending to toss and flip it often so that it cooked slightly, but didn’t brown. Instead, I became distracted and realized that I had left it in the skillet, without moving it for a couple of minutes. (Thanks, Instagram)

This left the underside of the bok choy browned and caramelized. The garlic in the pan was also toasted pretty dark. Thinking that I’d ruined it, we had a taste. After a generous squeeze of lemon and a tiny drizzle of olive oil, we realized it was one of our favorite veggie dishes we’ve made in a while. So that’s why we are sharing it with you.

That mistake has quickly turned into one of our favorite ways to cook bok choy! Here are the easy steps:

How We Cook Bok Choy, Step-By-Step

Prep the bok choy. Remove any discolored outer stalks of the bok choy and discard them (or save for stock later). Place the bok choy into a colander and rinse with cool water, rubbing any grit or dirt from between the leaves. Trim the ends then slice each bok choy in half lengthwise. Or if they are large, cut into quarters. Pat dry.

Combine oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a cold skillet, and then place over medium heat. The cold skillet prevents over-browning the garlic.

Cook the bok choy in one layer in the skillet. Sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon of salt then cook, without stirring, until the bottom is starting to turn brown. Flip then cook until the green leaves have wilted and the white bottoms are beginning to soften, but still have some crunch.

Serve with lemon juice and a little olive oil drizzled on top.

The whole dish comes together in under 10 minutes and it’s great as a bed for this baked salmon or served as a light side with roasted chicken. I’ve also spooned canned albacore tuna on top and drizzled everything with a little more olive oil and loved it.

Here’s another idea, try swapping fresh garlic for roasted garlic! Roasted garlic is one of the best things you can make in your oven. Here’s how we roast garlic as well as lots of ways to use it.

More Easy Vegetable Recipes

• Here’s another way to cook bok choy: Add it to soups. We add regular green cabbage to our cabbage soup with ham, but bok choy would be excellent.
• This creamy asparagus soup is guilt-free. It’s low in calories, tastes great, and cleverly reduces ingredient waste.
• Quick and easy sauteed green beans with butter and fresh ginger.
• Sauteed zucchini is a quick, easy, and healthy side. It’s delicious, too. Try our version with zucchini cooked in garlic and butter.
• Try our spicy garlic ginger edamame recipe! It’s so quick to make and tastes amazing.