Bok choy is my favorite dark leafy green vegetable. You can use it in lots of different recipes and it has a nice, mild flavor. If you don’t know how to cut bok choy, don’t worry. It’s easy and I’m going to show you a few different ways to cut bok choy.
Whether you’re making a salad or stir fry, or even just boiling it, bok choy is a good source of vitamins C and K. It’s rich in fiber and has been studied for potential ability to lower cholesterol levels and promote strong bones.
So there’s lots of reasons to get more bok choy into your menus. Now it’s time to learn how to prepare it!
Wash & Prep the Bok Choy
Before cutting my bok choy I like to wash it. Place the bok choy in a large bowl of water and swish it around for a minute to loosen any dirt.
You’ll notice with bok choy that there is a tough bottom on the end of it, similar to a bunch of celery. You can just slice this off and either discard it, compost it or save it to use when making soup stock.
For baby bok choy that is sliced in half lengthwise, it will need to be washed a second time after cutting. Once it’s been cut, place the baby bok choy in a big bowl of cold water again to give it one more rinse. After thoroughly washing it and giving it a rinse your baby bok choy is ready to use.
3 Types of Cuts
Sliced in Half Lengthwise (Used with Baby Bok Choy)
Baby bok choy looks pretty when sliced in half lengthwise. Baby bok choy can vary in size. Some are small and some are on the larger size for baby bok choy.
Lay the bok choy on a cutting board. Hold it with your non-dominant hand. Use a sharp chef knife to slice it lengthwise down the middle. Repeat with any remaining baby bok choy. Now wash the bok choy a second time as described above.
You can now use the prepared bok choy to stir fry it, steam it or boil it and serve it with a delicious dressing. It’s so easy to prepare like this and it makes a great presentation.
Now that you know how to cut baby bok choy, let me show you how to prepare regular bok choy.
Diagonal Stir Fry Cut
Just like with the baby bok choy, we’re going to slice off the end off of a bunch of regular bok choy. And this will help to separate the leaves. Now you can slice the bunch of bok choy in half across. You can do this on a cutting board. This helps to separate the white stem part from the green leafy tops and it makes it a little easier to work with when you’re washing it in the bowl.
Removing Black Spots on Bok Choy
I use a vegetable peeler to remove any little black spots that I see on the bok choy. These are really common and it doesn’t mean that you can’t use the bok choy. It’s easy enough to remove them using your vegetable peeler. For any larger brown or spoiled spots I get in there with my knife and just cut those out. You can really see the difference between one that’s prepped and one that’s not.
Thickness of Slices for Bok Choy Stir Fry
To make a stir fry with bok choy you can slice the white stem part about a half an inch thick. I like to cut it on a slight diagonal. To cut the green leaf part of the bok choy, cut them up into 1 or 2-inch slices and then stack them up together. Next, cut them across the other direction to make bite-size pieces.
Cooking Time for Bok Choy Stir Fry
The stems and leaves have different cooking times. The leaves will cook much more quickly, so I like to cook the stems by themselves first in a stir fry. After a minute or two you can go ahead and add your chopped up leaves. And they will wilt down really fast, in just an additional minute or two.
This is such a delicious way to prepare bok choy. You can add soy sauce, coconut aminos, garlic, ginger, or whatever you like. The bok choy gets so nice and tender and you can serve it with a little fresh lemon.
Chiffonade Cut (Used to Make Slaw or Salad)
Another fun way to prepare bok choy is to make it into a slaw or salad. So to do this you’ll want to cut it very finely. A good sharp chef knife is key for this task. And your holding hand should look like piano fingers. The cuts on the bok choy stems should be around 1/16th of an inch. To cut the green leafy part, remove the stem from the center of the leaf. This makes it easier to roll up the leaf to slice through it. Fold over the leaves, slicing them lengthwise a couple of times. Stack them up and roll them into a tight cigar-type of roll. Now finely slice across the rolled up green leaves in what is known as a “chiffonade” cut. This cut is used to cut leafy green vegetables or fresh herbs.
Flavoring a Bok Choy Salad
When you’re making a salad with bok choy, be aware that it can have a strong bitter taste when it’s raw. So I like to combine it with ingredients like thinly sliced grapes, maybe some radishes and other ingredients that make it really flavorful. Sea salt and some type of acid like lemon juice, fresh orange juice or apple cider vinegar will help it to break down. Add a creamy mayonnaise-based dressing to it and you’ve got a nice variation of coleslaw. It goes great with fish tacos.
So now you know three different ways to cut bok choy. You can just slice baby bok choy in half and keep it simple, or cut them a little thicker for a stir fry, or cut them super fine for a salad. Hopefully you got some fun ideas of ways that you can prepare bok choy. Leave a comment with which one you’re going to try first! I’d love to hear.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What parts of bok choy do you eat?
You can eat everything except the very bottom stem that holds the bok choy together. I recommend separating the stems from the leaves. Chop the stems separate from the leaves as they have different cooking times.
Do you eat the white stem of bok choy?
Yes! The white stems (or green in the case of baby bok choy) are delicious and nutritious. They are much more tender than other dark leafy green stems, such as kale. They will just take a little longer to cook, but this extra time is well worth it!
What does it mean to trim ends from bok choy?
There is a tough bottom part on the end opposite from the dark green leaves. Trim off an inch or two to remove this bottom. You can discard or compost this end part of the bok choy. Or save it to use to make soup stock. Just be sure to soak and rinse it thoroughly as it can contain dirt and debris.
Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. And be sure to stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
CHECK THESE OUT NEXT:
- Check out my How to Cook Dark Leafy Greens.
- Here is the The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Dark Leafy Greens.
- You will love this easy Kale Salad recipe that is so tasty and easy to make.
- And my blog post about Collard Greens.
Natural Kitchen Cooking School, LLC participates in the Amazon Associate program. This means that we may receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post. Thank you for your support of the work we do here at Natural Kitchen Cooking School!
Leave a Reply