My quick and easy roasted bok choy recipe cooked in a flavorful garlic sauce and finished with crunchy toppings for perfectly unforgettable taste and texture in less than 30 minutes! You'll want to make this veggie side dish again and again.
And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love my garlicky green beans with mushrooms!
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❤️ Why You'll Love this Recipe
Quick and Easy to Cook - Roasting is my favorite hands-off method for meal prepping vegetables for the week and, although bok choy is commonly enjoyed steamed or in soups, it also tastes amazing with the roasting treatment.
Fantastic Flavor - The sauce we'll make for this recipe has layers of savory, umami, spicy, bright, nutty, and sweet flavor notes--so good! This preparation is not strictly aligned with Chinese, Japanese, Jamaican or Korean methods but bursting with flavorful Asian ingredients.
We don't save flavor for main dishes around here--side dishes get the business, too--like my garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, ginger curry roasted carrots, and lemon alfredo cauliflower.
What does bok choy taste like?
Bok choy has a mild green flavor and springy texture. It's watery and slightly crunchy. Definitely not as crisp as celery but not as soft as spinach. Roasting bok choy yields the perfect balance of crisp and tender.
If you've ever had cabbage or brussels sprouts, bok choy will likely taste familiar because it's actually related to Chinese cabbage and that whole family.
If you like vegetables from this family, check out my southern fried cabbage with sausage, crispy suya spiced brussels sprouts recipe, smoky sautéed brussels, and maple roasted brussels, too. These hot honey brussels sprouts are also a hit and everybody devours my shaved brussels sprouts casserole!
What You'll Need for this Recipe
Baby Bok Choy is my favorite and what I use this roast bok choy recipe but you can use regular bok choy just the same.
Fresh Garlic and Ginger add flavor to the sauce. If you need to use garlic powder and/or ginger powder instead, use about one fourth the amount.
Sesame Seeds and Almonds for crunchy goodness over top! These are optional but highly recommended.
Avocado Oil and Sesame Oil - I like to use avocado oil for its higher smoke point, since we're roasting bok choy in the oven at 400 degrees, and oven roasted bok choy with sesame oil is just the best.
Check out the recipe card below for full ingredients list, measurements, nutrition facts, and step-by-step instructions!
Substitutions & Variations
Sesame Oil - You can use regular or toasted sesame oil interchangeably in this recipe. Toasted oil will give a deeper more nutty flavor.
Sesame Seeds - Feel free to grab whichever sesame seeds you can find--raw or toasted, black or white--and even mix them up for extra razzle dazzle.
Sweetener - I use a touch of honey in this sauce to balance out the flavor profile but feel free to use the sweetener of your choice. If you want to stick with a nutritive sweetener and make your roasted bok choy vegan, try my date honey!
How to Make Roasted Bok Choy Quick & Easy
How to Clean Bok Choy Easily
Step One: Cut the bok choy into quarters, lengthwise, leaving the ends in tact so that the stems don't separate then rise each piece in cold water, making sure to get water between each stem. Pat dry.
Pro Tip #1: It's best to cut bok choy before cleaning it in order to more easily get between the layered stems.
Pro Tip #2: You can also use a salad spinner to remove excess water. Getting bok choy fully dry before roasting is an important step to avoid soggy texture--make sure it's dry so the leaves can get crisp!
Making Garlic Sauce for Bok Choy
Step Two: Mix up the avocado oil, crushed red pepper, garlic, ginger, honey, lemon juice, sesame oil, and soy sauce in a bowl.
Roasting Bok Choy in the Oven
Step Three: Lay the quartered bok choy onto a sheet pan about one inch apart and drizzle each piece with garlic sauce.
Step Four: Cook at 400 degrees until tender.
Pro Tip #3: I recommend preparing the sheet pan with non-stick spray to make sure your bok choy gets nice and caramelized but still releases cleanly from the pan.
Pro Tip #4: You can either lay the bok choy on the pan with cut sides facing up OR with one cut side flat on the pan surface. The first option is best for distributing the sauce and flavor evenly throughout the stems but the second option gives a nice caramelization, so it depends on what you prefer. I like to alternate!
Pro Tip #5: Be sure to leave at least one inch of space between each piece of bok choy so that it can roast properly--too close together and the veggies will release water onto each other during cooking and steam instead. Use a full sheet pan for this recipe or roast in batches in order to give the veggies enough room.
Pro Tip #6: Make sure to get sauce on the dark green leaves. This is what gives you crispy bok choy leaves in the oven! And reserve some of the sauce for serving.
Step Five: To serve, drizzle the remaining sauce over top then garnish with sesame seeds and almonds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store refrigerated in an airtight container. It will keep for up to five days this way.
You can freeze cooked bok choy in an airtight container for up to one year but keep in mind that the texture will be different once thawed and reheated. For this reason, I don't really recommend freezing roasted baby bok choy.
What to serve with garlic bok choy?
I recommend roasted bok choy with salmon, broiled shrimp or juicy chicken breast. If you wind up with leftovers, cut them up and toss into an easy wonton bowl--you've got options!
Is bok choy PCOS friendly?
Absolutely! This roasted bok choy and sauce is a great side dish to have in your hormone-balancing arsenal for many reasons. Firstly, bok choy is part of the leafy green family, which is known to support healthy digestion, fight inflammation, and provide ample fiber, along with other nutrients.
Because of the sesame, this is also a great seed cycling recipe that provides some protein, too.
More Asian Inspired Recipes
I hope you'll enjoy this delicious roasted bok choy dish soon and very soon. And sharing is caring so be sure to pin it for later and follow me over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
📖 Recipe
Roasted Bok Choy with Garlic Sauce
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 1 microplane or grater
- 1 spoon
Ingredients
- 2 pounds baby bok choy
For the Garlic Sauce
- 1 one-inch knob of ginger
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon honey optional
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Garnishes
- sesame seeds
- ¼ cup almonds whole, chopped, or sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a sheet pan with non-stick oil and set aside.
- Cut bok choy into quarters, lengthwise, leaving the ends in tact so that the stems don't separate. Rinse in cold water, making sure to get between the stems. Thoroughly pat dry then place on prepared sheet pan, leaving at least one-inch between each piece.
- Peel and grate ginger into a bowl. Mince or grate garlic and add to bowl. Squeeze in the juice of one lemon.
- Add soy sauce, sesame oil, avocado oil, honey, crushed red pepper, sea salt, and black pepper to bowl. Mix vigorously to combine.
- Drizzle sauce over top of each piece of bok choy, making sure to get sauce on the dark green leaves. Reserve about two spoonfuls of sauce for serving.
- Transfer pan to oven and roast for about 10 minutes. Bok choy will be fork tender and very slightly browned. Leaves will be dried and crisp.
- If using whole almonds, chop them into small pieces while bok choy roasts. Garnish finished dish with almonds, sesame seeds, and more sauce, if desired.
Marta says
I absolutely love bok choy so this roasted version was a big treat for me. The garlic sauce especially made this a hit with the entire family. It's a great side dish for any protein.