Bok Choy and Mushroom Stir Fry

An easy bok choy mushroom stir fry that can be whipped together quickly for a speedy weekday dinner. The tender mushrooms and crisp bok choy are brought together with a gingery garlicky brown sauce, which tastes comforting and satisfying. Serve it as a side or a main course over steamed rice. {Vegan, Gluten-Free Adaptable}

Baby bok choy is one of my favorite vegetables and I have shared quite a few recipes for it in the past – Stir Fried Bok Choy with Tofu Puffs, 4-Ingredient Baby Bok Choy Stir Fry, and Bok Choy Soup. Today I want to share another super simple and delicious recipe for your weekday dinner.

A twist on the classic bok choy and mushroom dish  

Bok choy and mushroom, or 香菇菜心, is a classic Cantonese dish that is quite popular in China. In the original version, the dish uses blanched baby bok choy as a bed, topped with shiitake mushrooms smothered in a brown sauce. The rich taste of the mushrooms works with the blanched bok choy, and the presentation is quite beautiful.

However, I am not a big fan of using shiitake mushrooms in this dish, because they have a very intense flavor and sometimes a rubbery texture. You can use fresh shiitake mushrooms instead of rehydrated dried shiitake to make the dish milder, but fresh shiitakes are quite expensive and sometimes hard to find. 

So I made some changes to the dish by:

• Replacing the shiitake mushrooms with the regular brown mushrooms.  
• Stir frying the bok choy and mushrooms together instead of using blanched bok choy.

It results in a dish that is as satisfying as the original version, if not better. 

How to prepare bok choy for stir frying

Ideally, baby bok choy that is about 5” to 6” (12cm to 15 cm) works the best. For this type, you probably need a run to the Asian market. But if you can only find larger heads of bok choy at your local grocery store or farmers market, that’s totally fine.

To prepare bok choy for stir frying:

1. Slice the tough end off
2. Once the end is off, you can easily tear off the outer large leaves, leaving the core intact (usually contains 4 pieces of medium leaves with a tiny core inside)
3. Halve the core lengthwise 
4. (Optional) If you use a large head of bok choy, further cut the white part of the outer leaves into bite-size pieces. Leave the green part intact without cutting, or cut it into large bite-size pieces, depending on the size of the bok choy.

If you use baby bok choy, the 4th step is not needed since the outer leaves are quite thin and will cook evenly. But for larger heads of bok choy, the white part can be quite thick and takes longer to cook through. Also, very large pieces of leaves may be difficult to eat. 

Ingredients for bok choy and mushroom stir fry

When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:

1. Minced aromatics in a bowl
2. Dried chili peppers (you can add them to the aromatics bowl)
3. Sliced and washed bok choy
4. Mixed sauce
5. Sliced mushrooms
6. Cornstarch slurry
7. Pinch of salt

Flexible aromatics

This dish uses the combination of ginger, garlic and green onion, which has the nickname “the holy trinity of the Chinese stir fry”. It’s something we use in almost every stir fry dish by default. But if you do not have all of them on hand, please feel free to skip one or even two. If you skip two of them, make sure to double the amount of the single aromatic you do plan to use. 

Cooking process

Cooking the bok choy and mushroom stir fry is super easy. Instead of blanching the bok choy, I steam it in the same pan you use for the stir fry, further reducing the steps and equipment needed.

1. Steam the bok choy in a big pan with water
2. Once the bok choy is just softened, transfer to a plate
3. Stir fry the mushrooms
4. Add the aromatics and cook together
5. Add the bok choy back in and pour in the sauce
6. Mix everything together, then thicken the sauce with the cornstarch slurry

That’s it! 

It results in a large, hearty stir fry that is vegetarian but satisfying enough to serve as a main dish over steamed rice. Of course, you can serve it alongside your main dish as well. 

Serve this dish with

• Air Fryer Chinese Chicken Wings
• Air Fryer Garlic Ribs (蒜香排骨)
• Easy Salt Baked Chicken (简易盐焗鸡)
• Easy Mongolian Meatballs
• Sichuan Shrimp Stir Fry

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Bok Choy and Mushroom Stir Fry

4.96 from 25 votes

An easy bok choy mushroom stir fry that can be whipped together quickly for a speedy weekday dinner. The tender mushrooms and crisp bok choy are brought together with a gingery garlicky brown sauce, which tastes comforting and satisfying. Serve it as a side or a main course over steamed rice. {Vegan, Gluten-Free Adaptable}

To make this dish gluten free, use tamari to replace soy sauce. Use gluten-free oyster sauce to replace the vegetarian oyster sauce.

Author: Maggie Zhu

Course: Main, Side

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: homestyle

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Total Time: 23 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

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Ingredients

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce (or regular oyster sauce)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Slurry

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water

Stir-Fry

• 1 lb (450 g) baby bok choy , cut to large bite-size pieces
• Pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 lb (450 g) brown mushrooms , halved (or quartered if the size is too big)
• 4 dried Chinese chili peppers
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 thumb ginger , minced
• 2 green onions , sliced

Instructions

• Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
• Add the slurry ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix well.
• Heat 1/4 water in a large skillet over medium high heat until hot. When the water starts to boil, add the baby bok choy and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cover the pan and let steam for 30 seconds. Uncover the pan and stir the bok choy. Cover again and cook for another 30 seconds, until the baby bok choy has softened. Transfer the bok choy into a big platter.
• Wipe the pan clean with paper towels and add 2 tablespoons of the oil, turn to high heat. Add the mushrooms. Let sear for 1 minute without touching. Then flip the mushrooms, cook and stir occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mushrooms are browned and there’s no juice left in the pan.
• Move the mushrooms to one side of the pan. Pour the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil on the other side and add the chili peppers, garlic, ginger and green onion. Stir a few times until the chili pepper turns dark red. Then stir everything together.
• Pour in the sauce. Stir and cook for 30 seconds. Stir the slurry mixture again until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. Swirl into the pan. Cook and stir until the sauce thickens, then transfer everything to a big plate. Serve hot as a side or over steamed rice as a main dish.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 151kcal, Carbohydrates: 12.8g, Protein: 5.4g, Fat: 9.5g, Saturated Fat: 1.6g, Sodium: 561mg, Potassium: 858mg, Fiber: 2.3g, Sugar: 4.7g, Calcium: 152mg, Iron: 2mg

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