Bok Choy Substitute: 7 Swaps and Their Ratios
Ratios, cook times and caveats for swapping napa cabbage, yu choy, choy sum, Swiss chard, tatsoi, gai lan, broccolini or green cabbage in for bok choy, sourced to America's Test Kitchen, The Woks of Life, Tasting Table and The Kitchn.
Napa cabbage is the closest supermarket stand-in for bok choy, swapped 1:1 by weight, though it's blander and better raw than cooked. For stir-fries, yu choy, choy sum and Swiss chard come closer. Separate the stems from the leaves and start the stems first, whichever green you end up using.
Bok choy substitutes and ratios
| Substitute | Ratio | Best for | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napa cabbage | 1:1 by weight | Stir-fries, soups, dumplings, slaws | ATK calls napa rather bland and best raw in slaws. Season harder when cooked. |
| Yu choy / choy sum | 1:1 by weight | Stir-fries, garlic greens, blanched greens | Sweeter and more tender. Usually needs an Asian grocery. |
| Swiss chard | 1:1 by weight | Stir-fries, braises, soups, stews | Thick stems. Cook them 2 to 3 minutes ahead of the leaves. |
| Tatsoi | 1:1 by weight | Soups, quick stir-fries, salads | Small tender leaves. Add near the end. |
| Gai lan (Chinese broccoli) | 1:1 by weight | Stir-fries with oyster sauce, blanched greens | More bitter and much firmer. Blanch the stalks first. |
| Broccolini | 1:1 by weight | Stir-fries, side dishes | Closer to gai lan than to bok choy. Cook to tender-crisp. |
| Green cabbage (last resort) | 1:1 by weight, sliced thin | Stir-fries and soups, in a pinch | Denser and sweeter, no juicy stems. Cook it longer. |
| Baby bok choy for mature heads | Baby heads 4 to 6 oz, mature heads 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 lb | Buying one when the recipe names the other | Heads over 2 lb can be spongy and woody inside. |
How to swap another green in for bok choy
- Weigh what you're replacing. A pound of bok choy becomes a pound of napa, chard or yu choy. Baby heads run 4 to 6 ounces and mature heads 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds.
- Wash it the way you'd wash bok choy. The Woks of Life soaks the greens in cold water, agitates gently, then rinses 2 to 3 times to clear the grit.
- Cut the stems away from the leaves. Chard, gai lan, mature bok choy and green cabbage all have a thick part and a tender part.
- Start the stems in the hot pan and give them a head start. Chard stems want 2 to 3 minutes before the leaves go in. For scale on the whole job, The Kitchn stir-fries a pound of halved bok choy for 3 to 4 minutes total, until the greens wilt and the stems turn tender-crisp.
- Add the leaves at the end and toss until they wilt, then taste. Napa needs more salt, garlic or sauce than bok choy did.
Denser greens run past that window. Gai lan stalks and thin-sliced green cabbage need extra time, and tatsoi needs less.
What changes when you replace bok choy
America's Test Kitchen describes cooked bok choy stalks as creamy with an almost meatlike quality, and the leaves as earthy and robust, similar to chard or even spinach. Chard covers the leaf half of that well, and nothing here reproduces the stalks exactly.
Napa gives you the volume and the crunch with less flavor behind it, which is why ATK points it toward raw slaws. Yu choy and choy sum land closest: The Woks of Life calls them sweeter and more tender with a texture near bok choy's, used the same way. Tatsoi tastes lightly sweet with a subtly spicy bite, per Tasting Table, and goes in interchangeably.
Gai lan is the outlier. The Woks of Life is explicit that choy sum and yu choy shouldn't be confused with Chinese broccoli, which is more bitter and firmer. Reach for it when you want that bitterness, usually with oyster sauce.
When not to substitute bok choy
Skip the swap when the dish is built around whole halved heads. Chard and tatsoi give you leaves, without the thick stalks that make a seared baby bok choy worth eating.
Skip it for nutrition too. Tasting Table reports bok choy as substantially higher in folate, vitamin C, vitamin A and calcium than napa cabbage, so swapping in the name of health runs backward. Green cabbage sits at the bottom of the table for the same kind of reason: it gets dinner made, but it's a directional swap rather than a tested equivalence.
Washing, storage and buying notes for bok choy
Keep bok choy in a loosely sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, and don't wash it until you're ready to cook. ATK also sets the buying rule: choose mature heads of 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds, since heads over 2 pounds can be spongy and woody in the center.
Related swaps around a bok choy dinner
If the stir-fry sauce is the other gap, see what to use instead of oyster sauce in fried rice. For frozen or canned versions, the fresh, frozen and canned substitution ratios and cooking with frozen vegetables vs fresh cover the timing. Also handy: onion substitutes and the printable substitution chart.
Bok choy substitute questions
What can I use instead of bok choy?
Napa cabbage is the easiest supermarket swap, by weight. Yu choy and choy sum are closer in texture and sweetness if you have an Asian grocery, and Swiss chard is the best match for bok choy's leafy half.
Can I substitute napa cabbage for bok choy?
Yes, weight for weight, but season more. America's Test Kitchen describes napa as rather bland and best used raw in slaws, while bok choy is at its best cooked.
Is Swiss chard a good substitute for bok choy?
For the leaves, yes. ATK describes cooked bok choy leaves as earthy and robust, similar to chard or spinach. Separate chard's thick stems and start them two to three minutes before the leaves.
How long does bok choy take to cook?
About 3 to 4 minutes for a pound of halved bok choy, stir-fried until the greens wilt and the stems are tender-crisp. Start the stems first, since they take longer than the leaves.
How much does a head of bok choy weigh?
Baby bok choy heads run about 4 to 6 ounces each. For mature bok choy, choose heads between 1 1/2 and 1 3/4 pounds, since heads over 2 pounds can be spongy and woody in the center.
Finding a bok choy swap in your own fridge
Well Stockd's substitution engine checks a recipe against what you actually have and suggests swaps from your own kitchen when you're out of something. Frozen and canned forms count, and you can reject any swap you don't want offered again. If greens keep going soft on you, we also wrote about tracking food expiration dates and pantry inventory apps.
Sources: America's Test Kitchen, bok choy, The Woks of Life, Chinese leafy greens, The Woks of Life, gai lan, The Woks of Life, bok choy types, Tasting Table, tatsoi, Tasting Table, bok choy vs napa nutrition, The Kitchn, how to cook bok choy.