Bok Choy & Pork Soup
This healthy, refreshing soup comes together in 30 minutes!
Cooking Summary
Ingredients: (detailed list)
- Main Ingredients: baby bok choy, pork chop
- Soup Base: chicken broth, water, ginger, oil, salt, chicken bouillon
- Pork Marinade: cornstarch, oyster sauce, water
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Top 3 Mistakes
- Adding the leaves too soon:
Put the bok choy stems into the boiling broth before the leaves. The thicker stems need a head start, so adding everything together gives you less control over the texture.
- Slicing meat with the grain:
Cut across the visible muscle fibers rather than along them. Following the recipe’s slicing direction makes the pieces easier to chew and helps keep the finished meat tender.
- Skipping the meat marinade:
Mix the meat thoroughly with its marinade and give it the time the recipe calls for. This preparation helps the seasoning coat the pieces before the fast cooking stage begins.
Overview
This is a super simple recipe that my parents make multiple times a week.
Also, it's a really flexible dish! After you’ve cooked it, we can keep the bok choy in the soup and eat it as is. Or, often what we’ll do is scoop the bok choy out, drink the soup, and eat the bok choy separately.
"White Vegetable"
Just like the words “cafe” and “chocolate”, bok choy is a loan word from Cantonese “baahk choi”, which literally means “white vegetable.”
Bok choy is one of the many different types of Chinese cabbage, cultivated for over 2000 years for its resistance to cold weather.
Ingredients
Why this recipe
Most bok choy & pork soup recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.
I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 1.8M views, 39.1K likes on YouTube.
On Bok Choy
My parents generally prefer baby bok choy, but this also works with the larger variety and Shanghai bok choy.
Finding Asian Ingredients
Some of these ingredients are hard to find in a typical grocery store.
If you don't live near an Asian market, most or all of what my dad uses in this recipe can be found on Amazon:
I've also included some other Chinese kitchen essentials, used in many of my dad's other recipes.
- Kadoya Sesame Oil - https://amzn.to/3c7EOTu
- Pearl River Bridge Superior Light Soy Sauce
- Pearl River Bridge Superior Dark Soy Sauce
- Michiu Rice Cooking Wine
- Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil
- Koon Chun Hoisin Sauce
- Shaoxing Cooking Wine
- Bullhead Shacha (BBQ Sauce)
- Dried Orange Peels
- Koon Chun Ground Bean Sauce
- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (soak for 15-20 minutes in warm water before slicing)
- Dried Wood Ear Fungus (a few options, depending on what's in stock):
These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!
Alternatives to Oyster Sauce
If you're vegetarian or need to stay away from gluten, we have three alternatives for you!
Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
Since oyster sauce is made out of oyster extract, here are some alternatives that have a similar taste without using the actual oyster:
- Wan Ja Shan Vegetarian Mushroom Oyster Sauce
- Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce
- Lee Kum Kee also sells a bigger container of this
Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
Wok Mei has a gluten-free oyster sauce, but it still contains oyster extract, so it's not vegetarian friendly.
Vegetarian + Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
Unfortunately, we don't know of a vendor that sells an oyster sauce that caters to both dietary restrictions, so you'll need to DIY the sauce.
Mix equal parts gluten free soy sauce and gluten free hoisin sauce. This isn't exactly the same as oyster sauce, but it's pretty close.
How to make Bok Choy & Pork Soup
To prepare our pork chops (4 oz), we'll first need to trim away the fatty edges.
Then, we'll cut the pork chops perpendicular to the muscle grains into a few pieces, and then into thin slices (about 2mm thick). This helps give the meat more of a tender chew when we eat it.
Next, we'll marinate our pork with cornstarch (1 tsp), oyster sauce (1 tsp), and water (1 tbsp). Stir the mixture until it’s fairly even, and add the pork. Using a bit of force, massage the pork for about 30 seconds to help the pork absorb the marinade.
We'll need to wash the baby bok choy (1 lb) thoroughly:
- Peel away each individual stem, and toss them into a bowl of large water
- Scrub your fingers along the bottom of each stem closest to the root. Dirt usually accumulates here.
- Rinse under running water.
- If you have time, my parents like to soak the bok choy in water for 30 minutes.
The stalks of bok choy are all inherently different sizes, so we'll want to make two cuts for the bigger stalks:
- one to separate the stalks in half
- and another to separate them from the leaves.
You don't absolutely have to do this, but it helps with the texture. You can skip this for smaller stalks.
While you have your knife out, cut a few thin slices of ginger (2 slice) if you're opting to include it. We always use a few slices.
Set your stove to high heat. In a pot, we'll bring water (5 cup) and chicken broth (14 oz) to a boil.
We'll also add oil (1 tsp), salt (1 tsp), and ginger (2 slice) (optional).
The salt and oil help to preserve the bok choy's color.
Cover, and wait for it to boil.
Once the pot has come to a boil, we'll throw in our bok choy, starting with the stems. These are thicker and take longer to cook.
Shortly after, we'll throw in the leaves.
Cover, and wait for the pot to return to a gentle boil.
Once the bok choy has returned to a boil, add the pork slices a few at a time, making sure to separate them from one another. We can also add chicken bouillon (1 tsp) (optional).
Stir for a bit. After adding the pork chops, once the pot returns to a boil, the soup is ready to eat. This should take about 1-2 minutes.
After you’ve cooked it, we can keep the bok choy in the soup and eat it as is.
Or, often what we’ll do is scoop the bok choy out, drink the soup, and eat the bok choy separately.
If you're making this in a bigger batch, you may want to transfer the bok choy out of the soup, as it will start to lose its color and firmness the longer it sits in hot water.
It's up to you!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you keep bok choy fresh?
Having grown up with bok choy, my parents are masters at keeping it fresh. They usually buy bok choy in bulk (5-6 pounds at a time), so they have a bunch of tips for maximizing freshness.
The main goal is to keep it as dry as possible in the refrigerator.
- Grocery stores generally keep them somewhat moist, so when you first come home from the store, lay out all of the bok choy on a towel so they can dry.
- Before placing it in the refrigerator, poke holes in a plastic bag and set a paper towel inside of it. This helps absorb some excess moisture.
My dad also likes to peel the outermost layers of bok choy stalks to make soup with. These layers are the firmest and most fibrous, so they work well with soups.
He'll save the inner layers for bok choy stir fry (which we also have a recipe for!)
Is Bok Choy a cooling food or a heaty food?
Although this is a recipe for a hot bok choy soup, since the base ingredient is a fresh leafy green (bok choy), this is considered a cooling food. The ginger slices are there not only for flavor, but also to help balance it out so that it's not too cooling.
If you've been loading up on fried foods and baked goods, and you're feeling overly heaty or yang, this refreshing soup is a super fast recipe to balance your body out!
Is bok choy soup healthy?
Yes, it is! There are lots of great vitamins and nutrients in bok choy. You can make sure that you make the healthiest version possible by choosing good quality chicken broth and good quality produce.
Our recipe already has very little salt, and the chicken bouillon is optional. You can always reduce them further or omit them if necessary, though the soup may come out slightly less flavorful.
Oyster sauce also comes in low-sodium versions if that's a better option for you.
Pairs well with
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Made with love ❤️
We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.
Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.