Sweet Bok Choy Stir Fry with Beef is easy and delicious! This dish features marinated sliced beef stir fried with ginger and tender sweet bok choy at high heat.

What is Sweet Bok Choy?

Sweet bok choy 甜白菜 is a relatively new type of bok choy, and is actually more closely similar to napa cabbage than bok choy.

Bok choy and napa cabbage technically both belong to the same species – Brassica rapa! They’re just two different types of subspecies.

One of the differences between Bok Choy type veggies and Napa Cabbage is that bok choy do not form heads and Napa Cabbage type veggies do form heads.

What this means is that Napa Cabbage wraps around in to a ball like shape at the top – like regular green cabbage (which btw, is actually in a different species – Brassica oleracea). Bok choy’s leaves do not do this and have leafy blades that flow freely at the top.

So where does Sweet Bok Choy actually fall in all this? Sweet bok choy actually does form heads – so it is more similar to napa cabbage than it is with bok choy.

In fact the first time we bought Sweet Bok Choy it was because we were making hot pot which we always have napa cabbage, and the sweet bok choy looked more fresh than the napa cabbage that day – so we bought it as substitute.

You might be wondering why it is called Sweet “bok choy” if it’s more similar to Napa cabbage. This is because of linguistics.

The words Bok Choy (Cantonese) or Bai Cai (Mandarin) directly translate to “White Vegetable” (some bok choys are white such as the Baby White Stem Bok Choy). Often times called Xiao Bai Cai 小白菜 or “little bok choy”.

What is Napa Cabbage called? Da Bai Cai 大白菜 aka “large bok choy”! So really it is also called a bok choy in Mandarin!

Now it should make more sense why Sweet bok choy 甜白菜 is called a ‘bok choy’ though its more similar to Napa Cabbage.

Napa Cabbage vs. Sweet Bok Choy

Sweet bok choy has more tender leaves than napa cabbage so it cooks a little faster. The taste is very similar, but sweet bok choy has a more earthy flavor similar to bok choy that napa cabbage does not have as much.

Substitute for Sweet Bok Choy

If you didn’t read all about Sweet Bok Choy, the one takeaway is that it’s very similar to napa cabbage. So if you cant’ find any Sweet Bok Choy – feel free to substitute with napa cabbage!

How to cook Sweet Bok Choy Stir Fry with Beef

First, gather your ingredients:

• 1/2 lb beef, thinly sliced
• Marinade:
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 lb Sweet Bok Choy, cut in to 1-2 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 tbsp ginger, sliced
• 2 stalks green onions, cut in to 1 inch length

Combine beef and marinade/sauce ingredients in a large bowl or zip lock bag. If you are about to cook it, let it marinade at the very least 15-30 minutes. If you are making this ahead, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.

If you haven’t already, you can use this time to cut Sweet Bok Choy in to about 1 inch x 2 inch slices. Usually this entails slicing once lengthwise, and then slicing in to 1 inch long width wise.

In a large nonstick cooking pan, heat cooking oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add ginger, and let it cook for about 30 seconds.

Add beef, and stir fry until mostly browned. Remove the beef from cooking pan and set aside. Try to keep as much of the oil/sauce in the pan.

If the cooking pan is dry, add some cooking oil. Add sweet bok choy to pan. Stir fry for about 5 minutes or until leaves have started to soften.

Add beef back in to to cooking pan, and also add scallions. Stir fry everything for about 1-2 minutes or until beef is cooked thoroughly and sweet bok choy is tender.

Remove from heat and serve!

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