An Easy Chinese Greens Recipe

If I asked my mom to choose some of her favorite dishes for daily meals, this super-easy Chinese greens recipe would rank in the top three. Since she learned the method from a friend many years ago, she has been using it several times a week to add a delicious side dish to our dinner table. 

The easiest Chinese greens recipe

All you need is four ingredients – green leafy vegetables, peanut oil (any other neutral oil works as well), garlic, and soy sauce. 

To cook the dish:

1. Blanch the vegetables and plate them
2. Heat the oil in a small saucepan, add the garlic, and cook until golden
3. Immediately drizzle the sizzling garlic oil over the vegetables
4. Pour soy sauce over it and serve

The blanched greens will be quickly cooked by the hot oil, creating a richer flavor. The crispy garlic and soy sauce pair so well and give the green veggies just enough seasoning, so that their true taste shines.

A versatile recipe

The best part of this easy Chinese greens recipe is, you can use this method for many types of vegetables. 

My mom uses this method to prepare many types of Chinese greens, such as:

1. Baby bok choy
2. Chinese broccoli (Gailan)
3. Yu Choy
4. Choy Sum

If you cannot easily find Chinese greens, many other types of vegetables work great as well:

1. Spinach 
2. Broccoli / broccolini 
3. Swiss chard
4. Cauliflower 
5. Kale

When you use the same method to prepare those vegetables, they will turn out tasty yet with different flavor profiles. That’s why my mom will grab a few types of Chinese greens and cook this dish a few times during the week. 

Cooking notes

A few things to help you prepare better Chinese greens:

1. Add a pinch of salt and a few drops of vegetable oil to the blanching liquid.

This will help the vegetables stay very green because the oil will coat the vegetables to protect them from oxidation. This method helps a lot, especially when you need to prepare the vegetables ahead of time for a party and serve them later. But it is totally fine if you skip this step.

2. Dry the vegetables before adding the seasonings.

The blanched vegetables will be logged with water. It’s important to gently squeeze out the excess water and let them sit in a colander to dry before plating them. You can even use paper towels to speed up the drying process. Do not skip this step, or else your dish will be diluted.

3. Do not overcook the garlic

The garlic will turn golden very quickly in the hot oil. It’s important to stir the oil constantly so the garlic browns relatively evenly. Although you might be tempted to get all the garlic golden, it’s totally fine if it cooks slightly unevenly. Once the garlic turns golden brown, it will be cooked further by the residual heat even after you turn off the heat, and it might overcook and turn bitter. 

How to serve

Now that you’ve learned the essence of this Chinese greens recipe, you can pair it with all kinds of meals because the flavors pair easily with many types of cuisine. 

The easiest way to prepare a full Chinese dinner is to serve this dish on the side, along with your main dish, a soup, and some rice. You can prepare the greens ahead of time and set them aside. Then prepare your main and any other dishes you want to serve. Then finish it up with the hot oil at the end and serve the greens with the rest of your dinner.

You can tweak this recipe slightly, if you like, by using olive oil. Then you can serve it with a Western-style main dish such as roast chicken or beef.

To add a bit more kick, you can add some peppers (either dried, sliced fresh peppers, or pepper flakes) into the hot oil to spice things up. It is a wonderful way to add some greens as part of a very simple dinner with foods such as bread, roast potatoes, and rice and beans. 

Afterthoughts 

Many years ago when I still lived with my parents, my mom always told me to learn a few staple recipes so I would be able to whip up a quick dinner at any time. I was impatient and told her that I always preferred to try my hand at something new.

These days, I seem to appreciate the simple things more than before. A humble Chinese greens recipe not only reminds me of my mom’s cooking, but it truly comes in handy when I have a fridge full of leafy greens and I do not want to do a half-hour of internet research to come up with dinner ideas. 

This dish is just so versatile and easy to that my my cooks it all the time and we never get tired of it. And now it’s my turn. 

An Easy Chinese Greens Recipe

By Maggie Zhu

5 from 4 votes

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 to 4 servings

0.5x1x2x3x

Save RecipeSaved Recipe Print

Introducing a super-fast and easy Chinese greens recipe that helps you prepare many types of green leafy vegetables. All you need is four ingredients and 10 minutes to serve a delicious and healthy side dish with your Chinese dinner. {Vegan, Gluten-Free Adaptable}

You can use tamari to replace light soy sauce to make this dish gluten-free.

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

• Pinch of salt and vegetable oil , to blanch greens (Optional)
• 10 oz Chinese greens or other vegetables (yu choy, baby bok choy, choy sum, spinach, Chinese broccoli, broccoli, and more) , tough ends removed and cut to bite-size pieces if needed (*Footnote 1)
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
• 4 cloves garlic , coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (or soy sauce)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and several drops of vegetable oil so that the blanched vegetables will look greener (optional), stir to mix well.
• Add the vegetables. Blanch until just cooked through and still crisp. It takes 1 minute or so to cook tender vegetables such as spinach, baby bok choy, yu choy, chard, and choy sum. It takes 2 to 3 minutes for Chinese broccoli, broccoli, and broccolini.
• Once the vegetables are done, immediately rinse them with cold tap water to stop cooking. Stop once the vegetables have cooled to a warm temperature and not completely cold. Drain, gently squeezing out as much water as you can, then set aside in a strainer to dry further. If you plan to serve them immediately, you can use paper towels to pat the vegetables dry.
• When you’re ready to serve, plate the blanched vegetables with minimal overlapping. (*Footnote 2)
• Heat the oil in a small saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the garlic, stirring constantly until the edges of the garlic turns golden (*Footnote 3). Then immediately pour the hot oil with the garlic over the plated vegetables.
• Drizzle soy sauce on top of vegetables and serve immediately as a side dish.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Notes

1. For Chinese greens such as yu choy, choy sum or Chinese broccoli, cut and discard the tough ends. You can peel off the larger leaves but keep the whole stem for a nice presentation. For Chinese broccoli, you should also use a knife to peel off the tough skin from the lower stem for a better texture (like the ones in this post). For cauliflower and broccoli, cut to bite-size florets.
2. You should always drizzle the garlic oil and soy sauce right before you serve the dish. Soy sauce contains salt, and if you add it too early, the greens will lose water and the sauce in the dish will be diluted.
3. The garlic will continue to cook in the hot oil’s residual heat, even after you pour the oil over the vegetables. It’s important to cook the garlic only until golden, and it’s totally OK if the garlic doesn’t brown evenly.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 76kcal, Carbohydrates: 2.9g, Protein: 1.6g, Fat: 6.9g, Saturated Fat: 1.2g, Sodium: 275mg, Potassium: 210mg, Fiber: 0.8g, Sugar: 1g, Calcium: 85mg, Iron: 1mg

Have a question or feedback? Add a Comment

Did you make this? I want to see! Tag @OmnivoresCookbook on Instagram, and rate the recipe below.

More delicious vegetable sides

• Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
• Stir Fried Bok Choy with Fried Tofu
• Chinese 4-Ingredient Fried Cabbage
• Garlic Spinach in Chicken Broth (上汤菠菜)
• Cabbage Glass Noodles Stir Fry