Bok Choy

Why bok choy is rated low

Bok choy is low at 1 cup (85g), with no FODMAP subgroup recorded as raised at that amount, which is why it is one of the easier greens to cook with on a low FODMAP diet. What makes this page worth reading is the rest of the ladder: at 2⅓ cups (200g) bok choy moves to moderate, and at 3 cups (250g) it is high. Nothing changes about the vegetable between those rungs, the total FODMAP load simply grows with the amount on the plate. So the honest answer is that bok choy is low at a real, usable serving and stops being low when it becomes the bulk of the meal, which happens more easily than people expect because a mountain of raw leaves wilts down to a modest looking heap.

What changes your risk

• Where the serving turns 1 cup (85g) is low, 2⅓ cups (200g) is moderate and 3 cups (250g) is high. The climb is entirely about quantity, so bok choy is best treated as one green among several on the plate rather than as the vegetable that fills it.
• Wilting hides the amount Bok choy collapses dramatically in a wok or a steamer, and a cooked pile that looks like a small side can easily have started out as several raw cups. Weigh or measure before cooking, not after, if you want the serving to match the data.
• The stir fry base, not the green Bok choy usually meets onion, garlic, oyster sauce, black bean sauce or a stock powder on its way to the plate, and those carry far more FODMAP load than the leaves do. Swapping the aromatics out buys more room than trimming the vegetable ever will.
• Stacking across the meal A low serving is per serving, not per meal. A cup of bok choy alongside several other vegetable servings, a wheat noodle base and a sweetened sauce can add up to a heavy total even when each item on its own is low, so judge the whole bowl.
• Heat does not lower it Steaming, stir frying, roasting and freezing do not break FODMAPs down, because nothing leaves the food. A larger helping cooked for longer is still a larger helping.

What else works

Bok choy is low at its tested serving, so the point of this section is what to put beside it and what not to assume is equivalent. Baby spinach, green beans, zucchini, bell pepper, cucumber and carrot are all low at their own tested servings and stretch a plate of greens without pushing the bok choy past 1 cup (85g), and choy sum plays a very similar role in a stir fry. The lookalikes that are not low FODMAP swaps are the ones that show up in the same pan: onion, shallot, leek bulb and the white part of spring onion, garlic, mushroom, cauliflower and celery. Note too that a bigger serving of bok choy is not its own answer, since the ladder itself turns moderate at 2⅓ cups (200g). For flavour, garlic infused oil with no solid pieces in it, ginger, spring onion greens and leek leaves do the work without the fructans.

How to keep it low

Look for firm white stems and glossy, unblemished leaves, and buy the small baby heads if you can, since one or two of them sit much closer to the tested serving than a single large head does. Store the heads unwashed in a loose bag in the crisper and use them within a few days, because the leaves go limp long before the stems do. When cooking, separate the thick stems from the leaves, give the stems a head start of a minute or two and add the leaves at the end so both are properly done. Portioning is the thing worth being deliberate about: weigh out 1 cup (85g) raw per person before it goes anywhere near the heat, and if you want a bigger plate of vegetables make up the difference with green beans, zucchini or baby spinach rather than a second heap of bok choy. Start the pan with garlic infused oil and ginger, finish with soy or tamari, and skip ready made stir fry sauces unless the label is clean.

Common questions

how much bok choy is low fodmap

1 cup (85g) is low. The tested ladder then moves to moderate at 2⅓ cups (200g) and high at 3 cups (250g), so a single cup sized serving is the amount to plan around.

is bok choy still low fodmap when cooked

Cooking does not change the FODMAP content, since heat does not break these carbohydrates down. What changes is your sense of the amount, because the leaves wilt, so measure 1 cup (85g) raw rather than judging the cooked pile.

can i eat a whole plate of bok choy

Not if you want it to stay low. At 2⅓ cups (200g) bok choy is moderate and at 3 cups (250g) it is high, so a plateful crosses out of the low range even though a cup is comfortably inside it.

what can i use instead of bok choy in a stir fry

Baby spinach, green beans, zucchini, bell pepper and choy sum all fill the same role and are low at their own tested servings. Avoid filling the gap with mushroom, cauliflower, celery, onion or leek bulb, which are not low FODMAP swaps.