Bok Choy

Why bok choy is rated low

Bok choy is low at about 1 small (75g), 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 how quickly the larger serves follow: at larger portions bok choy moves to moderate, and at much larger portions it is high. Nothing changes about the vegetable between those amounts, the sorbitol load simply grows with what is on the plate. So 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 About 1 small (75g) is low, larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high, as sorbitol builds. 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 heads. Weigh or measure before cooking, not after.
• 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 small 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 about 1 small (75g), so the point of this section is what to put beside it and what not to assume is equivalent. Baby spinach, green beans, zucchini, cucumber and carrot are all low at a normal serve and stretch a plate of greens without adding a second head of bok choy, 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 and mushroom. Note too that a bigger serving of bok choy is not its own answer, since it turns moderate at larger portions. For flavour, garlic infused oil with no solid pieces in it, ginger, spring onion greens and leek leaves do the work without onion or garlic.

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 small head (75g) is the low serve and a single large head is well past it. 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 about 1 small (75g) 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 carrot 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

About 1 small (75g) is low. Larger portions move it to moderate and much larger portions to high, as sorbitol builds, so one small head per person 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 about 1 small (75g) raw rather than judging the cooked pile.

can i eat a whole plate of bok choy

Not if you want it to stay low. Larger portions of bok choy are moderate and much larger portions are high, so a plateful crosses out of the low range even though 1 small (75g) is comfortably inside it.

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

Baby spinach, green beans, zucchini, carrot and choy sum all fill the same role and are low at a normal serve. Avoid filling the gap with mushroom, onion or leek bulb, which are not low FODMAP swaps.