Roman Pavlyuchenko continued his recent resurgence with two more goals to earn Tottenham an all-London FA Cup quarter-final away to Fulham.
Pavlyuchenko tucked in the opener for Spurs from Luka Modric's flicked pass.
Jussi Jaaskelainen was at fault for the first of two Bolton own goals, the ball deflecting in off his leg as he failed to deal with a Wilson Palacios centre.
Gareth Bale's cross later went in off Andrew O'Brien before Pavlyuchenko drilled in a Danny Rose centre late on.
For the often-overlooked Pavlyuchenko, who made a strong case for his inclusion with two goals at Wigan on Sunday, the evening added further lustre to an impressive record in the domestic cups.
Pavlyuchenko has played second fiddle to Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch this season, but on a night when Tottenham were rarely required to be at their flowing best, the Russian's second brace in three days brought his Spurs cup tally to 13 goals in 13 matches.
With his side locked in a Premier League relegation battle, there is little that the Bolton manager Owen Coyle would not give for that level of return just now.
For all Tottenham's first-half superiority - and this was without doubt a deserved victory for Harry Redknapp's side - Bolton, energised by the second-half arrival of Mustapha Riga, were at times the better side after the break.
But the Trotters could not translate that intermittent superiority into goals, and their lack of a clinical finisher - combined with some abysmal defending - meant they never achieved a foothold in the game.
In mitigation, Coyle, mindful of Bolton's parlous Premier League plight - they currently lie 18th, a point adrift of safety - rested five members of the relegation resistance.
Coyle had insisted that his side would compete with Tottenham regardless of his selection decisions but, with the notable exception of Riga, Bolton's second string rarely looked capable of causing an upset.
Tottenham were frequently lackadaisical when Bolton were in possession, and both Matt Taylor and Ivan Klasnic should have punished early mistakes by Bale, whose impressive work on the overlap was on more than one occasion marred by a lack of defensive focus.
Culpable too was Ricardo Gardner, who should have done better than head tamely behind from Sam Ricketts' precise cross early on.
Coyle cut a distraught figure on the sidelines in the wake of that miss, and when Modric fed Pavlyuchenko on the edge of the area, it became clear why.
Skipping over a flimsy challenge from Zat Knight, the Russian calmly balanced himself before tucking a low shot across Jaaskelainen for his third goal in 40 minutes of playing time since his late appearance at Wigan.
One became two soon afterwards when Tom Huddlestone fed a corner to Palacios on the right-hand side of the box.
Electing to tackle the Honduran's cross with his legs, the normally reliable Jaaskelainen - who had pulled off a fine save from Defoe only moments earlier and was again under pressure from the England man - failed to make contact and the ball rebounded in off his standing leg.
Further Bolton embarrassment followed shortly after the break when Bale capped a surging run down the left with a near-post cross that the stretching O'Brien could only divert into his own net.
Coyle responded with a double substitution, introducing Riga alongside fellow striker Johan Elmander.
The result was a sudden injection of urgency, with Riga - clearly intent on making the most of a rare chance to impress - offering Heurelho Gomes his first real tests of the night.
The most notable of those chances came when the Ghana-born Dutchman's close-range header produced a fine reflex save from the Tottenham keeper.
But there was to be no fairytale turnaround for Bolton, and instead Spurs - who were themselves energised by the half-time introduction of the lively Eidur Gudjohnsen - put the gloss on the win with a late fourth.
Danny Rose, on as a 70th minute replacement for David Bentley, broke down the right before finding Pavlyuchenko, who slotted in the fourth from eight yards.
It capped a fine night for Spurs, who will travel to Craven Cottage in the last eight with hopes high that Redknapp can mastermind a repeat of his 2008 Cup final win with Portsmouth.
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Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp:
"It's great to see Pavlyuchenko score four goals in two games, he's in great form and let's hope he can keep that up to the end of the season.
"It's difficult for Bolton, because Owen has obviously got the league on his mind, but things are going well for us.
"It will be a difficult game at Craven Cottage, but we can only focus on the next game, and that's Everton in the league.
Bolton manager Owen Coyle:
"Anyone who thinks that was a four-nil performance was watching a different game from me.
"We lost the game, but 4-0 isn't a fair reflection.
"We had chances to score, but we didn't take them.
"I put out a team to win an FA Cup tie, and they could have done that."
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