Roasted Eggplant Recipe
on Aug 11, 2022, Updated May 02, 2024
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I personally love 🍆 eggplant and it’s one of my favorite vegetables. There’s nothing better to eat in the summer! This Roasted Eggplant Recipe celebrates the beautiful color and tender flesh of the eggplant. The result is a deliciously caramelized, slightly sweet eggplant with a tangy and 🧄 garlicky dipping sauce. This recipe can be used for spreads, or enjoyed as a side dish or simply on its own with a refreshing dip.
Why You’ll This Love Roasted Eggplant Recipe
This Roasted Eggplant Recipe 🍆 is a real beauty. It not only looks beautiful presented on a platter with dips, but it’s a real flavor powerhouse. Serve it as a side dish to any protein chopped up on a pizza or mashed up and incorporated into a 🍝 pasta sauce. The 🔥 char is absolutely delicious and gives the eggplant a slightly sweet flavor.
How to Prepare This Roasted Eggplant Recipe
💦 Wash and pat dry the eggplant.
🔪 Take a knife and cut each one in half lengthwise. Remove the cap off the eggplant, place it horizontally facing you, and then score the inside flesh making lengthwise cuts all the way to the end, followed by diagonal cuts. You will end up with a diamond or a square pattern.
🫒 Line a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then drizzle with olive oil.
🍆 Drizzle each eggplant half with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt.
🔥 Now, lay them flat-side down and bake in a preheated 400°F (200°C) oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the bottoms are caramelized and the tops are soft.
🥣 Next, in a small bowl mix the oil, basil, and minced garlic, and then brush the mixture on each eggplant half.
🍋 In another separate bowl, mix plain yogurt with salt, lemon juice, olive oil, and finely chopped fresh dill. Serve as a dipping sauce for the eggplant and enjoy!
Nonna’s Tip 🍆
Make sure to use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and oil up the parchment paper a little bit so that the flesh of the eggplant becomes nice and caramelized without sticking.
Variations and Substitutions for Roasted Eggplant Recipe
- You can certainly grill the eggplant on the barbecue instead of cooking it in the oven. It will have a nice 🔥 smoky, charred flavor.
- Instead of dill, you can use 🌿 parsley or basil instead.
- Make this dairy-free by using your favorite non-dairy yogurt instead.
Similar Recipes
Best Served With
- Instead of this yogurt sauce, you could also serve this Roasted Eggplant with my delicious Tzatziki Recipe.
- Serve these as a side dish to any main protein, such as steak, grilled 🍗 chicken, or a nice piece of fish.
- Chop up the Roasted Eggplant and use it to top a homemade 🍕 pizza or toss it into your pasta. 🥚🥩
Common Questions
Yes, you can certainly grill the eggplant on the barbecue instead of cooking it in the oven. It will have a nice smoky, charred flavor.
Absolutely! Feel free to use your favorite non-dairy sour cream or yogurt instead here.
Use this method of cooking the eggplant and then scoop out the flesh. You can add the flesh into a sauce or stew or make my ah-mazing Baba Ghanoush recipe.
Roasted Eggplant Recipe
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
The Garlic Oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-2 clove garlic, to taste
- 2 leaves fresh basil, ripped, finely chopped, or sliced
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the eggplant. Take a knife and cut each one in half. Take each half off the eggplant, place it horizontally facing you, and score the inside of the eggplant making lengthwise cuts all the way to the end, followed by diagonal cuts with a knife. You should have a diamond or a square pattern.
- Line a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and oil it with a drizzle of olive oil. Drizzle on a bit more olive oil on the eggplant with a sprinkle of salt each one.
- Lay them flat side down and bake in a preheated 400°F (200°C) oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the bottoms are caramelized and the tops are soft. You should be able to insert a knife into the skin easily.
- Take it out of the oven and plate them. In a small bowl mix the oil, basil, and garlic. Brush on the garlic basil oil. In another a separate bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the yogurt sauce to serve on the side with and enjoy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was super delicious! I added some garlic cloves in the eggplant for an extra garlic flavour. In the sauce I also added parsley and mint. I used coconut yoghurt to make it a complete vegan meal. 🙂 Finally, served it on a bed of rice to make it more filling.
Highly recommend this recipe, the whole family loved it!
So glad you loved it Teo 🙂 Happy Friday!
Is this eaten cold or hot ? Looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it, thank you.
It’s honestly delicious either way
I didn’t see a place to rate this recipe, but 5 stars from me. This was super easy and delicious. I had medium to large eggplants and they took about 48 minutes at 400.
Hi beautiful, we fixed it and you should be able to now 🙂 thanks soooo much
Hi ! I saw the recipe on Instagram, I’ve juste made it, it was delicious. Thank you !
So glad Perrine ❤️
Today was Modern Nonna day. I made Almond Milk…Delish and the Eggplant and Bruschetta…I love your recipes so simple and sooo yummmy
Thank you!
So so happy
Nice recipe but don’t forget if your writing for an international audience temperatures should be in centigrade and ALL measurements, including fluids should be in grams.
lokking forward to trying this today !
Will do my best. At the moment I do this all alone so I will improve ❤️
I just made this. Flavor is awesome but the eggplant is mushy. Did I cook it to long? I am not the best cook!!!!
It may be because there was too much oil or baked too long. I wish I could see
Where do you find “palm sized” eggplants??
Any eggplant is fine. Mine were small though ( and fit in my palm ) any is okay though and I got mine at Longos here in Toronto
I FOUND THE EGGPLANT STUCK TO THE OILED PAN. NEXT TIME I WOULD USE PARCHMENT.
THE OIL WAS PEFECT TO BRUSH ON THE EGGPLANT, I HAD SOME FFRESH OREGANO, DILL AND MINT SO I ADDED THE EXTRA HERBS.
THE YOGURT DIP WAS GREAT.
MY ONLY MAJOR PROBLEM WAS THE SKIN OF THE EGGPLANT WAS VERY TOUGH AND SO COULDNT BITE IT OFF. I ENDED UP SCOOPING IT OFF THE SKIN. MAYBE I JUST HAD OLD EGGPLANT.
THE NEXT TIME I MAKE IT I THINK I’D JUST SCRAPE THE EGGPLANT OFF THE SKIN, ROUGH CHOP IT AND TO THE YOGURT FOR AN AMAZING APETIZER DIP.
THANKS FOR A GREAT RECIPE.
Thanks for your review Paula!
Delicious- bought small eggplants at the Mississauga Farmer’s Market on Sunday just to make this recipe.
Thanks for this comment Liz ❤️
I added some red onions to the tray along with the eggplant, and they caramelized alongside! Delicious. Thank you!
Great improv Jody!
Loveee the improv Jody ❤️