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
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.
My Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, in one recipe you recommend soaking in salt water if cooking the eggplant with baking, but with this one you don’t. When to soak or not? Could you please advise? Thank you!
Hi Jenya, you do not need to soak the eggplant. Simply wash it (with skin on) and dry it prior to cutting it. Season with salt. Which of my recipes advises to soak in salt water? I’ve gone through my eggplant recipes and I’m not seeing that advice. Thank you! 🙏
Amazing recipe and so healthy too. Thank you Modern Nonna ❤️
You’re very welcome, Arlene! ❤️
It was delicious. This dish goes into our regular rotation. If you manage to make enough to have some leftover, it’s been better the next day.
So glad! Thanks for the rating Richard, I really appreciate it ❤️
Can you reheat this just wondering as I’m the y one who likes eggplant
Absolutely!
I liked the recipe, but found the yogurt to be a bit too salty. I also saw that other recipes put about an eighth as much salt for the yogurt. Did you mean to put 1 tsp? That just seems like way too much. Otherwise enjoyed the recipe thank you for posting.
Hi Andrew, 1 teaspoon is correct but I always encourage everyone to measure with their heart
Thank you for the recipe! I modified the salt content to suit my tastes. The oil, yogurt sauce, and eggplant recipes were all simple but elegant. I use hte yogurt sauce for other things now, like cucumber salad. I will deifintely look for other recipes on this site!
Hello! I can’t see anywhere that you cooked the garlic? Do you just mix the raw garlic with the olive oil and basil??
Thank you 🙏
Hi Gemma, yes it’s raw as I love raw garlic however, you are more than welcome to roast it in the oven covered in foil until sweet if you are not a fan of raw garlic. You can also cook it in a pan on the stove with the oil as well until lightly golden.
I made this using soy yoghurt because I’m vegan and it was delicious!
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Love to hear this Andrew! So happy when people with different diets and dietary restrictions can enjoy my recipes!
This may sound crazy, but are we eating the skin as well?
The skin is totally edible!
DELICIOUS !!!!
🙂
Tastiest eggplant ever! I’ve already made this over 5x as my hubby always wants me to make it. I leave out the dip and because we love garlic and basil I put an abundance more (measuring with the ❤️). I do it as an appetizer and make my own crostini with a grilled or baked French bread stick. Adore this recipe!