Calling all you Eggplant lovers out there! Here’s a flavor bomb you won’t want to miss – Spicy Chinese Eggplant with Szechuan Sauce -a tasty, easy vegan dinner recipe you can serve over jasmine rice, cauliflower rice, rice noodles, black rice or even quinoa! See 45-second video!
The other day, I bought some beautiful Chinese eggplant at the farmers market and was going through the list of asian eggplant recipes in my mind, when I remembered a stunning dish we had in Shanghai a few years back, and dug up my old recipe notes.
There it was in BOLD – Spicy Chinese Eggplant with Szechuan Sauce with a huge star and circle around it – a reminder to share it with you! So here it is, and boy is this tasty! I can’t wait for you to give it a go. The eggplant is succulent and flavorful, a fun way to cook it! For more delicious ways to cook with eggplant, please take a peek at our 20+ Best Eggplant Recipes.
How to make Chinese Eggplant | 30-Second Video!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Chinese EggplanT!
- Perfect Texture – The eggplant is deliciously caramelized with crispy charred edges. It is crispy, not soggy and uses a minimum amount of oil.
- Amazing Flavor– spicy, garlicky, subtly sweet. Better then a restaurant!
- It is vegan– It makes a light main dish or a great side dish. For extra protein serve it with our crispy tofu!
- It’s adaptable! Feel free to use this same technique with other vegetables- or add zucchini or bell peppers.
Chinese Eggplant Ingredient Notes
- Chinese or Japanese eggplant- both are long and slender, with few seeds, and hold up well in stir fries.
- Dried Red Chilies- Keep in mind, you never eat these chilies– they just give the oil a little spicy heat, permeating the whole dish. They are quite spicy!
- Szechuan Sauce– A magical combination of Szechuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, vinegar, garlic chili paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, 5-spice and sweetener. Feel free to use gluten-free liquid aminos. The Szechuan Peppercorns are zingy and numbing, an acquired taste, for sure! Feel free to use black peppercorns instead if you prefer.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make Chinese Eggplant:
STEP ONE– It starts with cutting the eggplant into bite-sized pieces. Cut at a diagonal so each piece is like a triangle, about an inch thick at its thickest end. Try to get get them roughly the same size for even cooking. Cut a wedge then turn the eggplant, cut again and turn.
Tip: This works best with Japanese eggplant ( long and skinny) versus globe eggplant.
STEP TWO– Once all the eggplant are cut ( 4 x 10-inch eggplants), place in a bowl of salted water for 20 minutes. Cover with a plate so the eggplant is submerged. Let sit 20-30 mins.
TIP: Salting the eggplant helps the eggplant soak up less oil when stir-frying.
STEP THREE- Mise en place ( get things prepped and ready). While the eggplant soaks, prep the garlic, ginger and Szechuan sauce and place them by the stove.
STEP FOUR– Drain the eggplant, rinse, then pat dry with a kitchen towel. Then coat in cornstarch. This helps the eggplant get crispy.
STEP FIVE– Sear the eggplant over medium high heat in an extra-large flat skillet, versus a round wok. The eggplant need a little time to cook through and get each side brown. It is much easier to do this in a flat skillet.
Sear each side of the eggplant pieces. Fry in two batches, and this is where you will need a little patience. Each batch will take about 10 minutes, and require to turn the eggplant over one by one to get each side golden. When the eggplant pieces are deeply golden, even slightly charred, set them aside.
STEP SIX– Stir fry the ginger and garlic for a quick minute then add the chilies. Make sure to have your fan on! (Keep in mind, you never eat these chilies– they just give the oil a little spicy heat, permeating the whole dish.)
Pour in the prepped Szechuan sauce. Cook it for 20 seconds then add the Eggplant back into the skillet, gently coating. This will smell and taste amazing!
What To Serve With Chinese Eggplant
TO SERVE- Place the fragrant eggplant in a serving dish, or divide among bowls over Jasmine rice, brown rice, black rice or quinoa and top with green onions or chives and roasted peanuts.
Chinese Eggplant FAQS
Yes the skin is completely edible and has a lot of nutrients.
Chinese eggplant is thin and long with fewer seeds which makes it less bitter and some say it is slightly sweet. The plants tend to be prolific producers.
The most common eggplant is globe eggplant it is bigger and fleshier.
Coming from the Sichuan Provence in Southwestern China, Szechuan cuisine is usually spicy and contains ingredients such as: dried red chilies, Szechuan peppercorns, ginger, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, 5-spice, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine, to name a few.
Chinese Eggplant is called Oriental Charm or Pingtung Long. Long and skinny with with fewer seeds they are less bitter and will hold its shape when cooked in stir fries.
Make this Chinese Eggplant soon, while eggplants are still available at your farmer’s market! Enjoy!
xoxo Sylvia
More Recipes You May Enjoy
- Szechuan Asparagus with Garlic, Ginger and Chilies
- Kung Pao Noodles!
- Chinese Five Spice
- Moo Shu Tofu
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
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Szechuan Eggplant
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Main, vegan
- Method: stovetop, stir-fry
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Chinese Eggplant with Szechuan Sauce with chilies and peanuts– a tasty, easy vegan dinner recipe! Serve with Rice, black rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa or rice noodles.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs Japanese Eggplant (about 4 x 10 inch eggplants)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- bowl of water
- —-
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2–4 tablespoons peanut oil ( or wok oil)
- —
- 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced
- 5–10 dried red chilies
- 1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns ( or sub regular peppercorns)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic chili paste ( or sub 1 teaspoon chili flakes)
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine (or mirin)
- 3 tablespoons sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup or alternative
- 1/2 teaspoon five spice
Garnish with scallions and roasted peanuts or Peanut Chili crunch
Instructions
- Cut eggplant into 1/2 inch thick half-moons or into bite-sized pieces ( see photos). Place in a big bowl covered with water and stir in 2 teaspoons salt. Cover with a plate and let stand 20-30 minutes.
- In the meantime, chop the garlic and ginger and make the Szechuan Sauce.
- To make the Szechuan Sauce: Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Crush. Place these along with the remaining ingredients ( soy, chili paste, sesame oil, rice vinegar, Chinese cooking wine, sugar, and five spice) in a small bowl and whisk. Set by the stove.
- Drain and rinse the eggplant and pat dry with a towel. Toss with the corn starch.
- Working in 2 batches, heat 1 -2 tablespoons oil in an extra-large skillet over medium heat. Add half the eggplant spreading them out. You want to get both sides nice and golden, and the insides cooked through -so take your time here and dont rush this step. Let one side brown then turn them over using tongs. This will take about 10 minutes for each batch. ( If in a hurry sometimes I’ll use 2 pans.) Set the eggplant aside.
- Add 1 more tablespoon oil to the skillet, and over medium heat, add the garlic and ginger, stirring for 2 minutes. Turn the fan on, add the dried chilis and stir one minute.
- Pour the Szechuan sauce into the pan and bring to a simmer for 20 seconds. Add the eggplant back into the skillet, tossing gently for about 30 seconds. Don’t over-reduce, or it will get salty. If it seems dry, add a tablespoon of water to loosen.
- Place in a serving dish and top with scallions and optional peanuts.
- Serve with rice, cauliflower rice, black rice or rice noodles.
Notes
Be patient browning each side of the eggplant. This will take a little time but reward you greatly.
I’ve found that the flat surface of a skillet, verses using a wok is much easier to use to get those sides golden.
Feel free to sub cashews for the peanuts, of leave off completely.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 323
- Sugar: 17.8 g
- Sodium: 1110.4 mg
- Fat: 21.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 29.6 g
- Fiber: 7.4 g
- Protein: 5.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Oops!!! I did miss it! Sorry!!😳
Glad you found it! 🙂
Maybe I missed it, but do the peppercorns need to be crushed after toasting?
Delicious recipe nevertheless!
This recipe was amazing!! We had “fairy tale” eggplants in the garden, which are the variety I used. I added asparagus, because they looked lonely in the fridge. The sauce was so good! We were in eggplant heaven!!
Yay for garden fresh eggplant! Glad you enjoyed. 🙂
To make a healthier version I tossed the Aubergine chunks in Olive Oil & oven roasted them at 220C the toss then cornflour before adding to the sauce.
I also halved the amount of sugar using Muscovado.
Oven roasting the Aubergine makes this an incredibly easy dish to make & it is the tastiest recipe for Szechuan Aubergine that I have found.
Sounds really good Richard!
This is a really good recipe for eggplant. I did use a large wok and did that in one sitting. I followed the advise of using tongs to turn over each piece. That was really good advise and our end product was so good. We had a couple of vegetarian egg rolls as an appetizer by the way. Great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed!
Super!
This turned out great!
Love this recipe. Did it successfully but wondered when cornstarch is added cos it is in the ingredients section but not method. I used it to thicken at the end..
Glad it worked out for you Monica! Step 4 in the instructions “Drain and rinse the eggplant and pat dry with a towel. Toss with the corn starch.” 🙂
Amazing, if you like Szechuan peppercorns you will cook this on repeat and if you haven’t tried Szechuan please do because you may fall in love with them and be forever grateful to this recipe! . I cooked then with egg noodles and ate a 4 person portion between 2! Couldn’t stop eating!! I added less sugar only 1.5 teaspoon and was perfect for me, used normal aubergines but looking forward to get some chinese ones from the market. Thanks again Sylvia for a quick, super yummy and healthy recipe.
Thanks Maria! Glad you enjoyed this!
Flavors were spot on delicious.
Thing is… even with drying the eggplant completely, it seemed to take up way too much oil. Wondering why? Tried two different pans.
Next time will air fry
Delicious.
Looking forward to my next crop of eggplant so I can try it again.
Thanks Gail. Eggplant is a sponge! Airfryer sounds like a great idea!
Tasted great but a bit too oily. Thinking of baking the eggplant and then finishing it off in the pan. I also added tofu. Deinitely a keeper.
The eggplant does tend to soak up the oil. Roasting is a great option- or even air-frying?
Love this recipe. We make this all the time. We top with toasted sesame seeds. Also, for protein, we bake an entire block of soft tofu and then crumble it into the finished dish. YUM
Sounds yummy!
This recipe is way too salty! I couldn’t even finish my serving, so unfortunate. Would recommend using less low sodium soy sauce.
Hi Morgan, sorry about that. Some soy sauces are saltier than others…
I love all these flavours but mine was so salty I had to throw the whole dish out. My partner also couldn’t eat it. Could this be because I soaked the aubergine in either too much salt or for too long? I did rinse the aubergines but perhaps they retained the salt? I have low sodium soy so don’t think it was that. Any tips as I want to make this again. Thanks
Hi Samantha- shoot, sorry about that. The only thing I can think of, especially since you used low sodium soy sauce, is that you may have over-reduced the sauce? That would make it salty. To mitigate this, add a splash of water.
I grow my japanese eggplant and was looking for something different. I tered the recipe as my spouse does not like eat so no chilis. I akso wanted a protein so added shrimp
This is a very good recipe the crispy then creamy bite of the eggplant was a dream bite. I actually felt that I did not need the protein. I did add some red peppers which gave a little added taste. Overall i suggest you make the recipes as written because the bite of the eggplant was a real mouth explosion.
Thanks so much Jack!
I didn’t like the flavor of the Szechuan peppercorn. It was too overpowering. It actually made our tongue tingle and our water taste sour. If there’s a better substitute, I suggest use that.
Yes Szechuan Peppercorn has a very distinct taste and sensation- and the first time I tried it, I too had a similar reaction. It is an acquired taste, and now I actually love it. But to keep this authentic, I felt it should be included. 🙂 You can always substitute black peppercorn.