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 1x
- 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
This looks delicious! If I don’t have dried chilies, can I sub fresh? (I have Thai green on hand). If so, do you have a recommendation on ratio? Thanks!
Those may be too hot. I’d start with one, split in half lengthwise, stem intact.
Delicious and didn’t take long at all. I left out the chilly but those that wanted it added it later. This is the first time I have made this and I am very impressed with the flavour. Thank you.
Very good recipe.
It took a while to fry the eggplant but enjoyed the result.
I added some cashews & almonds which added to the taste.
Thanks.
Just tried this recipe – we loved it! We will definitely be using this Szechuan sauce in many other recipes.
Great to hear! 🙌
This technique for cooking the eggplant is the best I’ve tried at home, and finally matched an eggplant dish I loved at a Japanese restaurant in my old home town. I can hardly recall the sauce/reduction that was drizzled over it because it was this texture of the eggplant that seduced me, the crisp skin so thin, it quietly shatters, and the soft rich inside. And true confession I haven’t even tried it with the proper sauce yet because I had a labneh/parsley dip I needed to use up, a great combo it turned out. But I can’t wait to make it with the sauce in this recipe.
Great to hear! 🙌
Eggplant seduced me
Crisp skin so thin, soft inside
IQuietly shatters
Couldn’t help making your words into a haiku…lovely writing.
Love it Tracey 🙂
This recipe was delicious! We’re making it twice this week! Are there other vegetables that you think would be delicious with this sauce? We’re obsessed with it!! Thank you so much!
Glad you like this one. Yes, I think many veggies would work well here or even a veggie stirfry!
Frying took forever and too much oil. I added water and closed the lid to cook the eggplants.
I was very disappointed and tossed away the fried eggplants. 2 Tbsp of oil weren’t enough and the eggplants absorbed lots of oil around 1 cup. what have I done wrong?
Did you soak them first in salted water?
Yes, I soaked the eggplants in salted water.
Ok,, interesting. Not sure what happened here. Usually that helps prevent the eggplant from soaking up too much oil.
Hallo again Sylvia, this recipe is a hit! Huge one, I may add. I made it yesterday as an appetizer when we had a friend coming over and both me, our friend and my hubby loved it. Our guest had a third helping haha. And my hubby insists I make it again today, this time as the main event. So, what can I say, not only is it good, but also kind of addictive I guess, but in a good way! Thanks and keep’em coming!
Thanks Alex! glad he approved! 😉
Best homecooked eggplant I’ve ever managed to make! We both loved it! Very tasty and easy dish to make – thank you!
This is truly delicious! Online recipes are often hit and miss, but the ingredient ratios for this Szechuan Eggplant are perfect! This is my new fav, I’ll be eating it till the cows come home! Thank you, Sylvia.
I can’t eat spicy food. Is there a substitute for the spicy ingredients?
Just leave them out. 😉
I cannot believe I made something so tasty!
I had never soaked aubergines before – and they really absorb a lot less oil when cooking. I’m so impressed!
This dish is so full of flavour – and so easy to make!
Thank you so much!
Very tasty!! I was surprised that no one comment on using way too much oil in cooking the eggplant. The next time I’ll either bake or grill.
hi
Hi Bob.
I made this on a whim and, though I didn’t have mirin, it turned out deliciously fabulous. The sauce is surprisingly easy and delicious and I plan on making other veggies with it. The crispy, yet silky, texture the starch yields is amazing. I was happy to see how quickly the dish came together. Absolute winner and on ny permanent rotation! Many thanks.
Wonderful flavor, helpful cooking tips. I added ground pork and dry shrimp.
Would be just as lovely without the meat. The sauce was delicious.
Made this first time today. Very simple and relatively uncomlicated. Great results, the family loved it.
Sylvia, this is phenomenally delicious, easily the very best Asian eggplant recipe I have ever used. It is the first and only time that I have felt like I made something comparable to a dish that I thought was first-rate in a Chinese restaurant. Thank you!
Awesome tina! Glad htis worked for you!
Awesome Tina, Glad you enjoyed!
Fragrant, delicious, textural. Packed with flavour. Ticks all the boxes… And vegan! Such an incredible recipe for a mid week meal or treating friends. Love love love. Massively reccomend.
Awesome Keeley! Great to hear 🙌
This was incredibly tasty! I used a combo of Sriracha and Gochujang sauces instead of the chili paste and added sautéed asparagus–it was delicious!
Perfect! Thanks and glad you liked it!
Such a delicious dish! It really tastes like in China 🤩
I was surprised how easy to do the five spice seasoning and the Szechuan sauce.
As I didn’t had enough eggplants, I added champignons, what I can highly recommend.
Thanks for your healthy delicious recipes.
Yummy. I didn’t have chinese red peppers so I used cayenne powder and added it to the sauce. I also used half the oil. I try to cook oil free.
Pretty good though saltier than I would have liked. Great texture! We did a packet of tofu up the same way as the eggplant for protein and added an onion. Would make again though it did take quite a bit of time.
This was a great recipe and will go into my rotation. They only thing that wasn’t good was the part that I did wrong (I forgot to toast and grind the peppercorns, I used whole black ones). It wasn’t too hard and I think I will be able to prepare it faster the more times I make it.