This baked Miso Eggplant is roasted in the oven until tender and succulent, brushed with a flavorful miso glaze, and broiled for delicious caramelization. A tasty vegan dinner or side dish. Video.
Savory, melt-in-your-mouth Miso Eggplant is healthy, delicious, and easy to make. This recipe is based on Nasu Dengaku eggplant, a traditional dish from Nagoya, Japan. “Nasu” means eggplant, and “dengaku” is a savory-sweet miso glaze that is used in Japanese cooking. We have simplified this traditional dish a bit without sacrificing any of the deliciousness.
Eggplant is first scored with a knife. This helps it cook more evenly and allows the sauce to penetrate. As the eggplant roasts in the oven, whisk the miso glaze together. Broil with the miso glaze for just a few minutes, transforming the eggplant into deep golden savory treasures. Serve it up with jasmine rice for a healthy dinner!
Why you’ll love this family favorite recipe!
Quick & easy to make! Score and bake the eggplant for 30 minutes, then baste with the miso glaze and broil to caramelize.
Incredible flavor & texture. The sauce is made with miso paste, mirin, maple syrup, and toasted sesame oil to capture the flavors of umami, acidity, sweetness, and richness for a deeply satisfying taste. Plus, roasting and broiling make the eggplant caramelized with a melt-in-your-mouth creamy texture!
So many ways to enjoy it! Serve as a veggie side dish or serve over rice for a delicious vegan dinner.
Ingredients in Miso Eggplant
- Eggplant: Use globe eggplants or Japanese eggplants.
- Miso: We love white miso paste for the mellow, smooth flavor. Feel free to use any type of miso you prefer, but keep in mind saltiness may vary. Miso is a fermented product, very high in probiotics, which helps maintain digestion and a healthy gut balance!
- Mirin: Mirin is a subtly sweet rice wine with lots of umami. You can substitute with rice vinegar and a little extra maple syrup (see recipe card).
- Sesame oil: Gives that deep toasty flavor that is hard to replace.
- Maple syrup: A healthy alternative to sugar, and it balances the savory flavors nicely. Substitute with sugar or coconut sugar.
- For garnish: Green onions, fresh cilantro, red pepper flakes (give a nice kick!), sesame seeds, or furikake.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Miso Eggplant
1. Prep. Preheat the oven to 425F. Use a sharp knife to slice the eggplants in half and the tip of a paring knife to score the flesh in a crisscross pattern, 1/2-inch deep and into approximately 1-inch squares. Be careful not to pierce the skin!
2. Season. Brush or spray with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place cut side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
3. Bake. Bake until tender with slightly crispy edges. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the eggplant. Globe eggplant may take 25-30 minutes, while Japanese eggplant may only take 15 minutes.
4. Make the savory miso glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the miso paste, mirin, sesame oil, and maple syrup.
5. Baste the eggplant. While the eggplant is tender, flip each piece and baste it liberally with the miso sauce.
6. Broil. Return the eggplant to the oven on the middle rack and broil for 2-5 minutes, or until slightly charred on the edges. Keep a close eye; it goes fast!
Tip: If you don’t have a broiler, bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until just before collapsing.
7. Garnish. Garnish with minced green onions, chili flakes, toasted sesame seeds or furikake, and fresh cilantro!
Did you know? Eggplant skin is edible, so you can eat it too!
Chef’s Tips
- Score the eggplant before roasting. Score each piece 1/2-inch deep and about 1-inch wide to help soften the eggplant flesh, bake evenly, and allow the sauce to penetrate.
- Be careful not to pierce the skin. Only score 1/2-inch deep to avoid piercing the skin! Pay special attention when scoring toward the edges.
- Watch carefully when broiling! You only need to broil for a few minutes, so turn the oven light on and keep an eye on the pan to avoid crisping or burning.
- Don’t have a broiler? Simply bake for an extra 5-10 minutes, or just before the eggplants start collapsing.
What to Serve with Miso-Glazed Eggplant
Serve with rice, pickled ginger, sliced avocado, and something crunchy like slaw or cucumber salad.
- Furikake Seasoning Recipe
- Chicken Katsu (or Tofu Katsu!)
- Baked Tofu
- Japanese Salmon Rice Bowls
- Japanese Farm-Style Teriyaki Chicken
- Miso Tofu with Veggies & Rice
- Soba Noodle Salad
- Thai Crunch Salad
Storage
Leftover Miso Eggplant can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. Reheat in a 350F oven or microwave it.
Hope you enjoy this easy and delicious eggplant dish!
More Eggplant dishes you may enjoy!
Watch How to Make it
After you try this Miso Eggplant recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Tonia
Miso Eggplant Recipe (Nasu Dengaku)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: dinner recipe, Main, vegan dinner
- Method: Baked, roasted
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This baked Miso Eggplant is roasted in the oven until tender and succulent, brushed with a flavorful miso glaze, and broiled for delicious caramelization. A tasty vegan dinner or side dish. Video.
Ingredients
- 2 medium globe eggplants (or several Japanese eggplants)
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- 2 tablespoons mirin (substitute rice vinegar + 1/2 teaspoon more of sweetener)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Garnish with green onions, fresh cilantro, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds or furikake.
Serve with jasmine rice, sliced avocado, pickled ginger or something fresh and crunchy like Asian slaw or cucumber salad.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Cut eggplants in half and score in a crisscross pattern approximately into 1-inch squares , about ½-inch deep into the flesh, taking care not to pierce the skin. Brush or spray with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place flesh side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until tender. Globe eggplant will take roughly 25-30 minutes; smaller Japanese eggplant will only take about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the sauce.
- When eggplants are tender, carefully flip them over and liberally baste them with the sauce.
- Broil in the oven on the middle rack for 2-5 minutes until slightly charred on the edges. Keep a close eye; it goes fast! If you don’t have a broiler, bake for an additional 5- 10 minutes or until golden.
- Garnish and serve!
Notes
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the fridge and can be reheated.
To serve as an entree ( pictured above) serve over Furikake rice with sliced avocado and a salad: Asian Slaw, Asian cucumber salad or this carrot ribbon salad.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 eggplant
- Calories: 127
- Sugar: 16.1 g
- Sodium: 51.5 mg
- Fat: 2.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.4 g
- Fiber: 8.7 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
So delicious, I think this is my favourite eggplant recipe ever. Very tasty and easy and a great way to eat all the eggplant coming from my garden.
Nice to hear this Ingrid! Lucky you with all that fresh eggplant. Yum!
I don’t usually follow recipes as written, but I intended to this time. I made half the recipe, except forgot to cut the sesame oil in half. It was super easy and a hit! I used all 4 toppings and would add chopped peanuts next time. Another winner from FAH!
Great to hear Patricia! Thanks for taking time to leave a review, helpful!
Would this work with zucchini?
I think it may get kind of mushy? But you could try it- maybe cook it for less time.
This came out perfect. I had a small globe eggplant and was looking to try something new. Delicious flavors. Will definitely make this again. Thanks.
Nice to hear Rodney!
So easy and quick to make! Flavors are delicious.
Great to hear! Thanks for the review!
Thank you for this recipe that is so, SO good using Japanese eggplant.
Also thank you for the beautiful plating ideas in the always fab photos on your site.
Thanks Michele 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
I made this for the first time. This is very good. Especially like the sauce.
Great to hear!
I don’t see instructions on how to make sauce.
It is in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
just tried it at lunch and very good. I agree it is a lot of added sugar here, so will try to reduce the amount of marple syrup for next time and hopefully it will still taste good! thank you for the recipe!
Let us know what you play around with and how it turns out!
So good!
Delicious. I served the eggplant with rice and the carrot ribbon salad. We gobbled it all up and I’ll be making it again soon!
Love hearing this Yolanda!
The whole family really enjoyed this new dish – miso eggplant.! I’ll make it often. So easy!
Glad to hear it!
DELISH! Love the flavors, variety and accessibility of your vegan recipes and your commitment to the well-being of people, animals, and the planet by providing vegan options. Thank you!
Thanks so much Daniella ❤️
Quite a bit of added sugars here. I may try it w/o the maple syrup and rice vinegar and something like allulose or liquid stevia, which should make the recipe keto friendly.
Give it a try and let us know what you think. 🙂
I am a huge fan of eggplant and always looking for new recipes. I made this exactly as written…loved it. Served it topped with sautéed greens and baked soy curls encrusted with nutritional yeast (I am vegan). Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
So happy you enjoyed this Sue!
Oh boy I love this recepie. Very flavorful.
I served it with seared scallops. It’s a Perfect combination.
Nice! So glad you enjoyed!
Soooo tasty!! Great recipe to make when you’re really tired lol. I served it with the coconut rice from the coconut rice bowl recipe, plus crushed peanuts and scallions. So good I loved it! Thank you!!
Sounds delicious Angeli!
Have you been to a recipe website that doesn’t have the same wordy, ad based format?
If so, I am interested. Probably have to pay for it.
I used japanese eggplant and consensus from kids and myself is that it is good. I am a fan of white miso.
Awesome Heidi!
Hi Megan- you can always use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post. 🙂
Megan, thats too bad you’re so close minded! This is a fabulous site with excellent, healthy recipes. Give some of them a try!
simple and very yummy!!!
wow–looks delicious!