Roasted Eggplant with zaatar, served over rice or grains with tahini yogurt sauce, tomatoes, herbs, and Greek olives. Vegan, gluten-free, video.
If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished? ~ Rumi~
Why you’ll love this Roasted Eggplant Recipe
This Roasted Eggplant dish is one of my favorite meals! Bursting with Middle Eastern flavor, with only 15 minutes of prep time, the oven transforms the eggplant into pure lusciousness! Serve the baked eggplant over rice with seasonal veggies like tomatoes, cucumber or radishes, and tahini yogurt sauce.
Crosshatch the eggplant. This technique of crosshatching the eggplant renders beautifully tender eggplant, allowing the flavor of the marinade to penetrate.
Zaatar pairs well with eggplant! Zaatar if unfamiliar, is a blend of Middle Eastern spices that can be made at home or that can be purchased.
Roasted Eggplant Recipe Ingredients
- Globe eggplants– or sub smaller eggplants for faster cooking time.
- Extra virgin olive oil – to addd richness to the dish.
- Zataar spice – make your own or use store-bought zaatar
- Fat garlic clove, for pungent flavor.
- Salt, Pepper and Aleppo chili flakes – for seasoning.
Serve with: cooked rice or grains (basmati rice, freekeh, farro, quinoa), chopped tomatoes, or cucumber, Greek olives, herbs, your choice of tahini sauce, tahini yogurt or tzatziki sauce.
How to Cook Roasted Eggplant
Step one: Globe eggplant is “crosshatched”. Feel free to use smaller eggplant or Japanese eggplant which will cook faster and perhaps not need such dramatic crosshatching.
Step two: Make a paste with Zaatar and olive oil and brush it on the eggplant. (You can make homemade Zaatar or try this Seattle brand– by Villa Jerada our favorite!)
In this recipe, I skip the step of salting and draining the liquid, which saves time, but feel free to do so if inclined.
Step three: Bake the eggplant in the oven for 1 hour, checking after 40 minutes. Remember that smaller eggplants will take less time, while bigger ones will take more.
Step four: While it bakes, cook the rice and prepare any vegetables you like, such as tomatoes, radishes, and cucumber. Then, whisk together your sauce.
Step five: Serve. When the eggplant is very tender, plate it over the rice with the veggies, optional olives and sauce.
Drizzle with sauce, sprinkle with fresh herbs and Aleppo chili flakes if you like.
Serving Suggestions
Create a Middle Eastern feast! Try this with our Middle Eastern Rice, Lebanese Slaw (Salatet Malfouf), Manoushe (Lebanese Flat Bread) or Lebanese Chicken with 7-Spice!
Storing Roasted Eggplant
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat in a 350°F oven or microwave. Enjoy the baked Epplant! Sylvia
More eggplant recipes you might like:
- Grilled Eggplant with Greek Relish and Creamy Polenta
- Eggplant Chickpea Tagine
- Eggplant Lasagna
- Meltingly Tender Moroccan Eggplant
- Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Szechuan Sauce
Watch how to make Baked Eggplant
Roasted Eggplant
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Main - Vegan and Gluten free
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Roasted Eggplant with Zaatar- a blend of middle eastern spices – served over rice or whole grains, with fresh veggies and yogurt, tahini sauce and/or tzatziki and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.
Ingredients
- 2 globe eggplant ( about 2-2 1/4 lbs)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon zataar spice mix- or see notes (or use store-bought zaatar!)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, more to taste
- 2 fat garlic clove, finely minced or grated.
- 3-4 cups cooked rice or grains ( freekeh, farro, quinoa)
- 2 cups fresh chopped veggies- tomatos or cucumbers (or both)
- Sauce: tahini sauce, tahini yogurt or tzatziki
- Garnish: Italian parsley, kalamata olives, aleppo chili flakes, feta or goat cheese crumbles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Eggplant Prep. Slice Eggplant in half, then slice deeply at a diagonal at one-inch intervals -“crosshatching”( see photos above), careful not to cut through skin.
- Season. Season each side with ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt, sprinkling it into the slices if possible. Mix oil, spices, and garlic together in a bowl to make a paste. Brush or spoon the entire contents over the eggplant.
- Bake. Place on a sheet pan in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes, rotating halfway through. After an hour, pierce with a fork and if they are very tender and juicy, they are done. Bigger eggplants may take longer, smaller ones will take less time, so check.
- Prep sides. While the eggplant bakes, cook the rice, prepare the tahini yogurt sauce, and chop the vegetables.
- Assemble. When the eggplant is done, assemble the plates, topping the warm rice or grain with the roasted eggplant, then surround with fresh veggies and drizzle with tahini sauce, yogurt or tzatziki. Add olives or cheese if you wish. Sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
If you don’t have Zaatar– use a substitution of: ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon sumac (and if you don’t have sumac, sub 1 teaspoon lemon zest -or finely chopped preserved lemon), ½ teaspoon dried oregano or thyme , ½ teaspoon sesame seeds and a pinch salt.
Eggplant: If using smaller eggplant, cross-hatching may not be necessary, and roasting time will shorten significantly – check after 30 minutes, and cook until very fork-tender. If using extra large globe eggplant, cooking time may increase.
This brand of store-bought Zaatar is my favorite.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Includes: ½ eggplant w/ 1 cup cooked rice, 1 cup tomatoes and 1 tablespoon plain whole fat yogurt
- Calories: 344
- Sugar: 11.8 g
- Sodium: 375.7 mg
- Fat: 16.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 41 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 9.5 g
- Cholesterol: 22.1 mg
Simply delicious! When there is a bumper crop of globe eggplant this recipe comes to the rescue. I serve it with dollops of Greek yogurt.
How lovely to have a bumper crop of eggplant! Glad you are enjoying. 🙂
Exceptional flavor and very healthy ingredients. I just made this for a group dinner and it was a huge hit. Everyone asked for the recipe. Yum!
Great to hear Kristen!
Tried this for the first time. It won’t be the last time!! Easy and absolutely delicious. It also hit all the nutritional marks for our household. Requests for next time came before the meal even ended!
Wow, great to hear this Colleen!
Would this work on the grill? Have some eggplant to use up, but it will be too hot to use the oven.
Hi Alex as long as the eggplant is not too big, and you cook low and slow,it should be ok? Otherwise slice and brush the marinade on it?
I love this eggplant- I make it over and over!
Glad to hear it Josie
My toddler ate nearly an entire eggplant with a spoon. Truly, there is no higher praise.
Oh my gosh! 😄 high praise indeed, I love it!
Wowza!!! Absolutely divine. Wish I discovered this recipe years ago as I’m never quite sure what to make with eggplant. Served it with brown rice and veggies with tahini sauce. 5 stars.
Great to hear Renee! We have a lot of great eggplant recipes, just enter eggplant in the search bar for more inspiration.
Super simple and delicious! One of my husband’s favorites!
Thanks so much!
I tried this in the air fryer and it came out perfect!!! I also threw in some diced potatoes, tomatoes and bell peppers and it was wholesome!
The spices mix is amazing, I also added paprika, cardamom and lemon pepper.
Thank you for the recipe!
Oh how yummy!
can’t wait to make tonight