Garlic Roasted Eggplant
I am coming in hot with a super fantastic summer recipe for all of you to try: Garlic Roasted Eggplant. This technique is super fun, easy, and the results are absolutely divine. Like, this eggplant melts in your mouth people. No joke. All you have to do is halve a large eggplant and then score an ‘X’ shaped pattern into both halves. Next, stuff the halves with a ridiculous amount of thinly sliced garlic. Don’t worry, it all cooks for a full hour in the oven so the garlic mellows out in flavor. It’s a beautiful thing. Then you lightly season and throw it in the oven until tender and oh so delicious.
SEASONING BLEND FOR GARLIC ROASTED EGGPLANT
As for the seasonings for this garlic roasted eggplant? Super simple. Drizzle over a good amount of olive oil, a few splashes of tamari or soy sauce, a nice little drizzle of rice or plain vinegar (you could use red wine, too!), a dusting of nutritional yeast, and that is literally it. Bake in the oven for around 1 hour until soft and tender. When you stick it with a fork, it should give completely. The goal with this recipe is to really enhance the flavor of the eggplant and garlic. This simple seasoning blend does just that!
WHAT TYPE OF EGGPLANT TO USE
In regards to what variety of eggplant to use for this recipe, I tend to go for the big fat Italian variety but I’ve also used smaller and thinner ones and it worked beautifully as well. I guess for this, since you leave the skin on, the more meat the better, right? But also, use what you have—especially if you are growing some cool varieties in your garden.
ENJOY THIS GARLIC ROASTED EGGPLANT
Ok, y’all…definitely give this garlic roasted eggplant a go and let me know what you think! Serve it with fluffy rice, freshly cooked pasta, or a big bed of quinoa or couscous. I think you will love it!
Lots of love, t
IF YOU LIKE THIS GARLIC ROASTED EGGPLANT, TRY THESE
Garlic Roasted Eggplant
Ingredients
- 1 large Italian eggplant
- 5-6 cloves garlic, depending on eggplant size, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast, flakes are best!
- 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons vinegar, plain, white or red wine, or rice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300° F.
- Using a sharp knife, halve a large eggplant. Deeply (but not all the way through!) score each half in an ‘X’ like pattern. Stuff with thinly sliced garlic. Transfer to a large skillet or baking sheet.
- Drizzle with olive oil.
- Drizzle with tamari (or soy sauce) and rice or white vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Dust with nutritional yeast.
- Gently move around to get the bottom coated and roast in a 300 degree F oven for 60-75 minutes until soft, tender, and golden brown on the bottom. (The eggplant should fall apart!) Add more salt and pepper, to taste. Enjoy!
…gahhhhhhh. this popped in my inbox today so I biked over to the veggie co-op, bought a WHOPPER of an e plant, like the size of a house cat! But notttt a house cat, of course “-)
baked it for 70-77 minutes as written, w ILLEGAL amounts of garlic, and then devoured it all off btw 3 ppl w home baked pita chips.
then had a nap, w my house cat Pickle who looks a lot more like an eggplant than a pickle but he digs cornichon pickles, so, hence his name.
thanks for lunch, t! xo
Oh so awesome to read this! Thank you so much for letting me know. Love using illegal amounts of garlic! Happy cooking, friend.
Came upon this recipe today. So delicious! New favorite way to use eggplant. Served over turmeric and Chinese 5spice scented cauliflower rice and it was such a winning combination. Thank you. Another amazing recipe from your kitchen!
Woah, that sounds great!! Thanks for letting me know. Happy cooking!
made this side by side in an airfryer for 55 minutes. it has 30 minutes to go using about same way with recipe provided..didn’t want to put in over ..in airfyer using olive oil must be at 300° or it will probably burn if higher .
use to make 4 slices in oven at higher temperature for 35 minutes
Do you score the flesh or skin side? And do you cook it flesh or skin side down? This looks so incredible I cannot wait to eat it.
Score the skin side and cook the flesh side down so it gets nice and golden brown!
This was absolutely delicious!!! Such a simple dish with an amazing amount of flavor, thank you so much for the recipe!!
Love to hear it!! I will be making this soon, myself. Happy cooking and thank you for being here!
Hello! I am gonna make this tonight! After you cut the eggplant in half so you score the inside and outside of both sides the eggplant?
So it will fall apart if you do that, just score one side! I hope you love it!
Made this and oh my gosh SO delicious!! We prepared it per your instructions and then roasted it in our barbecue grill. We spread it on toasted bread and it was just absolutely awesome. Thanks for another fabulous recipe!
You are very welcome! I am so thrilled you liked it. Thanks for letting me know!
Does the eggplant need to be covered in the oven? Any tendency to scorch?
The eggplant should be cooked according to the instructions written in the recipe- so not covered. I have not had anyone report back to me that the eggplant has ever scorched. I think the oven temperature is too low for that but I’m sure if you drastically go over the recommend cooking time than it could happen. Hope this helps and happy cooking!
This was incredible!!! So savory and delicious. I’ve been telling everyone about this recipe!! Thank you for this beautiful website!
Aww love reading this! Thank you!
Just made this and it was delicious! I plated it on a bed of marinara sauce and topped it with chopped garden herbs.
(I accidentally used vegan fish sauce instead of the soy sauce I meant to grab and honestly I think I’ll make it again that way.)
I think this might be a good easy main course when I intend to go a bit fancy with a multi course meal starting with salad and soup.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Ohhh that sounds great!! What kind of vegan fish sauce are you using? I will check it out! Also, thank you for the sweet comment.
I’m attempting to make this, just stuck it in the oven will let you know how it turns out. Went to Garlic farm Sunday so I’m excited.
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it. Can you suggest any good substitutes for nutritional yeast?
You could use a ½ teaspoon of mellow white miso or chickpea miso paste. Or you could just skip it altogether!
Buying eggplants tonight…this looks amazing!
Yayyyy!