Stuffed Eggplant

Our stuffed eggplant is delicious and easy to prepare, made with tender roasted eggplant boats and three different quick and easy stuffing.

It is a modern healthy recipe you can make for an easy dinner with your family and friends. It's without meat and suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

And so, we started with the base, made with perfectly roasted eggplant halves seasoned with heart-healthy olive oil, salt, and pepper. Minimal effort, maximum taste!

While the eggplant was roasting, we focussed on the stuffings. We decided to make three, because why not:

1. Melted mozzarella + roasted cherry tomatoes + vegan basil pesto: for the flexitarian who is slowly transitioning to an increasingly plant-based diet. It honestly tastes like pizza, but it's eggplant. It's totally kids friendly.
   
2. Vegan basil pesto + cherry tomatoes + tahini sauce: for the vegan looking for something nourishing, tasty, and fresh.
   
3. Avocado spread + cherry tomatoes + crispy roasted chickpeas: for anyone that wants to experience flavor and texture perfection.

You can make everything in about 1 hour, while the eggplants roast. Or you can prep most components ahead of time, then build and warm up the stuffed eggplants in 10 minutes, just before dinner. Let's see how!

Eggplants: use medium size globe eggplants, the ones with dark-purple peel.

Olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme: to season the eggplants before roasting them.

Stuffing #1

Cherry tomatoes: you can use any small tomatoes, such as cherry, plum, and date tomatoes. We chop them up, season them with olive oil, salt, garlic, pepper, and basil, then roast them for a few minutes on top of the eggplant.

Mozzarella cheese: to add that melty, cheesy feel. Use pre-grated mozzarella made for pizza or a whole one that you can shred yourself.

If you are vegan, you can replace it with a vegan mozzarella or other vegan cheese that melts. Alternatively, choose one of the other vegan stuffings below.

Vegan basil pesto: you can use store-bought, or make our quick, healthy, delicious vegan basil pesto at home. Drizzle on top of the stuffed eggplant before serving.

Other ingredients: you can garnish with toasted pine nuts, fresh basil leaves, and freshly ground black pepper.

Stuffing #2

Vegan basil pesto: we recommend using our homemade pesto recipe. It tastes so much better than store-bought, and it's easy to make with a few simple ingredients.

Small tomatoes: you can use cherry tomatoes, date tomatoes, plum tomatoes, or any other variety of small tomatoes. Chop them up and season them with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic before adding them raw on top of the eggplant.

Tahini sauce: it adds a nutty, creamy texture to this stuffed eggplant recipe. Learn how to make tahini sauce here. It's super simple with tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt.

You can replace tahini sauce with chipotle sauce (if you like smokey and hot), a yogurt mint sauce (made by mixing unsweetened yogurt with finely chopped mint, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch of salt), aged balsamic vinegar, or simply a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Stuffing #3

Avocado spread: one of the most delicious spreads we've ever made, avocado spread fits perfectly with roasted eggplant. It's healthy, creamy, tasty, and made with ripe avocado, tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic.

Small tomatoes: use any small tomato variety, chopped up, and mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic, basil or chopped coriander, or flat-leaf parsley.

Crispy roasted chickpeas: the perfect texture-flavor combination; you can roast chickpeas in the oven or make them in the air-fryer and spice them with paprika or ground cumin.

Roast the eggplant

Preheat the oven to 430°F or 220°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Wash and dry the eggplants and cut them in half lengthwise.

Score the flesh of the eggplant with the tip of a knife, and season with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme, including between the cuts.

Arrange on the baking sheet; cut side down. Bake at 430°F or 220°C for 40 to 50 minutes until thoroughly cooked and tender.

To check for doneness, pierce them with a fork; it should slide in easily.

Tip: you can also roast eggplants in an air-fryer for half the time. To do so, cut and season them as above, then air fry them for 12 minutes at 360°F or 180°C cut side up, flip around, and air fry for another 8 to 10 minutes, until brown, a little char, and tender inside.

Make Tomato Mix

Chop the cherry tomatoes and add them to a bowl with crushed garlic, chopped basil, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and set aside while the eggplants roast.

Stuffing #1

Add shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the roasted eggplants, then add the tomato mix, and some more mozzarella on top.

Put back in the oven and broil for 5 to 10 minutes until the tomatoes get soft and the mozzarella melts.

Arrange on a serving platter and drizzle with vegan basil pesto. Optionally garnish with toasted pine nuts, fresh black pepper, and extra basil leaves.

Stuffing #2

Spread a generous layer of our homemade vegan basil pesto on the roasted eggplants, including between the cuts.

Top with the tomato mix, drizzle with tahini sauce, and garnish with fresh basil or mint leaves.

Stuffing #3

Spread a generous amount of avocado spread on the eggplant, add the tomato mix on top, and top with roasted chickpeas or air-fried chickpeas.

Tip: you can bake the roasted chickpeas with the eggplants on the side on the same baking tray.

Make ahead

Get ahead in the kitchen: you can prep most parts of this recipe ahead of time, then put it together right before dinner, and in just over 10 minutes, you can have delicious stuffed eggplants. Here's how:

1. Make the tahini sauce in advance and store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Then before using it, add a splash of water to thin it up.
2. Make the tomato mixture in the morning or the night before and store it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
3. Make the vegan pesto in advance and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to two months.
4. Roast the eggplant halves up to 2 days ahead, then store them in the fridge. You then just have to warm them up in the oven for 10 minutes before stuffing them.

The only part of this recipe I would not make ahead of time is the avocado spread (you can make it in 5 minutes) or the roasted chickpeas.

Stuffed eggplants with couscous

There are many more delicious ways to stuff eggplants, from grain-based stuffing to legumes. For example, try stuffing roasted eggplant boats with our vegetable couscous.

Roast the eggplant boats like described before, then add a generous amount of our vegetable couscous on top, fresh parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

This is an excellent way of using leftover couscous.

Stuffed eggplants with lentils

We recently developed this recipe for stuffed zucchini boats, and the same filling is also delicious with eggplants. It's a good substitute for ground beef, chicken, or sausage-based fillings because it's packed with protein and crazy nutritious; it'll make you feel full and nourished.

You can make this vegetarian stuffing in a pan or large skillet with onion, canned lentils, walnuts, crushed tomato sauce, and various spices.

Once the filling it's ready, you can use it to stuff the eggplant shells, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, put them in a baking dish, and bake.

Follow the same instructions as our stuffed zucchini, substituting chopped eggplant flesh for the zucchini flesh.

Tip: eggplant flash is a little harder to spoon out than zucchini flesh, so you might have to score it first with a knife.

Stuffed eggplants with grains and legumes

Grains and legumes are great together because they taste good and make a nutritionally complete meal. Make this filling with quinoa and beans, lentils and rice, or millet and chickpeas.

We used these fillings for our stuffed bell peppers, but they are also delicious for stuffing eggplants.

If you love cooking with this versatile vegetable, check out our selection of favorite recipes with eggplant:

Or get more inspiration with our best 35 eggplant recipes, including dinners, lunches, and snacks.