Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (2024)

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My tasty Roasted Eggplant Recipe is roasted eggplant slices stuffed with mozzarella, tomato, and pesto! I’ll show you how to easily roast eggplant in the oven for the best texture and flavor.

Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (1)
Jump to:
  • Best Stuffed Eggplant
  • Stuffed Eggplant Ingredients
  • How to Cut Eggplant
  • How to Stuff Eggplant
  • How to Roast Eggplant
  • Roasted Eggplant Recipe Tips
  • Stuffed Eggplant Recipes FAQs
  • What to Serve with Eggplant
  • Easy Vegetarian Recipes
  • Recipe
  • Reviews

Best Stuffed Eggplant

If you love Italian dishes like Caprese, this is a perfect recipe for you!

This stuffed and roasted eggplant gets all of its delicious flavors from the basil pesto, mozzarella, and tomato slices. It is so easy to prepare and an amazing meal! I love how light and flavorful it is.

I like to top mine off with toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and fresh basil after baking, too. Every bite is worth savoring. I promise you’ve never had a stuffed eggplant recipe like this one. It is by far one of my favorite Sunday dinner ideas!

Amazing recipe. Turned out beautiful!

Adrienn

Stuffed Eggplant Ingredients

  • largeeggplant
  • beefsteak tomatoes
  • mozzarella cheese slices
  • pesto
  • olive oil

Optional for serving

  • toasted pine nuts
  • fresh basil leaves
  • grated Parmesan cheese
Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (2)

How to Cut Eggplant

For stuffed eggplant recipes, it’s important to get those perfect slices. You want them cut to the right thickness and you don’t want to cut all of the way through the bottom.

  1. Set your eggplant on a cutting board. To each side of the eggplant, place a guide: this could be a wooden spoon handle, chopstick, or thick wooden skewer.
  2. Slice your eggplant without cutting all of the way through – you want it to connect at the bottom of each slice. When your knife hits the guide, that’s when you know to stop cutting.
  3. Cut the eggplant into slices that are about ¼ inch thick.

TIP—Preheat your oven to 350°F while slicing the eggplant so it will be ready once you’re done preparing it to bake.

Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (3)

How to Stuff Eggplant

Next, you’ll stuff the eggplant with cheese, tomato, and pesto.

  1. Place pesto in between each slice of eggplant, followed by a slice of beefsteak tomato and a slice of mozzarella cheese.
    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (4)
  2. Continue stuffing the eggplant slices until each slice is filled with pesto, tomato, and mozzarella.

It was sooo easy and my roommates loved it!

Munira

How to Roast Eggplant

Time to bake! Follow this guide for how to cook eggplant in the oven for the most perfect, delicious, and tender dish:

  1. Place the stuffed eggplant in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish greased lightly with olive oil. Let it lay almost flat in the dish.
    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (5)
  2. Drizzle olive oil over the eggplant, and roast at 350°F for 1 hour, until it cooks through and is nicely browned.
  3. Cut through the bottom of the slices to serve. Sprinkle with pine nuts, fresh basil, and grated Parmesan, if desired.
Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (6)

This was spectacular!

Deborah

Roasted Eggplant Recipe Tips

Oven-roasting is one of the best ways to cook eggplant, but if you’ve never cooked it before, there are a few details to look out for!

  • Use the right eggplant: Look for a large eggplant to use in this recipe. The most common variety of American eggplant is generally the perfect kind to use!
  • Pick a ripe eggplant: When ripe, this vegetable will be firm and shiny, without any wrinkles or squishy spots.

Stuffed Eggplant Recipes FAQs

What is the secret to cooking eggplant?

The #1 secret to cooking the perfect eggplant is it must be completely cooked through until it’s soft, smooth, and creamy. Always check with a fork and make sure it’s soft and cooked perfectly.

Do you peel eggplant before cooking?

You do not need to peel an eggplant. Especially when slicing the eggplant. The skin adds a nice bite.

What to Serve with Eggplant

  • Fresh Vegetable Salad
  • Instant Pot French Bread
  • Green Bean Almondine
  • Foil Packet Potatoes
Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (7)

Easy Vegetarian Recipes

  • Vegetarian Enchiladas
  • Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
  • Roasted Vegetables with Cheese Sauce

Recipe

Stuffed Roasted Eggplant Recipe

Isabel Laessig

This stuffed roasted eggplant recipe is as easy as it gets and so delicious! Ready to bake with just 10 minutes of prep, and full of flavor.

4.67 from 15 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Calories 402 kcal

Equipment

  • 9×13" baking dish

Ingredients

  • 1 large eggplant or 2 smaller eggplants
  • 2 large beefsteak tomatoes halved and sliced
  • 4 ¾ oz. mozzarella cheese not soft burrata, but mozzarella slices
  • ¾ cup pesto
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Optional for serving

  • toasted pine nuts
  • fresh basil leaves
  • grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking Conversions

See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.

    Slice 1 large eggplant almost all of the way through into slices that are about ¼-inch thick, leaving them connected near the bottom.

    Halve and slice 2 large beefsteak tomatoes.

    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (9)

  • Place a heaping 1 tsp. or so of pesto in between each slice, followed by a slice of beefsteak tomato and a slice of mozzarella cheese.

    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (10)

  • Continue stuffing the eggplant slices until each slice is filled with pesto, tomato, and mozzarella.

    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (11)

  • Place the stuffed eggplant in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish greased with olive oil. Let it lay almost flat in the dish.

    Drizzle olive oil over the eggplant.

    Roast at 350°F for 1 hour, until it cooks through and is nicely browned.

    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (12)

  • Cut through the bottom of the slices to serve. Sprinkle with pine nuts, fresh basil, and Parmesan.

    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (13)

Notes

TIP: When slicing the eggplant, place a chopstick, wooden skewer, or wooden spoon to one or both sides as a “guide”. When you’re making your slices, your knife will hit the guide before cutting all of the way through the eggplant.

Nutrition

Calories: 402kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 12gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 657mgPotassium: 691mgFiber: 6gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 2607IUVitamin C: 26mgCalcium: 272mgIron: 1mg

Keyword eggplant recipes, roasted eggplant, stuffed eggplant, stuffed eggplant recipe, stuffed eggplant recipes

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Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (18)

About Isabel Laessig

Hi! I’m Isabel Laessig, also known as Family Foodie, creator of Sunday Supper Movement and author of the Boujee Steak Cookbook. Sunday Supper is my mission to bring family back around the dinner table. Join me in making family meal-time a tradition to celebrate!

» About Me

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. jo_jo_ba says

    Now I REALLY wish our eggplants had grown this summer!

    Reply

  2. Cindy Kerschner says

    So elegant looking!

    Reply

  3. Wendy Klik says

    What a gorgeous dish!

    Reply

  4. Eileen Gray says

    Wow, that is an impressive dish!

    Reply

  5. Nettie Moore says

    A real show stopper! Nettie

    Reply

  6. David Crowley says

    What a beautiful vegetable dish!

    Reply

  7. Alix P Lindstrom says

    Do you think I could make this with marinara sauce instead of pesto?

    Reply

    • Isabel Laessig says

      We don’t see why not. Let us know how it turns out.

      Reply

  8. Sheena says

    Really tasty but i will make slimmer hasselback slices next time as the middle was less cooked and also put a bit more pesto on both sides of the slices. 😋😋😋

    Reply

  9. Amand says

    Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (19)
    Made this for dinner tonight. It was very good but needed a little something. A splash of balsamic vinegar did the trick.

    Reply

    • Em Beitel says

      Thank you so much, Amand! We’re glad you enjoyed it – and that sounds like an amazing addition!

      Reply

Let us know what you think or ask a question about the recipe!

Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to cooking eggplant? ›

Eggplants are known to absorb a lot of fat while cooking. A useful tip to prevent sogginess and greasiness is to salt sliced or diced eggplant and let it sit for an hour. This helps to draw out moisture. Next, rinse and drain any liquid from the sliced eggplant, then pat dry before cooking.

What is stuffed eggplant made of? ›

In a bowl, mix together the cooked eggplant, vegetables, beef, herbs, 1 cup of the cheese, 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs and the egg. Fill the scooped-out eggplant halves with this mixture, dividing it evenly between the two halves.

What happens if you don't salt eggplant before cooking? ›

Salting: Salting removes excess liquid and some of the bitterness. Today's eggplants are bred for mildness, though, so it's not as important as it used to be (if you are frying eggplant, salting will ensure a creamy texture and rich flavor). This method works for eggplant slices, cubes, or planks.

Should you soak eggplant in milk or salt water? ›

Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.

Should you rinse eggplant before cooking? ›

Conventional wisdom has you salt the slices to draw bitter liquid out of the eggplant. Once the slices have sat for about a hour, you're suppose to rinse them under cool water to remove any excess salt and then proceed with your recipe.

How do you cook eggplant so it's not mushy? ›

How to prep an eggplant. One of the secrets to cooking tender-but-never-mushy eggplant is salt. First, Stilo cuts her eggplant into the desired shape (rounds, cubes, planks, etc.), and then sprinkles the eggplant evenly with a generous amount of salt.

How to prepare eggplant before baking? ›

However, if you can't get your head around cooking eggplant without salting it, here's how: sprinkle the cubed eggplant with 1 tsp salt, toss, leave in colander for 30 minutes. Rinse then thoroughly pat dry, toss with oil and pepper (NO SALT), roast per recipe.

What makes eggplant taste good? ›

The oil still left in the eggplant tissues contributes to the soft, buttery texture that's so appealing. Oil also carries the essence of added herbs and spices, so that eggplant dishes can become rich with the aromas and heady flavors of onions, peppers, anchovies, parsley, garlic, and lemon juice.

What is the black stuff inside eggplant? ›

If you notice black seeds inside the eggplant when you cut it open, throw it away; it has been sitting around too long and will be bitter. Eggplant are naturally sweet when fresh, and do not need to be salted for a long time to remove bitterness.

Why are eggplants so expensive? ›

During peak growing seasons, when there's an abundance of eggplants, prices tend to be lower. Conversely, during off-seasons or when supply is limited, prices may rise due to increased demand. The cost of eggplants can also vary based on where they are grown and distributed.

Why do you put an egg in eggplant? ›

First recorded in 1763, the word "eggplant" was originally applied to white cultivars, which look very much like hen's eggs (see image). Similar names are widespread in other languages, such as the Icelandic term eggaldin or the Welsh planhigyn ŵy.

Do I rinse eggplant after salting? ›

Furthermore, adding a good amount of salt will help tenderize the eggplant and keep its shape. Let the eggplant sit: Place the seasoned eggplant over a colander for 30 minutes to an hour. Once beads of moisture start to appear, rinse your eggplant slices under cold water and remove excess salt.

Should I peel eggplant? ›

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

How long do you soak eggplant before cooking? ›

Submerge the pieces in the salted water. Use an upside-down plate or pot lid to weigh down the eggplant so it is fully submerged in the water. Let the eggplant sit in the brine for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Drain the eggplant and pat it dry with a clean kitchen towel or layers of paper towels.

Do you need to soak eggplant in salt water? ›

Many recipes call for eggplants to be salted and rinsed to draw out any bitter juices, but this shouldn't be necessary if they're fresh. If the seeds are too defined or feel hard, the eggplant may be old and should be salted.

When should I soak my eggplant? ›

Brining adds flavor and texture to eggplants. "Mix spices and salt with water, then soak sliced eggplant in the brine for 30 minutes before cooking.

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