Roasted Eggplant is a wonderful dish for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. This easy recipe makes the perfect side or it adapts to many dishes that typically use meat.
Serve roasted eggplant slices as a side dish, or use them in Italian and Mediterranean cooking, like eggplant rollatini or eggplant parmesan.
Roasting makes eggplant creamy, soft, and delicious. Try combining garlic roasted eggplant with other roasted veggies, like oven roasted carrots, potatoes or parmesan leeks. Cubes of oven roasted eggplant combined with veggies and topped with melted mozzarella cheese on a hoagie roll make for a fabulous sandwich.
How to Buy Eggplant
Eggplant should be firm and waxy to the touch, without any sunken, dark brown spots. There are many varieties available. Most grocery stores stock the large, pear-shaped eggplants, and these are terrific for making oven roasted eggplant.
Chinese or Japanese eggplants are especially suited to making roasted eggplant slices or wedges. These varieties are long and narrow and will give you uniform slices. These varieties also have thinner skins and smaller seeds. They also tend to be less bitter.
How to Roast Eggplant
Eggplant is simple to roast but does require a little advance preparation to get it oven ready.
- Cut eggplant in half, and then section each half into wedges.
- Salt the wedges and place in a colander allowing it to sweat and drain for about 30 minutes.
- Give the eggplant wedges a super fast rinse and dab dry with paper towels.
- Brush with olive oil and season with herbs and spices and roast until soft.
How Long to Bake Eggplant
Unlike many other veggies (like baked zucchini) which taste great a with a little bit al dente, eggplant requires thorough cooking. So be sure to give it plenty of time, and check that it is completely soft all the way through.
The length of time needed to roast eggplant will vary, depending on how you prep them. Thin baked eggplant slices cook in about 15 minutes in a hot oven. A whole, roasted eggplant (like you’d use for baba ganoush) can take 45 minutes to an hour.
For this easy roasted eggplant recipe, the eggplant wedges will need 25-30 minutes at 400°F.
Freezing Eggplant: You can freeze roasted eggplant for three or four months, so go ahead make lots of it. All you need to do is pack the slices or wedges in ziplock bags and remove however many you need, returning the rest for another meal.
More Veggie Sides
- Favorite Roasted Cauliflower – roasted to golden perfection.
- Roasted Green Beans – just 4 simple ingredients!
- Parmesan Roasted Broccoli – perfectly tender and crisp.
- Easy Oven Roasted Asparagus – ready in under 15 mins!
- Easy Roasted Beets– no peeling required!
- Roasted Kohlrabi – only 5 ingredients!
Roasted Eggplant
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants
- salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- fresh parsley and basil for serving
Instructions
- Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Cut each half into into 4-6 wedges.
- Sprinkle wedges with salt and let sit 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Quickly rinse the eggplant and dab dry with paper towels. Place on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil.
- Season with salt, pepper and seasonings. Roast 25-30 minutes or until golden.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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Hi Holly,
Do I need to flip these halfway through baking?
You can if you would like to Laura, but we didn’t for this recipe :)