I love making whole roasted eggplant – it’s super delicious and can be topped with any of your favorite sauces. For mine, I usually make a delicious tahini based drizzle that is light and can be whipped up in minutes. The best part of baking a whole roasted eggplant is you can put any seasoning on it that you like and eat it plain, with a sauce, or make it into a dip like babaganoush! It also takes limited prep time and the only time you’ll be waiting is for your eggplant to roast up!
For this recipe, you will need any kind of large eggplant and will cut it in half, cut lines in it, sprinkle your favorite spices or blends, add some olive oil, and then place into the oven to bake. You will know your eggplant is done when the outside skin starts to look wrinkled and the inside of the eggplant is soft to touch with a fork. This dish is super easy to make and can be enjoyed as an appetizer, a side for dinner, or as a main if you want to top with some additional protein like chickpeas or beans.
For this recipe, I used my favorite za’atar, which is a middle eastern spice blend made up of different herbs and sesame seed so it tastes flavorful, herbal, and zesty! My go to za’atar blend is from NY Shuk.
Substitution Ideas:
- Za’atar: you can use any spice blend you like, keep it simple with just salt + pepper, or do some garlic oil + paprika
- Tahini Sauce: this is optional. You can use any sauce you like or just a squeeze of fresh lemon
Za’atar Roasted Eggplant with Tahini Sauce
Cooking & Baking Supplies
- Baking Tray
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
Eggplant
- 1 medium eggplant
- ️za’atar seasoning (sprinkle as much as you’d like)
- 1 ️garlic clove, minced
- sprinkle of salt
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil
Tahini Sauce
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp water
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- sprinkle of salt
- fresh parsley or ️za’atar to top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and cut 1/2 inch deep lines going diagonal both directions, then sprinkle eggplant with salt + let sit for 5 minutes at room temperature.
- Coat both the cut eggplant sides well with olive oil then sprinkle za’atar all over + top with minced garlic.
- Cook eggplant for 40-45 minutes until inside is tender and feels mushy when you stick a fork into it.
- While eggplant cooks, mix together the tahini sauce and drizzle onto eggplant once done and ENJOY!
Did you make this recipe?Tag @girlswhoeat!
