This vegan roasted eggplant dip is easy to make and a fabulous healthy appetizer or snack alongside your favorite veggies, crackers, or other dippables!
Eggplant is awesome. You can do so many things with it. I'm a sucker for dips, and I wanted to try making another one with eggplant.
My melitzanosalata is always going to hold a special place in my heart, but there is room for this one as well.
One of the best parts of this dip is that you don't have to dirty up your food processor. My dishwasher husband was happy about that one 🙂
Roasting the eggplant at a high temperature ensures it's lovely and soft and charred and dip-ready.
Add some spices and garlic and you're good to go.
I love fresh basil, so I added some in here too. I will say the basil is optional... like if you don't have any, it isn't a requirement, but it does add a bit of summery pep.
As with most things in my world, a generous splash of olive oil on top is a necessity. Interpret that as you will.
I hope you'll give this vegan roasted eggplant dip a try!
Questions? Let me know!
Roasted Eggplant Dip
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- Olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4 large leaves basil torn (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 475F. Move the rack to the top third of the oven. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil for easy clean-up.
- Slice eggplant into quarters lengthwise. Cover each piece with a thin layer of olive oil (I just spread it on using my hands) and sprinkle a little salt on each slice. Bake for 35 minutes or until the eggplant is soft and browned.
- Once eggplant is cooked, let it cool for about 10 minutes.
- Chop the eggplant (skins too!) finely (you'll see it disintegrates into a dip texture) and add to a bowl. Stir in the cumin, smoked paprika, lemon juice, garlic, salt & pepper, and basil. Chill for an hour before serving. Serve with olive oil on top and pita, naan, crackers, and/or your favorite veggies.
Alice says
Finally got a chance to try this and I loved it! I tweaked the spices a bit because I didn't have all of them and I probably used too much lemon juice, but it still turned up great.
I'm going to this every time I have eggplant at hand and I'm already using the oven 🙂
Natasha says
Fabulous! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂 I need to make this one again myself.
Alice says
This sounds delicious and actually easy to make!
I have a silly question: by "Slice eggplant into quarters lengthwise", do you mean I should make 4 parallel cuts, or something else?
Also, how long do you think this will keep in the fridge? I'm trying to come up with some healthier make-ahead snacks, to keep myself from turning to cookies every time I feel peckish 😉
Natasha says
Hi!! Yes, that it what I meant. Like slice it 4x the long way so you get ovals (kinda) vs. circles. So you've got 4 fairly large slices. Hope that isn't more confusing now hahaha. You could even roast the whole thing intact, just be sure to prick some holes in it first. Something like this I'd keep for max about a week... I usually finish eggplant dips within 4-5 days.
Alice says
Thank you, super clear and helpful! To be honest, it's very unlikely it will last me further than 4 days too, but it's always good to know 😀
Natasha says
Haha great!! 🙂
Ginger Wroot says
Found you via Twitter and so glad I did! This eggplant dip looks oh, so lish! Pinned and can't wait to try it! Thanks, and I can't wait to come back soon to see what other wonderful dishes you're creating! --Ginger
Natasha says
Thanks for the kind words, Ginger! I hope you like this dip 🙂