Roasted Eggplant Dip

by // // Comments off

Roasted Eggplant Dip – a delicious dip filled with smoky eggplant flavor, perfect for your next party, game day or get together. It is also wonderful as a sandwich filling.

Roasted Eggplant Dip

Healthy Dips

I love dips, especially healthy dips filled with wholesome ingredients. The sort that can serve double or even triple duty as side dishes, sandwich fillings or as meals on their own along with fresh veggies and toasted flatbread.

I’ve recently shared two of my family’s favorite healthy dips including my Corn and Green Chile Dip and White Bean and Garlic Scape Dip. Today I have a new favorite to share, this delicious Roasted Eggplant Dip.


Roasted Eggplant Dip

Roasting the Eggplants

I love eggplants, they are a great source of fiber and potassium, are so versatile and can be used in all types of dishes. This past weekend, I was in possession of two medium sized Sicilian eggplants, from my neighbors’ garden and decided to make a healthy dip. For this dip, I wanted the eggplant flavor to shine, especially the smoky eggplant flavor, so I decided to first char the skins.

My husband volunteered for the task of charring the skins. He did this over the open flame of one of the gas burners on our stove. It only took a few minutes to char each eggplant. My husband used his hands (tongs would also work) to grasp the eggplants by their stems in order to turn them in the flame to get a nice even char.

Once the eggplants had a nice char, I finished roasting them in the oven. I let the eggplants cool a bit, then chunked them up and transferred it all to a food processor. One of my twin 3-year old girls loves using the food processor. So, she was at the ready and expertly pulsed the chopped eggplant to a nice chunky consistency. I then added garlic, lemon juice, salt, fresh parsley and olive oil. She gave the mixture a few more pulses and our Roasted Eggplant Dip was ready.

Roasted Eggplant Dip

Spending Time in the Kitchen with Family

This Roasted Eggplant Dip is so smoky and delicious and was a lot of fun to make with the help of my husband and daughter. I always enjoy creating in the kitchen with my family and it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Roasted Eggplant Dip

Serve with Veggies and Pita Chips

We enjoyed this delicious Roasted Eggplant Dip, along with some toasted pita bread triangles and some cucumber and carrot sticks, as an appetizer to our Sunday dinner. This smoky dip would also be a great addition to a party, game day or fall get together.

This Roasted Eggplant Dip also makes a wonderful sandwich filling. I stuffed some of the leftover dip into a pita pocket along with some homemade hummus and fresh cucumber and tomato slices — perfect for a delicious, healthy, vegetarian lunch.

Print
Roasted Eggplant Dip

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Roasted Eggplant Dip

Roasted Eggplant Dip - a delicious dip filled with smoky eggplant flavor, perfect for your next party, game day or get together, it is also wonderful as a sandwich filling.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sized eggplants (I used Sicilian)
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil, for rubbing on eggplant
  • ½ teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • additional lemon juice and salt, to taste
  • additional olive oil and fresh parsley, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Char eggplants, one at a time, over the open flame of a gas burner, use hands or tongs to carefully grasp stems and turn eggplants to get an even char, about 3 minutes per eggplant.
  3. Transfer charred eggplants to a cutting board and let cool slightly.
  4. Cut cooled eggplants in half length-wise. Rub eggplants with 2 teaspoons olive oil and place on baking sheet, cut sides down.
  5. Roast eggplants in preheated oven until soft, about 20 minutes.
  6. Remove roasted eggplants from oven and transfer to a cutting board, allow to cool slightly.
  7. Cut eggplant into chunks (see notes) and transfer to a food processor.
  8. Pulse eggplants a few times to blend, eggplant should have a chunky consistency.
  9. Add garlic, lemon juice, parsley, salt and olive oil to food processor. Pulse a few more times to combine.
  10. Taste eggplant mixture, add additional lemon juice and salt to taste.
  11. Transfer dip to a bowl, garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh parsley leaves, if desired.
  12. Serve dip with toasted pita triangles chips and assorted crudité.

Notes

The eggplants could also be charred on the grill or under the broiler.

Be sure to taste the eggplant, skin, seeds and all before transferring it to the food processor. The skins and seeds of some eggplant varieties, especially the larger dark purple ones, can be bitter, so if this is the case, be sure to discard the skin and seeds and only use the flesh.

This dip also makes a great sandwich filling. Try stuffing it into a pita pocket, along with hummus, some cucumber and tomato slices and a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream.

http://joylovefood.com/roasted-eggplant-dip/

 
Roasted Eggplant Dip – a delicious dip filled with smoky eggplant flavor, perfect for your next party, game day or get together. It is also wonderful as a sandwich filling.

You may also like:

36 comments

  1. Pingback: Kale and Artichoke Greek Yogurt Dip - Joy Love Food
  2. Pingback: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus - Joy Love Food
  4. Pingback: Lentil Salad with Roasted Red Peppers, Feta and Mint - Joy Love Food
  5. Pingback: Peach and Roasted Jalapeno Gazpacho - Joy Love Food
  10. Dee says:

    This looks wonderful! I love cooking with my family too — it’s a great way to spend time together. Pinning because I love dips! 🙂

  14. Pingback: Tuesday Treasures No 18! - Surroundings by Debi
  26. Kelly says:

    This looks delicious! No one else in my family likes eggplant.I think because it soaks up oil so quickly or gets mushy (At least when I cook it). I love it! Anyway, I have some eggplant in the fridge right now and am going to make this. It seems like the perfect fit for my finicky eaters! 🙂 Thanks so much.
    Kelly recently posted…Homestead Blog Hop 48My Profile

Comments are closed.