Easy Oven Roasted Eggplant Recipe - Savory Spin (2024)

FAQs

Easy Oven Roasted Eggplant Recipe - Savory Spin? ›

Spread out the eggplant chunks on the sheet pan and place in the oven. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 – 22 minutes. Turn the oven to broil on low and broil the eggplant for 2-3 minutes, until slightly crisp. Remove from oven and season with salt and pepper to taste.

One of the secrets to cooking tender-but-never-mushy eggplant is salt.

Slice your eggplant with the skin on (this will help it keep its shape). Brush it lightly with oil. Grill over a hot flame until the flesh is tender and you have beautiful char marks, about 5 minutes per side.

If you are worried that the eggplant might be bitter, slice or cube it, then salt it liberally and allow it to drain for an hour or so before cooking. Putting salt on the eggplant triggers osmosis, which draws out excess moisture and the bitterness along with it.

The salt draws out the excess moisture so the eggplant has a stronger flavor and a softer, more tender texture. Sometimes cooks salt cucumbers, zucchini, and cabbage for the same reason. Less water = more flavor. This method works for cubes, slices, and planks of 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.

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.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

You mentioned that once they turned out tough and chewy: then they were not cooked fully through. Vegetables are not like meat, which turn rubbery when overcooked. They turn soft rather. Watch out for the opposite as well: Eggplants when cooked for a long time may turn mushy.

Method 1: Sweating Eggplants

Sprinkle eggplant with salt: Generously sprinkle eggplant slices* with one to two teaspoons of salt, being sure to cover season them on both sides. All the eggplant slices sweat: Place the seasoned eggplant in a colander for 30 minutes to an hour.

How do you remove toxins from eggplant? ›

However, eggplants also contain a substance, solanine, which is used to defend themselves against fungi and insects. It is precisely on this substance that the bitter taste of the eggplants depends. To eliminate it, the most common methods are soaking in water and vinegar and the salt technique.

Heat 1/4 inch of grapeseed oil in a nonstick skillet over medium until hot enough for frying. The ideal temperature for frying eggplant is about 365-375 degrees F.

Many cooks argue that salting eggplant and letting it rest, or "sweat," for an hour or so before cooking draws out the vegetable's bitter juices.

Nearly always I microwave them first, either whole or in pieces, for up to ten minutes at about 750w. This leaves them soft and less bitter, and ready for browning in the frying pan or oven. I find for eggplant parm, slicing thin is the key. If too thick can be tough and rubbery...

Simply poke several holes all over your eggplant and then place it on a baking tray in the oven. After 45 minutes to an hour, your baked eggplant will develop a soft, buttery texture.

Why do you soak eggplant in water and vinegar? Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness. This step also helps preserve some of the skin's color so it stays a vibrant purple even after cooking.