My Roasted Eggplant Dip is a wonderfully savory dip that features eggplant, roasted garlic, and some amazing seasonings. This dip pairs well with raw veggies, crackers, or some nice crusty bread like sourdough and it is a great way to use up your summer eggplant harvest!

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What is An Eggplant?

Eggplant grows very well in my garden here in the River Valley of Arkansas. Unlike myself, they absolutely love the dog days of summer when our temperatures hit 100 and 103 daily.

Though eggplant is typically thought of as a vegetable we grow in our summer gardens, you may be surprised to learn that is instead a fruit.

These peculiar fruits, yep eggplant are classified as a fruit based solely on how it grows. Eggplant has edible seeds and comer from the flowering part of the plant it goes on.

Technically it is considered a berry in the fruit realm, however, when it comes to cooking, eggplant ca be also considered a vegetable.

It has a nice hearty meaty flesh with a thick skin which can also be eaten. The flavor of eggplant is distinct and one that in my opinion you’ll love or hate. I love them!

The primary flavors are savory and earthy, and some might say they have a slightly bitter undertone but I don’t notice it as much where others in my family, namely my fifteen-year-old do.

There are many varieties of eggplant that come from different regions of the world. A couple of my favorite varieties are the Black Beauties which are hefty, meaty, and also purple in color.

These globe-shaped eggplants are the most common variety that is found in most grocery stores here in the USA so odds are you’ve seen them in your local produce department.

I grow Black Beauty every year but this year I decided to branch out and grow a variety known as the Rosa Bianco.

This beautifully colored eggplant has quickly become my favorite variety. These eggplants are more of a squatty round globe shape and they are colored up with a gorgeous white and purple striped pattern.

Eggplants can be grilled, baked, roasted, boiled, fried, and even mashed like most other vegetables and these two varieties I mentioned are delicious any way you choose to cook them but today I’m going to show you have to turn one into this delicious Roasted Eggplant Dip!

How Do You Make Roasted Eggplant Dip?

This dip is the perfect appetizer that will wow your guests and be one of the highlights on any charcuterie tray.

Even though this dip has some complex flavors and sounds fancy it really could not be more easy to make. You can have this whipped up and ready to chill for your party in about an hour.

The dip has simple and easy-to-find ingredients which is always a plus when you’re trying out new recipes, right? Right!

Here’s what’s needed for this eggplant dip:

• Eggplant
• Tahini
• A lot of yummy garlic
• Lemon or lime juice
• Salt
• Parsley
• Smoked paprika and ground cumin

With these ingredients, you can use your oven and a simple food processor or blend to whip up the ultimate savory dip.

The flavors in the dip are elevated by roasting the eggplant before blending the soft flesh with all the other ingredients.

There is just something about the high-heat cooking method that brings out the nuttiness of this eggplant.

Once you’ve roasted the eggplant the rest of the process is going to be a breeze because all you do is add the eggplant and the rest of the ingredients into your food processor and blend until nice and smooth.

At this point, top the roasted eggplant dip with an additional drizzle of oil, and a sprinkle of spices, and chill until you are all ready to serve.

Just like many dishes the longer the dip chill the better the flavor becomes. Check out the next section of this blog post for some tips on how to add even more flavor to your eggplant dip!

How to Roast Garlic For This Eggplant Dip

If you really want to punch up the flavor in your eggplant dip then you need to use roasted garlic. Not only roasted but roast it in oil!

Once you know how to roast garlic in olive or avocado oil, you “ll never going to want to roast it any other way, trust me.

This little extra step of oil roasting the garlic will not only enhance the flavor of the garlic but you’ll have the tastiest garlic you can also use that garlicky oil in dishes like this dip!

It is so delicious and a game-changer in recipes! Try it and tell me I’m wrong, I dare you!

Roasting the garlic in oil, like in the oven, totally mellows out the sharp bite of the garlic and brings out the savory but natural sweetness of each clove. I could eat roasted garlic by the spoonfuls if I let myself.

Here’s how you roast it up:

Grab a nice big bulb of garlic, and once you have peeled garlic, you just need to add the individual cloves into a shallow, oven-safe baking dish and cover them in good-quality oil.

Most commonly people use olive oil for this but I also use avocado oil in this process and it is also a delicious product once complete.

After you cover the garlic in oil, pop it into the oven and let it slow roast at 400 degrees until the garlic is nicely golden brown and soft, and easily mashed.

Let the oil and garlic cool completely then add the garlic and some of the oil to the food processor with your eggplant and let the magic happen!

Be sure to store any leftover garlic in your oil in a container in your fridge to keep it for later dishes.

Recipe Tips and Variations

• When choosing the eggplant for this recipe make sure it is at its freshness peak. The eggplant should have a blemish-free skin and be firm to the touch. The fresher the eggplant the less chance there is of it having a stronger bitter flavor.
• If you are one of the people that can detect the bitter undertones of the eggplant you can cut the eggplant into cubs and then salt them. Let them set for 30 minutes so that the salt pulls some of the moisture out of the eggplant and with the water it will also take away some of that bitterness making it more mild.
• Use fresh ground tahini paste if you can to get the best and freshest taste in this recipe. Storebought is fine if you don’t have access to make your own. Just make sure you stir the tahini well before adding it to the eggplant dip.
• Roast your garlic before you add it to the dip. Trust me you will not want to skip this step and if you love garlic keep in mind that more is always better. The roasting flavor makes the garlic so mild and sweet that it is truly magical when added to any recipe. See my blog post above on my favorite way to roast my garlic.
• Make this dip ahead of time and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This is one recipe that will benefit from being made ahead of time. The more it chills the better the flavor gets. Just mix up the dip, store it in the fridge and when you are ready to serve it pull it out and top it with a drizzle of oil and some spice before diving in!
• You can serve this Roasted Eggplant Dip with all types of things such as crackers, crusty sourdough bread, raw veggies, low-carb or keto approves breads, olives, and much more.

Yield: 2 cups

Roasted Eggplant Dip

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

A creamy and rich roasted eggplant dip that would be the highlight of any party try. It is dairy and gluten-free and is a great way to use up your garden eggplant.

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Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant, cut into halves lengthwise
• 1/4 cup of roasted garlic cloves*
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of good quality avocado or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Optional Toppings

• Drizzle of oil avocado or olive oil
• Sprinkle of parsley and paprika

Instructions

1. Wash the eggplant and pat them dry. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and place them skin side up onto a baking tray. Next, drizzle with a little oil and roast in a 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for 40-45 minutes. The eggplant should be extremely soft and supple when roasted.
2. Remove from the oven and let it cool until you can easily handle it to scrap the meaty flesh away from the skins of the eggplant.
3. Add the roasted eggplant, which should be about 2 cups, into a food processor and add in the remaining ingredients.
4. Turn the food processor on and blend until it is smooth and creamy. If you prefer to have a more chunky dip you can leave some of the pieces of eggplant larger and blend it less.
5. Once blended place it into a bowl and top with the addition toppings if desired.
6. Chill until ready to serve. I live to chill my dip for at least an hour to allow the flavors to marry and complete each other.

Notes

This dip is delicious but for an over-the-top flavor use roasted or oil-poached garlic cloves. To read more on how I prepare my garlic for this recipe see the blog post above the recipe post.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

2 tablespoons
Amount Per ServingCalories 128Total Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 71mgCarbohydrates 3.7gNet Carbohydrates 2.3gFiber 1.4gSugar 1.2gProtein 1.2g

I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using your exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.

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Keri Bucci

I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!