I love a good Baba Ganoush as much as the next guy. But sometime I love to get creative with my eggplants. And once I visited a Greek restaurant and had the best ever eggplant dip that had flavors of tomato and garlic. I went back home and just had to recreate it. That's how my roasted eggplant dip was born... full of delicious Mediterranean flavors. Eggplant and onions marinated with a perfect mix of tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, garlic, paprika and olive oil, and then baked to perfection and cooled to make the perfect dip! It's a must try. And bonus: super easy to make. Just needs 10 minutes of hands on time.
I love the deep umami flavor of this roasted eggplant dip. Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables for just that reason. It has a meaty flavor and can easily replace meat for me in many dishes. I also add really thinly sliced onions so they can melt into the eggplant and provide a delicious sweetness. The sweetness comes out even more because I add in a bit of sugar to balance the tartness of the tomato paste and pomegranate molasses. It's seriously magical (I might get up and make it again as I'm typing about it). Finally you also get the hints of garlic, paprika and chili (and you can add more chili if you like yours hot!).
I typically serve this dip with some pita bread as a side or appetizer for any meal. It goes especially great in a BBQ! I love it served cold, but you can definitely serve it room temperature as well. Just make sure you don't skimp out on the olive oil on top when serving it, and throw on some parsley for colour and some walnuts for a crunch! Your family will love it. Be sure to let me know what you think if you try it! Love hearing back from you guys.
For more eggplant recipes, try these:
Roasted Eggplant Dip
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 onion
- 1.5 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
Instructions
- Start by washing and peeling your eggplant every other stripe (like a zebra pattern) and cut into small cubes.
- Slice your onions into thin slices.
- Mix together the paprika, chilli powder, salt, sugar, tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, and crushed garlic until well combined.
- Marinate the eggplant and onions with the mixture until well combined.
- Place in an oven dish with a lid and bake at 400F for 1 hour.
- Check to ensure eggplant is really soft (may need more time depending on oven). You should be able to mash it really easily with a fork.
- Mash the dip with a fork to create a chunky consistency (or continue mashing for a more smooth paste - per preference).
- Adjust salt to your liking and cool the dip in the fridge.
- Garnish with more olive oil, parsley, walnuts and serve with pita bread. Enjoy!
Comments
I loved this! I may add a bit more garlic.
Thank You
Thanks Bidalia! I never oppose more garlic 😉
Oh my goodness... this is incredible!! I had recently gone out to an Italian restaurant and had some type of eggplant yumminess served alongside our bruschetta appetizer. I searched online and found your Roasted Eggplant Dip recipe. How glad I did! Simply mouthwatering! I substituted tomato sauce for the tomato paste, and had to use brown sugar for the molasses, so I added lemon as you suggested. It turned out fabulous! I had picked up a fresh loaf of bread and had already made homemade hummus. Garnished the plate with some greek olives, this will become a regular rotation in our house! Thank you 🙂
Hi Heather! Wow, that sounds amazing! And funny you should mention your restaurant experience, I actually developed this recipe after I had tried something very similar at a Lebanese restaurant and wanted to replicate the flavours. So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, I don't have pomegranate molasses, can I use regular molasses?
Thanks.
You can! But it will change the flavour profile. Regular molasses has a sweet flavour, whereas pomegranate molasses introduces tartness as well. I would balance with some lemon juice and taste and adjust!
I have made this so many times. We always eat it as a side dish. It’s so good and easy!
So glad you enjoy it Sumaiyya!
I love it, thank you so much I will make it again
Such an amazing recipe!! I’m absolutely in love with all your recipes that I have tried so far!! Any chance you’ll be posting more dip recipes soon?? I can’t get enough of a good dip.
Will sure to post more, especially for BBQ season! 🙂 Thanks Sondas!
My family loved this appetizer sooo much! It has just the right flavours! Definitely making this again soon!
Thanks so much for the great feedback Huda 🙂
We LOVED it! It was delicious hot served over couscous, with the tabouli salad from hungrypaprikas.com . I will definitely be making this again!
What what a creative way of eating it - I'm going to try that next time! So glad you enjoyed it.
Just made this recipe tonight and it was absolutely divine! So simple to pull together but the flavors made it seem like I had worked on it for a long time. It smelled so good we couldn’t even wait for it to cool all the way and even ate some warm on top of cous cous! Can’t wait to try the rest of the recipes!
So delicious, I have made this several times!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it Anisa! Thanks for the feedback!
Any eggplant dish will always be a winner for me. I absolutely LOVE this dish and have received compliments on how delicious it is. Of course, I give all the credit to Amina! If someone likes eggplant, this is a MUST to make.
Thanks so much for the lovely review!
Amazing and such a flavorful recipe!
I make it every week and everyone in my house loves it
The spices are just perfect with the eggplant
Love it!!!
I'm so glad to hear you and the family enjoyed it Asra! Thanks for your review!
Tried this and my mother in law asked me for the recipe! That is definitely a win! Loll was really good and super simple to make ????????
Ruquaiya - that is a HUGE win! So happy it is mother in law approved 😀