Mediterranean Eggplant Dip (With Tomato & Onion)
Try this viral eggplant dip if you want a change from the regular baba ghanoush. This dip is sweet, tangy, and slightly spicy. Eggplant and onions are slathered with a perfect mix of tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, garlic, paprika and olive oil. It’s a hands off dish that allows the ingredients to bake until soft for the perfect dip. Make this if you have 10 minutes of hands on time and need an impressive dip!

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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 in many dishes. Recipes like borani banjan and ali nazik have easily become a full meal for me.
Now this dip… it has a flavour profile that’s completely opposite your regular eggplant mutabal or baba ghanoush. It’s one of my favourite dip and sauce recipes, simply because it’s easy to throw in the oven and let the flavours magically develop in the oven. It’s less “fresh” and more savoury.
I add really thinly sliced onions so they can melt into the eggplant and provide a delicious sweetness. The sweetness comes out even more with a bit of sugar to balance the tartness of the tomato paste and pomegranate molasses. It’s seriously magical.
Notes on the Method / Prep
There’s really no messing up this recipe. Simply dice the eggplant, slice the onions and mix the olive oil with the spices, tomato paste and pomegranate molasses. Everything bakes, covered in a dutch oven, until soft and mashable. I cool it in the fridge before serving.



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. Here’s a video of me making it if you like a visual guide.
For more eggplant recipes, try these:
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Mediterranean Eggplant Dip (With Tomato & Onion)
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 onion
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 1/2 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.
- Mix 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. You should be able to mash it really easily with a fork.
- Mash the dip with a fork to create a chunky consistency. Taste and 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!
My Cookbook: Souk to Table
I’ve made this 3 times in the past few weeks because my family loved it so much (especially my husband, and even my anti-eggplant kids). IT’S SO GOOD !!! My husband keeps asking me what this dish is called and where it’s from (like what country) and I keep telling him, “It doesn’t matter!” If you know its origin or actual name please let me know so I can tell him 😆
Hi Mona! I am so glad you are loving it, it’s one of my favourites! You know what – I had a similar dip at a middle eastern restaurant in London, and I came home and tried to recreate it. As far as I know, I don’t have a specific dish I can link it back to. Very middle eastern flavours with the pomegranate molasses, but sort of a dip I threw together. Thanks for the review!! 🙂
Delious and healthy! Everyone loved it , thank you
This looks perfect for our Rosh Hashanah table! (we eat foods the first night with special symoblism…I was looking for a way to incorporate pomegranate – this sounds delicious!) I think I’ll sprinkle some pomegranate arils on top for added flavor and beauty. 🙂
That sounds lovely! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
AMAZING addition to falafel dinner
Ah yes a perfect pairing with falafel! So glad you enjoyed it
I made this last week and my family and I absolutely loved it! It was so delicious! Anything with eggplant is great and I will be making it again! 🙂
Thank you so much for this stunning recipe . I made it with plum sauce and it came out fabulous . Will be making this often as a side dish , we all loved it. I wish we had an option to post pics of our feedback here , visually too it’s a stunner .
Mashallah this was definitely a kick in the mouth . So juicy tangy and sweet! Perfect taste . I doubled the recipe and it was a real hit !!! Thank you
That’s wonderful to hear! so glad you enjoyed it!
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!
When you say chili powder do you mean the spice mix or a chili cayenne pepper?
The spice mix! Though cayenne wouldn’t be a bad addition if you like spice. Enjoy! 🙂
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 😀