This Roasted Eggplant spread has a rich, smoky flavor from perfectly roasted eggplant, bell pepper, and onion. Creamy and vibrant, it’s silky smooth against a slice of crusty bread or fresh veggies, and seems to just wake up the entire table. It can definitely star on it’s own, but it’s also versatile enough to be paired with sandwiches, pasta, or grilled meats. This one brings serious flavor!
Eggplant can be tricky to work with, but luckily I am a sucker for roasted vegetables. Also, I am a sucker for dips and spreads. Good news for me? It’s pretty much impossible to mess up roasted eggplant (especially when you purée it after you roast it).
Ingredients Needed
- eggplant
- bell peppers
- red onion
- garlic
- extra-virgin olive oil
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- tomato paste or puréed oven-roasted tomatoes
How to Make Roasted Eggplant Spread
- Roast chopped eggplant, peppers, onion, and smashed garlic with olive oil, salt, and pepper until tender and golden.
- Let cool slightly, then pulse in a blender or food processor with tomato paste or roasted tomatoes to your preferred texture.
- Serve warm as a spread for bread or on a pita, or toss with pasta for a simple vegetarian meal.
Storage & Other Tips
- Roasting: be sure to roast your vegetables in a single layer on the baking sheet for even caramelization.
- Pulsing: pulse just a few times in the blender or food processor. You want a spreadable texture with some body, not a completely smooth purée.
- Serving: Serve the dip warm with slices of baguette, sourdough bread, Rosemary Focaccia, Naan, pitas, pita chips, your finger, a spoon, whatever. This would also be an amazing, flavorful vegetarian sauce to toss hot pasta in for a light summer meal straight from your garden
- Refrigeration: Cool the spread to near room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. It keeps well for 3 – 4 days.
- Serving leftovers: Bring it back up to room temperature or warm it slightly, and give it a good stir before serving again; it will probably separate and thicken up in the fridge.
- Freezing: not sure on this one since we’ve never tried it, but in theory it should work. The texture will definitely shift a bit. If you try this, let us know how it goes! Thaw it in the fridge a day before you’d like to serve it.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is a common technique when working with fresh eggplant. However, it’s not required in this recipe. Roasting caramelizes the eggplant and removes bitterness naturally.
Yes, it actually develops more flavor after resting in the fridge for a few hours. Just warm it slightly before serving.
I tested freezing this recipe and it worked great! The texture when serving again might change a bit, so stir it well before enjoying for the second time.
Roasted Eggplant Spread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant medium
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 red onion medium
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste or puréed oven-roasted tomatoes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉ and line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.
- Chop eggplant, peppers, and onion into 1″ cubes. Smash the garlic. Toss together the vegetables and then drizzle them in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to evenly coat the vegetables and then spread them over the prepared baking sheet.
- Place the pan in the oven and roast the vegetables for 20 minutes. Flip and stir the vegetables with a spatula and then roast for another 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and browning. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
- Place the roasted vegetables along with the tomato paste or roasted tomatoes into a blender or food processor and pulse until the desired consistency is reached.
- Serve warm with slices of sourdough bread, pita chips, flatbread, or Rosemary Focaccia. You can also toss this sauce with hot pasta for a light vegetarian meal.
Questions & Reviews
I love this, but made too much! Does it freeze well?
How fun! This looks like a condiment I had in Croatia called ajvar (pronounced eye-var) made from roasted red pepper and eggplant. We ate it on bread and fried dough. It was sooooo good, and I haven’t been able to find anything like it in the States. Homemade it is! Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Made this today for Christmas entree, loved it! Thank you.
I made this for a healthy option at my book club last week and it was a big hit! I loved munching the leftovers so much that I made it again today, only I soupified it by adding 8oz tomato sauce and 2c chicken broth to the blender (YEAY, Blendtec!)–and afterward I also added two cans of drained black beans to add some protein.
OH. MY. YUM!
So, just so y’know…this recipe can totally be modified into a SUUUUUPER yummy, delicious soup!
this was good! i made it as written and threw the entire batch with about 8 oz of pasta and some steamed cauliflower with some of the pasta water and some shredded mozzerella. my 3 yr old and 20month old even ate it and they are very picky…thanks for the recipe
A favorite adaptation we use is to throw the halved eggplant on the grill until soft (10-15 min). Roast the red peppers and tomatoes (they need less time). Place both in a shopping bag to steam. Scrape eggplant, peel peppers, tomatoes and chop. Stir in chopped red onion, garlic, lemon or lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper (to taste). Serve chunky on fresh pita or french bread toast. Good with cilantro or parsley added.
We had a lot of eggplant this summer and froze the roasted eggplant mush to make this winter. The eggplant can be mixed with olive oil, tahini paste, and minced garlic or onion to make baba ganush.
I like to dip plain grilled or cooked chicken in this dip. Easy, fast and low-carb snack!
I have commented before on how awesome this is but thought I would add two new things that I like dip it with….Chicken Nuggets and Jicama sticks. Yummy. Thanks again for this awesome recipe.
Wow – this was delicious and easy, and pretty healthy, too. I went a little crazy shopping and this gave me something to do with my eggplant (besides eggplant parmigiana or veg fajitas, which are all I’ve ever done) before it went bad. Thanks! And I’m very intrigued by the idea of roasting some hot peppers with it. Wouldn’t it be a nice variation to have a little heat??
This is amazing. Seriously, I want to drink it from the blender pitcher! I made it to use as a veggie dip, but I’ve decided to use it as a pasta sauce instead. Can’t wait for dinner!! Yum!!