Likely due to my middle eastern background, eggplant is one of my favorite foods. I’ve been seeing different methods of roasting eggplant without oil, and decided to do an experiment using two similarly sized eggplants from the same store to figure out which method I liked best. I tried two methods: one using the stove top, and the other broiling in the oven.

Oil Free Roasted Eggplant

Method 1: Broiling in the oven (The Winner!)

I did this on a high broil and it took 20 min to fully cook. The eggplant ended up exploding in the oven, and cooked evenly and crisp on the outside, just the way I like it!

Method 2: Stovetop

Before putting the eggplant on the stovetop I made sure it was clean, and then directly placed the eggplant on the fire on the stove top. It cooked 5 minutes total, and I had to rotate it pretty frequently. 1 minute in sparks were flying off of it and a burning smell was coming from the kitchen, which freaked me out. By the time the inside was fully roasted, the skin tasted like ash.

I’ll be honest, I found this method a little dangerous, and even though it took faster than the oven broiling, the results didn’t turn out nearly as good, so I won’t be using this method again!

I served this eggplant with homemade tahini sauce using this slightly revised recipe from Food and Wine

Tahini

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup well-stirred tahini
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup cold water, or as needed
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Combine the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and cumin in a bowl. Add water as needed to create a smooth sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside and drizzle on top of eggplant!

Hope you found this article helpful! If you are looking for a method using oil check out my Healthy Oven Roasted Eggplant recipe