Garlic & Herb Grilled Eggplant
These Garlic & Herb Grilled Eggplant are my favourite vegetable to barbecue. They are tender in the middle with slightly charred edges and are coated in a delicious garlic and herb oil which gives them so much flavour. They are Vegan, Whole30, Keto and Paleo and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.
Grilled vegetables are my go to side dish for any summer barbecue. They are incredibly easy to prepare, go with just about anything, and can be made in advance. While most people grill zucchini, peppers and onions, my absolute favourite vegetable to grill is eggplant.
Unfortunately grilled eggplant (or melanzane, aubergine or brinjals depending on where in the world you are from) can be a tricky vegetable to cook. Too much oil and they become slimy, cut too thick and they have an unpleasant chunky texture.
It took me a trip to Italy where I spent time watching the way the locals prepared it before I finally learned how to grill eggplant.
How to make this grilled eggplant:
- It all starts with salting which is meant to draw bitterness out of the slices. I find that salting is required for larger “meaty” eggplant, and is a step that can easily be skipped for the smaller sized ones.
- The next step is to quickly dip them in a mixture of olive oil, herbs and garlic which helps stop them from drying out when grilled.
- After grilling, toss them back into the oil and herb mixture again which gives them added flavour.
Why you will love these grilled eggplant:
- They are tender in the middle and develop a nice char on the edges
- By dipping the eggplant slices into the garlic and herb oil before grilling, they absorb a lot of the oil which gives the eggplant so much flavour
- Unlike other grilled vegetables such as zucchini, these grilled eggplant last a few days in the fridge without becoming mushy. The leftovers are incredibly versatile and can be enjoyed in a variety of different ways (see more below)
- They are low carb and tick the majority of healthy boxes including Keto, Whole30, Vegan, Paleo and SCD Legal
Ways to serve the grilled eggplant:
- Serve warm as a side dish
- Serve cold as part of an antipasti platter or chopped up and added into a salad
- Use as a base for bruschetta topped with pesto, prosciutto or any of your other favourite bruschetta toppings
- Use two thick slices as “buns” for burgers. They are especially delicious with Greek lamb burgers
Love grilled vegetables? Here are a few other grilled vegetable recipes you might enjoy:
- Charred Broccolini with Lemon Tahini Sauce
- Grilled Asian Asparagus & Scallions
- Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Walnut Arugula Pesto
- BBQ Cauliflower Steaks with Chimichurri
- Asian Grilled Eggplant
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Grilled Eggplant with Garlic & Herbs
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices and generously salt each slice. Let them rest for about 15 minutes so that the salt can draw out the moisture and bitterness. Wipe each of the slices with a paper towel to remove the salt and moisture.
- Preheat the barbecue to medium heat
- In a large dish combine the olive oil, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Place each of the eggplant slices in the dish, flipping them over to ensure both sides are covered in oil.
- Grill for approximately 6 minutes per side until golden in colour with grill marks. If the eggplant slices become dry and stick to the grill, brush them with more oil.
- Once the eggplant is tender and cooked. Remove from the grill and return back to oil, herb and garlic mixture in the pan. Flip once so that both sides are coated before transferring to a serving platter. Spoon any of the excess herbs & garlic overtop before serving. The eggplant can be enjoyed hot or at room temperature and will last for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
This recipe turned out great and I’m definitely making it again and again 🙂
This was delicious! Normally eggplant just gets soggy no matter what but these were excellent on the grill and the flavor was perfect!
Like most comments of being too salty: any time you soak Eggplants in salt, you should always rinse them off afterwards and squeeze out the excess water.
I believe this part should be noted, otherwise they will be way too salty! 😃
How is it possible that the sodium level is 3 times the daily recommended amount?
Like other people said, it’d be best to omit the salt in the oil mixture. It makes more sense to add salt to your liking once the eggplants are cooked.
I also personally did not dip them in the oil mixture once again after they were done cooking as it was already really oily.
Other than these 2 things, the recipe is great! I added some Parmesan on top and it was good!
This is so salty. I followed the directions but ruined my eggplants
Delicious 😋
Great flavoring but way too salty. I should have read the comments about the salt level. I would recommend only lightly salting the eggplant and not adding salt to the oil dip if you’re a low sodium person. I love the herbal flavor and will try it again w/ less salt. thanks for sharing.
Wow my family like it
Very good! A keeper!
It was delicious. I served it as a side with pasta with marinara sauce. My husband who usually likes his eggplant covered in breadcrumbs and cheese also loved it. This will be my eggplant recipe from now on. Yum!!!
OMG! We love eggplant in parmisian, in ratatouille and we’ve had it grilled before…but this was above and beyond.
I forgot to take a picture but it was beautiful before I brought it to the table…then it was gone! Served with a bunch of other grilled vegies, vegi -burgers and a tomato salad.
Grease on top of Grease. Only dip once, cook longer. I cooked at the recommended times and the inside was not cooked. Has potential to be a good recipe but cut back on the Grease and cook longer.
This tasted amazing!
I did this recipe using slender Japanese style eggplants and I took your own advice regarding salting the slices for small eggplant..;NONE. They were great. A few were a bit oily perhaps and next time I’ll probably brush the oil & herbs on the slices instead of soak them. Overall however, VERY GOOD!
I fixed this and even my vegetable hating husband liked it and said I could fix it again. After reading the other posts about the saltiness, I rinsed the slices and blotted them with paper towels before the oil dip. I also used less salt in the oil. (I don’t usually add salt to my veggies so I’m sensitive to it.) I also lightly grilled tomato slices to add to the eggplant, along with a bit of diced onion and feta cheese. Heavenly!! (Sorry I forgot to take a picture.)
This was too salty and too oily for my taste. I didn’t even add the salt to the dip mixture since the eggplant was salted to sweat the slices. I don’t think I will try this again.
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We had this for dinner and it was delicious. We will definitely have again.
With a sprinkling of parmesan, I had no leftovers. Great resipe, thanks!
So delicious came out looking like yours I did sprinkle pecorino on top
Can I make this recipe in the oven instead of on a grill?
thank you for sharing the eggplant recipe it was delicious .
Tried the grilled eggplant recipe last night, used eggplant, garlic, and fresh herbs from my garden it was easy, favorable, didn’t stick to the grill, and paired wonderfully with steak.
Easy, delicious amazing
Turned out delicious but a bit salty. Next time I make this I will omit salt from the olive oil combo.
These turned out pretty good. Super easy instructions and ingredients. We were super excited to cook our first harvest of eggplant from the garden.
So a few things on this…. We didn’t have any Propane left so we ended up baking them. I’m sure they are even better grilled though. Next time…. and I dont know if it is because we baked them that 2 things happened. 1. They ended up pretty salty. At least to my taste buds. (Maybe I need to wipe them off more? Or maybe because the oil mix was able to stay on the cookie sheet and they just “boiled” in it?) 2. They shrunk a lot. I kept them pretty close to the 1/4 inch but they ended up like a 16th….. Again not sure if it was because we had to bake them. But we like a more meaty eggplant.
Needless to say, it was easy, fast and fun to experiment and we can’t wait to try it again. Both ways but with adjustments.
These turned out SO well! Really delicious…thank you for the recipe!
Great flavor. Only dipped once and was out of this world. Perhaps next time I will brush the oil on the eggplant rather than dip so the first slices dont soak up all of oil mixture (had to add more oil towards the end of dipping process)
I just made this and noticed no one said they were too salty. How much salt do you use? They were waaaaaaay too salty.
Same!!!!! Instant hypertension. I rather the moisture remain lol. Next time I will do the recipe, but skip the salting. I wiped them down and it was still super salty. We weren’t able to eat it.
Same here…. I put that in my post…. and I didnt even use as much as it said. Not sure what happened….?
The only reason to salt the eggplant is to draw out the bitterness. My grandmother called it sweating.. not sure if this is a real term haha. However, after you salt it and let it sit, rinse them. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe. Enough salt will permeate the eggplant and you won’t need more. After grilling you can even drizzle with a little balsamic syrup.
Great recipe for summer! I added about a 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar AFTER grilling to the marinade and it is so good that way too!
It’s a delicious combination of ingredients, but each time I’ve made it there’s not enough of the oil mixture- and I used only one eggplant. I add more as I go along, but find it odd that one review said it’s too oily.
Just tried this today and it was absolutely delicious! We will be adding it to our bbq dinners from now on. Thank you!
Hi…was wondering if you have the nutritional content for this recipe? Thanks. Gail
Also found this super tasty although a little oily. I didn’t re dip either. Don’t know if this is because I used an oven grill? Would deffo do it again though!
Love this recipe.. I make it about every other week I just really love eggplant and my husband keeps asking for more.
Very good! Used too much oil, so it’s tricky, but well worth trying!
Looks yummy
Can you use indoor grill!
Yes definitely! A grill pan or sandwich press would also work well
Definitely not? Grilling eggplant indoors is a certain disaster.
Trust me. I’ve tried over and over again, and it always ends up tasting like hamster fur.
I was cooking for 30 people. I thought to try this recipe as part of the appettizers. It was such an amazing success. I used it for “montados” on a slice of baguette and tomato. Everyone kept coming for more.
What a fantastic way to serve them! Sounds delicious
Delicious, need to monitor the grill next time, can overcook easliy.
Will be making again soon, thank you
Thanks for the feedback David! Happy you enjoyed it!
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Absolutely the best grilled eggplant!
Thank you!!
Estimated calories for a serving (4 slices?)
Unfortunately I dont calculate nutrition and prefer to stick to simply using real ingredients, but if you are looking for the nutritional info I recommend trying the App RecipeIQ, its free and all you have to do is take a photo of the recipe and it calculates everything for you in seconds. Here is a link to it https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/recipeiq-recipe-calculator/id1213761554
This was delicious. Will definitely make again!
Thanks for the comment Robin!
Oh my goodness! This is delicious! My husband grows eggplant in our home garden. Until now, my favorite recipe was Maria Emmerich ‘s healthified refried “beans” (eggplant recipe sub for refried beans on Mexican food night). Thank you for this deliciousness! Have you tried freezing it?
Thanks for the comment Judy! Unfortunately I have no tried freezing these so can’t say with 100% certainty how they will turn out
This was outstanding!! It’s both flavorful and easy to make. It is now my new go-to recipe for eggplant.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Awesome! So happy to hear that!
These were amazing! I had a small eggplant and they crisped up almost like eggplant chips. Can’t wait to make them again!
Awesome! So happy to hear that they were a hit Christine!
Delicious!
So happy they you enjoyed them Diane!
I made it for the first time! Super easy and great taste!
Very tasty. I used them on grilled pizza. I wish I made more because they do shrink quite a bit. They are also attractive enough to impress guests just by sight alone.
I have such trouble grilling these, been doing it forever but yours look superior. I will definitely be trying your way. I also do this an chop it up an add to cooked pasta, ricotta, some EVOO, grated Parmesan with cheesy garlic bread
ooohh that pasta sounds incredible! Let me know if you give these a try, would love to know what you think
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Way to oily. And we did not re dip.
Came out amazing. I followed your recipe exactly. Thanks!
Yea! So glad you enjoyed it!
Is it OK if I share this recipe with an online health community? I would give you credit for the recipe.
We had this last night-made lots for the week but eveyone devoured it! delicious-will use this recipe often during grilling season. Thanks for a new way to serve eggplant.
Awesome! So happy to hear it was a hit Sally!
I really like eggplant, your recipe is great, thank you for sharing.
Thank you Marcy!
Fabulous… from not a fan of eggplant.
Followes precisely. Thought they were going to be too oily but it all cooks off for the most part.
I’ll bre adding grilled eggplant tho my grilled veggie repertoire. Thanks!
Awesome! So happy to hear that they turned out well Candace!
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Made it, loved it, plan to make it again and again!
Haha this is the kind of comment I LOVE to receive 😄
Awesome!!
This is excellent!! I did the oven version and I’m looking forward to making it on the grill too.
So happy to hear they turned out well in the oven!
I have not experimented with eggplant a lot and would love to try this ! But I don’t have a grill, do you have any recommendations for other ways to make these?
You could use a grill pan or alternatively cook them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400F (200C), flipping half way through.
Would love that recipe! Eggplant stack