This one-pot eggplant stew braises eggplant with chickpeas, tomatoes, and warm spices for a comforting Greek-style vegan dinner.
A One-Pot Vegan Dinner with Bold Greek-Style Flavor
Eggplant can do so much—roast it, grill it, stuff it, even turn it into fries. In this simple stew, it braises until velvety and nearly melts into a warmly spiced tomato base, all in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
This is the kind of vegan dinner I love: plenty of fresh vegetables, a few pantry staples, and one pot. Chickpeas give it enough heft for dinner, while extra virgin olive oil and warm spices bring bold, Greek-style flavor to every spoonful.
How to Choose and Prepare Eggplant for Stew
Eggplant sometimes gets a bad reputation for being spongy or bitter. A few simple cues will help you choose a fresh one and prepare it for braising:
- Look for smooth, glossy skin. Choose an eggplant that is firm and evenly colored, without wrinkles, bruises, or soft brown spots. The stem should also look fresh rather than dry or damaged.
- Check its weight and firmness. A good eggplant should feel heavy for its size. When you press the skin lightly, it should spring back rather than stay deeply indented.
- Consider smaller eggplants. You’ll need about 1½ pounds for this recipe, either one large globe eggplant or two smaller ones. Smaller eggplants tend to have thinner skin, fewer seeds, and less bitterness.
- Leave the skin on. There is no need to peel the eggplant for this stew. Simply trim the stem and cut it into cubes or large bite-sized pieces.
- Salt it before cooking. Place the eggplant in a colander, sprinkle it with kosher salt, and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Salting draws out some of its moisture and can temper bitterness. Rinse the cubes and pat them thoroughly dry before you begin cooking.
What You’ll Need to Make Eggplant Stew
This recipe starts with three humble ingredients (eggplant, chickpeas, and canned tomatoes) and then layers in vegetables and warm spices. Here’s what each one brings to the pot:
- Eggplant: You’ll need about 1½ pounds of globe eggplant, or one large eggplant or two smaller ones. Salt and prepare it as described above.
- Onion, green bell pepper, carrot, and garlic: Sautéing these vegetables creates the stew’s savory base. The carrot and pepper bring a little sweetness, while six garlic cloves add plenty of bold flavor.
- Spices: Bay leaves, Greek oregano, sweet paprika, ground coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, and black pepper give this stew its earthy warmth. You can use smoked paprika in place of sweet paprika if you prefer a smokier flavor. If you don’t have every spice, don’t let that stop you. Use a little more of the spices you do have.
- Extra virgin olive oil: I use Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil to sauté the vegetables and finish the stew. That final drizzle adds richness and a fresh, peppery note.
- Canned tomatoes: One 28-ounce can of chopped or diced tomatoes, along with its juices, forms the stew’s rich tomato base.
- Chickpeas: Two 15-ounce cans make this vegan stew hearty and satisfying. Keep the canning liquid. You’ll add it to the pot along with the chickpeas.
- Fresh herbs: Parsley or mint adds a fresh finish and a pop of color, but the garnish is optional.
How to Make Eggplant Stew
- Heat the oven and salt the eggplant. Heat your oven to 400°F. Place the eggplant cubes in a colander set over a large bowl or in your sink. Sprinkle with kosher salt and set aside for about 20 minutes. Rinse the eggplant and pat it thoroughly dry.
- Build the flavor base. In a large oven-safe braiser or Dutch oven, heat ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onion, green pepper, and carrot. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves, paprika, coriander, oregano, cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, and a dash of salt. Cook for 1 minute, stirring, until fragrant.
- Add the eggplant, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Add the prepared eggplant, canned tomatoes with their juices, chickpeas, and reserved chickpea liquid. Stir everything together.
- Start the braise on the stovetop. Bring the stew to a rolling boil and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Finish braising in the oven. Cover the pot and carefully transfer it to the oven. Cook for about 45 minutes, until the eggplant is fully cooked and very tender. Check the stew once or twice as it cooks. If it looks dry, stir in about ½ cup of water at a time.
- Finish the stew. Remove the pot from the oven and drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. Garnish with fresh parsley or mint, if you like. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Four Tips for Tender, Flavorful Eggplant Stew
- Dry the eggplant thoroughly. After rinsing away the salt, pat the cubes dry before adding them to the pot. Drying the eggplant well keeps excess water from diluting the flavorful base.
- Cook the spices only until fragrant. Stir the garlic and spices into the sautéed vegetables for about 1 minute. This brief step builds flavor without letting the garlic or spices scorch.
- Keep an eye on the liquid. Check the stew once or twice while it braises. If it begins to look dry, stir in water ½ cup at a time rather than adding too much at once.
- Let the eggplant become very tender. Don’t rush the 45-minute oven braise. The eggplant is ready when it has lost its spongy texture and is velvety and practically melt-in-your-mouth tender.
What to Serve with Eggplant Stew
This eggplant stew is satisfying enough to stand on its own, but I like to serve it over 15-minute couscous or with warm homemade pita bread for catching every bit of the tomato-rich sauce.
For a cool, creamy contrast, add a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or tzatziki sauce and a few olives. If you’re serving a larger Greek-style meal, start with a traditional Greek salad. The stew can be served hot or at room temperature.
How to Store and Reheat Eggplant Stew
- Refrigerate: Transfer leftovers to a shallow, airtight container and refrigerate within 2 hours. The stew will keep for 3 to 4 days.
- Freeze: Once cooled, transfer the stew to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months for the best quality.
- Thaw and reheat: Thaw frozen eggplant stew in the refrigerator overnight. Reheat gently on the stovetop, adding a little water if it needs more liquid. Heat leftovers to 165°F before serving.
Four More Delicious Ways to Cook Eggplant
Easy Greek-Style Eggplant Stew
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This easy Greek-style eggplant stew braises eggplant with chickpeas, tomatoes, and warm spices until velvety and tender. Serve it hot or at room temperature as a satisfying vegan main or side.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut into cubes
- Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, stem and innards removed, diced
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 dry bay leaves
- 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika or smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
- 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, reserve the canning liquid
- Fresh parsley or mint, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oven and salt the eggplant. Heat the oven to 400°F. Place the eggplant cubes in a colander set over a large bowl or in your sink. Sprinkle with kosher salt and set aside for about 20 minutes. Rinse the eggplant and pat it thoroughly dry.
- Sauté the vegetables. In a large oven-safe braiser or Dutch oven, heat 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onion, green pepper, and carrot. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the garlic and spices. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves, paprika, coriander, oregano, cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, and a dash of salt. Cook for 1 minute, stirring, until fragrant.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Add the eggplant, chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, and reserved chickpea liquid. Stir to combine.
- Start the braise. Bring the stew to a rolling boil and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Finish in the oven. Cover the pot and carefully transfer it to the oven. Cook for about 45 minutes, until the eggplant is fully cooked and very tender. Check once or twice as it cooks. If the stew looks dry, stir in about 1/2 cup of water at a time.
- Finish and serve. Remove the stew from the oven and drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. Garnish with parsley or mint, if using. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Video
Notes
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- Storage: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently, adding a little water if needed.
- Slow-cooker instructions: Prepare the recipe through the garlic and spices step, then transfer everything to your slow cooker. Add 1 cup water, the eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas, and reserved chickpea liquid. Cook on low for 4 hours, or until the eggplant is very tender.
- Shop This Recipe: Private Reserve Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Greek Oregano, Sweet Spanish Paprika, and Organic Ground Coriander.
Nutrition
Calories: 280.1kcalCarbohydrates: 36.8gProtein: 10gFat: 12.4gSaturated Fat: 1.6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 7.3gSodium: 595.2mgPotassium: 846.1mgFiber: 12.6gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 2230.2IUVitamin C: 33.9mgCalcium: 128.6mgIron: 3.9mg
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*This post first appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2018 and has recently been updated with new information and media for readers’ benefit. Enjoy!
This recipe was my gateway drug into your collection of dishes. SO tasty
Thanks, Megan! This is always a great one to start with :).
Delicious! Velvety smooth and great with basmati rice. Will definitely make again.
Thanks!
This is a delicious recipe but for calorie-counters, the nutrition information is misleading as it doesn’t seem to include any of the oil used in cooking or as drizzle. (The recipe says to cook with 1/4 cup of oil – that alone would add 80 calories to each serving, without the drizzle!)
The good news is that when we made it, we found 1/8 cup of oil was more than enough to cook the vegetables – less may even be possible – and the dish was so tasty as it was that we were not tempted to add an oil drizzle. This helped us keep the calorie count much closer to the nutrition as published.
Definitely a recipe worth repeating and a great way to eat more vegetables, whether as a main or a side!
Sam, I cooked mine in the crockpot and only used a tablespoon of olive oil.
It turned out great but I felt it needed some more spice than what was listed, it tasted a little bland. So I increased by 30% the coriander, paprika, salt and pepper and this helped a lot. I also added more garlic, 10 cloves or one full bulb. Not sure if my adding mushrooms was why more spices were needed but I added about 16 oz of fine chopped mushrooms (shiitake, lion’s mane, oyster, and maitake) to the dish in said crockpot. Since I was using uncooked beans I soaked them overnight first and cooked everything together for about 15 or 20 hrs. I had to add the tomato’s at the end since there was too much liquid and much needed to be boiled off first. Oh and the egg plant dissipated even though they were added after 12 hrs of cooking. Next time I’ll probably only add eggplant in the last 30 min before I eat it.
This is honestly one of my favorite dishes ever! It’s delicious and satisfying. The recipe makes a lot but my family tends to go through it pretty quickly because it’s just so good. Can’t recommend enough
Yay! I love hearing that! Thanks, Michele!
I made this dish last night. I have to say this recipe sounded great and tasted even better. The combination of spices was extremely flavorful. My wife, daughter, and I all loved it. We are very eager to try your other recipes!
Awesome! Thanks, Tom!
Hi, if I don’t want to use the oven, can I just continue to cook it on stove with a low heat for 45 minutes instead? Thank you
Hello! Sure! You can cook it on the stove the entire time. Just watch the liquid amount, adding more if needed until the eggplant is fully cooked to tender.
Hello. Instead of the Chopped Canned Tomatoes, if I I use chopped fresh tomatoes, do I need to add any other spices to make it better? Thank you.
Hi, Nancy! I don’t think so, but you can always taste test part of the way through and add more of the spices if necessary.
I made this for my husband and I yesterday. He took one bite and said, “this recipe is a keeper!”. I followed the spices exactly as the recipe calls for and luckily i had smoked paprika in my cupboard. I can’t wait to make this for my vegan, college-aged daughter. It is a wonderful recipe, thank you!!!
Yay!!! Thank you, Joann!
I am making this tonight I only have Jasmin rice how would you think that would taste? I am lucky as I had everything in my cupboard. The only change was I only had crushed tomatoes it was a 28 oz can do I just used that (fingers crossed) Smells good, as I have it cooking in my crockpot.
Hi, Darlene! I’m so sorry I’m just seeing these questions. I’m not always able to get here everyday to answer. I think jasmine rice would be great with this recipe. Also, the crushed tomatoes should work fine in a pinch.
Really good!!! Would highly recommend it. Wish I added a little curry powder
Just tried this recipe last night. It was excellent!! Followed the recipe exactly except used 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes instead of chopped. I also only had to bake 25 minutes instead of 45 in the oven. The flavor was so good and the consistency was perfect. It was very thick due to using the crushed tomatoes which I really liked. I also only had to use liquid from one can of chick peas instead of both cans. I am so excited to make this again. Didn’t serve with anything it was perfect on its own!!
Thanks for sharing, Kathleen!
Delicious. I topped it with a little tahini. Also, after tasting it, I thought that it could use a little sweetener so I added a drop of honey. That brought out more of the flavors.
Thanks, Ted!
I tried this recipe this morning. Turned out to be amazing. It even gets better as it sits. Thank you so much for sharing ❤.
My pleasure, Marianne! So glad you enjoyed it!
Has anyone tried to make this only on the stove top (as in without putting it in the oven)? I don’t have a large enough oven proof dish at the moment and I was hoping to make it work without?
Hi, Annita! If you prefer to cook the stew on the stovetop the entire time, that will be fine. Still watch the liquid amount adding more if needed until the eggplant is fully cooked to tender.
What about using fresh basil leaves in it/on it?
I’ve never added basil to this one, so it’s hard for me to say. If you do, please stop by and let us know what you think!!
Hey delicious recipe. How much evoo to add while cooking and later for drizzling please? How much evoo does the nutrition panel consider?
Hello! The recipe calls for 1/4 cup olive oil in step 3. This is the amount included in the nutrition panel. The drizzle is optional and to taste. Hope you enjoyed it!
Mine turned out flavorless and mushy! 🙁
I followed all the directions.
It seemed almost over cooked after the 10 minutes of boiling. Maybe the extra 45 minutes wasn’t necessary? Could it have destroyed the flavor of the spices?
I ended up adding 1 total cup of water. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that!
Same here re flavour but I think it is just a preference. The amount of spices compared to the amount of vegetables called for is very very small. The basic combination here is good, but if you enjoy stronger flavours this one is not for you. I ended up tripling the spices and adding a considerable amount of other things after the initial tasting and cooking because I simply found the flavours too mild for my preference.
Can we use fresh tomatoes instead of canned? And home cooked chickpeas instead of canned?
Sure! Both would work here!
I did both! I made it with two containers of organic grape tomatoes which I roasted first. I’ve done that as a substitute for canned tomatoes before and it works out great! It’s not quite as liquid but I deglaze the roasting pan with a little bit of water or wine or beer or whatever I have on hand. Not too much, just think about how much liquid there would be in a can of tomatoes and make it about equivalent. Worked out great!
I also used chickpeas I cooked from dried because I think the canned ones are icky
and the dried ones have a lot more flavor. It doesn’t take that long if you don’t like them mushy and you don’t need to soak them overnight. If you insist on doing something like that, you can put them in a pan of water, bring them to a boil, and let them boil for 2 minutes, then take them off the heat and let them stand covered for an hour before cooking them. That shortens the cooking time as much as cooking soaking them overnight does, if not more. But it really only takes a little longer to cook them straight from the bag, especially given the extra 45 minutes they have in the oven with this recipe. I don’t like beans mushy, I prefer them kind of al dente if you will, so you may need to cook them longer. I I roasted the grape tomatoes and cooked the chickpeas while I was prepping the other ingredients and starting to cook them.
I missed the step about boiling it for 10 minutes until I already had it in the oven, and it worked out fine. I don’t think I’d want to cook it that much longer.
Toward the end of cooking, I added about a teaspoon of dried cilantro and about half the contents of a packet of peppermint tea (probably also about a teaspoon) because I didn’t have any fresh mint or cilantro. I also substituted whole coriander for ground because I didn’t have any ground and I didn’t feel like taking the time to grind it. I put that in the pan first, even before the olive oil, as is often done in Indian cooking, and cooked it until I started to smell the spice.
I garnished it with some celery leaves that I tore up and some crumbled Mexican cotija cheese which is not that far from feta. It’s delicious! I might bump up the spices a little next time, but otherwise it was great.
Thanks for sharing, Beth!!