Whole30 Baba Ganoush – Eggplant Dip!
Eggplant is super yummy. It’s a great veggie that tastes wonderful roasted or grilled with very minimal seasoning. That’s my absolute favorite way to eat them. Well, maybe it’s tied with this recipe. I really love this recipe.
I grew up eating lots of Middle Eastern food. Hummus, baba ganoush, stuffed grape leaves, kibbe, tabbouleh, pita, feta, za’atar, and the list goes on. My grandfather came to the United States from Palestine and brought with him lots of yummy recipes, which were passed down to my mom, and then to me!
I really enjoy exploring different cultures through food. Since I’m not currently able to travel all the time (I’m working on a plan to make this possible!), I can at least let my taste buds travel while I’m at home.
I make this trip to the Middle East about once every week or two when I make this Whole30 compliant Baba Ganoush. This stuff is addictive and I can’t believe I haven’t gotten sick of it yet! It’s really similar to hummus in that it’s made with tahini (sesame paste), olive oil, and lemon juice. But it’s a great deal healthier (and tastier) than its chickpea counterpart.
Instructions
Get two, large eggplants from the store. Try to get ones that don’t have any blemishes, cuts, or bruises. Eggplants are really delicate vegetables so handle them carefully.
Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
Wash your eggplant and use a fork to poke a bunch of holes in it. This is a great way to take out some of the day’s frustrations. But be careful! Eggplants are round-ish and round-ish things tend to roll! Don’t stab your hands.
Place them on a baking tray that you’ve lined with tin foil (not necessary, but super helpful for clean up!) and stick them in the oven on the middle rack. Set your timer for 50 minutes. The eggplant is ready when it smells really good and is soft. I’ve actually cooked mine up to 90 minutes (not on purpose, oops!) and they turned out really fantastic, but I usually do about 50 minutes.
When they’re ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool about 15 minutes.
When they’re cool enough to handle, slice them in half longways and scoop out all that delicious eggplant flesh into a colander in the sink. Don’t leave anything behind! Get it all.
Let the eggplant “meat” drain in the colander for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, get your food processor together and add your salt, garlic, cumin, olive oil, and lemon juice to the food processor.
After some of the excess liquid has drained from the eggplant, add it to the food processor and pulse everything 5-10 times depending on how chunky or smooth you prefer the consistency to be. I like it with a little texture so I don’t process it very much.
Serve immediately or store in the fridge up to 3 days. It’s really best served at room temperature, but I also don’t mind it cold. I love it so much though, that it rarely lasts longer than a day or two!
Serving suggestions
- Use it as a dip for veggies– my favorite ones to dip are carrots, tomatoes, and zucchini sticks.
- Eat it with meat! It’s a really good topper for lazy day seasoned ground beef.
- Put it on your chili, yum yum.
- Eat it with a spoon (one of my personal favorites)!
- Preheat your oven to 425 F and line a baking tray with tin foil.
- Wash your eggplant and pierce each one several times with a fork.
- Place them on a baking tray lined with tin foil and roast for about 45-50 minutes, until the eggplant is fragrant and soft.
- Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 15 minutes.
- Cut them in half long-ways and scoop out the flesh into a colander. Make sure you get it all! There should only be a thin piece of skin leftover. It's okay to use the seeds as well.
- Let the eggplant "meat" drain in a colander for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the tahini, olive oil, spices, and lemon juice in a food processor.
- When the eggplant has drained, add this to the food processor and pulse everything together 5-10 times. You can make it as smooth or as chunky as you like. I prefer to process it very little because I like more texture.
- Serve immediately. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of paprika, and some fresh parsley. Add some Kalamata olives too if you like them! This makes a great dip for vegetables or zucchini chips, a topping for chili, grilled chicken, or ground beef, and I've even eaten it all by itself before!
just made it in a blizzardd! So so so so good…FWW, I sort of off roaded a bit and roasted some extra garlic with the eggplants…ifyou like your baba smokey..its good.
Awesome!
Made this tonight, so so so good! Might try using smoked paprika next time
Yum! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂