Stuffed baked eggplant with lentils and vegan cheese! This is a simple vegetarian weeknight dinner, side dish or entrée which contains wholesome ingredients. The recipe is meat-free, plant-based, healthy, low-carb, and easy to make! You can use your favorite veggies and sub lentils for chickpeas.
Lentil Stuffed Epplant
How awesome are eggplants/aubergines? I love them most when they are baked or grilled and topped with lots of vegan cheese. These eggplants are stuffed with flavorful lentils which add healthy plant-based protein.
I love this recipe because it is:
- The perfect vegan side dish, weeknight dinner or entrée
- Hearty, cheesy, flavorful, spicy
- Easy to make with simple ingredients
How To Make The Best Vegan Stuffed Eggplant?
Check the following step-by-step instruction photos below:
- Cut the eggplants in half (lengthwise), scoop out some of the flesh, leaving a border around the skin.
- Process the scooped out flesh in a food processor and set aside.
- Place the eggplant “boats” on a baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling in a skillet and stuff each eggplant half with the filling.
- Add vegan cheese sauce and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy!
Health Benefits Of Eggplants
Did you know that eggplants have many health benefits? They contain lots of fiber, vitamins, minerals and are rich in antioxidants. I found a great article with awesome facts about eggplants! I am going to share some facts with you:
Heart health
The fiber, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and phytonutrient content in eggplants all support heart health…Cancer
Polyphenols in eggplant have been shown to have anti-cancer effects…Liver health
Research has suggested that the antioxidants in eggplant may help protect the liver from certain toxins…Eggplants also contain flavonoids, such as anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are water-soluble pigments that have many health benefits. They also help give the eggplant its well-known, dark purple color.
The skin of the eggplant is rich in antioxidants, fiber, potassium, and magnesium.
The phenolic content of eggplant makes it such a potent free radical scavenger that this vegetable is ranked among the top 10 vegetables in terms of oxygen radical absorbance capacity.
Check out this link to find out more incredible facts about eggplants.
Preparation Of Eggplants
I sometimes get asked what’s the best way to prepare eggplant. Eggplants might taste bitter (due to the glycoalkaloids) but the ones I ate actually never tasted bitter. I assume it’s different from region to region and it also depends on the variety.
If you are afraid of a bitter taste or can’t buy a low-bitter variety, you might want to try the following trick:
- “Sweat” the eggplant by cutting it in half and then sprinkling each half with a little salt.
- Set aside for 30 minutes.
- You will see that moisture will be drawn out which you can rinse off with water (or pat dry with tissues).
Vegan Stuffed Eggplant Ingredients
As mentioned before, these eggplant boats are stuffed with a hearty lentil mixture and vegan cheese. However, I also used the eggplant flesh because if you prepare it with various seasonings it actually turns out to be tasty and flavorful!
I hate food wasting and therefore I would never throw away the scooped out eggplant flesh!
If you don’t like lentils, you can, of course, use beans (kidney beans, white beans, pinto beans, black beans…), refried beans, or chickpeas instead. I cooked the lentils (from dry brown lentils), however, you can also use canned lentils.
This Vegan Stuffed Eggplant Recipe is:
- Meat-free, egg-free, dairy-free
- Relatively low-carb
- Hearty
- Satisfying
- Flavorful
- Comforting
- Easy to make with simple ingredients
Should you recreate these vegan stuffed eggplant, please leave a comment below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your remakes! If you like eggplant, definitely also check out the following recipes:
Vegan Stuffed Eggplant
Video
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants
- 1 onion diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves minced
- ½ tbsp oil (or water, if oil-free)
- ¼ cup vegetable broth
- 2 plum tomatoes chopped
- 1 ½ cups of (300 g) cooked lentils e.g. canned
- 1 batch (200 g) vegan cheese sauce or 7 oz of store-bought vegan cheese
- ½ to ¾ tsp sea salt or to taste
- ⅓ tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¾ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp soy sauce gluten-free if needed
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- Fresh herbs to garnish
- Red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees Fahrenheit (210 degrees Celsius) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the eggplants in half (lengthwise) and scoop out about 2/3 of the flesh leaving a 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick border around the skin.
- Process the scooped out eggplant flesh in a food processor and set aside. Check the step-by-step photos above in the blog post.
- Place the eggplant "boats" on a baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for about 4-5 minutes.
- Add garlic, eggplant flesh, all spices, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, maple syrup, and vegetable broth. Put a lid on the skillet and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add tomatoes and cooked lentils and cook for a few more minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add more salt/pepper/spices to taste.
- Prepare the vegan cheese sauce or use store-bought vegan cheese.
- Once the eggplants have been in the oven for 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius) and stuff each half with the lentil eggplant mixture.
- Add vegan cheese and bake for another 10 minutes. Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy!
Notes
- Please check the step-by-step process shots and video above in the blog post.
- If the eggplants in your region have a slightly bitter taste (which also depends on the variety), check out the preparation trick above in the blog post.
- Recipe serves 4. Nutrition facts are for one serving made with my vegan cheese sauce.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Made it, but the eggplant boat was not fully done in the time allotted in the recipe. Thus, the boat part was tough, and the skin hard to pull apart. Next, time I think I’ll leave the boat part in longer than 20 minutes B4 stuffing it. Overall it tasted okay. I ate all the portions (37 weeks) myself, 😆, but not sure I’ll do this exact recipe again.
Hi! You are the best! I love all your recipes!
I have a question, can this eggplant meal be put in the freezer? all together or just the eggplant?
Thank you very much
Hi Flor, thanks for your sweet comment! And I think this should be fine. 🙂
i made this with the home made cheese sauce. LOVED IT! it was a bit of work, but wel worth it. I will make it again
Awesome! I am so glad you liked it. 🙂
Can these becesten cold or reheated in a microwave?
Hi Tracy, I think it’s fine to reheat them in a microwave. 🙂
Hi Ela, I made this recipe this evening. I really enjoyed it, I loved the flavours,, unfortunately my non-vegan husband did not enjoy it as much. He did not like the taste of the vegan cheese sauce…. I guess it really it just a matter of getting used to different flavours and textures. I will definitely make this again, but just add normal mozzarella on his portion….. one step at a time.
Thank you for your wonderful blog, Take care and kind regards.
I am so glad you liked it, Melanie! Yes, one step at a time. 🙂
Kind regards,
Ela
I swapped one of the eggplants for a zucchini since that is what I had in my fridge and it came out great!! Was really only enough for 2 servings though as it was so delicious. 😛
Great idea! I am happy it turned out yummy. 🙂
Just a quick note: the ingredients list maple syrup but it’s not part of the step by step recipe.
Could catch, Maik! You can see it in the video, but I must have forgotten it in the instruction step 6. Just updated it, thank you! 🙂