Spicy Grilled Eggplant with Red Pepper, Parsley, and Mint
posted by Kalyn Denny on September 4, 2016
This spicy grilled eggplant is a perfect Meatless Monday dish, and this easy grilled eggplant is also low-carb, Keto, low-glycemic, gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, Whole 30, vegan, and South Beach Diet Phase One! Use the Recipes-by-Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.
I first made this Spicy Grilled Eggplant with Red Pepper, Parsley, and Mint in 2007 when I had a garden that was overflowing with eggplant, and I made it every summer for a while when I was growing eggplant. My brother Rand must have been visiting Utah regularly in those days, because this got to be his favorite way to cook eggplant, and he also made it over and over!
Now fast forward a few years, and since then I’ve had an eggplant recipe that became one of the most popular recipes on my blog, but sadly I had to buy eggplant at the store to make this favorite eggplant recipe again so I could take new photos. Next year I really want to try growing eggplant in the garden again! I know eggplant is a tough sell for some people, but for years I’ve been saying give grilled eggplant a chance, and I promise that this spicy eggplant is really delicious.
You’ll want to adjust the amount of spicy red pepper to your personal preference, and the one teaspoon of Aleppo pepper I used in the original recipe is pretty spicy for me now. Maybe it’s because I had fresh Aleppo Pepper that I bought in Istanbul! You can also use regular red pepper flakes, or use a smaller amount of Cayenne Pepper.
Of course this spicy grilled eggplant is absolutely perfect for Meatless Monday, but this delicious way to cook eggplant is also low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, Whole 30, vegan, and South Beach Diet Phase One, so you can make it for just about anyone!
And one more piece of news. When I made the commitment to get back in the groove with Meatless Monday again, I promised I’d try to focus on low-carb meatless recipes. So I’ve started collecting my Best Low-Carb Meatless Recipes on a new Pinterest board! If you’re a Meatless Monday fan, vegetarian, or just someone looking for low-carb side dishes you might want to follow that board!
Cut the eggplant into slices about 3/4 inches thick; lay the slices out on paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and let water drain out for about 20 minutes. Then turn the eggplant over, salt the other side, let more water drain out; then press down on the eggplant pieces with paper towel to absorb the liquid. While the eggplant drains, chop the mint and parsley, and mix the spicy sauce.
Preheat the grill to medium high, and brush both sides of the eggplant slices with a little olive oil. Grill eggplant pieces about 4-5 minutes per side, rotating them after a few minutes if you want to get those criss-cross grill marks. When the eggplant is done, put in a glass baking dish and spoon a little sauce over each piece. Let the eggplant sit for 10-15 minutes to absorb the sauce.
Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small globe eggplants (or 2-3 long Asian eggplants)
1-2 tsp. salt, to remove water from eggplant (not needed for Asian eggplant)
1-2 T olive oil, to brush eggplant for grilling
2 T chopped parsley
2 T chopped mint
(You can use all mint or parsley if you don’t have both.)
Spicy Sauce Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. garlic puree (from a jar) or finely minced fresh garlic (or less if you don’t love garlic)
1 tsp. Aleppo Pepper (or less, to taste. Use whatever kind of red pepper flakes you have. I would start with a small amount and taste before you add all the red pepper.)
1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional, but highly recommended)
Instructions:
Remove stem end and wash eggplant, but do not peel. Cut eggplant into slices about 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick, being careful to make all slices the same thickness. (Cut Asian eggplant on the diagonal to get bigger slices.) Arrange eggplant in single layer on double-thick paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Let liquid ooze out for 20 minutes, then turn over and sprinkle other side with salt and let drain 20 minutes more. (If you’re using Asian eggplant, they don’t need to be salted.)
While eggplant drains, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic puree, Aleppo Pepper, and Spike. Chop mint and parsley. Preheat gas or charcoal barbecue grill to medium high. (You can only hold your hand there for 3-4 seconds at that heat.)
After the second 20 minutes has finished, cover the eggplant pieces with another layer of paper towels and press down with your hands to squeeze out water. Wipe eggplant dry. Lay them out on a baking sheet (or paper towels) and brush both sides with olive oil.
Place eggplant on grill and cook 4-5 minutes per side, rotating after a few minutes on each side if you want to get nice grill marks. Watch them carefully because they go from nicely browned to overly dark quite quickly.
When eggplant is done, remove from grill and place in a single layer in a baking dish (or use the same baking sheet you used to oil them.) Spoon some of the spicy sauce over each piece of eggplant, and let sit 10-15 minutes so eggplant can absorb sauce flavors.
To serve, assemble eggplant on serving plate and sprinkle with mint and parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Hooray for growing (and cooking!) your very own garden-fresh eggplant. I’ve got the mint and parsley in my herb garden….now I must find a friend with an eggplant! This dish looks delicious, and with feta and olives it sounds even better.
I am slowly becoming a fan of eggplant. This could push me over the edge. Looks and Sounds wonderful… And I will try the salting. Not salting could be what has my only a partial fan…. I’m just always in a hurry…
I love eggplant and it is on my list of things to try to grill. Funny thing though I find it quite difficult to get the consistency right at home. Thanks for this.
The mint I have by the ton! I won’t be able to get a home grown eggplant but it will be a good one. Short break there while I ordered the Aleppo Pepper! So then I’ll be making this! I do enjoy eggplant!
I had no idea there were so many eggplant lovers out there. I do hope I get more (right now I only see one more on the plant!) I will admit, this is the first time I’ve tried the salting step, but it worked well.
A friend of mine loves eggplant so much and I don’t understand why (because I don’t like eggplant that time) but when she made me taste the eggplant she cooked with a bit of spices added, I love it. Right now, I love eating those spicy eggplants she made. I’ll tell her about this recipe and let see if she can cook it for me. This is exciting.
If any of you out there are eggplant challenged like I am you are going to LOVE this recipe. Kalyn just warmed up the leftovers for Bradley and I and it was DIVINE. I take back all the bad things I’ve said about the eggplant I’ve cooked over the years. Thanks Kalyn. Rand (& Bradley)
What a coincidence–I’m just about to post a grilled eggplant recipe, too. It’s definitely the season for it! I’ll have to include a link to your recipe so that everyone can find all the others you’ve linked to.
Kalyn, I did try this with pimenton (smoked paprika) instead of the spicier pepper and it was terrific. A good alternative for those that don't like the spicy stuff, and even for those that do.
Since I also did some grill-roasted cauliflower at the same meal, I used the "extra" marinade and poured it over the hot cauliflower, and let it sit for a bit. Not quite as stunning as the eggplant (the cauliflower doesn't absorb as much), but still a nice flavor boost to something lots of people think of as bland.
This was my first attempt at grilling eggplant; so after searching online for ideas and how to's I settled on this recipe. The deciding factor, I am sorry to say was the pic that was included with blog – which looks delish. This was the first time anyone in my group ever grilled and ate roasted eggplants so this was a new venture. I received so many compliments on this dish, along with request for the recipe. This was a week ago, here I am grilling eggplant again, unfortunately didn't save recipe so I had to search for it again. I have never posted a feedback on a recipe I found online, but this recipe was awesome. Thanks.
Excellent! I think the aleppo pepper adds a certain something…smokiness? Yesterday I snipped mint from a friend's garden, so I used all mint…scrumptious! Will definitely make again. (My grill ran out of gas, so today's meal was stovetop grill. Can't wait to try on the gas grill)
That sounds utterly gorgeous, Kalyn! I've got four eggplants in our greenhouse, and obviously it'll be a while before I can eat any of those. Will have to decide whether I'll use supermarket eggplants or whether I wait and savour this recipe in August 🙂
This is an absolute yummy recipe, the best way to have eggplant as a side dish if you ask me. I made it many times after I spotted it on you blog. Thank you!
What a yummy recipe. We have a bunch of my neighbor's eggplant right now and I'm making this tonight. Have to go over their again for mint but we have Aleppo pepper with us here in Hood River. f
Double the spicy sauce recipe, your eggplant will thank you for it.
I used Japanese eggplant (the long style) and only made minor modifications. I didn’t have aleppo pepper but took the advice from Google of substituting ancho pepper with a dash of salt for it. Not too spicy at all. Also increased the amount of red wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice to 1 T. each (half a lemon) just because I butterfingered my measuring skills. Still, needs more sauce. Absolutely tasty, but next time will use dried parsley instead of fresh to match the dried mint I used, and double the spicy sauce recipe to ensure plenty of coverage for each slice. I also mixed ALL the ingredients together, parsley and mint as well, and spooned some onto each slice. The Japanese eggplant made for very nice tidy individual bite-sized appetizers and highly recommend using that variety for anyone else who is thinking of making this (as opposed to the much larger globe varieties.)
Hooray for growing (and cooking!) your very own garden-fresh eggplant. I’ve got the mint and parsley in my herb garden….now I must find a friend with an eggplant! This dish looks delicious, and with feta and olives it sounds even better.
wow, that looks so delish. My eggplants are so far behind but I am looking forward to the moment when I can grill a couple.
I am slowly becoming a fan of eggplant. This could push me over the edge. Looks and Sounds wonderful… And I will try the salting. Not salting could be what has my only a partial fan….
I’m just always in a hurry…
I love eggplant and it is on my list of things to try to grill. Funny thing though I find it quite difficult to get the consistency right at home. Thanks for this.
The mint I have by the ton! I won’t be able to get a home grown eggplant but it will be a good one. Short break there while I ordered the Aleppo Pepper! So then I’ll be making this! I do enjoy eggplant!
Eggplant is my favorite!! Especially grilled…it looks like you know what you are doing with it! That recipe looks great!!
Mmm, ’tis the season for grilling. Looks great and carmelized. I wish I could grow things.
I had no idea there were so many eggplant lovers out there. I do hope I get more (right now I only see one more on the plant!) I will admit, this is the first time I’ve tried the salting step, but it worked well.
I haven’t cooked with eggplants in quite a while now, Kalyn – this would be a wonderful recipe to try!
This looks delish! Maybe I’ll try to grow some eggplant next summer too.
A friend of mine loves eggplant so much and I don’t understand why (because I don’t like eggplant that time) but when she made me taste the eggplant she cooked with a bit of spices added, I love it. Right now, I love eating those spicy eggplants she made. I’ll tell her about this recipe and let see if she can cook it for me. This is exciting.
I simply love eggplant, especially if it is grilled! Your dish looks delicious. Yummy!
I love eggplant, but the rest of my family is not so open. Usually I have to hide it in some pasta sauce.
Perhaps I can find one recipe from your awesome list that will appeal even to them.
Thanks for the fantastic roundup.
I am impressed, Kalyn. I love eggplant, but had bad luck trying to grow it last year. This does look good!
If any of you out there are eggplant challenged like I am you are going to LOVE this recipe. Kalyn just warmed up the leftovers for Bradley and I and it was DIVINE. I take back all the bad things I’ve said about the eggplant I’ve cooked over the years. Thanks Kalyn.
Rand (& Bradley)
homegrown eggplants and herbs and spices… that looks absolutely delicious Kalyn.
Oh yumm! That looks so wonderful. Aren’t eggplants wonderful?
What a coincidence–I’m just about to post a grilled eggplant recipe, too. It’s definitely the season for it! I’ll have to include a link to your recipe so that everyone can find all the others you’ve linked to.
This sounds good. I have been seeing mint show up in a lot of interesting dishes lately. I will have to try using it more.
I have to try this soon and btw your new header image is looking stunning are they the produce from your garden?
Nice blog, very informative content. Would you mind if I ask you for a link exchange? Regards…
Wow, I see I got way behind on replying to comments here. Sorry about that, but I do appreciate all the nice comments.
Eggplant recipes, sorry but I don’t do link exchanges. I only link to blogs that I read regularly.
Kalyn,
I did try this with pimenton (smoked paprika) instead of the spicier pepper and it was terrific. A good alternative for those that don't like the spicy stuff, and even for those that do.
Since I also did some grill-roasted cauliflower at the same meal, I used the "extra" marinade and poured it over the hot cauliflower, and let it sit for a bit. Not quite as stunning as the eggplant (the cauliflower doesn't absorb as much), but still a nice flavor boost to something lots of people think of as bland.
Jeff, thanks for the update as to how this worked with smoked paprika. And I think the idea of using the extra marinade in cauliflower is brilliant!
This was my first attempt at grilling eggplant; so after searching online for ideas and how to's I settled on this recipe. The deciding factor, I am sorry to say was the pic that was included with blog – which looks delish. This was the first time anyone in my group ever grilled and ate roasted eggplants so this was a new venture. I received so many compliments on this dish, along with request for the recipe. This was a week ago, here I am grilling eggplant again, unfortunately didn't save recipe so I had to search for it again. I have never posted a feedback on a recipe I found online, but this recipe was awesome. Thanks.
Jenny, thrilled to hear you liked it so much. This is definitely one of my favorite eggplant recipes. (And I love it that the photo got youto try it!)
Excellent! I think the aleppo pepper adds a certain something…smokiness? Yesterday I snipped mint from a friend's garden, so I used all mint…scrumptious! Will definitely make again. (My grill ran out of gas, so today's meal was stovetop grill. Can't wait to try on the gas grill)
Housigirl, I agree, I love Aleppo pepper!
My mom loves eggplant! Thanks!
That sounds utterly gorgeous, Kalyn! I've got four eggplants in our greenhouse, and obviously it'll be a while before I can eat any of those. Will have to decide whether I'll use supermarket eggplants or whether I wait and savour this recipe in August 🙂
Stephanie, glad I was timely.
Pille, that's the same problem I'm having myself!
Wow! This sounds fantastic! I love eggplant and I love spicy!
Shawn, in that case you MUST try this recipe. So, so good!
Mint is a great addition to eggplant, they go perfectly together in my opinion. I'll definitely give this a try!
I do agree, love the mint in this!
This is an absolute yummy recipe, the best way to have eggplant as a side dish if you ask me. I made it many times after I spotted it on you blog. Thank you!
Sandra
Sandra, so glad you have enjoyed it!
I'm pretty sure I've never had eggplant grilled before. Definitely need to try this one!
What a yummy recipe. We have a bunch of my neighbor's eggplant right now and I'm making this tonight. Have to go over their again for mint but we have Aleppo pepper with us here in Hood River. f
Hope you enjoy Letty! This is one of my all-time favorite eggplant recipes.
Double the spicy sauce recipe, your eggplant will thank you for it.
I used Japanese eggplant (the long style) and only made minor modifications. I didn’t have aleppo pepper but took the advice from Google of substituting ancho pepper with a dash of salt for it. Not too spicy at all. Also increased the amount of red wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice to 1 T. each (half a lemon) just because I butterfingered my measuring skills. Still, needs more sauce. Absolutely tasty, but next time will use dried parsley instead of fresh to match the dried mint I used, and double the spicy sauce recipe to ensure plenty of coverage for each slice. I also mixed ALL the ingredients together, parsley and mint as well, and spooned some onto each slice. The Japanese eggplant made for very nice tidy individual bite-sized appetizers and highly recommend using that variety for anyone else who is thinking of making this (as opposed to the much larger globe varieties.)
Glad you enjoyed it! And more sauce sounds good to me!
Pingback: Vegan Ketogenic Diet: 21-Day Vegan Keto Diet Plan