Tender Grilled Eggplant Slices with Barbecue Sauce | The First Mess (2024)

Home » Recipes » grill

Created by Laura Wright

5 from 1 vote

This recipe really is the best way to prepare tender grilled eggplant! There are hundreds of recipes on the web that call for simply grilling eggplant on the BBQ right after cutting and coating with oil and seasoning. My vegan recipe involves one small extra step to get silky and meaty slices every time–no rubbery eggplant here! The key? A simple salting and rinsing technique. We also bump up the flavour with a sticky swipe of barbecue sauce to finish.

Grilled veg, big salads, and simple proteins is how we eat all summer long. Eggplant is a vegetable that comes around locally once the weather heats up, and I think it’s one of the trickier vegetables for folks to master! No matter how I’m cooking up any of my eggplant recipes, most of the time I’m doing one crucial preparation step: salting 20 minutes ahead of time.

Does eggplant need to be salted before grilling?

• After many tests in my kitchen, I do think that eggplant needs to be salted before grilling (or roasting, sautéing etc).
• In this recipe you simply slice the eggplant and toss it into a colander and then coat in a generous amount of salt (don’t worry–you’ll be rinsing most of it away later).
• Let the salted eggplant sit for 20 minutes or so in the colander. Excess moisture will be drawn out (and with it most traces of bitterness).
• Before cooking, you’ll rinse the salt off and pat slices dry (and then toss with oil, seasonings etc). The end result is silky, luscious grilled eggplant every time.

I like to keep the skin on the eggplant because I like the texture and the visual presentation. I think it helps the slices hold together better on the grill as well. To avoid sogginess, I quickly spray the slices with oil and coat with spices right before grilling. Eggplant will soak up as much oil as you can offer like a sponge, so it’s key to apply it right before cooking.

When making char grilled eggplant, I cook it for about 3-4 minutes per side. Once you have grill marks and some softness, you’re good to go. To make this recipe extra succulent, I toss with some spices and finish with a brush of sticky barbecue sauce. This is my little trick for entertaining folks that are fussy about veg–a slick of sweet barbecue sauce and pretty char marks from the grill are generally irresistible. You can use homemade or a store bought sauce here. Primal Kitchen makes some of my favourite bottled barbecue sauce options.

A platter of this tender and flavourful eggplant with a little barbecue saucy sheen is simply delicious. I garnish with some chopped chives and parsley from my patio garden. A few slices stacked up make a fab grilled eggplant sandwich with a slice of your fave vegan cheese, crunchy lettuce, and maybe a swoop of mayo too. Enjoy!

Posted in: autumn, gluten free, grain-free, grill, nut free, salty, side dish, smoky, spring, summer, umami, vegan