The Chinese eggplant is cooked until crispy and smoky using minimal oil, and then cooked in a rich savory garlic sauce. This vegan dish is very satisfying, both as a side or a main dish served over rice or noodles. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Eggplant is a very tricky vegetable to cook. If you don’t season it properly, it will taste bitter or extremely plain. If using too little oil, the texture will be mushy and create an awful mouthfeel. And if you use too much oil, the eggplant might turn soggy and greasy.
If you don’t like cooking eggplant at home, you probably have some of the worries below:
- Eggplant is quite time consuming to cook, compared to the average vegetable.
- You’ll end up eating more calories without getting an impressive flavor.
That is why I’m posting this Chinese eggplant recipe today, to help you to create a wonderful eggplant dish nearly effortlessly.
This recipe offers the simplest way to cook a great eggplant dish without using too much oil, and avoids soggy and plain eggplant with the minimum needed cooking time.
How to make the perfect eggplant dish
The secret to getting perfect Chinese style eggplant involves two things.
- You have to prepare the eggplant properly before cooking in order to get the right texture.
- You need to make a sauce that is flavorful enough.
To prepare the eggplant, there are two ways to do it.
Before introducing the first method, I want to thank my friend Steve S. He taught me this method quite a long time ago, to prevent the eggplant from absorbing oil.
The method is:
- Spread the sliced eggplant on a towel.
- Sprinkle Kosher salt on both surfaces of the sliced eggplant.
- Allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- Rinse the salt off the eggplant and pat each surface dry.
The second way is:
- Place the eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, mix well.
- Place a pot lid on top to keep the eggplant under water for 15 minutes.
- Drain and pat dry
I personally prefer the second method. Because when soaking the eggplant in the water, it also preserve the white color of the eggplant and prevent it from oxidizing and turning brown.
Once you’ve finished either of the methods above, there is one more step – after the eggplant is completely dry, sprinkle cornstarch over it and mix by hand, until the eggplant is evenly coated with a thin layer of cornstarch.
Using this method, you can create crispy and nicely charred eggplant on the stovetop in 10 minutes. No need to turn on the oven to get the smoky flavor!
Garlic sauce ingredients
Creating a good sauce is really easy and you only need these ingredients:
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce: dark soy sauce add a beautiful dark brown color to the dish and a hint of caramel taste.
- Sugar: the sugar balance out the salty ingredients for a more roundup sauce.
- Cornstarch: the cornstarch acts as a thicker to thicken the sauce.
Just mix everything together and pour it over the eggplant at the end of cooking.
Mix en place
It’s important to have all of your ingredients prepped and ready before starting the stir fry. Your table should have:
- Eggplant, sliced, prepared according to either of the two methods listed above, and coated with cornstarch
- Mixed sauce
- Aromatics, chopped (ginger, garlic)
How to cook Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce
1. Pan frying the eggplant until golden on the surface, and the inside has turned tender. Transfer the eggplant to a plate. This step is crucial to keep the eggplant crispy.
2. Saute the aromatics.
3. Add back the eggplant and add the mixed sauce. The sauce will thicken up immediately. And the dish is done!
This recipe only uses enough sauce to coat the eggplant to keep the eggplant pieces crispy.
More delicious eggplant recipes
- Yu Xiang Eggplant (鱼香茄子, Sichuan Eggplant Stir Fry)
- Steamed Eggplant in Nutty Sauce
- Spicy Eggplant Salad (凉拌茄子)
- Di San Xian (Fried Potato, Eggplant and Pepper in Garlic Sauce 地三鲜)
- Grilled Eggplant with Yu Xiang Sauce (鱼香烤茄子)
Happy cooking and hope you enjoy the dish!
Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce (红烧茄子)
Ingredients
- 10 oz (283 g) Chinese eggplant (about 2 small eggplant) , chopped to bite-size pieces (*Footnote 1)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Sauce (*footnote 2)
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce (*see footnote 3)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Stir-fry
- 2 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon ginger , minced
- 3 cloves garlic , chopped
Instructions
- (Option 1) Place eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix well. Place a pot lid on top to keep the eggplant under water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
- (Option 2) Spread the sliced eggplant out on a paper towel. Sprinkle Kosher salt on both sides of the eggplant slices. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Rinse with running tap water to wash off the salt, then pat dry thoroughly.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, mix well.
- Sprinkle eggplant with 1 tablespoon cornstarch and mix by hand, until eggplant is evenly coated with with a thin layer of cornstarch.
- Add 2 tablespoons oil to a big nonstick skillet and heat over medium high heat until hot. Spread eggplant across the bottom of the skillet without overlapping. Cook the eggplant one side at a time until all the surfaces are charred and the eggplant turns soft, 8 to 10 minutes in total. Transfer the eggplants to a plate. If the skillet gets too hot and starts to smoke, turn to medium heat.
- Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon oil, the ginger and garlic into the same skillet. Stir a few times until fragrant. Add all the eggplant back into the skillet. Mix the sauce again until cornstarch is fully dissolved and pour it over the eggplant. Immediately stir a few times, until the eggplant is evenly coated and the sauce thickens. Transfer everything to a big plate.
- Serve hot as a side or as main over steamed rice or noodles.
Notes
- You can use other type of eggplant and still generate crispy texture if following the method in this recipe. However, Asian long eggplant is the best option.
- This recipe uses very little sauce, just enough to coat the eggplant and make it tastes super flavorful. The rich sauce helps to keep the eggplant staying crispy. Be careful, the sauce will reduce very quickly once you add it to the pan. Stir immediately to coat the eggplant.
- The dark soy sauce will add color to the dish and make it look more appetizing. You can skip it if you don’t have any in your pantry.
Prep part was awesome! I could make very soft juicy eggplant. However, once I pour the sauce, before mix, the sauce itself get solid and couldn’t mix with eggplant…sigh…
I agree with you, the same thing happened to me when I made this dish last night Nov 6 2023. I left the heat of the stove on medium high then added the sauce to the pan and it seemed to clump up and got attached to the minced garlic/ginger vs the eggplant even though I tried my best to stir the sauce to mix with the eggplant. The cause of this is the high heat with the amount of corn starch in the sauce. The fix would have been to half the corn starch in the sauce mix which is what I did on the 2nd batch including doubling up the sauce ingredients minus the extra sugar. It would also be a must to reduce the heat of the pan to medium for at least 1 minute before adding the sauce to avoid it from evaporating/dissolving.
I thank the author for the 2 methods of preparing the eggplant before cooking. But in regards to the recipe, it was just okay to me, the instructions some tweaking to avoid error.
This came out beautifully! Was easy to make as well 🙂
I made it last night, and it was totally wonderful. I’m a real eggplant fan but usually make it Italian style, so this was great change of pace. I actually like this recipe better than any of the Italian ones I have made in the past.
Came out excellent. Only thing was, it took longer than eight minutes to get all of the eggplant browned/charred before transferring to a plate. Everyone loved it. Very well written and explained recipe. Will make again.
Another fantastic recipe. Thanks, Maggie! This time I tried the water soaking method. I think next time I will try the method where you lay out the eggplant for a while. Sauce is epic!
Hi Maggie, I just discovered your blog and I’m learning to cook before my sophomore year, this is the first recipe of yours I’ve tried but I’m going to attempt lots more. I’m not a fan of eggplant (well, my mom’s South Indian way of cooking it) but I really loved it at a restaurant in San Francisco and I want to recreate it. This came pretty close, I still need to work on the texture as it fell apart a little and tweak the sauce, but I ate the whole thing lol, it’s really good. Next I’m going to try some Sichuan recipes once I get the appropriate spices! Thank you for your inspiring and beautiful blog 💗
I cooked this for myself to eat because I’m vegan, but my two friends loved it so much that they asked me to make more for them to eat next time! I highly recommend this recipe. You will not regret it. One thing that I feel makes or breaks this recipe is the preparation of the eggplant, so don’t skip out on that part!!
Hi there! I had a quick question for you. Can I make this ahead of time and reheat it later. Wanted to try this for a small gathering.
You definitely can. The eggplant will not stay crispy but should still taste good.
Thank you for the recipe! The sauce was very good albeit a little sweet for our tastes. I am thinking of using it with green beans, tofu, or pork as well.
First time tried for dinner last night.Different but nice.Only mistake I made I forgot the rice which would really made it.Next time
This was so easy and delicious!! I will definitely make this again. Thank you.
Loved this recipe!
This has become my favourite, though I love all your recipes!
Thanks for sharing them
Love your recipes but it seems like they are loaded with sugar and starch to top it all off, it’s fried! No matter how I look at it, it’s unhealthy for people trying to avoid sugar and fried foods in their diets. Do you have a health friendly version of this dish? Please post one of you can.
Thanks
Thanks for this recipe! I love eggplant and was looking for a way to make it with less oil since it absorbs so much when cooking…or it becomes a dry mess without the oil. This recipe turned out great and has become my “go to” Asian eggplant recipe. I’ve made it with and without added chicken and tofu and it is very tasty and produces great, predictable results.
Just made this and it is absolutely delicious. Thanks for the tips too.
The printed recipe leaves out the 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce. The cooking time was too short to cook the eggplant I was using.
My husband asks for this recipe frequently. Since my garden was very bountiful this year we had plenty of opportunities to enjoy this dish. This is a keeper
I really liked this recipe. I feel it could use more sauce honestly but that will be my personal preference. I found your instructions simple and straightforward thanks! Will definitely make this again. With minor changes to suit me.
LET’S BE HONEST GUYS!!!! This is a good recipe it has solid flavor and what I like the most about it is the amount of sauce just coats the dish, it doesn’t leave it swimming like so many Chinese dishes can and do turn out but when it comes to the “CRISPY” part of this dish is more of a desired descriptive than a true outcome of the dish. To all the people who thought this was going to be like Crystal Shrimp or General Tsao’s right out of the kitchen at a GOOD Chinese restaurant you will be disappointed. Coming from a chef with 30+ years and who has opened over a dozen high end Asian restaurants with complex menus the only way you will get this “super crispy” texture is prepared in a pro wok that has 100k-150k BTU’S and can generate a temp of 400 and the eggplant comes out of the fryer crispy and right into the wok with the wok to be coated with the boiling sauce, then right out to your table and you start eating within 60 seconds!!! This is just the nature of what eggplant is, it’s not a protein and can’t hold a crisp coating the same, it has a soft center and for this recipe is cut in pretty big chunks which mean they take time in the fryer to cook through and then into a wok to be cooked down with a sauce until it just coats it then on a plate where honestly only the pieces on top will be crispy because everything else below is being steamed by what’s above. I am only giving this long winded explanation because I can see how some people may do all the work and prep and it just doesn’t come out as they expected, which by the comments I can see has happened more than a few times but BOTTOM LINE, it is a very flavorful recipe and scoop some of this over some steamed rice you will have close to as good a dish that you will get in a good solid quality Chinese restaurant so don’t take it so seriously.