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.
Do you think this would be good if I added ground beef?
Hi Iris, yes of course, you can brown some ground beef and add them at the end. Depends on how much meat you add, you might want to consider to reduce the eggplant or double the sauce.
Happy cooking and hope your dish turns out great 🙂
How did this get so many good reviews when there was no recipe to make the sauce?
Hi Nancy, sorry for the confusion. This is one of my early day recipes where I use just enough sauce to coat the ingredients (the soy sauce and cornstarch makes a very simple sauce), which is the way we cook in northern China. If you like more sauce in the dish, simply add 1/4 cup chicken stock and 1 more teaspoon cornstarch in step 4. Or you can even further double it. Hope you would still like to try out the dish 🙂
This came out awesome ! thanks so much for the recipe! .. I used a little less less oil in cooking the eggplant, added a spoonful of spicy garlic to the soy sauce and added a little water at the end and it made it the perfect sauciness! So great to have this low oil eggplant !!
I’m so glad to hear you tried and like the recipe, Sharon! Me too, I like to cook eggplant with less oil but keep the texture right ? Adding spicy garlic sounds super yummy! I’d like to try that out myself the next time!
When I started to grow my first eggplant, I was dreaming of making Beijing-style garlic eggplant. When I searched online, I could only find Sichuan-style recipes for a while until I came across yours. I harvested my first eggplant crop yesterday and made your recipe tonight. It turned out exactly how I was hoping. Thanks for publishing this!
Hi Maggie
Thank you so much for posting this. I lived in China for 3 years and this was my favourite dish! I never used to eat eggplant before. Your recipe is perfect, I’ve had no problems with it and it is so delicious!
I did have one question though. While I was living in Guangzhou there was a dish I had. I’ve been searching online all over for it. I suppose I could improvise it, but I was wondering if maybe you knew it. It was a shredded firm tofu, like square thick spaghetti and it was in a ginger soy sauce, with green onions, sautéed (Woked) of course. Ginger was the dominant flavor but I wasn’t sure of the other things. Maybe sesame oil, maybe hoisin. Do you know of this dish?
Hi Robin, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, and I’m glad to hear the recipe worked for you!
To answer your question about the stir fried tofu, I think it is usually stir fried with very simple seasonings, just like you said. If I make the dish, I might also add a bit freshly ground Sichuan peppercorns (or a pinch of five spice powder) to add aroma. A spoonful of oyster sauce adds great flavorful too, but it’s more Cantonese style. If you want a bit more sauce, use 1/4 cup chicken stock with 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch at the end.
To speak of the shredded smoked tofu, I finally found it in Asian market last weekend. I’ll be making it soon and maybe sharing the recipe on the blog 🙂
Does the tofu dish you had use celery? The one I had usually have celery in it.
I just made this tonight, exactly as written and it is delicious. Even my kids love it. We served it alone with jasmine rice. Thank you so much for the recipe. Now I am getting Chinese eggplant every time I come home from the Asian market!
Hi Ellbee, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the dish! We do the same thing, getting Chinese eggplant every time we visit the Asian market 😉
Hope you have a great week ahead!
We have a lot of eggplant ready to harvest from the garden. I appreciate your tips. I never knew of the brine technique prior to cooking. I think I will take what you have shared and combine with a little Szechuan beef and scallion.
Hi Paul, I’m glad to hear you’d like to try out this recipe! I also used the same method in this recipe and used a bit more oil to fry the eggplant: https://omnivorescookbook.com/sichuan-eggplant/
It uses minced meat and more sauce, probably closer to the version you’re looking for 🙂
Happy cooking and let me know how the didsh turns out!
I have never bothered to leave a comment on any recipe that I’ve tried before, but this one was just WOW. This was my first time making/eating chinese eggplants even though I’m 100% chinese. I’ve only ever had eggplant parmesan like once or twice before. They were on sale at our local asian market though, so I thought why not? 8-10 minutes feels like an eternity to me, and with two batches, it’s a miracle I had the patience. But it was totally worth it. I think I’m definitely going to have to go back and get like 10 more eggplants so I can eat this for days. So good!
Hi Anna, I don’t cook eggplant that often because it’s quite time consuming. But for this recipe, it’s totally worth the effort 😉
Thanks so much for your kind words, and I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the dish! You just made my day 🙂
Hey Maggie thanks for the cooking tips. i love eggplant but have always have the problem of it soaking up so much oil. This is so great and i have two nice shiny eggplants im going to prepare tonight! 🙂
Glad to hear you’re going to try out this recipe Janine! Happy cooking and let me know how the dish turns out 🙂
Great recipe! This is my first time cooking eggplant, and thanks to your recipe it was a success! The step by step instructions with pictures was so helpful. I subbed avocado oil, pure maple syrup for the sugar, and tamari sauce. I also put the eggplant over top some quinoa. I topped it off with green onions and roasted sesame seeds. Delish! Thanks again!
Hi Maggie
Once again, a triumph. I love the way eggplant is used in Chinese cuisine. I messed up the steps but got the same effect. I floured the eggplant and fried it. I found I had to add a bit of water with soy sauce at the end and added scallions, potato (previously fried from another of your recipes) and some sugar snap peas. Maybe two tblsp of oil. No need for sugar or added salt. I found the rice, not surprisingly, redundant. Fantastic outcome. Will be a favorite. Thank you!
Ian, Sydney, Australia
Hi Ian, I’m so happy to hear you like this recipe! Yes, I love to fry the eggplant too if I want to create an extra crispy result, although I do use cornstarch instead of flour. It gives you a crunchier texture.
Yep, I know the other recipe you’re talking about. I think the potato and snap peas would work great in this dish. I would make extra sauce if I serve the dish with rice. But you’re right, I don’t really need the rice if I already added potatoes in it.
Hope you have a great week ahead and looking forward to hearing what you will cook the next 🙂
I just made this!
This is soooooo BOMB!
I am now very excited to cook this for my friends. Thank for the excellent tip with the aubergine to prevent it from soaking the oil.
So happy to hear you made the dish and liked it! I hope your friends will like it as much as you do. Happy cooking! 🙂
OMG Thanks for the eggplant tip!! Using too much oil is always my biggest problem with eggplant but I LOVE eggplant. Will definitely give this a try!
Happy cooking Sam! I hope your dish turned out great and let me know how it goes 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. I made it and it’s really good!
I can’t wait to try this recipe!
This has a fantastic taste. I didn’t have fresh ginger, so added 1/8 tsp to the soy sauce mixture. Also I used a bit of sesame oil with the garlic. Yum!
Hi – I would like to know roughly how you estimate the nutritional fact?
Was that done by calculation? Please advise
I just saw this recipe. (I will definitely going to explore more of your website)
I am going to try it in a few hours for my Christmas Eve dinner. I can’t wait! Thank you so much.
You’re the most welcome Lucy! Happy cooking and hope your eggplant turns out great.
Happy New Year to you and your family 🙂
this is an easy one to make and soo tasty!!! we loved it!
I’m so glad to hear it Elena! Happy Holidays 🙂
Hi! I had an eggplant that was about 2 days away from being not-so-fresh. I wasn’t really cooking to eat, but more so because Itvwas a cold Saturday and hey… it’s cooking! I love the chicken and eggplant that my local Chinese Resturant prepares so I thought I’d look up a recipe. I was instantly drawn to your recipe for the eggplant based solely on the picture. Beautifully browned and glistening eggplant=yum. I cook and always try new things so I was excited to give it a whirl. Evertthing went according to plan-yay! I added cilantro at the end as a garnish and am looking forward to eating it cold out of the refrigerator as is. Also will make some rice noodles and toss them together tomorrow. That kind you for the very user friendly recipe. It’s a keeper for me for sure!
I’ve always had trouble cooking eggplant through while keeping the flavor in, but this recipe was perfect! The eggplant turned out a lovely texture with a lovely sear on the outside that added a depth of flavor while the inside was perfectly soft. Now I can finally stop going to restaurants for my eggplant fix 🙂
Hi Angela, I’m so glad to hear you made this dish and enjoyed it! Thank you for taking time to leaving a comment 🙂
Have an awesome week ahead!