Air-fried Eggplant - Easy and Tasty

Do you like eggplant? 

If you are looking for something a little different, these seasoned eggplant roll ups are moist, tender, tasty, and easy to make. They are a wonderful side dish especially topped with delicious Middle Eastern sauce. 

They are not breaded so they work perfectly for you or anyone in your family who is gluten-free. 

I make them in the air-fryer but you could probably make them in the broiler or oven.

I washed a medium eggplant well, cut off the stem/top, but did not peel it. I proceeded to slice the eggplant into slices lengthwise.

Instead of brushing the eggplant with oil (which you could do), I brushed it with aquafaba (the liquid from cooking chickpeas). I then seasoned the slices, covered the baking rack of the air-fryer with parchment paper and placed the slices on the rack. (I don't see why. you could not do this in a 425 oven or perhaps broiler.

While the eggplant slices were cooking, I prepared the light and lemony tahini sauce to drizzle over the slices.

I eat these air-fried eggplant slices drizzled with sauce either rolled or flat. However, I like them rolled because they are easier to serve and take up less room on the plate. They are easy to eat with a knife and fork.

Really, they are easy either way . 

Next time you have an eggplant and are looking for a vegetable side dish, why not give these or one of the variations a try. 

Variation 1: Eggplant Steaks.  If you prefer to make an eggplant steak instead of slices, you could simply cut your eggplant in half, brush with aquafabe ( or oil) season with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, paprika or any seasoning of your choice and air-fry or bake. Delicious too.

Variation 2: Stuffed eggplant. Once you make the air-fryer or baked eggplant slices, you could stuff them with filling of your choice. I've made a mashed tofu stuffing in the past. 

Eggplant Ingredients: 

1  medium eggplant per 4 slices ( I used 2 medium eggplants)

1  cup of aquafaba (the liquid from cooking chickpeas or the liquid in the can of chickpeas) 

seasoning of choice: 

paprika, garlic powder, cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, etc

Tahini Sauce Ingredients 

1/2 cup of tahini 

Juice of 1 lemon or 1/4 cup of lemon juice 

1/4- 1/2 cup of water ( need to start with 1/4 cup and add more if too thick) 

Salt

Optional: cumin 

 

Directions: 

Preheat air-fryer to 390 degrees

Wash the eggplants well (removing any stickers)

Cut off the top, do not peel, and slice 4 even slices. 

Brush both sides of the eggplant generously with aquafaba.

Season to taste

I cover the tray in the air-fryer ( I have a Ninja which looks like a toaster oven) with parchment paper and cook for 12 minutes on one side and another 3 minutes on the other side.

Remove the slices to a plate and drizzle with tahini sauce. Eat as is  

or roll each one. Serve warm or room temperature. Refrigerate and can be eaten cold the next day!

My notes: 

1. Aquafaba vs olive oil 

Since so many doctors in the plant-based movement are suggesting oil-free cooking and eating. (They suggest eating olives, nuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, and avocado to get your fat instead of the high concentration of calories in a teaspoon of oil that contains no fiber)

However, if you do like to use olive oil- brush the eggplant with the oil!!!

2. My mother-in-law used to make a fried eggplant casserole- kind of like a lasagna using the fried eggplant to layer. It was delicious but dripping in oil (and calories). I am surprised that my method of air-frying (oil-free) tastes just a good.