Baba ganoush is an amazing roasted eggplant dip that’s incredibly simple to make. If you love hummus, then you will love baba ganoush. I love serving it with crisp vegetables, flatbread, and baked pita chips. Jump to the Easy Baba Ganoush Recipe
How to Make Homemade Baba Ganoush (It’s Easy!)
Whenever we’re at a restaurant that serves baba ganoush, we always order it. Not only is it one of our absolute favorite things to order at a restaurant, it’s easy to make at home, too. Making baba ganoush is a very similar process to making hummus. We are basically swapping the chickpeas called for in hummus for delicious roasted eggplant.
Soft, sweet, and slightly smokey roasted eggplant is combined with tahini (a paste made from sesame seeds), fresh lemon juice, garlic, and spices. It’s absolutely divine!
Making this recipe at home is easy, here are the basic steps for making it.
Step 1: Broil whole eggplants to char the skins. This step lightly chars the outsides of the eggplant, which adds a smoky flavor. You can also char the skin of the eggplants using a grill or even a gas burner.
Step 2: Switch the oven to bake and roast the eggplants until very soft. For the very best baba ganoush, the flesh of the eggplant needs to be very soft. Roasting time will vary based on how large the eggplants are. I simply roast until they look like they are caving in and a fork can very easily pierce through the flesh.
Step 3: Combine tahini with lemon juice, garlic, spices, and olive oil. These are the remaining ingredients needed to make baba ganoush. I like to mix them together early on since the mixture improves in flavor over time.
Step 4: Stir the roasted eggplant into the tahini mixture. I use a spoon to scoop out the soft flesh and then use a fork to mash it into the tahini and lemon juice mixture. I like some texture so I don’t use a food processor to make baba ganoush. A fork works perfectly fine!
We love roasting eggplant since it develops so much flavor. Here’s another roasted eggplant dish with a warm and toasty spice blend. I also love this roasted eggplant parmesan.
Don’t Skip the Tahini
Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds with a consistency similar to almond or peanut butter. You’ll often find it used in hummus, salad dressings, and dips. It can be found in most grocery stores. Just look near the international or Mediterranean foods and we bet you’ll find it. You can also buy it online.
You can also make your own tahini! It’s very simple to do. Here’s our homemade tahini recipe with a quick recipe video that shows you how.
While I 100% recommend using tahini to make baba ganoush, I know not everyone is a fan of its flavor. If you are not a fan of tahini, try reducing the amount called for in our recipe below — use 2 tablespoons instead of a 1/4 cup.
Make Ahead and Storing
One of the best things about baba ganoush is that while it tastes great right after making, it tastes even better after a day or two in the fridge. This is the perfect make-ahead appetizer! The dip will keep in the fridge up to 5 days.
Recipe updated, originally posted October 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne
Our Favorite Baba Ganoush (Roasted Eggplant Dip)
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Baba ganoush is best left rustic with some texture. Because of this, simply mashing and stirring with a fork is all that’s needed. You can make this in a food processor or blender. Be careful, though. It will become much smoother. This gets even better after a day or two in the refrigerator, so this is perfect for making ahead!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 medium eggplants (about 2 pounds or 900 grams)
1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini, see our homemade tahini recipe
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
2 to 3 garlic cloves, finely minced (see note)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon olive oil, optional
Directions
1Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and turn broiler on (high heat). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place eggplants onto the baking sheet and prick in several places using a fork. This helps steam escape while the eggplants roast. Broil eggplants 2 minutes on all sides. The skin will darken a little and begin to smell smoky, adding lots of flavor to the dip.
2Turn broiler off, but do not remove eggplants from the oven. Heat oven to 375 degrees F, and then roast eggplants until very soft; 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 10 to 15 minutes until easily handled.
3While the eggplants roast, combine tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and the salt in a medium bowl. Set aside so the flavors meld.
4Split the roasted eggplants, drain excess liquid, scrape out the flesh, and add to the tahini mixture. (Discard excess liquid and skins). Mash the roasted eggplant into the tahini mixture with a fork until somewhat smooth with some texture remaining.
5Cool to room temperature then stir in parsley and drizzle the top with olive oil. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 5 days.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Garlic: We enjoy the extra kick garlic gives here. The tahini stands up very well to the garlic. If you’re not sure you want to use three cloves, reduce it to two or even one clove.
- Tahini: Tahini is a paste make from ground sesame seeds. You can find jars sold in most grocery stores. Look where international foods are sold. You can also buy it online or easily make tahini at home yourself.
- How to Make Baked Pita Chips: Cut 2 to 3 pitas into wedges. Add to a baking sheet and bake in a 375 degree F oven until lightly browned and crisp; 7 to 10 minutes.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
I haven’t made this yet, planning to in the next couple of days. I grew eggplant in my garden for the first time. I have several still to harvest and am looking for ways to ‘preserve” them and thought freezing Baba Ganoush might be an option. I see you have answered a question that it can be frozen. I would think I would freeze before adding the olive oil and parsley, adding those two ingredients when thawed before serving? Any advice? Thanks.
Either option works, but for the most fresh flavor, add the parsley (or a little extra parsley) just before serving.
I have lots of Japanese eggplant. I have peeled them and I am going to make this recipe. My question is do you think you can freeze or can this? Thanks
Hi Pamela, You can absolutely freeze this but we haven’t tried canning this before. Let us know if you give it a try.
I love babaganoush and always order it when I see it on the menu but I always thought it was too fiddly to make at home. But today I made it, using your recipe, and it was so simple and tasted great. I’ll be making it regularly from now on. Thankyou for including measurements in mls and grms for those of us not in the states who get confounded by cups. I had to halve everything as my aubergines were small. I have no idea if it tastes better after a couple of days because we ate the lot!
Amazing, refreshing and full of taste. Would definitely recommend and make again.
Followed it and added the cumin and parsley, garlic, tiny drizzle olive oil. I used a handheld blender. This was absolutely delicious and so easy! Used a grill first and then changed it to oven for the remaining time to make the flesh soft. Perfect!
I love this recipe, too. I made two changes, for my preference. I added half the amount of lime juice and more cumin. So easy and love that we don’t have to get out appliances. Thank you so much.
Delicious! Loved this recipe and will surely make it again.
Decent, however there was too much lemon juice for my taste. When i made it the second time i only squeezed about 1/3 of a lemon.
Great recipe! The only thing we did was add more cumin.
Just made it and now eating it. Absolutely delicious!
LOVELY LOVELY!! EASY EASY!!! I panic bought some eggplant and didn’t really have a plan for them. I made this recipe exactly as written and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Eating it with nutty crackers and red pepper slices. Added a watermelon and feta salad and called it a nice light dinner on the balcony with a glass of crisp Sauv. Blanc. Well done.
it’s very good and easy to make
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My family loved it and it was all finished in no time. Will make it again and again!