Our Favorite Baba Ganoush (Roasted Eggplant Dip)

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