| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 45 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 baby Italian eggplants (about 1 pound total), scored
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon tahini paste
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- Handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
- 8 large pita rounds, cut into strips
- 2 tablespoons za’atar dry spice
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Split the eggplants in half through the stem and score sides. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Grill eggplants on a very hot grill pan until skins are wrinkled and black and flesh side is nicely charred.
- When the eggplants are cool enough to handle, cut off tops.
- In a food processor, combine eggplant, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, cumin, and cilantro and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the olive oil and pulse again to incorporate. Taste and adjust seasoning, as needed. Pour into a serving bowl and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and some roughly chopped cilantro. Serve with pita strips for dipping.
- To make pita strips.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put the pita wedges in a large mixing bowl. Combine za’atar spice mix and extra-virgin olive oil and drizzle over wedges. Season with salt and toss to coat evenly. Lay out pita wedges on a roasting tray and bake in the hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes until warmed through. If you prefer a crispier pita bake for a further 5 to 7 minutes. Serve warm with baba ghanoush.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 657 |
| Total Fat | 41 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 68 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 12 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 649 mg |
Reviews
I only made the dip, so I can’t comment on the pita crisps. But, this is one tasty dip and a great way to use eggplants. The only thing I did differently was use eggplants from my garden [White Knight Hybrid variety]. They are super-producers of white, long eggplants. I measured out 1 lb for this recipe, and it was perfect.
Love love love it! However I did use only half the cumin because I roasted the garlic instead of grilling it and therefore added an 8th teaspoon of liquid smoke. If you were out of propane for your grill like me, this did the trick for just the right smoky flavor. I used flat leaf parsley for the garnish because I had both the parsley and eggplant growing in my garden. It turned out unbelievably fabulous and will be my go to recipe.
Such a simple and delicious recipe! Good way to use eggplants from the garden.
There are no doubt as many Baba Ghanoush recipe versions as there are households and restaurants. Some do this, some do that, according to personal taste. This version is stellar!!
A friend and I made this recipe and we followed the directions exactly. Yummy! Personally, I do not care if it is “authentic” or not, it is Tyler’s version and we loved it.
Three of us sat down and managed to eat all the pita and the Baba Ghanoush in one sitting. Now that is a compliment!
I use this recipe on a regular basis. I don’t even measure it anymore, I just add the ingredients according to taste. My children love it, even my 2 year old who gives me trouble about eating veggie anything.
though i love tyler’s style and some of his recipes, this recipe was not authentic…i dated a man (and his whole family) during college who was from the middle east and learned a lot sitting in his mom’s kitchen helping prepare meals….. baba ganoush is so easy to prepare…they burned the skin off over a gas flame, put it in the oven to roast after the skin was blackened and bubbly – no skin in the dip. Like mohammed said, no pistascios, no parsley, no cumin and no oil in the dip. After the other ingredients are mixed together and some hot paprika was sprinkled lightly over the top, then olive oil is drizzled over the top. Dip with grilled pita bread, yummy. Oh yeah, don’t use a food processor as mohammed said, it gets too liquidy and you don’t get that wonderful texture from mashing or using mortar and pestle. and the guy who said the garlic was too hot, that was definately from old or sprouted garlic!! sorry tyler…
Once I added tripled the Tahini paste and doubled the lemon juice then I found it to be edible. Also I think the amount of cumin suggested it a little over powering. A little white pepper and half the cumin did the trick nicely.
This was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and I wouldn’t change anything. I have made it with roasted garlic as well, and that is a much less pungent garlic flavor if the raw cloves are too strong for you or guests. Also, some additional lemon juice gives it a different, but very authentic flavor as well. You can play around with how your tastebuds like it, but I like it just the way it’s written.
I’m a big fan of middle eastern style baba ghanoush, but not the greek equivalent – this was terrific. Earthy, flavorful and the perfect accompaniment for the middle eastern lamb meatballs with tomato sauce found on this site. Yum.