Quinoa Stuffed Eggplant with Tahini Sauce
You're going to fall in love with this Mediterranean quinoa stuffed eggplant recipe! It's full of flavor, packed with veggies, and takes just 30 minutes to make!
I've been on a serious Mediterranean food kick lately. When I'm thinking about going out to eat, I pretty much only want Mediterranean/Turkish food. It's just so damn good. Just gimme all chickpeas, hummus, parsley, cucumber, and tahini. Like I'm actually it for dinner right now even though I ate these stuffed eggplants for lunch…
Problem? No. Obsession? Perhaps. Healthy? Always.
Thankfully we have a delicious restaurant just two blocks away that makes the most insane hummus and babganoush. It's seriously out of this world.
And ever since we ate there last weekend, eggplant has been on my brain.
So today we're going to make these baked eggplants stuffed with quinoa, tomatoes, and mushrooms. It's a really simple dish to put together, uses just a handful of ingredients (most of which I bet you already have!) and is ready in about 30 minutes. And makes a bomb ass dinner if you ask me!
For the tomatoes, I actually decided to use canned whole plum tomatoes because they're are super juicy and flavorful. By now you know my favorite canned tomatoes are from Tuttorosso and I have to say their whole plum tomatoes are legit.
When you open up the can, you see whole tomatoes. Yes, that's what it says on the packaging, so that's what you'd expect, right? Well, you'd be surprised at some of the other brands.
If you remember when I visited their factory last year, we actually tested their whole tomatoes against 10 of the main competitors and Tuttorosso's were the only ones that were still whole and intact.
Because they're whole, you can actually chop them up just like you would a fresh tomato. And since they're packed at the height of ripeness, they end up being way more flavorful. PLUS! (sheesh, so many good things to say) Canned tomatoes are already cooked, so using them in this recipe majorly speeds up the cooking time.
Our stuffing is a simple blend of quinoa, tomatoes, finely chopped mushrooms (which aren't technically Mediterranean but give a nice meaty texture to the recipe), shallots, garlic, and a few spices, that gets sauteed in some olive oil until it's sizzling hot.
Then just scoop it into the soft eggplant, bake for another few minutes and that's pretty much it!
Oh but wait, there's also the sauce!
One of my favorite things about Mediterranean food is that they use tahini on everything. And if you've been reading the blog for a while, then you know I also like to put tahini on everything.
It's my favorite way to make salad dressings (check out my Tahini Dressing: 4 Ways post for some inspo), I add it to my creamy caesar dressing, make energy balls with it and sometimes just drizzle it on avocado toast!
For our quinoa stuffed eggplants, we're making a quick tahini drizzle with lemon juice, garlic powder and a pinch of salt. You'll want to make sure to also add a little water in there so that it gets nice and creamy!
If you've been on the hunt for a meal that's light, easy to make, and yet still totally satisfying, this stuffed eggplant is for you! It also stores well in the fridge and can be reheated as leftovers the next day!
Your turn…
What's your favorite Mediterranean meal? I'm looking for more recipes to try, so let me know your picks in the comments below! And if you end up making this recipe, I'd love for you to snap a pic and tag @simplyquinoa on Instagram! Absolutely LOVE seeing your creations ????
xx A
More Mediterranean Recipe to Try:
- Baked Grain-Free Falafel Bites
- Saffron Middle Eastern Quinoa Salad
- One-Pot Moroccan Lentils + Quinoa
- Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad
- Mediterranean Tostadas
- Vegan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Mediterranean Quinoa
- One-Pot Mediterranean Quinoa with Spinach + Chickpeas
Quinoa Stuffed Eggplant with Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 medium shallot diced (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 cup chopped button mushrooms about 2 cups whole
- 5 - 6 Tuttorosso whole plum tomatoes chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato juice from the can
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley + more to garnish
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Water to thin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and scoop out some of the flesh. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 20 minutes.
- While the eggplant is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a large skillet. Once add all the shallots and mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms have softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, quinoa and spices, and cook until the liquid has evaporated.
- Once the eggplant has cooked for 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF and stuff each half with the tomato-quinoa mixture. Bake for another 10 minutes.
- When ready to serve, whisk together tahini, lemon, garlic, water and a touch of salt and pepper. Drizzle tahini over eggplants, sprinkle with parsley and enjoy!
Nutrition
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Tuttorosso Tomatoes. As always, all opinions are my own. I only share companies I love and trust, so thank you for continuing to support Simply Quinoa!
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Can this be made in an air fryer?
Probably! I don’t have an air-fryer though so haven’t tested it, sorry!
How much eggplant do you remove? Do you mix it in with the rest of the filling?
I was wondering the same thing! I wonder I hope that mixing it back in got left out of the recipe, because that sure sounds like a waste!
yes, you can mix the eggplant in with the filling 🙂
I typically scoop out enough to make a well in the eggplant, and then mix the cut pieces in with the filling!
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Im doing this tonight. However I’m leaving out the tomato and not so sure about the tahini either. Just I have some lovely wild mushrooms and tomato and mushrooms to me just dont sit well together. Im not sure about mushrooms and tahini either…….anyway I will be using garlic mushrooms, oregano, parsley with the quinoa and top it off with parmesan. To cook the Quinoa I will use porcinni stock made from dried porcinni, then when it’s done mix in the browned mushrooms, garlic and bulk of the browned aubergine scrapped from the shell. Mix in the parmesan and fill the aubergines. For sauce i will use yoghurt, plain and simple and serve with greens. Thanks for the tips, it’s a nice one to play around with.
It sounds absolutely amazing!! Hope it worked out well 🙂
Did you do anything with the flesh of the egg plant that you scooped out? Add it back in to the stuffing mix?
I mostly ate it 🙂
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I followed the recipe except I did not use whole plum tomatoes and I added a little maple syrup to the tahini. This is the most successful first try I’ve ever had. I served it with a Mediterranean salad mix from my local grocery store. It had things like feta and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Wow just wow so good! Thank you so much I will add this to my rotation. My partner says I’m the queen of stuffed stuff now hahahahaha
Sounds absolutely amazing!!
This looks amazing, but I noticed it was super high in sodium. How can I reduce that?
Sometimes the nutrition facts are a tiny bit off due to the database that it’s pulled from. As long as you’re using ingredients that are low in sodium, you’ll be totally fine!
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Hi should I place the eggplants on the baking sheet in the oven with the inside facing up or the skin facing up?
With the flesh side facing up 🙂
looks so yummy i really want to eat.
Oh yes, you’ll love them!
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New to eggplant here, do you eat the skin?
You can! I usually do, but others don’t, so I think it’s more preference than anything else 🙂
Saw this recipe in the.morning and made it for dinner. Even more delish than expected! I wasn’t sure if the drizzle was my taste at first, so I put it on the side of the plate. By the end I was almost lapping it up!!
Yes!! This is amazing 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it, Lisa!! xoxo
Love Mediterranean food! Just at Greek this week! I would add capers or chopped olives to this for a salty bite. Can’t wait to try!!
Mmmm sounds lovely!
HI, what do you do with the eggplant you s loped out. Could you ad it to your quinoa, tomato mixture
Marie
Just a spoon works 🙂 And yes, you totally could!
This looks incredible. Would normal onions be ok for shallots? I’m in Korea and never seen them!
Absolutely! Enjoy 🙂