Fried Eggplant Recipe (No Breading)
Dec 05, 2019, Updated Jan 28, 2026
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A beloved side dish, this fried eggplant recipe with tomatoes is easy to make and incredibly delicious. Serve it with a creamy yogurt sauce alongside grilled chicken or kofta kebabs. Follow along to learn how to fry eggplant without using too much oil.
If you love eggplant recipes and are looking for new ways to cook eggplant, this one might just become your new favorite. Eggplant is incredibly versatile and can be prepared in so many ways, from Turkish stuffed eggplant (karniyarik) and eggplant caponata to melitzanosalata and moussaka. This recipe is easy to make and works just as well as a simple meal as it does when you’re cooking for friends.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Eggplant: It’s best to get shiny Italian eggplants that feel heavy for their size. These eggplants would have very few seeds in them.
- Oil for frying: It’s best to use avocado oil or canola oil for this fried eggplant recipe. You want the oil to be hot enough to look shimmery but not smoking.
- Tomatoes and garlic: I used roma tomatoes in this recipe but you can also use cherry tomatoes. The garlic is sliced and once fried in oil, it adds so much flavor to the dish.
How To Make Fried Eggplant
Salt the eggplant: Slice the eggplant and place them on a baking sheet. Generously sprinkle with salt and let it sit to “sweat”. This would take about 45 minutes to one hour.
Fry: Once the eggplants have sweated out the liquid, pat dry them with a paper towel completely. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the eggplants for about 4 minutes on each side until they are golden and fully cooked.
Fry the tomatoes: Take the eggplants out of the pan and heat some more oil in the same pan. Cut the tomatoes in half and fry them for about 3 minutes on each side until charred and cooked.
Fry the garlic: Heat some oil in a pan over medium heat. Thinly slice the garlic cloves and fry them in the oil until golden and crispy.
Assemble: Place the fried eggplants on a platter and top them with the tomatoes and crispy garlic. Serve with the easy yogurt sauce.
Recipe Tips
Avoid sogginess: Eggplants get soggy if they contain too much oil after cooking. Make sure you fry the eggplants on a medium high heat and not low heat and place them on a kitchen paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.
freezing fried eggplant: While raw eggplant doesn’t freeze well, fried eggplant freezes beautifully. My mom used to have fried eggplant in the freezer for Persian eggplant stew and she would use it regularly. Once the eggplant is at room temperature, place the slices in a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months. To use, thaw them in the fridge overnight and then heat them with a drizzle of olive oil in a non stick pan.
Oil tempreture: It’s important to keep an eye on the oil and not to overheat it. You don’t want the oil to be smoking, but simply get hot and shiny.
Serving Suggestions
Essentially, this dish is served with a simple yogurt sauce made with yogurt, salt and dried mint. You can also serve it with our homemade tahini sauce if you like.
It makes a wonderful side dish to dishes such as beef shish kabob, garlic chicken or shish tawook. You can also serve it with some Turkish bulgur pilaf as a complete vegetarian dinner.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or subscribe to our newsletter to get a free e-Cookbook!
Fried Eggplant Recipe with Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 Italian eggplants
- 5 tbsp Canola oil, divided
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Yogurt sauce
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried mint
Instructions
- Wash the eggplants and slice them into 1/2-inch thick pieces.
- Place the eggplants on a baking sheet and generously sprinkle with salt on both sides. Let the eggplant sit for 45 minutes to one hour to "sweat out" the bitter liquid.
- Pat dry the eggplants on both sides with kitchen paper towel. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a non stick pan over medium heat.
- Once the oil is shimmery, fry the eggplant slices for about 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked. If your pan is small, fry the eggplants in batches.
- Take the eggplants out of the pan and place them on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.
- Cut the roma tomatoes in half. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in the same pan.
- Fry the tomatoes for 2 minutes on each side. Set them aside.
- In a small pan, heat the remaining one tablespoon olive oil. Thinly slice the garlic cloves. Fry the garlic slices with Aleppo pepper until golden and crispy.
- Place the fried eggplants in a platter and top them with fried tomatoes and fried garlic.
- Serve with yogurt sauce.
Yogurt sauce
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Serve with fried eggplant.
Video
Notes
- You can use any type of eggplant such as globe and graffiti for this recipe.
- Don’t skip salting the eggplants, this step will make the eggplant more delicious and will also result in using less oil.
- To fry the eggplants, you can use canola oil or avocado oil.
- You can also freeze this dish. Once the fried eggplant is at room temperature, place the slices in a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months. To use, thaw them in the fridge overnight and then heat them with a drizzle of olive oil in a non stick pan.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Vegetarian
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Basics
This recipe never says how to use the Aleppo pepper….
Sorry about that, just added that the Aleppo pepper should be added to the garlic while frying.
This is so delicious and very tasty! I’m so excited to make this again. My hubby and I loved this with our dinner and it’s one of our favorites!
I love the addition of Aleppo pepper and mint in this dish! So delicious!! 🙂
This is absolutely my favorite side dish! Definitely the recipe to keep handy for this summer!
I love a delicious eggplant recipe and this was no exception! Easy, hearty and packed with flavor!
I am a huge fan of eggplant and this recipe was one of the best I ever made great recipe!
Simply delicious! We ate the recipe as a main dish with the yogurt sauce. Love, love, love!
This was absolutely delicious! Will make it again for sure.
Oh, this is beautiful! I know you said it’s a side dish but I could eat this as a main dish – so delicious!
This dish is so fresh and flavorful! We loved it!