This stuffed eggplant recipe has a delicious filling of walnuts, herbs and cheese for a hearty low carb meal. The crunch of the walnuts combines deliciously with the cooked eggplant and melted cheese.
A vegetarian stuffed eggplant can use various fillings from spinach, mushroom or tomatoes. With this recipe I am using walnuts and cheese for a good balance of fats and protein. It’s a recipe I used to make many years ago and almost forgotten about it. My fridge had eggplants, walnuts and cheese so I thought I would revisit the recipe.
How to make stuffed eggplant
This is a twice baked eggplant recipe. First the eggplant “flesh” is removed from its shell and cooked in a pan. Walnuts, seasoning and grated cheese are added. The mixture is then spooned back into the empty eggplant shells and baked until tender.
You could prepare the stuffed eggplant before baking and keep in the fridge until you are ready to bake it.
I used English cheddar cheese for this recipe as I wanted a cheese with more flavour then American cheddar cheese. Other cheddar varieties could be used or even other cheeses.
What to serve with stuffed eggplant
This walnut & cheese stuffed eggplant is a hearty enough dish that you may not want too many side dishes along it. However, that can depend upon the size of the eggplant you are serving. If you are using a small eggplant, a couple of side salads would be a great choice. A great flavour pairing would be the lemon herb cauliflower rice or the cucumber & radish salad.
Tips
If you want to make this dish vegan, omit the cheese and replace it with mushrooms or spinach.
Use other cheese in place of the Cheddar. Feta, paneer or ricotta would be a great choice.
Other eggplant recipes to enjoy
Stuffed Eggplant with Walnuts & Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants medium size
- 3 cloves garlic peeled & chopped
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
- 1 cup 170g Cheddar Cheese grated English cheddar
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Fresh parsley chopped to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F degrees
- Halve the eggplants lengthwise
- Cut around the inside edge to separate the meat of the eggplant from the skin.
- Scoop out the meat and roughly chop. Set eggplant shells aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the chopped eggplant, stirring frequently, and cook until tender, about 6 minutes.
- Add the chopped garlic, oregano, salt & black pepper.
- Cook for a further 4 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped walnuts and ¾ cup of the grated Cheddar cheese
- Stir well until the mixture is combined.
- Place empty shells on a greased baking sheet and fill with the stuffing.
- Sprinkle with the remaining grated Cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until the eggplant is fork tender.
- Serve with the parsley scattered on top.
Notes
Any nutritional analysis on the website is based on an estimate, calculated by http://nutritiondata.self.com from the individual ingredients in each recipe. Variations may occur for various reasons, including product availability and food preparation. We make no representation or warranty of the accuracy of this information.
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