I love taking advantage of all the fresh produce in summer and all the color and texture it brings to my plate! This week I played around with eggplant, which has a unique almost meaty texture. I gave it a quick soy glaze treatment that I’ve previously used for chicken thighs (see Sticky Ginger Soy Glazed Chicken) and it worked perfectly. This Soy Glazed Eggplant makes for a super fast and easy vegetarian weeknight dinner, which also meal preps well for the week. As with most stir fries, this recipe is quite versatile, so I’ll list some options for you below!
Make it Spicy or Mild
This recipe for Soy Glazed Eggplant as written is below NOT spicy (without optional sriracha mayo topping), but you could easily make it a spicy stir fry, if you prefer. Simply add a tablespoon or two of sriracha or chili garlic sauce to the soy glaze mixture and you’re good to go. Or, add a few crushed red pepper flakes to the finished dish.
Make it Vegan
The Soy Glazed Eggplant by itself is vegan, but I topped mine with sriracha mayo. If you want to avoid the mayo to make the whole bowl vegan, I suggest adding a few slices of avocado to your bowl or using vegan mayo if you have it. The addition of a creamy topping does a wonderful job of balancing the sweet and salty flavors of the Soy Glazed Eggplant, and really takes the bowls to the next level.
Should I Use Fresh or Dried Ginger?
I almost always use fresh ginger in my recipes because it tastes completely different than dried ground ginger. If you keep a knob of ginger in your freezer you’ll always have fresh on hand and it’s super easy to grate on a cheese grater when frozen. If you must use dried ground ginger, I suggest using 1/2 to 1 tsp, adjusting it to your tastebuds.
How to Serve Soy Glazed Eggplant
I served mine on top of brown rice and topped with chopped peanuts, sliced green onions, and a drizzle of sriracha mayo. You could also serve this with noodles (add cooked noodles to the skillet and toss with the soy glazed eggplant), and add something green on the side, like broccoli or snow peas.
Soy Glazed Eggplant
Servings 4Ingredients
Soy Glazed Eggplant
- 1 eggplant (5-6 cups cubed) ($1.29)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.48)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.16)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.30)
Optional for Serving
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts ($0.12)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.23)
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.60)
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise* ($0.17)
- 1 Tbsp sriracha* ($0.11)
Instructions
- Cut the eggplant into 3/4-inch cubes. The easiest way to do this is to first slice the eggplant into 3/4-inch slices, then lay each slice flat and slice into 3/4-inch squares.
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet at heat over medium. Once hot, swirl the oil to coat the surface of the skillet, then add the eggplant cubes. Cook the eggplant cubes, stirring occasionally, until they are softened (about ten minutes). If the eggplant begins to stick, add a couple tablespoons of water to the skillet to help loosen the eggplant.
- While the eggplant is cooking, prepare the soy ginger glaze. Stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, and ginger in a bowl.
- Once the eggplant is soft, pour in the soy ginger glaze, making sure to scrape out all the sugar that may have settled to the bottom of the bowl. Continue to stir and cook the eggplant in the skillet, dissolving any browned bits off the bottom, for about 5 more minutes.
- Top the eggplant with chopped peanuts and sliced green onion before serving. Serve over warm rice with a drizzle of sriracha mayo, if desired.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Soy Glazed Eggplant – Step by Step Photos
Grab yourself one medium eggplant for this recipe. They were priced per item at the store today, so I didn’t get the scale weight from the register, but this recipe is pretty flexible. I had about 5-6 cups once it was cubed. The size of this eggplant was about 1.5x the length of my hand.
Cut the eggplant into 3/4-inch cubes. To do this, first slice the eggplant into 3/4-inch slices, then lay each slice flat and cut into squares.
Add 2 Tbsp olive oil (or your favorite cooking oil) to a large skillet and heat over medium. Once hot, give it a swirl to coat the skillet, then add the cubed eggplant. Cook the eggplant, stirring occasionally, until it has softened (about 10 minutes). If the eggplant begins to stick too much, add a couple tablespoons of water to the skillet to help loosen it up.
While the eggplant is cooking, make the soy ginger glaze. In a bowl combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 cloves of garlic (minced), and about 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger. Stir them together. The brown sugar probably won’t fully dissolve, but that’s okay.
Once the eggplant has softened, add the glaze, making sure to scrape all the sugar out of the bowl.
Continue to stir and cook the eggplant with the glaze over medium heat for about 5 minutes more. The glaze should be bubbling.
Top the Soy Glazed Eggplant with sliced green onion and about 1/4 cup chopped peanuts (optional).
I served my Soy Glazed Eggplant over brown rice and with sriracha mayo drizzled on top. To make the sriracha mayo, simply stir together 2 Tbsp mayonnaise with 1 Tbsp sriracha.
Just made this! Doubled the sauce because I added some chicken and instant udon noodles. Also added a little sesame oil to the sauce. I will say I probably could have just done a time and a half for the sauce instead of double as it ended up being a a little too salty but that’s my fault. I’ve made so many budget bytes recipes and never left a review, so I figured I should start because they’re always so good!!
I always thought I hated eggplant…until I tried this! It packs a lot into a few very simple steps, and the texture is SO good! My family cleaned the first batch out entirely; I managed to save enough from the second batch to take to work, along with brown rice and green onion, as you suggest, but also topped with a fried egg.
Umm… I’ve cooked A LOT of recipes from BB, but this is the first one I’ve ever commented on… mostly because it was such a surprise as to HOW MUCH I liked it. Mostly I chose this recipe because we had an over abundance of eggplant in my CSA this week, but wow! I loved it, my eight year old loved it (full disclosure- my 3 year old twins did not like it), it was fast and very easy to prepare. Definitely will be on our table in the future along with many other recipes from this site. Thanks Beth!
This recipe is magnificent! The sauce is perfect and goes so well with Eggplant – one of my very favorite veggies (as long as it’s cooked til very tender). I served this on rice and added tempeh for some more protein. I also had some fresh basil on hand and that really added some amazingness to the sauce. I am 100% making this more times!
Is it good the next day??
I enjoyed the leftovers. :)
Yes! It’s just as good reheated as it is fresh, I didn’t notice any change in texture or flavor
Just delicious! I added more sauce 😁 because i want really saucy. I also had leftover water spinach and added it in. Delicious!
You are one of my recipe resource guides when I need ideas!
Ok, this is a VERY surprising recipe. Who could guess eggplants could reach this level of deliciousness? I couldn’t, to be honest. Just made it and I am bewildered. This is a go-to, thank you!!
My new GO TO for my Meatless Monday! Incredible!
Would this work with steak for a sort of stir-fry?
I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but you can use this same “sauce” for any type of stir fry. :)
I’ve made this before following the recipe exactly, and loved it. Tonight, though, I added a diced orange bell pepper cooked along with the eggplant, a dash of sesame oil in the glaze, and some imitation crab meat added in the same step as the glaze. On a bowl of rice, topped with green onion and sesame seeds, it makes an easy and tasty meal!
This recipe was delicious. It’s a quick recipe that reminds me of an eggplant dish my aunt in Japan makes. So happy! I’m excited to add this into the dinner routine.
Excellent recipe! I substituted honey for brown sugar and added chickpeas and it turned out well! Thanks, Beth!
I love the flexibility of this recipe. I added a cubed portobello mushroom cap (sauteed in separate pan from the eggplant) and subbed maple syrup for the brown sugar, and it was delicious. :)
This was incredibly easy to make and it turns out most deliciously! The only thing I altered was less garlic (because I didn’t have enough on hand) and a lot more ginger (because I love ginger).
This is the best eggplant recipe I have ever tried! I only ate eggplant in restaurants but decided it was time for me to learn how to cook it. The last 4 tries resulted in edible dishes that didn’t make it to the favorites list. This Soy Glazed Eggplant was a success. Everybody in the family gave it 5 stars. This recipe is going straight to the top of our Favorites because it was easy, fast and delicious!!!
This sounds so good and I’m dying to try it! Question: When I use eggplant for an Italian recipe, I have had to salt it first to get rid of any bitterness and then rinse the salt off after 30 mins. Is this not necessary for this recipe? Thanks!
I never salt my eggplant and never have a problem with bitterness. :) I read somewhere once where that was needed a long time ago with older varieties of eggplant that tended to be more bitter than today’s eggplant. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that I never salt them and never have a problem with bitterness (although I do tend to like food that is more bitter, like dark leafy greens and coffee).
I’m also dying to make this and had a similar question regarding salting the eggplant, but I’d read it helps it release water that would otherwise make it really spongey when you go to fry it (which I’ve been unfortunate enough to deal with when stir-frying—not when roasting though).
Any recommendations for getting silky rather than oily sponge texture?
I really haven’t had an issue with the texture being spongey in this recipe. Maybe it’s the salt in the sauce that helps draw out the last bit of moisture to make the eggplant soft instead of spongey and dry?