Smoky, juicy, and bursting with garden freshness — this roasted eggplant vegetable salad is summer in a bowl. Golden slices of fried eggplant mingle with crisp cucumbers, ripe tomatoes, sweet bell pepper, and a garlicky herb dressing that ties everything together. If you love eggplant as much as we do, you’ll also enjoy our Warm Eggplant and Mozzarella Salad — and this version is fully vegan.
Ingredients
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 cucumbers
- 1–2 eggplants
- Fresh herbs, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- Salt, to taste
- Splash of vinegar (optional)
Instructions
- Slice the eggplant and salt it to draw out bitterness.
- Rinse, pat dry, and fry in oil until done.
- Chop all the vegetables as shown, mince the garlic and herbs.
- Season with salt and dress with oil (a couple of drops of vinegar are optional).
Tips
- Salting the eggplant and letting it rest for 10 minutes draws out bitterness and keeps the slices from soaking up too much oil — a trick you’ll find in many classic preparations on Allrecipes.
- Pat the eggplant completely dry before it hits the pan so it fries up golden instead of steaming.
- This salad tastes even better after 30 minutes in the fridge, once the vegetables have soaked up the dressing. For another bold take on the vegetable, try our Korean-Style Marinated Eggplant Salad.
Nutrition: per 100 g: 60 kcal, protein 1.4 g, fat 3.8 g, carbs 5 g.