Creamy Baba Ghanoush – Recipe for luscious Middle Eastern roasted eggplant dip, rich with sesame tahini. Healthy and tasty!
In Arabic, “baba” means father and “ghanoush” means spoiled. This “spoiled dad” dip (sometimes spelled babaganoush) is the creamier companion to hummus. If you have never tried it, you are in for a treat! Baba ghanoush is popular in countries throughout the Middle East. In Israel, it is known as eggplant salad, or salat hatzilim. In my home, it’s known as irresistible.
I used to think you needed to add bells and whistles to baba ghanoush to make it tasty… spices, lemon juice, etc. My Classic Baba Ghanoush recipe includes cumin, lemon and a little cayenne for heat. It’s a great recipe and readers love it, but lately I’ve been craving a creamier dip. I’ve pared my original recipe down to four simple ingredients… roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic and salt. Magically, that’s all you need to create a really creamy, really scrumptious baba ghanoush.
Mayonnaise is sometimes added to baba ghanoush to enhance the creamy texture (I love mayo, but not in my eggplant dip!). With the following recipe, you don’t need any mayo to make it creamy. All of that creamy goodness comes from tahini, a smooth paste made from toasted sesame seeds. Tahini is sold by the jar in Middle Eastern markets and at most health food stores; the creamier the tahini is, the creamier your dip will be. Roasting the eggplant gives it a wonderful smoky flavor, especially if you cook it over a gas flame. Serve it with warm pita bread, crackers or crudites.
We eat it by the spoonful. This stuff is highly addictive. You’ve been warned!
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Creamy Baba Ghanoush
Ingredients
- 3 pounds eggplant (about 2) roasted
- 6 tablespoons tahini
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- Fresh parsley and paprika or smoked paprika for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Roast the eggplant; roasting over an open flame is recommended and will produce a smokier, richer flavor. For instructions, click here. Place the roasted eggplant pulp into a bowl with half of the smoky cooking liquid. Discard the skin and reserve the remaining cooking liquid. Let the eggplant return to room temperature.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Use a fork to stir well, breaking up any stringy pieces of eggplant, until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If the mixture seems too thick, stir in more of the cooking liquid. Taste the dip; add additional garlic or salt to taste, if desired.
- Serve dip at room temperature or chilled, depending on preference, with pita bread, crackers or veggies for dipping. Garnish with a little paprika or smoked paprika if desired.
Nutrition
I just loved it… sitting miles away in India, I have tried your couple of recipes and loved all of them.
Cooking way of Baba Ghanoush is somewhat similar to Indian style of cooking “Baingan ka Bhurta”.
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/recipe/Baingan-Bharta.html
Only difference is our recipe is cooked again (after peeling eggplants).
Anyways, good work and thanks for your recipes
Ashok glad you loved it all the way in India! 🙂
I love this, I usually roast my eggplant in the oven for 45 minutes, peel and puree. I’ll have to try you’re stovetop method.
Kathleen, try it sometime! There is definitely a big flavor difference roasting it on the stovetop. Also when you say puree, are you doing that with a food processor or a fork? I always blend mine with a fork– the food processor produces a texture that is too pureed for my taste. In my opinion a fork is definitely the way to go! If the eggplant is well roasted, it only takes a couple of minutes to break it up with a fork, and you don’t need to wash out another appliance. 🙂
looks great. a little lemon juice in it gives it a lift – if you think you need it
Hi Ian, my other baba ghanoush recipe does include lemon, but I specifically omitted it from this one in order to highlight the creamy tahini flavor. You can certainly add a little if you like.
Just got back from Israel and am craving the foods we ate there. Your recipes sound great.
I am not quite understanding about open flame roasting. When I roast peppers….I hold them over the flame with tongs. But this calls for reserved liquid….so please help me understand the process. Feeling pretty dense!
Yocheved, please read this blog, it will explain the process in-depth: https://toriavey.com/how-to-roast-eggplant/
I made this for a party tonight, couldn’t stop tasting it while making it. It got a lovely smokey flavour from the gas range roasting! And I think I will definitely serve it with the smoked paprike on top. Do you think this would work as a pasta sauce, or does it separate when heated?
Holly I’m so glad you liked it! The pasta sauce is a very interesting idea, I’ve never tried it like that before. I don’t think it would separate, but I wonder how the texture will be after mixing with the pasta. If you try it will you let me know how you like it?
Wish to learn how to prepare something with dates. Thank you for consideration.
I just love Babagouch.
we call babagnaoush melanzania, from the italian name of aubergine. greets from austria, claudia
I love aubergine and I love dips, I have tried every single baba ghanoush on the market but never liked them, I have now just given up and realised, I don’t like it. It is not the brand, it is just not pleasant to me….it is a bit of a weird realisation 🙁
Oh Natasha, you’ve got to try homemade! Soooo much better than the ones they sell in tubs. I’ve never found a premade one I like either, but homemade or from a good restaurant is a totally different world!