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Easy roasted eggplant and tomatoes create a beautiful and silky sauce! Serve over a bed of golden yellow creamy polenta or tossed with your favorite pasta. Rich and meaty, but without the actual meat. Try this tonight with the family!
You will absolutely not miss the meat when it comes to this dish. The eggplant has such a meaty texture to it. When cooked, it’s almost a custardy texture but still enough to bite into. This recipe is a simple idea to work with. You can experiment, if you like, with a mix of wild mushrooms, lentils, or even chickpeas added to the original recipe and make it your own. The roasting process brings out the eggplant’s natural sweetness, and the result is a complex, savory ragu that’s so delicious, you’ll forget it’s vegetarian. Though the recipe takes time, it’s well worth the effort. It’s so easy too!
For this dish, the only time-consuming step you have to do is roasting the eggplant! When you cube it, make sure it’s 1-inch cubes. Season them then throw them into the oven for 20 minutes at 425F. The rest is easy and simple! Make the sauce for the eggplant and boil the pasta. I recommend using some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce, then mixing the pasta right in the sauce. This recipe will take about 40 minutes of your time. It’s well worth the wait though! Silky, meaty, healthy, and delicious.
Helpful Ragu Tips:
- You don’t have to peel the eggplant. I personally did, but if you want to keep the skin on you can! The skin brings a little bit more texture to the dish.
- Use a homemade tomato sauce. I made my own sauce with simple ingredients. But, if you prefer, you can buy your favorite jarred sauce and just add the eggplant into the sauce. Of course, you might want to spruce up the jarred sauce with some sauteed onions and garlic, and a little extra seasoning. (Jarred sauces are so bland in my opinion!)
- Looking to make it more healthy? Make some zoodles! Spiralize some zucchinis into noodle, or buy some predone! You can even add some extra roasted veggies such as zucchini, mushrooms, or broccoli.
Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Follow my Facebook page for updates as well! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.
Roasted Eggplant Ragu
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, peeled and cubed 1-inch pieces (*1)
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 (15 oz) can san marzano tomatoes, diced
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp basil
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tbsp butter, optional
- 1 lb pasta of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the eggplant in the bowl with salt, pepper, 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp onion powder, and 1/4 cup of olive oil. (*2) Spread the eggplant on the baking sheet and drizzle with more oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping once halfway through.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Start the sauce when the eggplant has 10 minutes left.
- In a dutch oven, heat on medium-high heat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Saute the onions for 5 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes more until aromatic.
- Pour in white wine and let it simmer until the wine reduces and the alcohol cooks out, about 5-7 minutes. Add the san Marzano tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir and season with salt, pepper, remaining garlic powder and onion powder, basil, and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Add the pasta water and stir. Let it simmer for 20 minutes to marry the flavors together.
- Add the butter at the end if using, and stir. Toss the pasta into the sauce and serve with some grated parmesan or parsley.
Notes:
(*1) You don’t have to peel the eggplant. If you choose to leave the skin on, continue with the steps.
(*2) If it looks a bit dry, you can add more oil.
Note: If you choose to use jarred sauce, skip the sauce ingredients and skip steps 3-5. You can choose to add sauteed onions and garlic to the jarred sauce and season the sauce to spruce it up a little bit!
Nutrition Facts
Calories
384.46Fat (grams)
10.86Sat. Fat (grams)
4.44Carbs (grams)
61.33Fiber (grams)
8.26Net carbs
53.07Sugar (grams)
12.54Protein (grams)
10.61Sodium (milligrams)
151.75Cholesterol (grams)
15.27I did my best to research! Let me know if this is right.
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Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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