Updated July 23, 2024
Stuffed Eggplant Boats with feta, tomatoes and garlic – pretty good combination that many will enjoy!
Roasted eggplant halves is a great and creative recipe to share with your family or friends. The fact that all ingredients ar inside the eggplant, adds a unique presentation style to this dish.
This recipe is really easy to make and
You can serve it as a main dish or a snack, to entertain your guests, it is pretty versatile and delicious way to eat your favorite vegetables.
We love feta cheese with this baked eggplant recipe, but if you don’t, you can substitute it with mozzarella or other cheese.
How To Choose Eggplant
Selecting the best eggplants for this recipe is quite easy, but really crucial to make this recipe work. We will need to choose eggplants, that have shiny appearance and are smooth for the touch.
Eggplants should have a consistent, rich and deep color, without any discoloration signs. Avoid eggplants that are wrinkled, have soft spots and other indications of spoilage.
In general, choose a medium sized eggplants, as they tend to have less seeds and have a softer texture.
Tips For Roasted Eggplant Halves
Note that sliced eggplants get brown very fast, which means they have powerful antioxidants. However, it doesn’t effect the flavor in the end.
| Pro Tip: Drizzle inside halved eggplants with lemon juice or wrap them in a plastic to prevent browning. |
So yes, you can slow down the oxidation process. However, it still would be a nice idea to stuff eggplants quickly after you cut them.
You can use any kind of tomatoes for this recipe, we used small cherry tomatoes that are elegant and have beautiful sweetness in them.
Moreover, stuffed eggplant boats will be delicious, if topped with some tomato sauce!
Feta Cheese In Stuffed Eggplants
Yes, a quite noteable ingredient inside this eggplant boats is feta cheese, which adds tangy, salty flavor. Feta cheese is also lower in calories compared to some other types of cheese.
As always and with any recipe, you can always adjust it and just skip feta cheese if you dislike this type of cheese. You can also add more tomatoes or choose your favorite cheese instead!
Baked Eggplant Salad
When it comes to serve this recipe, it is way better to serve stuffed eggplant boats fresh, right from the oven.
Depending on how many people you will serve this dish, it can be a great idea to use large platter or wooden board for the crowd.
And for even more beautiful presentation of the roasted eggplant halves, sprinkle the platter with some additional parsley.
Storing Eggplant Boats
Even though we recommend to serve eggplant boats fresh and eat them during your lunch or dinner, there can be some leftovers, or you plan this recipe to be served in the following days.
In this case, eggplant boats can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days, placed in the good airtight container. Just make sure to cool them completely before storing in the fridge.
If you need to store this recipe for even longer, you can freeze stuffed eggplant boats, and store them that way for up to 3 months.
Let eggplant boats cool completely and then you can store them in the freezer bags or individual containers.
It is also a good idea to write down, on the freezer bags or container, the exact date when you stored them.
When needed, just reheat them in the oven for about 10-20 minutes until eggplant boats are warmed through.
We hope you like this recipe, as much as we did.
Check also our Greek Moussaka recipe – lasagna with beef and eggplants. If you love feta, you should check our vegetarian Horiatiki – Greek Salad.
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Stuffed Eggplant Boats
- knife and chopping board
- baking tray with parchment paper
- a large pan
- Oven
- 2 eggplants large
- 1 onion large
- 2 cloves garlic
- 6 cherry tomatoes
- 1 spring parsley + extra for serving
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 125 g feta cheese
- 2-3 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt to your taste
- 1 tsp pepper to your taste
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 180 C.
- Halve eggplants lengthwise. Spoon out the center of eggplants to make shells. Leave the shells and eggplant aside. You can drizzle it with lemon juice, so they will not brown.2 eggplants
- Chop onion, garlic, parsley and eggplant flesh.1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 spring parsley
- In a pan cook onions with garlic with a teaspoon of olive oil on a medium heat for 5 minutes.2-3 tsp olive oil
- Add chopped eggplant and cook 5 minutes more.
- Add salt and pepper. Remove the pan from heat.1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
- Stir in parsley and chopped tomatoes.6 cherry tomatoes, 1 spring parsley
- Slice feta cheese in cubes and add it in a pan.125 g feta cheese
- Add breadcrumbs and mix everything just until combined.1 cup bread crumbs
- Place eggplant boats on a baking tray, lined with parchment paper and drizzled with olive oil.2-3 tsp olive oil
- Stuff the shells with prepared vegetables and feta, distribute it evenly to all eggplant boats.
- Bake for about 40 minutes until eggplants are tender and brown. Top with extra parsley, if you want.
Amazing recipe! I (unfortunately) am also as oil free as possible so I used veggie broth to saute the veggies and also made an oil free feta out of tofu. Omg then followed the recipe and it was anazing!!! Thank you so much for a unique recipe that my non vegans will love!
Thank you so much Ileana for sharing your experience and adjustments! So happy that you loved the recipe 🙂
I love eggplant and with this recipe I replace the bread crumbs with cookes quinoa and add feta to the top of the baked eggplant and squeeze the juice of 1 -2 lemons after cooking. This makes it more filling so it can be the main course, serve with a simple salad and enjoy.
Thanks for your feedback, Christine! Love the idea of adding quinoa to the stuffing!
I was just at the Farmer’s Market yesterday standing in front of the eggplants thinking to myself that I should buy them… Now that I am seeing this recipe, I wish I had! Darn it. These are PERFECT for summer!
Haha, hope it’s not far to drive again!
This is such a wonderful healthy dinner! Perfect for weeknights!
Thanks!
Eggplant is such a unique treat because it can be made so many different ways. These stuffed eggplant boats is a recipe I will have to try soon.
Hope you will enjoy it as much as we had!
What a wonderful healthy recipe! I love all the flavors and your video makes it so easy!
Thank you! Give it a try 🙂
I have never had stuffed eggplant boats! This looks amazing. Eggplant is one of my favorite’s and we grow it in the summer. I’ll definitely be trying this soon! Thanks!
It’s worth making! Thank you, too 🙂