Stuffed Eggplant Boats

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Looking for a low-carb meal that is delicious, warm, and filling? These Stuffed Eggplant Boats are perfect as a main dish served with any variety of sides, or they could stand alone as a perfect family lunch or dinner! Load your fresh eggplants up with a perfectly spiced ground beef mixture, top it with a tangy yogurt sauce and watch your friends and family devour them.

Stuffed eggplant boats

Stuffed Eggplant Boats with Yogurt Sauce:

These easy stuffed eggplant boats are a simple, fresh, and delicious! I don’t let any of the eggplant go to waste here, I don’t peel the skin, and I load up the eggplant boats with a ground beef filling that includes the scooped eggplant flesh.

If you like my stuffed eggplant recipe you will love this too because it’s easier to make and tastes just as amazing. And if you love more beef stuffed veggies recipes, then be sure to check out: Air Fryer Stuffed Mushrooms, Stuffed Zucchini, Lebanese Stuffed Grape Leaves, & Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.

Ingredients to Make Stuffed Eggplant Boats:

Ready to make this easy beef stuffed eggplant boats recipe? It requires just a few every day ingredients and comes together in under 30 minutes. Here’s all you need:

  • Eggplant: Ofcourse! I used 12 baby eggplants.
  • Lean ground beef: I use 90% lean ground beef as it has plenty of flavor without a lot of grease.
  • Onions: Diced
  • Olive oil: For cooking the ground beef mixture.
  • Yogurt: Any plain, unsweetened yogurt.
  • Garlic: Punches it up.
  • Lemon juice: For extra tanginess.
  • Seasoning: Salt, black pepper and all spice.
  • Pomegranates seeds: adds extra tanginess to the dish and balances the flavors.
  • Parsley: Chopped for garnishing.

That’s it, let’s cook!

How to Stuff Eggplant

  • Preheat oven to 370F.
  • Slice cleaned and dried eggplant in half lengthwise and using a melon baller or a teaspoon scoop out the pulp, leaving about ¼ inch thickness. Reserve the eggplant flesh, to use for with the ground beef stuffing mixture.
  • Brush the eggplants with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
  • Arrange on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
  • While the eggplants are roasting, prepare the meat filling. In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat olive oil, add diced onion and cook until softened, for about 5-7 minutes.
  • Then add the beef and brown for a few minutes, or until almost cooked through.
  • Dice the eggplant flesh and add to the ground beef filling, mix well. Cook until eggplant is soft and meat is cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Taste for salt and seasoning and adjust.
  • Spoon the mixture into each eggplant boat.
  • Prepare yogurt sauce: In a small bowl, add crushed garlic, salt, lemon juice and yogurt. Mix well until creamy and well combined.
  • Add a dallop of the yogurt sauce over each stuffed eggplant, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, some pomegranate seeds and enjoy!

FAQ

Do you peel eggplant before roasting?

You don’t necessarily need to peel the eggplant before roasting. The entire eggplant with skin is edible, in fact, it contains more nutrients than the eggplant flesh itself. However, if your eggplant is not fresh, the skin can be bitter or too tough to chew on. In this case, you can remove the skin.

What Size Eggplant is Best for this Recipe?

I like to use baby eggplants in this recipe, because they are less spongey and more tender. However, since the spongey interior of the eggplant is scooped out and then sautéed, it’s OK to use slightly larger eggplants for this recipe.

Can you Freeze Eggplant Boats?

Yes! Baked roasted eggplant freezes really well when placed in an air tight container or freezer friendly zip lock bags. If you want to freeze stuffed eggplant boats, I recommend you freeze the meat filling separate for up to 2 months.

How to store it

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge it will keep for up to 3-4 days. Reheat in a low oven or microwave. You can also freeze the baked and completely cooled stuffed eggplant. Freeze in a freezer safe container, they will keep for up to a month in the freezer. Thaw then re-heat in a low oven or microwave.

  • Skillet. A high-quality skillet is an essential tool in my kitchen.
  • Spatula. I like the silicon rubber ones.
  • Extra Large Cutting Board. The extra space is so helpful when cutting the eggplant for this recipe.
  • Melon Baller. The perfect tool for hollowing out the eggplant boats.
  • Baking Sheet. For roasting your eggplant boats.

MORE ASY EGGPLANT RECIPES:

If you like more easy eggplant recipes (aubergine) you must check these out!

Eggplant Fatteh

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Baba Ganoush- Eggplant Dip

Eggplant & Chickpea Stew

If you try this Stuffed Eggplant Boats with ground beef recipe, please leave a comment and a star rating below.  Your feedback is so appreciated and helps other Salt & Sweet readers who are planning to make this recipe. Thank you!

Stuffed eggplant boats

Stuffed Eggplant Boats

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Looking for a low-carb meal that is delicious, warm, and filling? These Stuffed Eggplant Boats are perfect as a main dish served with any variety of sides, or they could stand alone as a perfect family lunch or dinner! Load your fresh eggplants up with a perfectly spiced ground beef mixture, top it with a tangy yogurt sauce and watch your friends and family devour them.

Ingredients

For the Eggplant Boats:

  • 12 baby eggplants
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon

For the Beef Filling:

  • ½ lb extra lean ground beef
  • 1 onion- diced
  • Eggplant flesh- diced
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt - or more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the Yogurt Sauce:

  • 2 cups plain yogurt
  • 1 garlic clove- crushed
  • Lemon juice - from ½ a lemon
  • ½ tsp salt

For the Garnish:

  • Fresh parsley- Chopped
  • Pomegranate seeds

Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 370F.
    2. Slice cleaned and dried eggplant in half lengthwise and using a teaspoon scoop out the pulp, leaving about ¼ inch thickness. Reserve the eggplant flesh, to use for with the ground beef stuffing mixture.
    3. Brush the eggplants with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
    4. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
    5. While the eggplants are roasting, prepare the meat filling. In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat olive oil, add diced onion and cook until softened, for about 5-7 minutes.
    6. Then add the beef and brown for a few minutes, or until almost cooked through.
    7. Dice the eggplant flesh and add to the ground beef filling, mix well. Cook until eggplant is soft and meat is cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Taste for salt and seasoning and adjust.
    8. Spoon the mixture into each eggplant boat.
    9. Prepare yogurt sauce: In a small bowl, add crushed garlic, salt lemon juice and yogurt. Mix well until creamy and well combined.
    10. Add a dallop of the yogurt sauce over each stuffed eggplant, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, some pomegranate seeds and enjoy!





Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 413Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 646mgCarbohydrates: 124gFiber: 33gSugar: 52gProtein: 26g

Please note that the nutrition label provided is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.

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18 Comments

  1. This was a great happy medium recipe for myself and my vegetarian sister, I made these when she came over and made hers with tofu and eggplant yet the presentation of it was exactly like my ground beef eggplant. We both loved the yogurt dressing and can’t wait to make it again for our next lunch date.

  2. I make zucchini boats all the time but never thought to make eggplant boats till I saw this post. They came out great, I used ground turkey instead of ground beef and it worked great.

  3. I really enjoyed these eggplant boats. I used chicken mince for the filling. It was so good. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.

  4. This year hubby grew less zucchini so he could try eggplant and wow did they grow!! We have had such a glut of them.
    I have been cooking them for weeks!
    But these boats were one of the best things we made, I think it was the allspice in the meat mix. It added that little something that no one could quite identify but that really boosted the flavor.
    We loved the yoghurt topping but next time i am going to try add some cheese!

  5. This was a delicious way to try making eggplants! The directions were easy to follow; this was my first time cooking with eggplant! We will be making these again!

  6. I made this eggplant dish this weekend for a dinner party. They were delicious and looked so elegant on the plate. My guests raved about them! I will make again for sure.

  7. I love anything with eggplants but sadly my kids don’t like them. So when I came across your recipe, I decided to half it. I made it with 6 baby eggplants and I kind of regret that I didn’t make the whole recipe. Because I couldn’t stop eating them. They are too delish.

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