Classic Baba Ganoush Recipe – Smoky Middle Eastern roasted eggplant dip with tahini, garlic, lemon, olive oil and spices.
What is baba ganoush?
In Arabic, “baba” means father and “ghanoush” means spoiled. This “spoiled dad” dip is the creamier companion to hummus. Popular in Arab countries throughout the Middle East, it is also a common appetizer on the Sephardic Jewish table. In Israel, it is known as eggplant salad, or Salat Hatzilim. It is sometimes made with roasted bell peppers, and often mayonnaise is added for richness. I’ve even tasted sweet baba ghanoush with a touch of sugar in it. While I’ve provided a more classic version here, there are endless variations on this theme.
I’ve made baba ghanoush many times for my family over the years, and it took me some time to find the correct balance of flavors. Every time I made it, I would offer my husband a taste. In the nicest way possible, he would tell me– “Mmm. Good, but a little more tahini.” Or, “Yes, it’s almost there– maybe a touch more lemon juice?” Over time, I discovered the right combination. I knew I’d hit upon it when his face lit up. He smiled and said, “Just like my mom made.” I consider that the highest of kitchen compliments. 🙂
That said, Middle Eastern dips and salads like baba ghanoush and hummus are subject to taste. Some families prefer “a little more of this” or “a little less of that.” When in doubt, taste and adjust seasonings according to your palette.
For this baba ganoush recipe recipe, you will need to roast both eggplant and garlic. To learn how to roast eggplant, click here. To learn how to roast garlic, click here. You will also need to buy tahini sesame seed paste. Tahini can be found in the peanut butter section at most health food stores, and any Middle Eastern market will carry it. Many regular grocery stores have started stocking it, too.
How do you eat baba ganoush?
Baba ghanoush is usually served as an appetizer or mezze. It can be used as a dip or a spread and is typically served at room temperature.
What to serve with baba ganoush?
Baba ghanoush is healthy, gluten free, vegan, all natural and so delicious. Pair with pita bread, crackers or chips for a mouth-watering appetizer that your guests will love.
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Classic Baba Ghanoush
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants (about 3 lbs. total), roasted
- 1/3 cup tahini from light seeds, not "dark tahini"
- 3 cloves garlic roasted (or 1 raw, crushed)
- 2 whole fresh lemons, juiced or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh parsley for garnish (optional); you can also top with a sprinkle of paprika or smoked paprika
Instructions
- Roast the eggplant. You will find that roasting over an open flame will produce richer smoky 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 tahini, garlic, fresh lemon juice, cumin, salt, cayenne pepper and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil to the bowl. Use a fork and/or spoon to mash together the mixture, using firm pressure to break up the tahini paste, roasted garlic, and any stringiness of the eggplant. Mix until well combined. Note- I don't recommend using a food processor here, the texture is most authentic when using a fork to mash.Taste the dip. Add additional tahini, lemon juice, salt or cayenne pepper, if desired. The cayenne is extremely spicy, so add with care.
- Drizzle with olive oil, if desired - just a small amount will do. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired. Serve as a dip with pita bread, crackers or chips. If you prefer a cold dip, chill in the refrigerator prior to garnish. Store refrigerated in an airtight container.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Other Great Recipe Ideas
Good recipe. THE way to cook the eggplant beforehand is using one of those Chinese egg ceramic smokers. A water smoker, without the water, does fine too. Using part lime juice is an interesting touch–sort of a fruit flavor. Quite right on using the fork instead of the food processor. If you have trouble with stringy/firm eggplant just do some work on it with the chef’s knife and it’ll be fine.
You really get a strong smoke flavor with a smoker. I like to increase the garlic a bunch when I use the smoker–I think the two strong flavors compliment each other. Hot smoked paprika is good, too. Something to be said for adding 1/4 or so cup of olive oil at the end, too.
Dan White
Hi
I just made your baba ghanoush for the first time. It’s delicious and I’ll definitely be making it again. that you for the recipe.
Glad to hear it!
Tori, I did make your recipe, although I didn’t follow your proportions exactly because I wanted to try it out in a small quantity before committing to a larger amount. I only had a rather small eggplant, but it roasted beautifully on a gas burner. However, when I tried to mash it with a fork and even a potato masher, it remained stringy. The resulting baba ghanoush was delicious, but still had some stringy eggplant in it, so I wasn’t too happy with the texture. Any ideas of how to combat this without resorting to a food processor–or is this the way it ought to be?
Thanks again for a wonderful recipe. I’ll keep experimenting.
Hi Ruth! Generally speaking I don’t recommend food processor for baba ghanoush, the resulting texture is not appealing in my opinion. Fork is the best way to mash here. My guess is the overly stringy texture you encountered is due to the fact that you used a small eggplant. Larger eggplants will have more soft, pulpy flesh to work with. There will be a certain amount of small strings in most baba ghanoush, but the dominating texture is supposed to be creamy. Try a 1 pound eggplant or larger next time and see if it improves the texture for you. 🙂
Use a food processor, but you can pulse instead of letting it run. Frankly, I have eaten baba ganouj many times in Israel and the texture is pretty smooth. I can’t believe that in a restaurant kitchen they are standing around mashing eggplants with a fork.
BTW – if you throw in some pistachios while processing, they add a fabulous but unidentifiable taste to the dip. I had this in a gourmet restaurant in Tel Aviv and it was the best!
Pistachio tip is great, but I cannot recommend the food processor. Even with pulsing it will pulverize some of the seeds, which will cause texture issues and can even impart a bitter flavor.
Hi..many thks for your lovely recipes..Can you share with me the recipe of egg plant with Tahini, labna,salt & lemon pls?
Its an Arabic dish that I ate in Ryadh.
Thks to get bk to me as soon as possible pls.
Kind regards
Nadira
Hi Nadira! I will share that soon in an upcoming post. Subscribe to the site to keep informed on updates: https://toriavey.com/subscribe/
Nadira – your wish is my command 🙂 – https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/roasted-eggplant-yogurt-dip/
How many days will the baba ganoush keep in the refrigerator? Thanks!!
It should be fine for 3-4 days; always a good idea to smell it to see if it’s gone off.
Just used your recipe. It’s great. Even my finicky husband liked it.
This has become my standard recipe for baba ghanoush. I usually follow this recipe without any changes, and it always comes out beautifully. However, the latest time I made this, I discovered I was out of tahini, so I substituted organic peanut butter instead, but I also added toasted sesame seeds to add some tahini-like flavor. Still just as delicious!
Good recipe. Too much tahini, however. Next time I make it I will cut the tahini in half.
I tried several ways to get the egglants soft and well. The easiest way is to prik them, oil them and put into a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour. Turn them halfway.
They won’t get this smokey touch that way as by grilling or flaming but the difference in taste is minimal and this might be a little bit more healthy, cause you won’t have any burnt partikles.
The taste is great! We eat this with warm naan-bread, – mmmm
I never had Baba Ghanoush before and decided to try it since I have a ton of eggplant. This is absolutely delicious!! It’s going to be a staple in my house.
I roasted the eggplant on my grill. It took longer than I expected but I kept with it. I cheated and used my food processor 🙁 I also added a couple of drops of liquid smoke and garnished with some Parmesan cheese (my daughter’s idea!) Thank you for the recipe and I’m searching your blog for some other awesome recipes to try!!
I made Baba Ghanoush first time using this recipe, but I had 3 medium eggplants, so I changed proportions to 1/2 tahini instead, also chose to roast garlic cloves, the rest left as I was. I salted eggplants and let them sit 30 min to prevent bitterness. Then cooked them in the oven. Also used food processor for mixing. Let me tell you it was delicios! Think better than the one I had in the restaurant! I end up yielding 1L of yumminess! Thanks a lot for sharing! I’m usually nervous to try new recipes because sometimes they end up tasting not what you expect, well this Baba Ghanoush definitely exceeded my expectations! 🙂
I just made your baba ganoush this afternoon. It was surprisingly easy, though I was a bit nervous about putting the eggplant over the stove flame. After 30 minutes of turning on the flame, the eggplants were extremely soft, charred, and shriveled. It was a cinch to put the recipe together. I use my own homemade tahini. I never roasted garlic before…I was eating cloves of it since I didn’t have a cracker and it was delicious. I also made your falafel recipe. I’ve been having good luck making your recipes. I love how you break everything down. Great site, thank you.
Perfect balance of creamy texture, smoky aubergine, tart lemon, slight heat from the cayenne and the gentle nutty flavour of tahini in the background. Delicious!
Mine was bitter ?
Hi Jbub, unfortunately some eggplants are naturally bitter. It’s pretty rare and tends to happen with larger eggplants; you can cut down your chances by using smaller eggplants, and you can even take a taste of the raw eggplant prior to roasting to see how it tastes. If it’s bitter, cut it in half and salt it in a colander for 30 minutes, then rinse and roast in the oven.
Hi
I’m making oven roast or fried Eggplants for our PASTA ALLA NORMA.
It is a must to avoid the bitter from E.P. so I suggest that you cut the vegetable into 2 pieces, then salt
it and put on a colander with a heavy glass jar on top to push out the bitter liquid.
After 1 hr squeeze wash and dry before putting in the oven. You will get a sweet sweet Aubergine …
Hi Tory,
I just made your baba ganoush! And like all of your recipes, I was sure it would be a winner. It actually tastes great, but is very thin and more saucy than I thought it would be. I noticed that you included 1/3 cup tahini as an ingredient to add – then in the instructions you say to mash up the ‘tahini paste’. Since you did not specify in the ingredients, I bought tahini that appears to be more like a sauce and not a paste. Did you mean to use the ‘paste’? And if so, do you think if I add tahini paste at this point I can thicken it to be more of a spread? Thank you, Randi
Hi Randi– when tahini is mentioned as an ingredient in a recipe, it generally means tahini paste, not sauce (which has garlic, lemon, salt and water added). That said, tahini pastes can vary in terms of texture… some are more liquid, especially if you don’t stir them up first– the solid paste tends to settle on the bottom. Some are naturally more paste-like. The best way to deal with this is to add as much tahini as you want for texture and flavor. If, however, you find the sauce to be too liquid now, I would suggest roasting another eggplant and stirring that in to thicken it up. At that point, if you feel like you want a creamier, nuttier flavor, just add tahini paste little by little until the texture you’re looking for is achieved. Good luck!
hey, we do something similar in Romania, try to filter the baked eggplants, after you Scoop them out of the Shell with a spoon ( non metallic ). Let them drip ‘dry’ for about 30 minutes
I have been searching for a good baba ghanoush recipe that tastes like the one from a favorite Lebanese restaurant. THIS is IT!! I loved it! I broiled my eggplant until charred on all sides and put it into a bowl and left covered for 20 mins. or so before removing the skins. It gave the eggplant a wonderful smoky flavor without having to grill it. I am SO excited to have found this! Thank you!
Very happy you liked it Mary!
Easy to make and grilling the eggplant on my gas stove was the best. Next time I will use less lemon though. It is a bit overpowering.
Good stuff
Have been looking for you for some time…so happy to find you again. Made Barbara ganoush two days ago w/no recipe. Something wasn’t quite right. First, I used a food processor…way too smooth…almost pasty. Know now temp wasn’t high enough when roasting eggplant. I compensated for the lack of smoky flavor by adding some smoked paprika..it helpful a lot. Your recipe will definitely be my next effort. Thank you.
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Hi Donna! Bookmark the site so you won’t lose it again. 🙂 I never make baba ganoush in the food processor, the texture and flavor are totally different when made that way. I really recommend making it as written here, I’m sure you’ll have a much better result. Smoked paprika is a nice touch too.
oh wow! sounds so good! thanks for sharing, i am making some right now!