How to Fry Eggplant with Less Oil – Learn to fry eggplant slices perfectly golden crisp without getting soggy or oil-soaked. Healthier frying method for eggplant.
Do you love fried eggplant, but hate that it soaks up oil as it cooks? For years I avoided cooking eggplant slices; they really slurp up oil like a sponge. I replaced fried slices with roasted eggplant pieces in many dishes (those roasted pieces are great, by the way!). But there are times when we crave the taste of fried eggplant.
Well guess what? You CAN fry eggplant in oil without it turning soggy or greasy! The secret? Egg whites! Hey, it works for pie crust, doesn’t it??
I’ve run through the basic concept below. This method has consistently given me perfect, golden brown slices of fried eggplant while minimizing the amount of oil needed for a great result. The only thing you need to watch out for is splattering… wear an apron, and be aware that in the first 60 seconds of frying there may be a few little splatters here and there.
Those of you who love eggplant will adore this recipe. If you try it, let me know how it works for you! One more tip… I love to serve the fresh, hot fried slices topped with tahini sauce and a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley. Toasted pine nuts are a nice touch as well. Highly recommended!
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How to Fry Eggplant with Less Oil
Ingredients
- 1 pound eggplant, about 1 medium
- Salt and pepper
- 2 large egg whites
- Oil with a high smoke point for frying (grapeseed, avocado, and peanut oil work well)
NOTES
Instructions
- Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. Place the rounds in a colander and sprinkle them with salt (sea salt, kosher salt, any kind of salt will work). Make sure each eggplant round has a thin sprinkling of salt on it. Let the slices sit for 20-30 minutes until beads of liquid form on the surface. This process helps to remove any bitterness that may be present in the eggplant. Note that if you're using smaller eggplant pieces here, like Japanese eggplant, they are very rarely bitter and likely will not need salting. I usually use a medium-sized eggplant in this preparation because I like the size of the slices it produces for frying.
- Rinse the eggplant pieces thoroughly to remove the salt. Pat dry and spread out on a cutting board. Sprinkle the eggplant slices lightly with salt. The salt from the colander will be mostly gone after rinsing; if you're salt sensitive, you can skip adding salt at this point and add to taste after frying. Sprinkle the slices lightly with black pepper (also optional, but recommended). Whisk the two egg whites in a small bowl for about 60 seconds. Brush the seasoned eggplant slices with a THIN layer of egg white, making sure the entire white surface of the slice is coated. Turn the slices and brush the other side with another thin layer of egg white, so all white surfaces of the slices are covered with egg white.
- Heat 1/4 inch of grapeseed oil in a nonstick skillet over medium until hot enough for frying. The ideal temperature for frying eggplant is about 365-375 degrees F. The best way to monitor the temperature is to use a deep fry or candy thermometer; or, you can drop a small piece of bread into the oil. If it takes 60 seconds to brown, the oil temperature is perfect for frying. Heat up the oil while you're brushing the eggplant slices with egg white to save on time!
- Place 3 slices gently into the hot oil (do not cook more than 3-4 slices per batch, or the oil temperature will drop). Careful, it may splatter a bit, especially during the first minute or so of cooking. Let the slices fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.Remove slices from the hot oil and drain on a drying rack or paper towel.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
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I had a freshly harvested eggplant I wanted to make and no breadcrumbs. I found this recipe on your site and it worked perfectly. We don’t like the skin, so I peeled the eggplant and coated the sides with egg white as well. This is now my new favorite way to cook eggplant!
This is very interesting. Definitely going to try this new way of frying eggplant.
Enjoy Patricia!
Cannot seem to get into Eggplant due to the soft mushy texture. Interested in making a more palatable version of Sabich and was wondering if it is possible to slice the Eggplant more thinly give it a crispier texture roughly akin to sliced potatoes or is there another approach to make Eggplant slices crispy?
Use a mandolin to cut very thin slices. Remove the moisture from the slices by salting (as noted in the recipe above). Line a baking sheet with parchment. Brush the slices with oil, then bake them at 250 degrees F for about an hour, flipping the slices halfway through, until they crisp up. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
We harvested our Japanese eggplants and cooked them using your instructions then ate them with a dollop of tomatoe sauce from tomatoes harvested from our garden. Fabulous!!! Thanks so much!
Oh, my goodness, BEST ever fried eggplant. This technique should work well with any vegetable – we look forward to experimenting. Thank you for such a great idea. We are eager to experiment with fried green tomatoes and zucchini! With high temp tolerant avocado oil and the egg white baste, we enjoyed the fried crispiness without the extra oil absorbed during cooking. At the end of frying we had the same amount of oil in the pan! You were right – no oil absorbed during frying. Crisp and tasty, low cal and delicious.
Isn’t it amazing?? So glad the tip was helpful to you!
I googled eggplants and your recipe popped up. I gave it a try this evening and OMG i love the crispiness!!! Much love from South Africa
I never comment on recipes that I use from the internet, but this recipe deserves nothing but rave reviews! It worked exactly as you said it would! The eggplant was crisp and incredibly light and fabulously delicious! My husband declared it a keeper. It met my requirements of fast, easy, healthy and delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent
Wow! I love eggplant and avoid making it because of all of the grease it absorbs. This worked perfectly with tons of oil left in the pan. Great idea! Thank you.
Great recipe. Using avocado oil (high smoke temp) with a little chili oil. Salty enough after rinsing for us. I just dip and flip in egg whites. thanks!
Thank you so much for this recipe. Tried it out and I love it.
Phenomenal… best I’ve ever eaten. Thanks.
Hi, I searched on the web and discovered your recipe for eggplant…my husband too wants to have his eggplant from his childhood days…I look forward to trying out your recipe’s…
Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring recipe’s…
Christine Lafferty
Dallas, Texas
Glad you’re here Christine!
Hi, can I also use use beaten whole eggs instead of whites?
I have a lot of eggplants in my garden. This will help me big time.
Loveeet! Thank you.
Nothing we love better than fried aubergine with eggs for breakfast it’s like vegetarian beacon, extremely yummy. It does soak up loads of oil. Unfortunately the taste of fried aubergine makes it impossible to resist so I use a very healthy oil and not a very high temp. The oil they have the most affinity with is olive oil.
I am going tot try this egg white thing only Im worried it’s the egg white browning and not the aubergine, so the flavour wont be of aubergine. We shall see.
What I do is brush the aubergine with olive oil both sides lightly, season normally and put in stainless steel roaster in the oven under grill. This method uses very little oil. As the first batch completely brown, turning half way they release the oil, enough to do the second batch the same way but using the hot oil out of the pan to brush. Thats the thing aubergine does soak up tons of oil but releases it again as it browns both sides. You just need patience. It needs a good colour, not just a tiny browning to taste good.
Riffing on the invisible coating idea, try brush on a thin layer of gel made from a tiny amount of guar gum or xanthan gum in hot water. Why even better than egg white? Leaves no animal bacteria in the brush, vegan, parve kosher, always in the house (the powder stays fresh for years), costs next to nothing, and does not waste an egg yolk or leave one in your garbage. Also great for frying tempeh slices or anything that sponges up oil.
Thank you for your recipe
Thank you for the delicious, non-greasy way to fry eggplant! It is a food from my childhood as well!
Further to your excellent eggplant aubergine) frying”less fat” post, I might suggest open-freezing sliced aubergines to remove excess moisture before cooking. Although salting is a proven method of reducing potential bitterness and ensuring the silkiness of texture one would hope for, modern breeding practice has forgone this necessity. Still, what price tradition if it tastes fantastic. Bless you