This super easy to make turkey meat stuffed eggplant recipe is a delicious, healthy dish that’s perfect for entertaining or as a family meal. Tastes great the next day too!
This meat stuffed eggplant recipe is easy to make, first of all, because I kept the list of ingredients to a minimum. In addition to the eggplant and the meat I used tomatoes and a few spices to create a delicious, simple dish.
Preparing the eggplant for meat stuffed eggplant recipe
I also used a simple method of preparing the eggplant/aubergine.
Simply cut the eggplant lengthways in half, then bake for 30 minutes. This will give you plenty of time to prepare the sauce. Once the eggplant has browned remove it from the oven and scoop the middle out of each eggplant half, leaving around 1 cm thickness round the edges. combine with the sauce, stuff the eggplant halves and bake! That’s all the steps in a somewhat simplified form, see Instructions for more detail.
I used a similar method in this vegan stuffed eggplant with quinoa and tomato sauce.
Equipment you’ll need
- Large oven tray
- Cutting board, knife, spoon, spatula and melon baller (optional)
- Blender
- Large frying pan
How to make baked stuffed eggplant with meat: step-by-step
I am including a few photos showing the main preparation steps in this recipe. I hope you find these helpful.
1.Slice each eggplant lengthways in half, brush with oil and bake at 400 F for 30 minutes.
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2. Remove from the oven and scoop out the middle.
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3. Prepare the sauce (see Instructions for more detail).
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4. Place the eggplant pulp and half of the sauce mixture in a blender and whizz for a few seconds to combine. Add to the remaining sauce and stir.
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Place generous amounts of the mixture inside the eggplant halves, drizzle with a little oil and bake on top of a tray for 40 minutes.
Choosing the meat for easy stuffed eggplant recipe
I chose turkey meat for its delicious flavour and low fat content. Having said that I don’t recommend using meat with less than 7% fat as it might be a little dry. You can also use lamb, pork or beef instead of turkey if you prefer. All the spices in this recipe work equally with all these meats.
Top tips
- Use similar size eggplants for even cooking. Be careful not to tear the eggplant when scooping the middle out. Leave around 1 cm of thickness.
- To save time make the sauce while the eggplant halves are in the oven.
- Use your favourite lean meat though ensure it contains at least 7% fat (it doesn’t need to have any more than that).
- This dish tastes great the next day too. Heat up in a microwave or enjoy cold.
Serving suggestions
This healthy meat stuffed eggplant recipe makes a fantastic family dinner as well as party food idea. Serve it alongside rice, quinoa or couscous. It tastes delicious with romanesco salad with quinoa as well as roasted cauliflower tabbouleh salad with pomegranate.
More meat stuffed veggies recipes
Check out also this collection of 13 healthy, easy one pot chicken recipes!
KEEP IN TOUCH!
I’d love to know how your stuffed eggplant has turned out for you. Let me know in the comments below, thanks!
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Meat Stuffed Eggplant (Turkey)
Ingredients
- 300 g ground turkey
- 3 large eggplants
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 400 g 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 tbsp olive oil plus a little more for drizzling
- 1.5 teaspoon each: cumin powder, smoked paprika, fine sea salt
- 2/3 teaspoon each: cayenne pepper and onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- fresh cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C/ gas mark 6. Cut the eggplants in half lengthways and place on a large baking tray open side up. Brush/drizzle with a little olive oil (3 tablespoons) and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little. Keep the oven on.
- Whilst the eggplant is in the oven prepare the sauce. In a large frying pan heat up 3 tablespoons of the oil, add the garlic and onion and cook over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes stirring often. Add the meat, mash using a fork and continue cooking for 3 more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and spices, stir and cook over medium/high heat for about 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Once the eggplants have cooled a little scoop out the flesh leaving about 8 mm around the edges (you can do this using a knife and either a melon baller or a large spoon). Place the pulp, along with HALF of the sauce in a blender and whizz for a few seconds until the ingredients are well combined. Add this mixture to the remaining sauce and stir thoroughly.
- Place a generous amount of the sauce inside the eggplant halves, drizzle with a little oil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and serve.
Notes
- Use similar size eggplants for even cooking. Be careful not to tear the eggplant when scooping the middle out. Leave around 1 cm of thickness.
- To save time make the sauce while the eggplant halves are in the oven.
- Use your favourite lean meat though ensure it contains at least 7% fat (it doesn't need to have any more than that).
- This dish tastes great the next day too. Heat up in a microwave or enjoy cold.
Nutrition
RECIPE LINK PARTIES
I am bringing this easy turkey stuffed eggplant recipe to #CookBlogShare. Also sharing with Cook Once Eat Twice and G2BGF.
Hi, I am Monika, welcome to Everyday Healthy Recipes! This blog is all about creatively simple recipes with a healthy twist, old classics with a modern take, and an occasional Polish dish thrown into the mix - all easy to make, healthy and delicious, perfect for everyday cooking. 
What a fabulous looking dish Monika. I adore aubergine, but sadly seem to eat them less often than I would like as the family are less keen. This totally floats my boat though, so I’ll pop over to yours for dinner!
Thank you so much for sharing with #G2BGF xx
Thanks Kate, come by anytime!
This looks delicious and is exactly the type of recipe I’d love! I’d really like to try it out on my children who won’t eat aubergine at the moment as I think it might be able to tempt them as I know they’d love the filling. Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Thank you Corina! My children loved the filling and didn’t really mind the aubergine in this recipe, though they usually aren’t crazy about it.
I love how easy this is to make and it looks so flavorful! Can’t wait to try it out! *-*
Thanks! Let me know how it turns out if you do end up making it!
I love stuffed aubergine (actually i love all things aubergine although one of my lads doesn’t which is frustrating otherwise I would eat it even more) but i have never used turkey before what a good idea! Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare.
Thank Jacqui, I’ve been using this vegetable so much lately even my boys are warming up to it. So I’ll use it even more until they all love it as much as I do!
These are seriously making my mouth water – and that sauce sounds so good with all the spices!
Thanks Mollie!