Sausage Stuffed Eggplant - eggplants are roasted, stuffed with a delicious sausage-tomato mixture, topped with mozzarella cheese, and baked until bubbly perfection to make tasty personal eggplant boats. Deeelicious!
More Italian sausage recipes: Air Fryer Italian Sausage
Eggplant dinner
I originally posted this Sausage Stuffed Eggplant recipe in 2014, and now I am updating the blog post with new photos including lots of step-by-step instruction pictures to help you make this amazing eggplant dish.
Related recipe: Chickpea Chorizo Stew
Stuffed eggplant
I would say that aside from eggplant parmesan, this is my favorite way to eat eggplant. Ever. This is probably because I am not a huge fan of eggplant on its own. But I do love me some eggplant when it is combined with other flavorful ingredients such as sausage and cheese.
In this recipe I make a delicious stuffing made out of Italian sausages mixed together with fresh tomato, onions, herbs, breadcrumbs, and chopped roasted eggplant. Then all of that stuffing gets stuffed into individual-sized roasted eggplant boats, topped with cheese, and baked again until the cheese is perfectly melted.
Related recipe: Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
A few notes on the ingredients for this eggplant recipe:
- The eggplant: try to find two similar sized eggplants about 10 inches long. That would be perfect to make sure both eggplants are cooked the same, and a 10 inch eggplant makes for a very generous eggplant boat that the stuffing will fit into perfectly.
- The sausage: feel free to use sweet or spicy Italian sausage. Just make sure you buy the raw sausages instead of cooked ones. Just squeeze them out of their stuffing right into the hot skillet to cook them. Some stores also sell packaged sausage meat without the casing - that would be even easier to use for this recipe.
- The breadcrumbs: feel free to use regular breadcrumbs or Italian breadcrumbs. It doesn't make much difference to the flavor of the overall finished dish. It's all good.
- The portion size: you can choose how stuffed you want to make these eggplant by using either the full amount of ingredients called for in this recipe, or by decreasing the sausage, tomato, onion, and breadcrumbs in half. The photos shown here and the nutrition facts are for the 1-lb of sausage recipe. This makes a really nice overstuffed eggplant. If you want a lighter version of the meal, just use ½ lb sausage (about 2 sausage links), half an onion, 1 small tomato (such as a plum/Roma tomato), and a half a cup of bread crumbs instead.
Related recipe: Sweet Potato Sausage Skillet Hash
How to make Sausage Stuffed Eggplant:
Start by slicing the eggplant in half and roasting them in the oven. When they are done roasting you'll use a knife to loosen the cooked eggplant flesh and then use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Roughly chop up the scooped out flesh and mix it with the sausage stuffing. Stuff it into the eggplant, top with cheese, and bake.
Related recipe: Stuffed Pizza
While the eggplant halves are roasting, you prepare the sausage filling on the stove top:
Start by frying sausage meat and onions over high heat. Add the diced tomato, garlic, and herbs. Remove from heat and stir in the breadcrumbs and chopped cooked eggplant. Stuff this delicious sausage mixture into the eggplant boats, top with cheese, and bake until the cheese is bubbly and melted.
Then you carve out eggplant boats, add the eggplant flesh to the sausage filling, and stuff the eggplant. Top everything with a healthy dose of cheese, and bake until the cheese melts.
Related recipe: Chorizo & Veggies Skillet
Is this recipe better for weekends or weeknights?
It does take about an hour to make this sausage stuffed eggplant from start to finish. So this is a good recipe to have on hand for a weekend dinner. But you can totally swing this on a weekday too: just roast the eggplant the night before. The stuffing only takes about 15 minutes to prepare, and then you can pop the stuffed eggplant into the oven and bake for a quick 15 minutes until the cheese melts and everything is nice and heated through.
Related recipe: Instant Pot Sausage Jambalaya
What to serve with sausage stuffed eggplants:
Each of these eggplant boats is a pretty large portion and is a complete meal on its own with a large serving of vegetables, protein, and some carbs. Because of this, I would recommend serving these eggplants with just a light side salad, just so your plate doesn't look empty with just one eggplant on it. But of course you can always serve this with some pasta with marinara sauce or some rice if you're feeling extra hungry.
Related recipe: Sweet Potato Sausage Soup
Did you enjoy this recipe? Let me know with a comment and a star rating below! And don't forget to save it for later on Pinterest:
Related recipe: Sausage Stuffed Delicata Squash
Sausage Stuffed Eggplant
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants - , about 10 inches long (about 1 pound each)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian sausage meat - (from about 4-5 sausages)
- 1 onion - , diced
- 1 large tomato - , diced (or two small tomatoes)
- 1 garlic cloves - , minced
- ¼ cup fresh parsley leaves - , chopped
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, place on an oiled baking sheet cut sides facing up, and roast at 350F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the eggplant from the oven and allow to cool. While the eggplant is roasting and cooling, prepare everything else. Keep the oven preheated to 350F, you'll need it for the last step!
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the sausage meat and the diced onion to the skillet and stir fry for 5 minutes, or until the sausage is mostly cooked. Break up the sausage with a spatula as it cooks.
- Add the diced tomato and minced garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes - the mixture will be like a chunky sauce. Add the fresh parsley and continue to cook until most of the liquid evaporated, for about 5 more minutes. Season with salt & pepper if desired. My sausage had enough salt and spice so I didn't need to add salt or pepper.
- Once the eggplant is cool enough to touch, carve out little boats from the eggplant by using a knife to carefully cut around the edge (be careful not to slice through the skin!), and then using a spoon to scoop out the eggplant flesh. Roughly chop all the eggplant flesh into small ½-1 inch pieces.
- Add the breadcrumbs and the chopped eggplant chunks right into the skillet with the sausage and mix well.
- Stuff the eggplants with the sausage mixture, top each eggplant boat with ¼ cup cheese, and bake at 350F for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Allow to cool a bit, and enjoy!
Nutrition
The nutritional information displayed is an estimate and not to be used as dietary or nutritional advice. Consult a nutritionist or dietician for nutritional info based on the exact ingredients you use.
Check out these other delicious Eggplant recipes from the archives:
Nancy W
Thursday 17th of August 2023
We absolutely loved this recipe. Will make it again and again!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
Monday 22nd of September 2014
What a delightful meal. This is my kind of food.
Kate
Monday 22nd of September 2014
Thanks! It was good, healthy yet very satisfying because of the sausage in the stuffing. I obviously used store bought sausage, but I do plan on making my own breakfast sausage after seeing your recipe - that looks amazing!
I was just telling my fiancé about your recipe and my big plans to make sausage :)