This easy vegan recipe is perfect for the vegans or vegetarians in your family this fall. This yummy vegan stuffed eggplant recipe is incredibly simple to recreate at home, and it’s super healthy. Stuffed with lentils, barley, and homemade sundried tomato pesto, this dish would impress even the meat-eaters in your family.

❤️ Why You’ll Love Vegan Stuffed Eggplant

• Easy-to-Make: Simple enough for any home cook to recreate without being a master chef.
• Full of Flavor: Packed with Mediterranean flavors from sundried tomatoes, capers, and artichokes.
• Protein-Packed: Lentils and barley provide complete nutrition and satisfying substance.

🍲 Ingredients

Fresh Eggplant – Eggplant provides the perfect vessel for this hearty filling while adding fiber, antioxidants, and a creamy texture when roasted. The natural sweetness that develops during roasting complements the savory lentil and barley stuffing beautifully, creating a satisfying main dish that’s both nutritious and delicious.

Califia Farms Plant Butter – This plant butter is made from real food like cashews, tiger nuts (which are super high in fiber), and nutritional yeast with avocado or olive oil. It provides that creamy, butter-like taste that melts, spreads, and cooks beautifully while staying clear of palm and canola oils, giving you whole food nutrition versus just fat.

👩‍🍳 How to Make Vegan Stuffed Eggplant

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Half the 2 eggplants and place then cut side down on the parchment paper.  Using a fork, pierce many holes into the eggplant.  Cook for around 30 minutes.
3. While the eggplant cooks, prepare the lentil and barley by cooking as instructed on the package.  Strain once cooked and set aside.
4. Into a medium-sized pot, plant butter on medium-low heat for 30 seconds before adding in the finely chopped yellow onion.  Cook for around 5 minutes or until fragrant.  After 5 minutes of cooking, add in the garlic, stirring to mix. After about 3 minutes, throw in the artichokes, capers, vegetable stock paste, bay leaves, pepper, sundried tomatoes and lemon.  Cook for around 5 minutes before adding in the cooked lentils and barley. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
5. Remove the eggplant from the oven.  Flip them skin-side down and lightly score the eggplant in diagonal cuts. This will make room for the beautiful stuffing you’ve just made.  You may also need to handle gently and remove a bit of the eggplant center with a spoon.  Simply add those insides to the legume mixture.
6. Using a spoon, stuff eggplant till full and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden and gorgeous.
7. Serve with a fresh salad and gorgeous pieces of garlic bread.

🪄 Tips and Tricks

• Scoring: Diagonal cuts in the eggplant create more surface area for the filling and help it cook evenly.
• Don’t Waste: Add the scooped eggplant flesh to the filling mixture for extra flavor and nutrition.
• Golden Finish: The final 10-minute bake creates a beautiful golden top that looks restaurant-quality.
• Temperature: Keep the plant butter on medium-low heat to prevent burning and maintain a smooth texture.

🗒 Substitutions

• Grains: Quinoa, rice, or bulgur wheat can replace barley for different textures and cooking times.
• Legumes: Chickpeas or black beans work well instead of lentils for variety.
• Plant Butter: Any vegan butter or olive oil can substitute if Califia Farms isn’t available.
• Vegetables: Zucchini or bell peppers can be stuffed using the same filling for different presentations.

🗒 Best served with

• Creamy Vegan White Bean Dip
• Vegan Sausage Rolls
• Vegan Avgolemono
• Cranberry Cheese Tarts [Vegan]

👝 How to Store Leftovers

Store leftover stuffed eggplant in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. Reheat in a 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes to restore the texture and warmth.

🤔 Common Questions

Vegan Stuffed Eggplant

5 from 4 votes

🍆 This Vegan Stuffed Eggplant with lentils and barley is fall comfort food perfection! Healthy, protein-packed, and ready in under an hour!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Vegan Meals, Vegan Comfort Food

Cuisine Mediterranean-Inspired

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

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For the Pesto:

• Sundried Tomato Pesto
• 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 fresh black pepper
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 1/2 cup vegan parmesan cheese

For the stuffed eggplant:

• 2 medium-sized eggplants halved
• 1 cup cooked barley
• 1 cup cooked black lentils
• 2 tbsp. Califia Farms Plant Butter
• 1 large small yellow onion finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves pressed
• 1/2 cup artichokes
• 1/4 cup carpers
• 1 tsp vegetable stock paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp. sundried tomato pesto
• juice of half a lemon

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Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Half the 2 eggplants and place then cut side down on the parchment paper.  Using a fork, pierce many holes into the eggplant.  Cook for around 30 minutes.
• While the eggplant cooks, prepare the lentil and barley by cooking as instructed on the package.  Strain once cooked and set aside.
• Into a medium-sized pot, plant butter on medium-low heat for 30 seconds before adding in the finely chopped yellow onion.  Cook for around 5 minutes or until fragrant.  After 5 minutes of cooking, add in the garlic, stirring to mix. After about 3 minutes, throw in the artichokes, capers, vegetable stock paste, bay leaves, pepper, sundried tomatoes and lemon.  Cook for around 5 minutes before adding in the cooked lentils and barley. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
• Remove the eggplant from the oven.  Flip them skin-side down and lightly score the eggplant in diagonal cuts. This will make room for the beautiful stuffing you’ve just made.  You may also need to handle gently and remove a bit of the eggplant center with a spoon.  Simply add those insides to the legume mixture.
• Using a spoon, stuff eggplant till full and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden and gorgeous.
• Serve with a fresh salad and gorgeous pieces of garlic bread.

Notes

If you do not have Barley or Lentils, you can use any other type of grains or legumes.  Chickpea, quinoa, rice, wheatberries – anything will do!

If you are not a fan of sundried tomatoes, simply use traditional pesto.  Simply remove the sundried tomatoes from the recipe and substitute for pine nuts or even walnuts!

This dish is inherently salty from the parmesan cheese, vegetable stock, capers and artichokes, so I recommend not adding any to this recipe at all.

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