This Eggplant Yogurt Recipe is a Turkish appetizer that will make your mouth water with every bite. Fire-roasted eggplant adds a smoky flavor to this tangy and bold dish, and fresh lemon juice gives it a tantalizing citrus bite. Whether you serve it as a side dish or as an eggplant yogurt dip with pita chips, this recipe is guaranteed to satisfy!
Spain has tapas and Italy has antipasti, but in my opinion, Middle Eastern mezze is the most delicious. If you’re craving even more appetizing mezze recipes, you’ll love my Muhammara Recipe, Roasted Eggplant Red Pepper Spread, and Hummus Dip. You can also try my Yoghurt Dressing and Turkish Stuffed Eggplant for even more Turkish Cuisine inspiration.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
With all the best flavors of Mediterranean cuisine, this eggplant and Greek yogurt recipe will be your new go-to dish to serve at parties and in your own home!
- This recipe is a great alternative to Baba Ganoush if you don’t have tahini on hand or simply want to try out a new Middle Eastern spread.
- You can serve this recipe as Turkish eggplant dip or as a side dish, depending on how you present it.
- Take the stress out of meal prep by making this dish up to 2 days in advance.
Ingredients
Who knew eating around the world could be so easy? This authentic Israeli dish is just as scrumptious as other Yotam Ottolenghi dips, but it only uses a handful of pantry staples.
Eggplants
Whether you have globe eggplants or long and lean Japanese eggplant, both work perfectly for this recipe. Just be sure to adjust how many eggplants you gather depending on their size. You’ll need 4 medium eggplants or 2 large ones.
Pro Tip: The best eggplants are those that are firm, heavy for their size, shiny on the outside, and unbruised. Choosing the freshest produce will ensure that your Turkish grilled eggplant tastes as smoky, tender, and non-bitter as possible. (Source)
Greek Yogurt Mixture
For the yogurt mixture, gather Greek yogurt, garlic cloves, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and Italian parsley.
How To Make It
If you love the taste of Turkish smoked eggplant, with a little planning, you will find that the steps of making this easy side dish are a breeze.
- Fire roast the eggplants: Turn the gas stove on low and place the eggplants directly on the flame. Use a pair of tongs to turn the eggplants every 3-5 minutes until they’re blackened and soft. Remove them from the flame and cover them with aluminum foil to steam further. (For more instructions, tips, and tricks be sure to check out my guide on How To Cook Eggplant on Gas Stove)
Alternatively, if you want a more hands off approach for cooking eggplants, you can roast whole eggplants in the oven, scoop out their flesh using a spoon, and use the flesh in this recipe. - Peel the eggplant skins: When the eggplants reach about room temperature, run them under cool water and gently peel off as much of their black outer layer as possible. Place in a colander placed over a bowl and let them sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes.
- Cut the flesh: If you choose to, remove both the eggplant flesh and any large chunks of seeds. Then, cut the flesh into small pieces and place them in a medium bowl.
- Make the yogurt mixture: In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until creamy.
- Combine the eggplant: Spoon yogurt sauce over the slices of eggplant and mix with a fork. Make sure that there are no large chunks and each piece of eggplant is evenly coated in yogurt. You may find you need more or less yogurt depending on how much eggplant you have.
- Serve: Transfer the mixture to a serving platter, and put pita chips or pita bread on the side. Garnish with parsley and/or sesame seeds, and it’s ready to eat!
PRO TIP: Because the amount of eggplant used varies so greatly, you may find you need more salt than listed in the recipe to give your dish enough flavor. Make sure you taste this recipe as you go and add extra seasoning as needed.
Expert Tips & Variations
I always have so much fun playing with recipes to make them my own. Satisfy your taste buds with this classic Israeli yogurt dip by using these genius variations:
- Take the stress out of fire roasting by roasting whole eggplants instead. Just poke 7-10 holes in each eggplant using a fork and place them on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Roast them in the oven at 400 degrees F. for 50-60 minutes, making sure to turn them halfway through. Then, remove the eggplants from the oven and set them aside to cool. You can find complete instructions for this hands-free method in my guide on how to Roast Whole Eggplant in Oven.
Alternatively, you can cut eggplants in half lenghtwise and bake eggplant halves in the oven. Then scoop out the flesh to use in this recipe. - Don’t worry if you can’t get off all the burnt eggplant skin when peeling it in the sink. These charred bits will actually add more smoky flavor to the recipe.
- Add a drizzle of sumac and pomegranate molasses for a delicious, tart twist to this eggplant dip with yogurt.
- Pita chips, crackers, and even slices of pita bread pair perfectly with this Middle Eastern appetizer.
- Transform this dish into aubergine yoghurt salad by adding a little bit less yogurt mixture to your roasted eggplant.
- Give your spice rack a spin by using any fresh herbs you want in this recipe. Parsley, dill, fresh mint, or even a combination of them all make this eggplant dip Greek style.
- Sprinkle it with this Homemade Everything Bagel Seasoning for extra crunch and flavor.
- Prefer a version of this without the yogurt sauce? Try this Roasted Eggplant Dip
How to Make Ahead and Store
Whether you’re preparing a side dish for a dinner party or a quick snack for when you’re on the go, this aubergine yoghurt is the perfect recipe for meal prep.
- Make ahead: When making this recipe ahead of time, prepare the fire roasted eggplant and yogurt mixture separately. This way, the eggplant won’t absorb too much liquid, and it will better retain its gentle smoky flavor.
- Store: This eggplant dip with yogurt can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Before serving, be sure to stir the mixture to keep the yogurt, lemon, and olive oil from getting watery.
- Freeze: Although this dip keeps well in the fridge, I don’t recommend freezing it.
Other Yogurt Recipes You Might Also Like:
- Yoghurt Salad Dressing
- Healthy Chicken Salad recipe
- Yogurt Tahini Sauce
- Tzatziki
- Healthy Cucumber Salad
Other Eggplant Recipes You Might Also Like:
- Turkish Stuffed Eggplant
- Eggplant Involtini
- Mediterranean Stuffed Eggplant Vegetarian
- Need more inspiration? Check out all our Vegetable Side Dishes
Eggplant Yogurt Dip Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 medium size eggplants, or 2 large eggplants* – no need to peel them.
- 1 cup full fat plain Greek yogurt
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil plus more to drizzle at the end
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley chopped
- Pita chips for serving
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds or Z'aatar, as garnish – optional
Instructions
- To fire roast the eggplants on the stove: Place eggplants directly on the gas stove. Roast them on direct flames, turning it every 3-5 minutes until they are charred, soft and collapsing. Set them aside to cool.
- When cool enough to handle, peel them gently under cold running water. At this point, all you want to do is to remove the outer black layer as much as you can. And if some pieces make it to the dip, that is perfectly fine.
- Remove the flesh. If there are large chunks of seeds, you can remove them as well. This is an optional step and it would be okay if you didn’t remove them, especially if you are making this during the eggplant season when they are the freshest.
- Cut the eggplant flesh into small pieces and place it in a medium sized bowl.
- While the eggplant is cooking, whisk together the yogurt, fresh garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl until creamy.
- Pour the yogurt mixture over the cooked eggplant. Mix with a fork, gently breaking the large chunks of eggplants and making sure that they are all coated with the yogurt mixture.
- Garnish with parsley
- Serve with pita bread or pita chips on the side.
Notes
- After roasting the eggplants, you should have about 3 1/2 to 4 cups of eggplant flesh for this recipe.
- Make ahead: When making this recipe ahead of time, prepare the fire roasted eggplant and yogurt mixture separately. This way, the eggplant won’t absorb too much liquid, and it will better retain its gentle smoky flavor.
- Store: This eggplant dip with yogurt can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Before serving, be sure to stir the mixture to keep the yogurt, lemon, and olive oil from getting watery.
- Freeze: Although this dip keeps well in the fridge, I don’t recommend freezing it.
- For cooking eggplants, if you prefer a more hands-off approach try roasting them as a whole: To do so, poke 7-10 holes in each eggplant using a fork and place them on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Roast them in the oven at 400 degrees F. for 50-60 minutes, making sure to turn them halfway through. Then, remove the eggplants from the oven and set them aside to cool. You can find complete instructions for this hands-free method in my guide on how to Roast Whole Eggplant in Oven.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This eggplant yogurt recipe was originally published in August 2014. It has been updated with new photos and helpful text in August 2021.
Really enjoyed this simple dip. Served it with pita and it was perfect!
Happy to hear that you liked it Liane.
Approximately how much eggplant flesh should you have (after roasting). Thanks! I look forward to trying this recipe.
Hey Barb,
That’s a really good question and it should have already been in the recipe. My bad. Thanks for pointing it out.
You should have about 3 1/2 cups to 4 cups of flesh depending on the size of your eggplants.
With that being said, if it is a bit more or less you can always add in more or less of the yogurt sauce to make it work for your taste buds.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions or help in any other way/
Cheers!
Aysegul
My mom is from Israel and she thought me to scoop out the eggplant and put it in a colander and let the liquid strain out. The liquid can be very bitter, it really makes a difference.
My mom used to do it like that too.. Thanks for letting me know. Cheers!
Definitely your roasted eggplant with garlic yogurt and za’atar is awesomeness! This is a great recipe Aysegul, as you know I made it a short while ago and it was lovely, in fact have made it again since. Thanks for sharing!
Oh Bella.. This makes me so happy. Thank you for letting me know.
The colors are so vibrant- your photography is fantastic! This is absolutely magnificent, scrumptious, delicious, super yummy roasted eggplant with garlic yogurt and zaatar. Thx for sharing. Can i post it on my blog?
Hi there,
Thanks so much for your kind words. I really appreciate it.
Please feel free to share.
Thanks again.
These photos reminded me the paintings of dutch artists from 17th(?) century, Golden age era. Especially the one with lemons at the background. They have a divine feeling. Nice work :D.
Hey Alp,
Thank you so much.
I am glad you liked it. 🙂
Me parece tan interesante todo lo que cuentas; tan bonito todo lo que muestras, lo haces con tanta GENEROSIDAD, que llega al corazón.
Además tus RECETAS se ven deliciosas; en fin que tanto tu como tu marido, creo que sóis especiales y muy buena gente
SALUDOS DESDE BARCELONA!!! :)))
Conxita
First time on your blog and I must say your photos are gorgeous!! So is this delicious looking dip!
Oh hi Ami,
Thank you so much for your kind words.
I like your site too. There are some very creative recipes in there.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Cheers
Ice
This za’atar looks seriously delicious and your photography is amazing. Pinned!
Hi Thalia,
I am glad you liked it..
Cheers!
Ice
These photos are absolutely amazing… and so is your writing, woohoo! Eggplant is the best, therefore I must try this recipe as soon as possible. You should definitely make a lamb burger to go with this and post the recipe, my dad would love it. 🙂
Thank you for sharing!!
Dearest Andrea,
It means so much to me hearing you say all these kind words. Especially because you know how much work and effort goes into making this all happen. Reading these words make it all worth it.
Thank you so much for your support.
Love,
Aysegul
PS: When are you starting your blog? I want to see your Bolivia pictures.. 🙂