Roasted Eggplant Soup
After making this roasted eggplant soup in culinary school, I knew I would be making it again in the near future. As you probably are aware at this point, soups are one of my favorite things to make in the kitchen.
This soup is delicious. And, as an added bonus, it is a cinch to put together and is very healthy. A miracle given all the heavy cream and clarified butter we use at culinary school! It also includes one of my favorite vegetables in the world, eggplant.
While I normally prefer to cook with Japanese or Italian eggplant, as I find that they contain less seeds and are less bitter, this soup involves the normal, large variety that you can find at any grocery store. Pureeing the soup at the end eliminates the need to worry about those extra chewy seeds!
After sautéing the onions and celery, simply throw in the remaining ingredients. You don’t have to worry about chopping the parsley, cilantro, or garlic, they can go in just as they are, stems and all. The ground cayenne adds an extra punch to the soup, but of course, feel free to adjust according to your own tastes and preferences.
The biggest prep required is preparing the eggplant, which simply involves cutting them lengthwise, rubbing them with olive oil and ground toasted cumin seeds (or ground cumin, if you don’t have those on hand!) and roasting them in the oven for about 30 minutes. Once this is done, remove the skin and add everything into the saucepot!
Roasted Eggplant Soup
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants sliced in half lengthwise
- whole cumin seeds or ground cumin
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4-5 celery stalks chopped
- 1 quart (4 cups) low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
- ¼ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves finely chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 3-4 stalks of fresh cilantro
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon ground cayenne powder to taste
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Roast Eggplant: Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). If using whole cumin seeds, toast until fragrant in skillet. Grind in mortar and pestle or with coffee grinder.
- Place the eggplant halves on a foil-lined half sheet pan cut-side facing up. Rub the cut surface with olive oil and ground cumin seeds or, ground cumin. Note: Whole cumin seeds will have more flavor, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand.
- Roast eggplant for 25 to 35 minutes, until they can easily be pierced with a fork. Using a spoon, scoop out the eggplant flesh and discard the skin. Set aside.
- Prepare Soup: Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in large soup pot over medium-low heat. Add onions and sweat until translucent and soft. Add chopped celery and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until soft.
- Pour in 1 to 2 cups (240 mL - 480 mL) chicken stock. Add the diced tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, parsley, thyme, and eggplant. Add just enough stock to cover the surface of the contents of the soup - you can always add more stock later to thin down, if necessary. Season with ground cayenne, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- Bring soup to a low simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Using an immersion blender or high-powered blender, blend the soup until smooth - depending on the size of your blender, you may need to do this in multiple batches. Transfer the pureed soup back into the soup pot and reheat to serve.
- Season once again with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and serve.
Now that my dinner is taken care of for tonight, I’m off to study for my first practical exam, which is this coming Thursday. Eek!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
40 Comments on “Roasted Eggplant Soup”
Just waiting for it to cool, but it smells great!
I make this every fall. Tasty, easy and flavorful.
I use 4 cups of Kirkland chicken stock and purée it thin. Forgot cilantro this time but coriander did the trick.
Added curry. Folks thought it was squash soup. Will repeat
This soup has everything I like: eggplant, tomato, it is very easy and delicious.
Made it twice now and both times were great. This time, used fresh tomatoes and I think it was better. Needs more broth when it was being puréed so it had the right texture.
Making it again!
Can this soup be frozen
Of course! I recommend thawing it in the fridge overnight and heating it slowly over the fridge – you might need to add several splash of water or broth to thin it as needed. Season to taste again before eating!
I absolutely hate eggplant but we had a couple in our vegetable box. Since we live in the DC area no room for a large garden. I can tell you this is the best soup I have ever eaten. I was in total shock how good it is. The only thing I will do next time is to cut off the stems from the herbs. Some where a little woody and I suspect it was the Tynme. But it is a very high in dish and I love soup. Thank you for sharing.
Loved this dish
Wasn’t sure about this soup as i’d never had eggplant soup before. Was given three eggplants and thought what can I do with them?
Soup is Delicious !!I did make a small change though as I used vegetable stock over chicken stock.
Thrilled to hear that you enjoyed it and discovered a new way to use eggplant! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
Why not peel the eggplant first? It’s not that hard.
There is no need to peel the eggplant at all, it’s not to avoid it being “hard” – the flesh should scoop out VERY cleanly if it’s cooked through. In addition, it would also not protect it in the oven for that time of roasting, so it’s more likely to caramelize and potentially crisp up/dry out in spots, which is not ideal for a soup. Similar idea to how you cook eggplant (without blackening) for baba ganoush. You can adapt the recipe however you want, but this is how I prefer to make it and how it was first made for me when I learned how to make it.
Outstanding…I work in a French restaurant…high end, and I wish they served this soup! I started off with the exact amounts but 3 days later made a double batch!
I’ve never thought of making soup out of eggplant, although I have used it in mixed veggie dishes. I made this last night and have to say it is one of the most delicious soups ever! My husband, who’s not a big eggplant fan, told me I could make this anytime. It’s that good.
This recipe sounds amazing! I would like to try it, but I’m on Keto and I do not understand how you have calculated so many grams of carbs per serving. Can you confirm what makes this so high in carb?
Hi Suzanne! I think there was a glitch with my nutritional calculator and the numbers were wrong – just did it again and it has changed. Please note that I am not a nutritionist and nutrition is calculated with a basic nutrition online calculator and is not verified by a health professional. They are rough estimates. If you have a health condition that requires you to reduce carbohydrates, I would recommend calculating this recipe on your own. Hope this helps!