This Miso Glazed Japanese Eggplant is a great example of how simple modern Asian cooking can be. I’ve taken a traditional Japanese recipe, thickened the sauce to use it as a glaze and cooked it on the outdoor grill. It is so easy and fast, but the flavours will knock your socks off.
Miso and eggplant is a gorgeous combination of flavours, and by caramelising the glaze it really takes this to another level.
Miso Glazed Japanese Eggplant
It always amazes me how the simplest of recipes can have such an incredible depth of flavour. This is one such dish. This recipe is based on a traditional Japanese eggplant dish called Dengaku Miso Eggplant. The traditional way of making this in Japan is to drape the eggplant in the miso sauce, which is a thinner version of the Miso Glaze in this recipe (I’ve included directions to turn the recipe into a sauce).
Miso and eggplant is an awesome combination of flavours. If you haven’t tried it before, you’re in for a treat. I’ve put a summer spin on this traditional dish by making it a glaze and grilling it. This creates a melt-in-your-mouth eggplant with an incredible caramelisation that I wish I could bottle up and snack on. By cooking it on the grill you get the added benefit of the smokiness, but you can also pan fry it.
There are two important things to remember when making this:
1. Cook over medium heat. Otherwise you’ll burn the eggplant before the inside is cooked. And uncooked eggplant is one of the most disappointing things in life – you know when you bite into a big hunk of eggplant, expecting it to be melting and gooey inside but instead it’s like biting into a hard sponge? Ew.
2. It caramelises quickly so don’t leave the grill once you flip the glazed side over! It will only take 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on how hot your grill is.
This Miso Glazed Japanese Eggplant is such a great meaty vegetarian grilling recipe! Serve it as a main or as a side. Enjoy! – Nagi x
More ways with eggplant
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Greek Moussaka (Eggplant Beef Bake) – the Greek version of Italian lasagna, made with layers of eggplant instead of pasta sheets. Epic!
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Moroccan Baked Eggplant with Beef – smeared with spices, baked until soft and topped with Moroccan spiced beef
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Grilled Eggplant with Yoghurt Sauce – simple and fabulous!
-
Middle Eastern Roasted Eggplant with Couscous – slathered with Middle Eastern price rub and roasted until tender
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Eggplant is also commonly used in Thai Red and Green Curry
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Grilled Miso Glazed Japanese Eggplant
Ingredients
- 6 Japanese eggplants , halved lengthwise
- 3 tbsp canola oil (or vegetable oil)
Miso Glaze
- 1/4 cup white miso ("Shire Miso)
- 2 tbsp Mirin
- 1 tbsp Sake (Japanese cooking wine)
- 1 tbsp sugar
Garnish
- 1 shallot/scallion finely sliced
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (preferably toasted)
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium (grill side, not hot plate) or a heavy based pan over medium heat. It's important only to use medium heat because otherwise the eggplant will burn before it cooks through.
- Combine the Miso Glaze ingredients and whisk to combine and remove lumps.
- Brush the cut side of each eggplant with the oil. Do it 2 to 3 times to use up all the oil.
- Place the cut side down on the grill and cook for 4 minutes until it turns a light golden brown.
- Turn over, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. While it is cooking, use a spoon to spread a generous amount of Miso Glaze on the cut side of each eggplant.
- Squeeze the side of the eggplant with your tongs (or fingers if you can handle the heat!) to check for doneness - it should be squishy and soft.
- Turn over and grill just for 30 seconds to 1 minute, just to caramelise the glaze.
- Remove from grill, garnish with shallots and sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
My hubby has been claiming for 12 years that eggplant the worst taste on the planet. Tonight I made this dish with soba noodles and cucumber salad and he said “I would actually eat this again”. Coming from him that is a MASSIVE compliment!
The flavours were delicious. It was so simple. 10/10
Was skeptical at first but no regrets trying it. Absolutely delightful and amazing side dish to have with a refreshing highball. Thank you again Nagi!
Every dish is good with a refreshing highball!!! N x
I have misplaced your mother’s blog site! Please help! Thanks!
You can find it here: https://japan.recipetineats.com N x
Thank you for this delicious and simple recipe.
This is one of those dishes that makes me say ‘if I had that in a restaurant I’d be very happy’. So so good. It is definitely going in the family recipe book.
How would you do this recipe in an air fryer?
Hi Nagi – I’ve cooked so many of your recipes lately – I just love them – thank you. I’ve tried many times to sign up for free recipe books though and don’t receive them 😢. Could you please help?
I don’t have a grill or an air fryer. Do you this would work on a grill pan or oven baked?
Hi Jwujwu, yes you can use a heavy based grill pan for this recipe – N x
The recipe looks delicious! I don’t have a grill or an air fryer. Do you this would work on a grill pan or oven baked?
Can eggplant get any better than this??? I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Nasu dengaku (miso eggplant) is hands down my favorite dish of all time. Once again, my hat off to you, Nagi.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Chris, that’s fantastic! N x
Hello! For the traditional method, do you need to steam the eggplant first or can you just sautee it? Thank you 🙂
Hey Nagi, do you reckon you could you use this glaze with Morton Bay Bugs or prawns? I’ve had the Bugs with miso at teppanyaki, and would love to replicate that dish at home.
Hi Nagi, These look amazing but I don’t have a grill. Do you think I could cook them in an air fryer? Thanks. I love your recipes.
Hi Wiw – I haven’t tried to be honest! Would love to know if you try! N x
Nagi, these were delicious! I used my air fryer to bake/fry them then the Miso glaze as a sauce. No leftovers again.
If we use the larger eggplants, do we need to salt them to remove bitterness?
Hi Jessie, yes – same process – N x
Woohoo! Was looking for recipes to use my very prolific mini eggplants in, just can’t use enough of them as just pizza topping! 😉
If I just reduce the grilling time a bit they would work fine with this wouldn’t they? (I roasted them whole a few days back and it was very funny, we cut into them and they were…. empty shells! Obviously too long in the oven…. 😀 )
Sounds great! Yes just reduce the cook time – N x
This looks really good! I love eggplant when it’s grilled or roasted, plus I’m a huge lover of miso, so I’ll definitely give this a try at home 🙂 Love that it’s so easy too, heh. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Oooh! I LOVE this recipe, made it last week for a BBQ!
We are eating this thin and long eggplants all summer. And this should be a recipe on list since it is so easy and yummy. Simple recipe with great flavor.
Agreed! I am lucky, we get these eggplants in Australia all year round. I love them!
Eggplant is kind of touch and go with me, it depends on the method of it being cooked. That being said, this looks like something I would like! Need to try this one day!