Name: Eggplant with Garlic Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons canola oil; 4 Chinese eggplants, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 inch half moons; 1 cup water; 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes; 3 tablespoons garlic powder; 5 teaspoons white sugar; 1 teaspoon cornstarch; 2 tablespoons light soy sauce; 2 tablespoons oyster sauce

A mildly spicy (or very spicy if you like) eggplant dish. My mother has been making this for me since I was a child. It is SO GOOD!!

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

canola oil

Chinese eggplants, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 inch half moons

water

red pepper flakes

garlic powder

white sugar

cornstarch

soy sauce

oyster sauce

Heat the canola oil in a skillet over high heat. Cook and stir the eggplant until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in the water, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. Cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, mix sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, and oyster sauce in a bowl until sugar and cornstarch have dissolved. Stir sauce into the eggplant, making sure to evenly coat the eggplant. Cook until the sauce has thickened.


Good base recipe for Szechuan-style garlic eggplant.    Need to season the eggplant with some salt/pepper a bit while frying.  Jazz it up using fresh crushed garlic instead of the powder, at least 2 fat cloves, right at the end of stir-frying the egglplant (mellowing the garlic), along with some green onion.    For more flavor, add extra dash of oyster sauce and a good dash of fish sauce, a little more pepper flakes as well.    Goes very well with added thin-sliced pork/chicken/beef.  Just toss it in after you get the eggplant stir fryin' for a couple mins (takes less time to cook).

Love Love Loved this ~ Pretty much made as written except the following:  3 cloves fresh pressed garlic in lieu of garlic powder, chicken broth in lieu of water and 1/2 TB each of Chinese Garlic Chile Paste &amp; Chinese Chile Paste in lieu of crushed red pepper flakes.  I couldn't believe how wonderful this turned out, better than a restaurant, I was very impressed and will make this again and again :-)

Delish!!!! I used hoisin sauce instead, since that is what I had on hand. I also reduced the sugar to 1tsp and it was plenty. So healthy and yummy at the same time! Love it!

I have made this twice now, and the second time was significantly better.
1)  Use fresh garlic if you have it!! (Or pre-chopped garlic in oil).  It tastes so much better than with the garlic powder.  I used 2-3 bulbs.
2) Ground pork tastes amazing with this dish.  I fried up the ground pork seperately to get some browning on the meat, then I drained the excess fat.  I added the whole thing to the eggplant mixture at the end of cooking.  Delicious.

Thanks for the recipe!

This was fabulous. my husband devoured it and he *never* eats eggplant. I subbed homemade vegetable stock for the water and I used 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper and two teaspoons sriracha hot chili sauce. I also used 4 tablespoons of soy instead of two as I had no oyster sauce. I also added bok choy and some diced chicken and served over brown rice. Yummy!

I'd give this five stars for the taste, which is wonderful (actually, I used four big garlic cloves, instead of garlic powder), but it loses one star for the presentation. By this recipe, the eggplant turns into mush. The eggplant chunks disappear. Here's why. Frying the eggplant for 4 minutes makes perfectly cooked eggplant. But when you add the water to the hot frypan, it boils explosively before it cools. Then you simmer, and the eggplant just turns into glop. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE EGGPLANT! The water won't be "absorbed". Instead, I recommend frying for just two minutes, cooling the frypan after frying, and adding all the other ingredients mixed together. Then simmer until the cornstarch starts to congeal. That leaves you with real chunks of eggplant in a thick sauce. 

BTW, to add some protein, throw in half a cup of frozen peas. Nice.

This is a great recipe to start with.  I like to use fresh garlic over dried - and when making Asian sauces I tend to go with brown sugar instead of white.  I also switched from soy to tamari - however, as written I'm sure the original is great too!  I loved this dish and am very happy to have found it.  I've craved Eggplant with Garlic sauce many times over the years and now when the craving hits I have the perfect recipe!  Thank you!

This is excellent.  I tried another recipe for stir fried eggplant on this site and this one is much better.  I didn't add as much sugar and garlic powder. And I didn't have any pepper flakes on hand, so I added a hint of tabasco.  It came out great.

Not sure what went wrong w/ this, but the entire thing just turned to mush

Made it first to directions with the exception of fresh garlic.... Then.. had to make adjustments to the taste.. added extra oyster sauce.. little minced ginger.. sesame seeds and seasame oil and green onions at serving.. good base

I made this and everyone loved it.  I did it a little differently than the instructions here--I mixed up the sauce first, used fresh garlic instead of powder, and fish sauce instead of oyster.  I marinaded the eggplant cold, then stir fried it with tofu, broccoli, and scallion.  Probably the closest I've gotten to Chinese restaurant-quality in all my Chinese cooking.

Enhanced it with fresh minced garlic as well. Made it using regular small eggplants I found at the farmer´s market; there weren´t any Chinese eggplants available.

4 stars because a couple of easy changes make this much better. Use fresh garlic instead of powder and chicken broth instead of water. I also suggest adding a little grated or diced ginger.  The end result really did taste like what you would get in a good Chinese restaurant.

Very tasty! Definitely use fresh garlic and red pepper paste to freshen things up. I used about 5 cloves of garlic and about two teaspoons of chile paste. It was pretty spicy, but had great flavor. Also finished with a splash of rice vine vinegar, which was just the thing to balance and brighten the flavor. Will definitely make this again...often!

Yummy!  The local farmer's stand had these eggplant 5/1.00 - what a deal!  I made this pretty much as directed but added 1 T. fish sauce and 1 1/2 tsp. ginger paste.  I made 1 1/2 times the sauce called for as we like our dish saucey.  Served this over rice - hubs asked for seconds.  This one was a winner - I'll make this one again and again!  Thanks for the great recipe.

wow . I used Real Garlic and also I chopped up some coriander   added Fish sauce and a touch of Sesame oil . I fried Pork mince and added to the eggplant mixture. I cooked the pork using a different fry pan. I then Cooked some egg noodles  and added it all as one mixture.. My wife loved it and so did my three kids I also added Zucchini to the egg plant and added some sat to the egg plant while cooking it..

I made it with some suggestions I read from reviews. It taste Greate! I added also thin sliced chicken breast.  30 sec before done I added 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic.  Next time I should add more of the red pepper flackes,should fry eggplant in the very hot oil to preserve color, fry 1-2 min, not more, just for color. Eggplant will get done when it will be cooking with water and sauce. Next time take 5-8 garlic cloves and squeeze them 1 min before end of the cooking. When I added garlic with sauce it took  me 5 min to get sauce thick. By that time garlic get cooked and I did not get garlicky taste I looked for. Also, add full teaspoon of red paper flakes. 1 teaspoon of sugar is plenty.

Made with suggestions of others - fresh garlic and ginger, cut sugar in half, and made vegan "oyster" sauce . Used method described by another reviewer. Lightly sauted eggplant (and bok choy), then removed from pan,  prepared sauce and added back veggies to simmer until done. The sauce was Devine but a little thin. Will definitely make again! 5 stars for the flavor but knocked off a star for method.

This was really really good. I used minced garlic and brown sugar like others suggested, and doubled the sauce since we were eating it with rice. I used half eggplant and half zucchini since I didn't have enough of the eggplant. SO GOOD!

Loved this! Used fresh garlic and much less sugar (about 1 teaspoon) and it was great.

Great recipe! This turned out really good and I will make this again. The next time I wouldn't use garlic powder, I'd suggest real garlic. The power didn't melt in as much as I'd hoped for. Other than that, this was SPICY and wonderful.

I replaced the garlic powder with minced fresh garlic and added some minced fresh ginger, too (about a Tbsp each).  I also used thai chili sauce instead of red pepper flakes and brown sugar instead of white sugar.  Loved this recipe and got lots of compliments from supper club, too.  Added ground turkey to the leftovers for a main dish.  Even better than the dish that I was trying to recreate from our local Chinese restaurant.

This has a STRONG flavor!  Too strong for me surprisingly.  I think it was the oyster sauce which I have used on many occasions with no complications.  Too much of it.  I'm glad I made some rice to serve with to take away from the incredibly over powering flavor.  2 stars is all I can give.

was delicious.  I used hot sauce instead of crushed red pepper and added mushrooms.  I didnt have cornstarch but didnt need it. Delicious!!!!

Absolutely delicious.  I LOVE making this quick and easy curry.  I usually just use regular eggplants instead of Chinese eggplants, and I just cut them up into bite sized pieces.  Super easy, super tasty! :D

This recipe is very delicious.  I'm loving it and will surely make again in future to my family.

I give it four stars buy my husband gives it 5. I followed the recipe except I used clam sauce instead of oyster sauce because I did not have any oyster sauce on hand. Still turned out great. Will make again.

I really love eggplant, but I did not care for this. I can't believe how high its rating is. Using so much garlic powder makes the sauce pasty rather than thick. And the sauce per eggplant ratio was so unbelievably high.

Now I know how to make this dish. This is my mother's favorite when we go out to Chinese cuisine.

Not bad, but next time I'd have to make again using fresh mince garlic.  This much powdered garlic gave the sauce a texture I do not like. The flavor was good but the grit was weird.

Great, had a fantastic flavor and will definitely make again.  It was too spicy for my family though so willd cut back on the red pepper flakes.  Also, I was never able to get most of the water to absorb so would use 3/4 c water.

This recipe is incredible! My favorite restaurant in NYC introduced me to this dish, and I thought it would be difficult to replicate in my own home. My first time preparing this dish, I came fairly close! I used the small round eggplants (some purple, some green Thai) instead of the typical long Chinese variety. Also, if you are anything like me, you may want to cut down slightly on the red pepper flakes, as my wife and I found this dish to be quite spicy. In any case, the flavor was a real winner!

I made it just as written, and found it delicious.  I've also added zucchini when on hand, and that's quite tasty in the sauce as well.

Yummy AND easy! Instant winner. I made some seemingly popular modifications, veggie stock instead of water, three cloves of fresh garlic instead of powdered, and doubled on the soy sauce since I didn't have oyster sauce. But I also only had a big Italian-style eggplant, which I cut into 1-inch cubes, rubbed with salt and lemon pepper before throwing them in the pan, and subbed in 2 teaspoons of Stevia for the sugar for a low-cal modification. Served over brown rice - awesome!

Pretty tasty - used fresh garlic and no oyster sauce but used a splash of sesame oil at the end.

thank you for sharing this.... i love it i try it last night and its so good... (The truth i dont order this in any restaurant but my friend always eat this... but im kind a curious about the taste.) so i ending up cooking it last night and i like it its so good.. thank you for sharing this tasty recipe.. Hope you have more later...

Very, very good!  I cut my eggplant pieces a bit too small -- at the end of cooking the eggplant had broken down a little too much, but still delicious!  I followed advice of others and added a couple extra splashes of oyster sauce, and snipped some green onions to sprinkle on the top when serving.  Next time I will try adding a little fresh ginger, as others have suggested.  This is a keeper, and I look forward to making it again and again.

I made the mistake of using the recipe as written. 3TBSP of garlic powder + 1TBSP of red pepper flakes = YUCK.

Don't get me wrong, I have eaten plenty of spicy food, including the Asian variety. My gut told me 3TBSP was too much, but I let the 4.5 stars sway me - usually something rated this well does fine on its own merits. WRONG!

Now that I read all the comments, I see all the amendments and tweaks. WTH would you rate this recipe as 4 or 5 stars when you change so many of the core ingredients?

 I really should know better. The ingredients were right, but the ratio was WAY off in this recipe. Proceed with caution!!!

Oh, man...I love this recipe! Garlic eggplant is one of my favourite side dishes, but because I underwent radiation many years ago, my mouth is extremely sensitive and I can no longer tolerate even the mildest spiciness...and every restaurant around here makes garlic eggplant with hot red peppers added. So upon seeing this recipe I had to give it a try. I omitted the crushed red peppers and added fresh garlic rather than powdered (have to agree with everyone else - fresh garlic is the only way to go!), and this came out exquisitely! I can now again enjoy my favourite dish, and it takes no time to prepare either...and at a fraction of the cost of takeout. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this!

I made a number of modifications and it still turned out great! I sliced and quartered a full-sized eggplant and increased the cooking time, used Hoisen instead of Oyster sauce (because that's what I had) and increased the cornstarch. It was still a little spicier than I like, so I might decrease the red pepper next time. A yummy and healthy dish!

This was soooo good and easy.  I love eggplant and I would definitely make this over again.  Too bad my family doesn't like eggplant.

Delicious and so easy to make!  The only change I made was to use fresh garlic (and lots of it), but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.  To get the eggplant to cook thoroughly, after adding the sauce I reduced the heat to low and let it cook with the lid closed (stirring occasionally).  I loved it and definitely will be making it again!

Loved this!  Only change I made was subbed Hoison sauce for the oyster because I was out of the oyster. This made it a little too sweet but the mix of flavors was excellent!  Looking forward to making it again after I buy some more oyster sauce.

Great basic recipe - I used fresh minced garlic instead of powdered, and omitted oyster sauce as I didn't have any.  Loved it!

I did not care for this recipe as written. I had to make so many changes just to make it edible.  I used 1/2 tsp pepper flakes.  I reduced the water to a half cup and cooked it UNcovered.  Instead of 3 TB garlic powder,  I used one, but fresh garlic would be better.

Loved this. As one reviewer suggested, use fresh garlic...makes a huge difference,

I hate to comment poorly on someone else's dish that they worked hard to develop, I didn't care for this dish at all. For me, it turned out too mushy and had an unpleasant taste, and was too sweet even with 1.5tsp sugar. Even my housemates that eat anything and everything picked at this dish. I will not be making this again.

Not sure were I went wrong, mine is a pile of mush and has no flavor, :( I think it needs something....

Next time I make this I will use less oyster sauce as I found that really salty. It is the first time I cooked with oyster sauce. Also i did not put in the sugar as I am trying to eat less carbs so I sprinkled a little Splenda and it tasted very good. I was trying to replicate  the Eggplant at PF Changs and since I really cannot fully remember theirs I thought this recipe will by far meet my needs.

I also added onion, chopped fresh pepper, fresh garlic, stir fried tofu, and sriracha sauce and it was delicious!!!

Love it! I also added grounded pork, carrot, and green pepper.

When the water evaporated, clumps of garlic mush was all over my eggplant.  I added the soy sauce with extra water to try and dissolve the garlic mush.  The whole dish reeks of a very artificial garlic flavor.

Great! I was looking for a recipe like the Garlic Eggplant they make at the beloved Burma Superstar here in San Francisco. This comes really close and is delicious. Happily, it's super easy to make too!

Wonderful! I used real garlic and added a King Oyster Mushroom. Used hoisin sauce because I didn't have oyster sauce. Very tasty!

This eggplant recipe has wonderful flavor and a nice texture! My only complaint is that it came out very spicy.

i made this yesterday and my husband loves it!

Perfectly delicious.  Just like take out!

I used regular eggplant, through in some chicken,chicken stock, fish/oyster/hoisin sauces, 3 cloves of minced garlic, brown sugar and served over jasmine rice.  Will make again but will try substituting Splenda for the brown sugar.

Eggplant with garlic sauce is my favorite Chinese dish, and this recipe is very good.  I modified this recipe based on several others' suggestions.  I seasoned the eggplant with salt and pepper, and then added fresh garlic to the stir-fried eggplant (5 cloves).  I also added more oyster sauce, a dash of fish sauce, and some sesame oil to the sauce.  I topped it with green onions, and it was just delicious!  I think it will be even better tomorrow after it sits in the fridge.

Practically inedible.  The texture and look was right.  The taste, however, was off.  I thought it was too salty or perhaps too sour (fish sauce).  My partner thought it had too much chili.  We're used to spicy food--Sichuan is one of our favorite cuisines--but the balance of the sauces and spices in this was wrong.

LOVED this - especially how quick and easy it is to make.  I used 3 cloves of fresh garlic, olive oil and a bit of butter instead of canola and 4 tbsp. of light soy sauce instead of oyster sauce.  Just because I didn't have canola oil or oyster sauce on hand - and I'm a huge fan of fresh garlic over dried.  I'm sure it is delicious the way it is written and I will definitely be making it again!

This is a recipe for a no-romantic-date vacation day; with this amount of garlic your mouth will definitely smell garlicy! But I would not cook it again.

This is great! I absolutely love eggplant, but have been fearful about cooking it.  I used the regular eggplant, which yielded more than 4 servings.  Therefore, I had to double the sauce.  I added ground chicken and served over  jasmine rice.  Delicious!  

Awesome recipe, and if you're on Weight Watchers like many are it's 5 PointsPlus Points as stated without conversions!  I hated eggplant until I tried this recipe!

Fantastic. I had to take the red pepper flakes out for the kids, but they loved it.

I use less water or broth so the eggplant will hold up better. Sometimes I add meat.  Thinly sliced steak or chicken dusted in cornstarch and browned first.  Then remove the meat and do the rest as written. Near the end,returnthe meatto the pan and the cornstarch on the meat will thicken the sauce.

Yum! Use all 5 tsp sugar! I used less sugar as recommended by other reviewers but regret it!  It should have been sweeter, like the original recipe calls for.  I used a ton of fresh garlic and a little garlic powder too.  And this recipe can be adapted with any other ingredients- onion, tofu, mushrooms, etc!  Chicken broth instead of water is good too.

I HATE eggplant, cannot stress that enough! But this recipe is SO GOOD!! 5 stars because even the pickiest eat this one!

Pretty good.  I think a bit more cornstarch was needed as the sauce didn't thicken as much as I would have liked but the result was still good.  For those who aren't a fan of eggplant, you can substitute with pork and it takes just as a good.

added oyster sauce but still needs a little more depth--better second day.

This was excellent with three cloves fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.  I am going to reduce sugar to 3 or 4tsp. next time.

Love this recipe. Was out of red pepper flakes so I used sriracha sauce. Have made it three times now

I received some  Chinese eggplant in my weekly vegetable box and had no idea what to do with them.  I made this, but I left out the red pepper flakes because my family can't handle spicy anything.  I had to add red pepper to my dish separately but overall, this recipe was a huge hit!  It wasn't the prettiest looking dish, but I made it as a main course with rice and even my pickiest eater ate every last bit on his plate!  Anything that my picky 11 year old will gobble up deserves 5 stars in my book!  I am planning on making it again but this time I think I will add some cut-up boneless skinless chicken thighs to give it a little more substance.

Easy and delicious. I prefer my eggplant to be super soft, but those saying this was too mushy can try using less oil and water.

I haven't changed anything, it's flavor was great, I left out pepper flakes because I can't take too much of hot in my food.. Overall it was delicious!

This is perfect! The only things I did differently was cut up the eggplant and coat in salt and place on a rack to drain out some of the bitter flavor. I also had to use some minced garlic because I ran out of garlic powder. But the dish is excellent! I will be making this a dish I come back to in the future, and it pairs well with the Classic Fried Rice recipe on this site.

I was surprised by this dish as I don't like eggplant.  I didn't like the garlic powder usage, as one person pointed out, it made the sauce pasty rather than thick.  I'm going to follow the alternate directions next time, and use fresh garlic.  It's still going to become a regular for me, though!

Great recipe.  Used 4 Cloves fresh garlic instead of powder and garlic chili paste instead of red chili flakes.  I add marinated chicken to dish for main meal.

It's a good base recipe but the key for me is you need to cook down the eggplant. It definitely needs to be in semi-mush mode otherwise it tastes too "green". In the future, I will use more water or toss in a little salt at the beginning to get the eggplant to expel some water and cook it down. There should be a little left over water prior to throwing in the sauce ingredients. Otherwise it's too "dry". Based on what others recommended, I reduced the sugar to 1 tsp., used hot dried chili peppers and green onions. As well, I threw in 4-5 sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms. DH loved the mushrooms but didn't care for the eggplant! Will definitely be trying this recipe again!

I left out the sugar and pepper. I added green onions and used fresh garlic. I will try it again with the sugar and spice, just this time I knew the guests wouldn't approve. haha.

Very good! Expect a lot of spice with this dish! I cut the sugar down a bit (3 teaspoons), oil (2 tablespoons).  Maybe that's why mine was a really spicy.  But it was still very good to eat (but spicy!) and I was glad to cut the sugar/fat down a tiny bit.  I also meated up the dish with two large tomatoes and a red onion.

Thank you for this recipe! The dish is a bit sweet as is, but I think if I put less in the next go around it should be good. Good with rice! Stir in ground turkey for extra flavor. .

Per some of the suggestions on the reviews, I halved the garlic and sugar. Turned out awesome. Recipe def a keeper.

Great recipe! Just needs fresh minced garlic

The taste is good, but the proportions are off. 1/2 cup of water was excessive. I would personally double the amount of sauce and half the amount of water.

I didn't have chinese eggplant, so I used a medium sized normal one cubed into 1-1.5 inch chunks.  I wanted this to be a full dinner entree to have over rice, so I separately browned ground turkey beforehand, and combined that at the last step to cover it with the sauce. 

I also used fresh garlic and added a squirt of hoisin sauce at the end.  DELICIOUS.  I will be making this again and again to have over rice or noodles!

Like others, I substituted some ingredients. Minced garlic instead of powder, chicken stock instead of water, red chili paste instead of red pepper flakes. It didn't really need the sugar (I tried with Splenda), nor the cornstarch. I recommend a non-stick large pan (not a wok, as I did) or your pan will burn. A pain to clean up! All in all a very quick and easy recipe - a lot of bang for your buck! Tastes better than restaurant made, and much healthier, since you can control what goes in it. Oh and I added sautéed tofu. A definite repeat!

Great flavor, easy to make, great recipe!

Good, made some changes: used only 3 teaspoons of sugar, no garlic powder, used fresh garlic and shrimp, and did not have oyster sauce, I used hoisin sauce instead.

Made this with lovely Japanese egg plants. I did as others suggested and used fresh garlic, ginger and brown sugar. Also used chili garlic sauce instead of red pepper flakes. It was absolutely  delish!

The eggplant turned out really mushy and gross, though I will making the sauce again for other things.

I was trying to lower sodium so I cut back on the soy and oyster sauce but I did use a low sodium chicken broth. Also substituted sambal for the red pepper flakes. It was very yummy. Added some stir fry chicken breast at the last minute. Would do the same again. My husband and I both liked it for dinner as well as leftovers for lunch.

Delicious. My son loved it, and he's a tough critic.

I have made this 2 times now.  My whole family enjoys it.  2nd time i added some chicken.  Great flavor-very similar to restaurants.

Cut back on the red pepper flakes but that was all. Delicious. Have made it two times. A banner year year for eggplants. It is a keeper. We served with udon noodles.

I make this recipe to rave reviews with just a few changes: fresh garlic and ginger instead of powdered,  and garlic chili sauce instead of red pepper flakes :) just make this! Just as good as Chinese restaurant takeout at a fraction of the price :) this is coming from a Chinese girl whose family has owned and operated one for the last 30 years!

I LOVED this recipe.  The garlilc was just enough and the eggplant turned out perfectly.  I would highly recommend this recipe.

Surprisingly delicious!! I did substitute for real garlic though.

Like some of the other reviewers, I decided to use fresh garlic instead of garlic powder--turned out to be a great decision. The dish turned out amazing and tasted delicious!

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total: 25 minutes

Servings: 6

Author : Whats that Burning smell

Ingredients

Instructions

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