This Mediterranean Chickpea Couscous Stuffed Eggplant is a delightful mix of sweet garden tomatoes, tiny little couscous, onion, garlic, briny olives, peppers and creamy chickpeas with fresh basil, it’s a beautiful meatless dish that tastes dreamy. OR you can make it with zucchini for Mediterranean Chickpea Stuffed Zucchini! The stuffed zucchini will taste a little lighter and more vegetal while the eggplant will taste meatier and a little buttery. Which one would you choose?
Personally I’m in camp stuffed eggplant, if I happened to have a fresh garden eggplant on hand. Today I did! My eggplant was absolutely perfect, firm to the touch, sweet in flavor, no bitterness in sight. I picked it from my garden a couple days ago, hoping to convince my plant to make more fruit. It’s already working on several more eggplant. There’s one starting and several more flowers so I have hope for several more of my favorite purple fruit.
But then again, I also love me a good stuffed zucchini. If I had a bunch of fresh zucchini on hand (and no eggplant), I’d probably use zucchini in this recipe. I only have a couple tiny zucchini that my mom gave me. I have no luck growing zucchini. My first plant died of root rot. I had three others that I’d put in a pot. One of the potted plants I moved to the garden, one had root rot and the last one stayed in the pot. The remaining two plants are still alive, but they’re getting munched on by deer so they won’t be bearing any zucchini. I keep watering them and trying to protect them from the munchers but I don’t hold out much hope for zucchini. At least they are feeding the backyard critters. I don’t always love them eating my garden, but I still love the wildlife that visit us frequently, here in the midst of the city.
Whether you choose stuffed eggplant or zucchini, I think you’re going to love this simple elegant vegan dish and find it comes together quite easily. If you haven’t cooked couscous before, you simply boil the water with a bit of salt, stir in the couscous, remove from heat, cover and let sit for about 5 minutes. It’s quick and so so yummy. But if you don’t have (or want) couscous, you could certainly replace it with bulgur, rice, farro, quinoa. Any of those little grains would work!
If you are worried about the eggplant being bitter, you can salt the chopped eggplant and let it sit in a strainer for about 15 minutes. Also, please please use fresh garden (or farmer’s market) tomatoes in this recipe. Good tomatoes are going to make the whole dish taste so much better.
For peppers, I used ahi rico peppers from my garden, which have a subtle kick. You can use bell peppers if you don’t want the heat.
You can always add another protein if you are so inclined. I think it’s perfect just like this. Did I mention each serving has 10 g of fiber?
Mediterranean Chickpea Couscous Stuffed Eggplant or Zucchini
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 – 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Diet: Vegan
Description
An elegant, satisfying vegan meal that is easy to put together and delightful to dig into!
Ingredients
- About 1 cup cooked couscous (or 1/2 cup dry)
- 1 medium eggplant or 1 -2 zucchini (8 – 10 inches long)
- 1 small/medium onion, peeled & chopped
- 2 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 – 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped (1 – 1 1/2 cups)
- About 1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers (or peppers with a light kick), chopped
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups cooked (or canned) chickpeas
- 1 small (2.25-oz.) can of sliced olives, drained
- A few sprigs of fresh basil, chopped
- Bacon salt (or salt) and Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute (or your favorite no-salt seasoning), to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. and line a baking sheet with silicon baking mat or brush with oil. Cook the couscous following package directions. It should result in 1 to 1 1/4 cups of cooked couscous.
- While the couscous is cooking, cut the eggplant or zucchini in half (or thirds) and scoop out the inside, leaving a shell for filling. Chop the removed veggie flesh into small bits. Toss the chopped bits with the Tablespoon of oil, onion and garlic and spread into a thin layer on the baking sheet. Drizzle or brush the shells with oil as well and add them to the baking sheet. Roast at 425 F. for 10 – 15 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
- While the veggies are roasting, get the rest of the ingredients except basil and seasonings ready and place them into an oiled saute pan or wok. When roasting is done, add the roasted chopped veggies to the pan and saute for about 5 – 10 minutes or until everything is nice and hot and the tomatoes have softened. Taste and add basil and seasonings to your liking.
- Scoop the filling into the hot shells and serve! Or you can store in a covered container in the fridge and reheat later – or eat it cold. Leftover filling can be enjoyed as a side dish or a lovely lunch.
Notes
I cut my eggplant into thirds for smaller portion sizes, but it was a little tricky scooping out the flesh on the middle bit.
A sprinkle of feta or goat cheese would be lovely on the top.
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2026, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. This recipe was made by a REAL person with REAL ingredients. The photos are real photos taken by me personally. There is nothing AI here. This is real food made by real people for real people. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Nutrition facts are an estimate based on ingredients using eggplant and 1 cup chickpeas for one of four servings. Your results may vary.
