A sweet and spicy Thai style vegetarian dish so rich with umami flavor that it dances on the tongue! This Thai Basil Eggplant dish is so easy to throw together, but it is truly 5-star restaurant worthy. In my humble opinion, it’s the absolute best thing you can make with eggplant. And that’s saying something coming from someone who’s made countless eggplant dishes over the years.
I woke up this morning a little panicked over the basil plant my mom let me take from her garden. I suddenly remembered I hadn’t watered it lately and wondered if it was okay? But it’s a lazy Sunday, my day for sleeping in, so I promised myself to check when I get up. Then lounged around in bed with my cat, dozing, then waking, looking up whatever comes to mind on my phone, then drifting off to sleep again. My cat Bean was perfectly content to lay there with me forever it seems, snuggling up next to me with a loud purr. A lot of things drifted through my mind. What should I do with that eggplant? Should we go to the Pacific Northwest in December? I pulled up some houses in the areas we’re thinking of moving to on my phone, allowing myself to dream a bit, still lying in bed.
Thinking of the Pacific Northwest reminded me of the most amazing eggplant dish I had when I was there last. My friend had picked me up from the airport on Friday night with Thai takeout in her back seat for us for dinner. One of those dishes was the spicy thai basil eggplant. She claimed it wasn’t that good, but I thought it was mighty tasty. She said she had had it better at a different Thai place. That made me really curious to know what a GOOD spicy thai basil eggplant dish tasted like. So when my team mates and I went out for Thai several nights later, I ordered the Spicy Thai Basil Eggplant. And it was so beautiful and so delightful. I reveled in that dish. I took what I couldn’t eat back to the hotel with me and had it for two more small meals.
Fast forward to September. I had ONE eggplant left from my mom’s garden. I came home with two. One had already been cooked up in a disappointing dish I do not want to repeat. Remembering that Thai Spicy Basil Eggplant brought me back to the basil plant that woke me. So I went looking for recipes. And happily chanced upon a couple that looked promising from Cinnamon Snail and I Heart Umami.
But then I heard my youngest get up and I glanced at my phone. It was after 10:30 already. I told myself I should really get up and have coffee with my kids. Like we do usually on Saturdays, but this week we’d headed to the art festival on Saturday, so our weekly coffee on the couch thing got moved to Sunday. I hauled myself out of bed and got things started. First things first: water the basil!
After coffee with the kids was over and they’d both retreated to their rooms, I pulled out my lone eggplant. And started on that amazing dish, hoping to make something at least akin to what I had tasted in Seattle. The sauce was surprisingly easy but super tasty. Instead of the traditional stir fry method, I decided to roast the eggplant to bring out the flavor more and to keep it from getting mushy. Roasted eggplant is just so freaking GOOD! It has an almost meaty texture to it.
Once the eggplant was done, all that was left was a quick saute of the peppers, toss in the sauce, thicken it and add the basil. Oh. my. gosh. It was every bit as good as the fancy Thai place we went to in downtown Seattle. I’m so happy I did this little eggplant proud.
And a little amazed that it all came together so simply. I wish my dad were here to share it with. He would have loved this dish, I’m sure.
Inspired by Cinnamon Snail and I Heart Umami
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Spicy Thai Basil Eggplant
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 50 min
- Yield: About 4 servings
Description
Roasted eggplant with sweet and spicy peppers in an addictive sweet, spicy sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 of a medium sweet onion (or red onion – or 2 shallots), peeled & chopped
- 3 – 5 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
- 1 medium globe eggplant (peeled) or 2 – 3 Japanese eggplant (not peeled)
- 1 – 2 teaspoons hot sesame oil
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons avocado oil
For the sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon EACH: oyster sauce. fish sauce, light sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 Tablespoon Sriracha (or more, to taste)
To finish:
- 2 bell peppers (preferably 1 red, 1 green)
- 1 teaspoon hot sesame oil and/or avocado oil
- 2 – 4 teaspoons chopped jalapenos or salsa peppers – or 2 – 5 birds eye chili peppers
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with a bit of the sauce
- 1 loose cup of basil leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Chop into 1/2 inch slices, then cut each slice into 1/2 inch strips and cut in half. Set the eggplant on a baking sheet lined with silicon baking mat (or oiled/sprayed). Sprinkle the garlic and onion over the eggplant, then drizzle the oil over. Give it a quick toss to coat the eggplant in oil, then put in oven and roast for about 15 – 20 minutes or until the eggplant are tender.
- While the eggplant are cooking, seed and chop the peppers and make the sauce by whisking all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
- When the eggplant are almost done, in a wok or saute pan, add the hot sesame or olive oil and bell peppers. Cook until the bell peppers are tender. Add the roasted eggplant mixture, hot peppers, and most of the sauce. Give it a gentle stir. Whisk the cornstarch in the reserved sauce and drizzle over. Add the chopped basil. Stir briefly until the sauce is thickened. Taste and add more sriracha or hot peppers if desired. Remove from heat and enjoy!
Notes
Feel free to use plain sesame oil (or not) and tone up or down the hot peppers to adjust the spiciness of the dish to your own liking.
If you’re using a globe eggplant or one with tougher skin, peel it first. If your eggplant is a Japanese or fairy tale eggplant, no need to peel it.
This is traditionally a vegetarian dish, but you can absolutely add your protein of choice to this dish. I ordered it with shrimp in Seattle.
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2025, 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.
