Stuffed Eggplants with Rice and Chicken

Stuffed vegetables are a culinary tradition celebrated across the globe, from the Mediterranean to Eastern Europe, and for good reason! They offer a perfect vessel for delicious fillings and transform simple ingredients into a truly satisfying meal. This recipe for Stuffed Eggplants with Rice and Chicken is a fantastic example. Imagine tender, baked eggplant shells brimming with a savory mix of seasoned ground chicken, hearty rice, and fresh herbs. It's a wholesome, flavorful, and visually appealing dish that's perfect for a weeknight dinner or a special lunch. Let's dive into this comforting and easy-to-make classic!

Stuffed Eggplants with Rice and Chicken

Cooking: 45 minutes

Quantity: 2 Servings

Per serving

Calories: 370 kcal

Proteins: 27.5 g

Fats: 19 g

Carbohydrates: 22.5 g

Ingredients for Stuffed Eggplants with Rice and Chicken

• 1 medium eggplant
• 100 g cooked rice
• 250 g ground chicken
• 1 onion
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 small red chili pepper
• 20 ml olive oil
• salt and spices to taste

How to Make Stuffed Eggplants with Rice and Chicken

Choose your eggplant — for a portion sufficient for an adult’s lunch, you’ll need a medium-sized vegetable, half of which can hold plenty of filling. We’ll follow the principle of one half-eggplant per serving.

So, take a ripe eggplant with firm skin, wash it, cut off the stem, and slice it evenly in half lengthwise.

Washing and slicing the eggplants

Take a regular teaspoon and scoop out the middle, leaving a border about one centimeter thick.

Don’t discard the flesh; it will be used for the filling.

Scooping out the center of the eggplants

Making the Stuffing for the Eggplants

First, sauté a finely chopped onion in olive oil until translucent.

Sautéing the onion

Add the ground chicken to the onion. My recipe uses homemade ground chicken from breast fillets, but you can use any meat you prefer (pork, beef, veal).

Adding the ground chicken

Finely chop a bunch of cilantro. If you’re not a fan of this herb, you can season the filling with celery, parsley, or dill — whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.

Finely chopping the herbs

Remove the seeds and membrane from a small red chili pepper. Chop it finely and add it to the bowl. Taste the pepper first; for a very hot one, half might be enough.

Adding the cleaned hot pepper

Add the cooked rice. I recommend using sticky rice varieties like Arborio or a round-grain Krasnodar rice (a popular Russian variety). This helps prevent the filling from being too crumbly.

Adding the cooked rice

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Dice the scooped-out eggplant flesh into small cubes and add them to the hot oil. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the cooked eggplant to the other ingredients and season with salt. For this amount of filling, you’ll need about 3-4 grams of fine salt, but this can be adjusted to your taste.

Adding the sautéed eggplant flesh

Mix the stuffing thoroughly.

Fill the eggplant halves with the stuffing. If you have a lot, don’t be afraid to create a high mound of the rice and chicken mixture — it will hold together because the ingredients have bonded.

Grease a baking dish with oil and place the stuffed vegetables inside.

Filling the eggplants with the prepared stuffing

Place the dish on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F). Bake for about 18-20 minutes. You can cover the dish with a few layers of parchment paper or foil to speed up the process. To get a golden-brown crust on top, turn on the broiler (grill) for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Sprinkle the stuffed eggplants with finely chopped cilantro.

Baking the eggplants stuffed with rice and chicken in the oven

Serve the eggplants stuffed with rice and chicken with a sauce made from smetana (a type of sour cream) and herbs, or with homemade ketchup. As they say, to each their own taste.

Stuffed Eggplants with Rice and Chicken