Baked Eggplant with Ground Beef

An easy, delicious eggplant and ground beef recipe. Scooping the flesh from two eggplant halves leave you the perfect vessels for serving ground beef.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Calories: 628 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or more to taste
• 1 eggplant, halved lengthwise and pulp scooped from peel leaving two shells
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole tomatoes with juice, divided
• 1 hard-boiled egg, diced
• 0.25 cup bread crumbs
• 0.5 pound ground beef
• 0.25 teaspoon dried basil
• 0.25 cup cooked rice
• 0.25 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Step 2

Put bread crumbs in a bowl with enough water to cover; set aside to soak.

Step 3

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, remove foil, and continue baking until beginning to brown around the edges, about 10 minutes more.

Step 4

Heat oil in a large skillet. Cook and stir ground beef, onion, and garlic in hot oil until the beef is completely browned and no large chunks remain, 7 to 10 minutes.

Step 5

Stir eggplant into ground beef mixture; cook and stir until eggplant is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat and set aside to allow the mixture to cool.

Step 6

Drain excess water from bread crumbs and put in a large bowl; add ground beef mixture, half the tomatoes, rice, cheese, egg, and basil. Stir the mixture until ingredients are evenly mixed, adding more liquid from the tomatoes if too dry; season with salt and pepper. Fill the eggplant shells with the mixture and put into a large baking dish. Top with remaining tomatoes and cover the dish with aluminum foil.