Vegetarian stuffed aubergines with bulgur wheat & pesto

Vegetarian stuffed aubergines (eggplant) with a rich, pesto-infused bulgur wheat filling topped with golden melty cheese. A favourite family dinner.

Kipper: “Yummy. This is yummy.”
Pause.
“I’d call this… DELICIOUS!”

Favourite foods…

I might well have predicted that a dish which includes two of my daughter Kipper’s most favourite foods ever – aubergines (eggplants) and pesto – was going to be a big hit.

She was all over these vegetarian stuffed aubergines. From the golden, melty cheese on the top, through the rich, pesto-infused filling with its tasty bulgur wheat and tender chunks of aubergine, right down to the softly chewy ‘shells’ of hollowed-out aubergine skin.

Recipe creation

I should probably give her some credit for the creation of this utterly delicious recipe.

A few weeks ago, DH was away for work, and I gave Kipper the opportunity to come up with a dinner recipe herself. Naturally, she chose aubergine and pesto as her two main ingredients. And to be honest, I think she would have left it at that!

However, I persuaded her to add one or two more things, just to make these delicious vegetarian stuffed aubergines a bit more substantial. Melty cheese on top was a no-brainer, and that time she agreed to add some breadcrumbs to the filling, to add some carbohydrate.

Breadcrumb-free

Unfortunately, DH can’t eat bread. So when I decided to recreate Kipper’s recipe for the whole family, I needed to make a few changes. Out went the breadcrumbs, and in came the bulgur wheat. It’s an ingredient I don’t use nearly enough, and I love it’s distinctive texture and lovely subtle, nutty flavour.

I also added some onions, and plenty of black pepper to season. While these vegetarian stuffed aubergines don’t call for a long list of ingredients, Kipper’s original recipe was perhaps just a little bit too minimalist! 

The end result was fabulous! These gorgeous stuffed aubergines are so easy to make, they’ll definitely be reappearing regularly on our table.

Ingredients for vegetarian stuffed aubergines

As I said, the ingredients list for these fabulous stuffed aubergines is pretty short. All you will need for dinner deliciousness is:

• Aubergines – of course! Also called eggplants.
• Onions – for a deeply savoury flavour
• Olive oil
• Bulgur wheat – for the yummy, nutty filling.
• Pesto – for that delicious basil flavour
• Vegetable bouillon powder – use my homemade soup powder for extra nutrition!
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Grated cheese for the bubbly golden top – I used mozzarella, but any grated hard cheese is fine.

Vegetarian stuffed aubergines

Since these aubergines are packed with bulgur wheat, vegetables and cheese, they already provide almost a complete meal of carbs, veg, protein and fat. However we ate them with a green salad which was a perfect, simple accompaniment.

DH ate a whole aubergine (2 halves), Kipper ate a half, and I ate one and a half halves (¾ of an aubergine). I would say the recipe (3 aubergines) serves 3-4 people.

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📖 Recipe

More delicious stuffed vegetable recipes

If you enjoyed these stuffed eggplants (aubergines), check out this recipe for vegan stuffed courgettes with pine nuts, these delicious tomato and mozzarella stuffed mushrooms, and this list of mouthwatering stuffed vegetables to celebrate the harvest season.