The Best Spices for Eggplant, Dish by Dish: Moussaka, Baba Ghanoush, Ratatouille and Parmigiana

Which spices suit eggplant best depends on the dish. The classic eggplant dishes each have their own seasoning logic: warm sweet spices in Greek moussaka, garlic and tahini in baba ghanoush, basil and thyme in ratatouille, basil and cheese in Italian parmigiana. This page goes dish by dish, then covers spices that suit eggplant more generally. Quantities appear only where a named recipe gives them.

At a glance

Moussaka: cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

Britannica describes moussaka as baked lamb and eggplant, made throughout the Balkans and Middle East and most closely associated with Greece and Turkey: ground lamb with onions, tomato sauce and seasonings, topped with a béchamel and grated cheese.² Variants put a layer of sliced potato underneath or swap zucchini for the eggplant, and the Arabic musakka’a is a meatless stew of eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas and onions in olive oil.²

The sweet spices are what set the Greek version apart. Aglaia Kremezi’s moussaka for Saveur, a recipe she inherited from her mother, seasons 2 pounds of meat with 2 cinnamon sticks, 6 bay leaves, 1½ teaspoons of ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves, with tomato, a little red wine vinegar and sugar; the eggplant slices themselves get a light dusting of cinnamon.¹ Saveur calls the result “creamy, cinnamon-scented comfort food.”¹

Lamb or beef? Britannica gives lamb;² Kremezi uses ground beef.¹ Both are documented, and neither source treats the other as wrong.

Cheese. Kremezi’s topping uses graviera, or Gruyère as a stand-in.¹ Parmesan is not in her recipe; in our judgment any hard grating cheese does a similar job in the béchamel.

Nutmeg’s origin. Nutmeg is native to the Banda Islands in Maluku, according to Kew’s Plants of the World Online,⁷ not to India. For how it compares with cinnamon, see cinnamon vs. nutmeg; if the pan goes too far, see too much nutmeg or too much cinnamon.

Baba ghanoush: garlic and smoke

Britannica describes baba ghanoush as a relish of eggplant blended with tahini, garlic, lemon juice and salt, with Middle Eastern origins that are otherwise unknown; it appears in many forms across the region.³ Its smoky flavor comes from grilling the eggplant over hot coals or baking it in a very hot oven until it collapses.³ The smoke is effectively a seasoning here, so a charred eggplant needs less added spice. In our judgment, a pinch of cumin or sumac on top is a reasonable extra, but neither is in Britannica’s core list. For fresh garlic versus powder, see garlic powder vs. garlic; if it is too sharp, see too much garlic.

Ratatouille: basil and thyme

Britannica calls ratatouille the signature dish of Nice, inspired by the summer gardens of Mediterranean France, and names basil and thyme as its typical seasonings.⁴ Jacques Pépin’s version, as Britannica describes it, uses zucchini, tomatoes, garlic and bell peppers, with eggplant another widely used ingredient; chefs disagree about onion.⁴ The vegetables are sautéed in olive oil until lightly browned, then simmered gently.⁴ Herbes de Provence is a natural shortcut for the herbs; see also cooking with thyme and cooking with basil.

Parmigiana: basil and cheese

Parmigiana di melanzane layers eggplant with cheese. The Local Italy reports that the dish was born in Sicily more than two centuries ago.⁵ Silvana Lanzetta’s “white” (tomato-free) version for The Local uses 6 to 8 large eggplants with 500 g of mozzarella, 150 g of grated Parmesan, six eggs and a large bunch of fresh basil, plus salt and pepper.⁵ The familiar red version adds tomato sauce; no recipe for it was checked for this page.

Parmesan adds more than salt. A white paper from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Evidence Analysis Library tabulates free glutamic acid, which triggers umami taste receptors, at 1,200 to 1,680 mg per 100 g for Parmesan, compiled from earlier published sources.⁸

Georgian eggplant with walnuts

Saveur’s Benjamin Kemper names badrijani nigvzit, garlicky eggplant rolls stuffed with walnut paste, among the Georgian dishes made with the spice blend khmeli suneli.⁶ See khmeli suneli.

Other spices that suit eggplant

These are kitchen judgment, not tied to a named source:

• Cayenne or red pepper flakes: heat to lift the mild flesh; add to taste.
• Cumin: earthy warmth in roasted or grilled eggplant; see too much cumin if it dominates.
• Smoked paprika: a shortcut to smoke when you can’t char the eggplant.
• Oregano: with tomato-based eggplant bakes.

Olive oil is not a spice, but the moussaka and ratatouille here rely on it: Kremezi’s moussaka uses over 2 cups of extra-virgin olive oil, and ratatouille’s vegetables are sautéed in it.¹⁴

Related

• Cinnamon vs. nutmeg
• Garlic powder vs. garlic
• Too much cumin
• Herbes de Provence