Do you love burgers?  I sure do.  I love cheesy-stuffed beef burgers, lamb burgers, chicken burgers, fish burgers, bean burgers, portobello mushroom burgers…and now, I love eggplant burgers.

You’ll have to excuse the poor lighting, but it’s the best I could do on a late Sunday night dinner when we were both starving and ready to dive into these delicious burgers!

I had a vision for these, and my husband was a little skeptical that they might not be hearty enough – but he was happily mistaken! They were flavourful, a great texture, and perfect when combined with some fabulous toppings…and super easy!

Eggplant Burgers:

• 2 multi-grain burger buns
• 2 large rounds of an eggplant
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 slices of mozzarella

Pre-heat your oven to 425F.  Combine the soy sauce, olive oil, water and spices together in a bowl and mix with a fork.  Add in a slice of eggplant, and allow it to soak for 2-3 minutes, then flip to soak the other side.  Remove it to a plate, and follow the same procedure with the other slice of eggplant.  Place your eggplant rounds on a baking tray (and you can multi-task and make some oven-baked fries at the same time!) and bake for 25 minutes.  Meanwhile, in the last 10 minutes of baking the eggplant, broil the cheese slices on the buns until the cheese is melted (I use my toaster oven for this).  When the cheese is melted, and the eggplant is done, top the buns with the eggplant rounds, some fresh spinach, caramelized onions, and some yogurt-mayo sauce (1 tbsp., 2 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt, dash of salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic powder).

What’s your favourite type of burger?