Lebanese Stuffed Eggplant Recipe (Sheikh el Mahshi) (2024)

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Lebanese stuffed eggplant is a deeply savory, saucy dish made with broiled eggplant, a filling of ground beef or lamb with onions, pine nuts and tomato sauce.

One of the great pleasures of this beloved Lebanese recipe, like so many of our favorites, is the memories I associate with it. My mother made this fragrant, long-baking, bubbling beauty of an eggplant dish for us when we would arrive home to visit from anywhere we were over the years (read my story!). In our house, “nothing says I love you like Sheik al Mahshi”! Which translated means a stuffed dish fit for a king! The dish is at home for a hearty weekend meal or a dinner party. This recipe from my cookbook is featured in The New York Times.

What is Sheik al Mahshi?

This Lebanese stuffed eggplants dish (Sheik al Mahshi or Mesheh) is a melt-in-your mouth assembly of eggplant, tomato sauce, ground beef or lamb, studded with toasted pine nuts and baked until bubbly and luscious. There are a couple of ways to make the dish. One is the more traditional version for eggplant boats, where eggplant is cut in half, broiled, stuffed and baked with tomato sauce. The other includes all of the same ingredients but is assembled in a layered casserole-style, with slices of browned eggplant, the browned ground meat and tomato sauce. I grew up loving this dish with melted cheese on top, my Mom’s special edition!

Ingredients to make Lebanese stuffed eggplant

Globe eggplants. Use two medium-sized globe eggplants for the layered recipe and 6 medium or baby eggplants (about 8″x6″) for the boats.

Olive oil.Extra virgin, to coat the eggplant slices before broiling.

Pine nuts. Toasted.

Ground beef or lamb. For a savory, hearty meat filling.

Yellow onion, coarsely chopped.

Garlic, minced.

Cinnamon. Cinnamon seasons meats frequently in Lebanese and other Middle Eastern food.

Tomato sauce.

Salt and black pepper. Some for seasoning the eggplant slices, some for seasoning the meat mixture.

Mozzarella cheese. This is my Mom’s addition, she loved adding a top layer of melty mozzarella and I love it this way too.

How to make stuffed eggplant

Prepare the filling similarly for the boats or layered slices:

Make the stuffing

In a heavy skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Sauté onion, coarsely chopped, and cook over medium heat until translucent but not browned, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant. Add the ground meat, breaking it up into very small pieces with a slotted spoon. Season the ground beef mixture with salt, cinnamon, and pepper, taste and adjust. Cook until the meat is medium-well done.

To make Eggplant Boats

Step 1. Broil the eggplant halves. Using a sharp knife, slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and arrange on a lined large sheet pan, cut side up. Brush the cut sides with a tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place the pan under the broiler on an oven rack about 3 inches from the broiler, and cook until the tops are a deep golden brown. Remove and set aside.

Step 2. To the browned meat, add half the tomato sauce and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Step 3. Arrange the eggplant halves in a large casserole or lasagna pan. Using a sharp knife, cut a slit lengthwise down the center of each half and push in the eggplant from either end to open the slit a bit. Use a small spoon to stuff the eggplant with a spoonful of the filling mixture. Mound extra meat on top of each eggplant half.

Step 5. In the same pan used to make the meat filling, heat the remaining tomato sauce with half a cup of water and salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Simmer for about 5 minutes, then spoon over the eggplant. Sprinkle half of the pine nuts over top.

Step 6. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake at 375°F for about 90 minutes. Toward the end of baking time, remove foil and add fresh mozzarella pieces over each boat. Continue baking until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with more pine nuts and serve warm.

To make Layered Eggplant

Step 1. Slice and broil the eggplant: Trim the eggplant and cut in half crosswise (the short way). Cut each half lengthwise into ½-inch slices. Arrange the eggplant on a large pan lined with foil or parchment. Brush both sides of the slices with olive oil and season with salt. Broil on medium heat until the slices are deep mahogany brown, turning once to brown both sides.

Step 2. Assemble: In a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking or similar sized gratin dish, spread about ½ cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish. Lay the eggplant slices in a single layer over the sauce. Spoon mixture of meat evenly over the eggplant (some falls around the eggplant) and spoon half of the remaining tomato sauce over the meat. Sprinkle with half of the pine nuts. Layer again with eggplant, meat, tomato sauce, and pine nuts. Finish with a layer of eggplant and more tomato sauce.

Step 3. Pour enough water around the perimeter of the casserole to fill a little more than halfway. This is an important step, or your sauce will be too thick; it may seem watery at first but the sauce thickens beautifully as it bakes.

Step 6. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake at 375°F for about 90 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Serve warm.

Tips for making this dish

Brown the eggplant for layered stuffed eggplant in advance under the broiler. Get it very brown! This can also be done on the grill. Refrigerate for up to 4 days before making the dish.

Don’t cut the eggplant too thick for layered eggplant variation, you want them thin enough, about 1/4- to 1/2- inch thick, so they caramelize while broiling.

If you’re making the boat-style version and want less eggplant in the center, use a melon-ball cutter to scoop more of it out, then add the stuffing mixture. An apple corer also works.

Be sure not to scoop too much of the eggplant out if you’re doing more than just cutting a slit, to prevent the interior walls of the eggplant shells from getting too thin and collapsing.

No need to cut the bottom end of the eggplant after trimming the stem.

While adding water in the baking dish with the tomato sauce is key, take care not to use excess water and submerge the eggplants entirely.

Smaller eggplants work well for this recipe, but if you are making the layered version, you’ll need more than two.

My recipes don’t call for peeling the eggplant! The skin gets very soft and is very good in the dish.

Variations for stuffed eggplant

This dish easily welcomes other vegetables like bell pepper or potatoes layered in.

Try ground turkey or ground chicken instead of beef or lamb, adding a little more olive oil when cooking the filling to keep the meat from drying out. The color of the final results is lighter than with ground meat, but just as delicious.

Add other Middle Eastern spices to this popular dish for a kick; 7 spice, sumac, or cayenne are delicious additions to the beef mince and make a delicious tomato sauce.

Serve with yogurt sauce (laban or tzatziki) or pomegranate seeds for a bright, fresh flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Eggplant Recipes

Garlic Tahini Eggplant

Sheik al Mehsheh: how eggplant healed a heart and always welcomes us home!

Lebanese Baba Ganoush smokey eggplant dip

(Visited 16,816 times, 30 visits today)