Eggplant & chicken in garlic sauce is my all-time favorite dish from the Chinese takeout menu. I LOVE eggplant and I like how it tastes so good with chicken and delicious hot, tangy and sweet garlic-based sauce. Served with hot fried rice this dish is my kind of comfort food to enjoy on a lazy Sunday!
Two BIG reasons why I love this dish are the gorgeous eggplant, the flavorful, tender, and juicy purple Chinese eggplant. I also use them to make a simple Indian eggplant sauté with garlic, chili and roasted peanuts. Speaking of which, that recipe coming soon, so stay tuned.
The second reason is my obsession with GARLIC. I never follow the amount of garlic many recipes call for because I find it very funny when some recipes call for only ONE clove of garlic! So this recipe uses a LOT of garlic.
A bonus for making it at home is that you can control the sodium(soy sauce) which is much healthier when you know what you are putting in your food and how much!
I have been trying to make this recipe in my Instant Pot for the last few weeks only to get overly mushy eggplant. The trick I’ve learned with Instant Pot cooking is you have to quick it for shorter times, cut your veggies fairly large and do NOT forget to quick release.
Another change I made is to use ground chicken which cooks much faster than chicken breast. Thinly sliced chicken breast cut into smaller pieces will also work in this recipe.
Without further ado, here is the cooked to perfection and quick recipe for eggplant & chicken in garlic sauce, using the Instant Pot!
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- 3 chinese eggplant quartered vertically and then cut into 2 inch long wedges
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 3-4 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes less for a milder dish
- 3-4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 3-4 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1.5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and corn starch well and keep aside.
Turn the Instant Pot to Saute mode and heat oil. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for 30 secs.
- Add chicken, cook for 3 minutes breaking the chicken with spatula.
Add ½ cup of water and eggplant. Close the Instant Pot lid with pressure valve to sealing. Set on Manual(Hi) for 2 min followed by Quick Release.
Open the Instant Pot and set to Saute mode. Add the mixed sauce and stir everything together. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Bring to gentle boil and then turn the Instant Pot off. Serve with hot fried rice.
Recipe Video
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Author: Archana
Hey there! I am a techie turned recipe developer, cooking instructor, and food blogger. I love food and enjoy developing easy and healthy recipes for busy lifestyles. I live New Jersey with my husband and two sons.
Beats any Chinese take-out 🙂
Good Stuff!
Thank you, Hans!
Sounds delicious with even just the aubergine and fresh herbs always make your food look soooo good!
Also, I love garlic in my food too. When a recipe call for only 1 or 2 gloves of garlic I chuckle and instantly go to chop up 3 or 4 because the flavour is so good. Here we say that Vampires don’t like the smell of garlic, so eating lots of it will keep them away … but the flavour is good enough reason for me 😀
Thank you Ellanor! I had no idea about the vampire story with smell of garlic. Now I have even more reason to eat more!! Thank you!
I do not like eggplant…. but I promise, I try this recipe. Because it look like so delicious and maybe I will surprised 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you! It is delicious and the eggplant almost melts in your mouth. I hope you like eggplant. It is one of my fav veggies and I cannot get enough of it. May be it will open up a whole new world of flavor for you.
I’ve been obsessed with eggplant lately! I love roasting them!! 🙂
I love eggplant on every which way too!! SO flavorful
I made this for the first time last night… it was absolutely delicious… thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. I am new to using the Instant Pot and this recipe made it very simple for me to do. I am also a lover of Indian dishes, so now I can’t wait to try the ones you have posted. Thx again, have a great day:)
Hi Linda! Thank you for your lovely comments. I am so happy that you enjoyed this easy recipe. You will surely enjoy the new cooking experience in the Instant Pot. I have lots of Indian recipes on my blog and I can’t wait to hear how you like them.
Made this tonight!!! Amazing. Better than our favorite Chinese Resturant. But then since we live in rural Hawaii finding GOOD Chinese is hard. I did add some more spice. And served over brown rice. It is now going to be a regular in our house. Will try it with boneless Chicken Thighs next time I think. And some time I think just the Eggplant or maybe with Tofu.
Hi Nancy! Thank you for your feedback. Happy to hear that you enjoyed this simple dish. And all the variations you are thinking sound delicious and will work very well with this base recipe. Enjoy!
We adapted our favorite Chinese eggplant recipe using the method you described and it turned out perfect. Being able to make Chinese style eggplant without frying it in lots of oil is a huge win. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! Thank you for the feedback.
Hi Archana. Are Chinese eggplants the same as Japanese eggplants (the long thin purple ones?) Otherwise could you give a weight for the eggplants? Thanks!
Hi Michelle. Yes the long thin Japanese eggplants.
I’ve really enjoyed this recipe but it doesn’t say when to put the mixed sauces back in to the pot. So I assumed that was at the same time as putting the water in, so I did that and it came out just fine. Thanks!
Hi Virginia, The mixed sauce goes in step 6. I am glad it worked for you along with water and you enjoyed the recipe.
Oh so it does! Sorry, I missed that. Thanks for your reply.
Thank you for trying my recipe!
Hi! Can you please tell me how much to cook for if using small chicken breast pieces? Thanks!
Hi Shelley, 4 minutes cook time will work for half to 1-inch chicken pieces.
By corn flour, do you mean corn starch? Or corn meal? Three markets I checked didn’t have corn flour.
Hi Lara, Corn starch and I will update the ingredient list too.
Your photo shows vegetables in the dish…. but they’re not in the recipe. What veg did you add to the dish? And did you cook them in the Instant Pot along with everything else?
Hi Jade, So this recipe has eggplant. I add them along with the chicken. Hope this helps.
This was delicious! I also love ordering eggplant at Chinese restaurants but sometimes the eggplant is too firm and almost always it’s too greasy – the Instant Pot is the brilliant solution to both problems. Made a few changes to accommodate my taste, my daughter’s palate, and the small size of my Mini – halved the amount of chili flakes and used 3 Tbsp garlic. For the sauce, I used 3 Tbsp soy sauce and 2 Tbsp oyster sauce + 1 Tbsp water to cut down on the sodium. Sadly, I could only squeeze in about 2 large eggplants. Thinking about cutting them into slightly smaller pieces next time though I realize they may disintegrate even more. Even with those modifications, it turned out well, and my 5-year-old loved it and even asked me to make it again, though she had declared in advance that she wouldn’t eat it because she didn’t like eggplant. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
You are welcome! I am so glad you enjoyed it. I agree it’s SO much healthier than the greasy restaurant versions