Do I need to salt aubergine before cooking it?
Modern aubergines are not bitter, so the original reason has gone — but salting still collapses the sponge structure that soaks up oil, which is a real benefit for frying.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 5 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
You do not need to salt aubergine for bitterness; commercial varieties have been bred away from it for decades. Salt it anyway if you are frying or griddling, because it collapses the air pockets that otherwise drink oil and gives a much better texture. Skip it entirely for roasting, grilling whole, or anything where the aubergine is going to be blitzed.
Recipes carried the salting instruction forward long after the reason for it disappeared, and then people started defending it on different grounds. Those different grounds turn out to be partly right, which is why the answer is not simply 'no'.
Step by step
- Forget the bitterness argument.Older aubergine varieties were genuinely bitter and salting drew some of that out. Commercially grown aubergines sold in the UK today are bred for mildness and are not bitter. If you grow an unusual variety or buy from a specialist grower, taste a raw sliver — otherwise assume it is fine.
- Understand what salting actually does now.Raw aubergine flesh is full of air pockets — it is structurally a sponge. Dropped into hot oil, those pockets fill instantly and an aubergine will absorb an extraordinary amount of fat. Salting draws water out and collapses the structure, so far less oil goes in and the texture comes out creamy rather than greasy.
- Salt when you are frying or griddling.Slice or cube, salt generously on all cut surfaces, and leave in a colander for 30–60 minutes. Rinse briefly if you have been heavy-handed, then press dry between tea towels. It will now fry in a sensible amount of oil.
- Skip it when you are roasting.In a hot oven the water leaves as steam and the structure collapses anyway, without the wait. Cut into chunks, toss with oil, roast at 200–220°C. Salting first makes little difference to the result.
- Skip it entirely for whole-charred aubergine.For baba ganoush, moutabal or anything where you blacken the whole aubergine over a flame or under a grill and scoop out the flesh, salting is pointless — the skin is intact and the flesh is going to be blitzed anyway.
- If you are not salting, control the oil another way.Brush the cut surfaces with oil rather than pouring oil into the pan, or start the aubergine in a dry hot pan to collapse it before adding fat. Both stop the sponge effect without the half-hour wait.
- Cook it thoroughly, whichever route you take.Undercooked aubergine is squeaky, spongy and unpleasant. It needs to be genuinely soft and collapsed. This matters far more to the finished dish than whether you salted it.
Tips
- Aubergine is done when it is completely soft and has visibly collapsed. There is almost no way to overcook it and every way to undercook it.
- Cut surfaces oxidise and go brown quickly. It affects appearance only, and cooking hides it, but salting or cooking promptly avoids it.
- Smaller aubergines and the pale or striped varieties tend to have firmer, less spongy flesh and absorb less oil in the first place.
Alternatives
- Salt and drain: 30–60 minutes. Best for frying and griddling. Reduces oil absorption dramatically and firms the texture.
- Microwave briefly first: Two or three minutes covered collapses the structure fast and achieves much of what salting does, without the wait. Useful when you are in a hurry.
- Dry-pan first: Start the slices in a hot dry non-stick pan until they soften and colour, then add oil. Very little fat absorbed.
- Roast instead: Hot oven, chunks, oil, no salting step. The simplest route for most dishes and hard to get wrong.
Questions people ask
How much salt, and do I rinse it off?
A light but even scattering on every cut face — roughly a teaspoon per large aubergine. Most of it drains off with the water. Rinse only if you have been heavy-handed, and dry thoroughly either way.
Is aubergine bitter when it has brown seeds?
Large brown seeds mean an older, more mature aubergine and can indicate a slightly stronger flavour, but not the bitterness of old varieties. Look for firm, glossy, heavy fruit with a green calyx.