Spanish Berenjas Fritas Recipe - Visit Southern Spain (2024)

The Berenjenas fritas con miel, which translates to fried eggplants with honey, is one of the protagonists of Andalusian cuisine. The fried eggplants originally come from the Middle East, but once the Arabic countries started different types of trading with Spain, the recipe went through some changes.

On the present day, this dish became a typical food from Cordoba, since the citizens of that province are the ones that added the honey into the recipe.

The berenjenas con miel are one of the most popular Spanish vegetarian dishes and you can find it all around Andalusia.

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Step by Step instructions

To make this easy Spanish food recipe you will need the following ingredients:

• 2 big eggplants (or 4 small)
• 4 tablespoons of flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 5 tablespoons of honey
• 4 cups of water

1. The first thing that you have to do to start with your Spanish eggplants is to cut the vegetable into the shape that you prefer, it can be a stick shape, like potato fry, or eggplant slices in a round shape following the circular shape of the eggplant.
2. After that, on a large bowl pour the 4 cups of water with salt and place the eggplants on the inside. Let them sit for at least 30 minutes so they soak all of the moisture.
3. Once that they’re ready place them on a strainer and rinse them to take out the extra liquids. To make sure the liquid is gone dry the eggplant sticks with a clean kitchen (paper) towel.
4. One by one grab each stick and toss them in flour so they get completely covered. Make sure that you cover every part of the stick, this way you will get a more crunchy Spanish snack.
5. Now that they’re completely covered in flour is time to fry! Heat the oil until it gets to 170°C or 340°F then start frying your sticks. You can fry one by one if you don’t feel comfortable working with hot oil, but if you have a big enough pan or the confidence that it takes, you can fry a lot of them at the same time.
6. Finally, with a clean kitchen towel take out the excess of oil, place them on a plate, and pour honey on top, your vegetarian Spanish food is ready!

Substitution of ingredients

If you want to give a twist to this traditional Spanish recipe, one of the easiest replacements that you can make is on the sauce. Instead of honey, you can pour any sauce of your choice; Ketchup, BBQ, Honey mustard, and my personal favorite sour cream with chopped chives.

Besides that, the authentic Spanish recipe calls for chickpea flour, so you can use that one instead of regular flour! But it is harder to find outside of Spain.

Another replacement that you can make is frying them with olive oil instead of regular vegetable oil, this way the berenjenas con miel will gain a more complex taste.

There are other similar Spanish vegetable recipes, for example, you can make this exact same recipe but with zucchinis and you don’t need to let them soak on the water so it is way faster.

Tapas can be really fun to make and of course, eat and if you’re in the mood for the best Spanish tapas plate, you can now try our recipes for Spanish deviled eggs, chicken croquettes, or Fried Baby Squid.

Tips on Serving

This dish is one of the most popular vegetarian Spanish tapas, and it is commonly served as an appetizer or an entree. The best thing you can do is serve them right after frying them or place them on a low heat oven for 10 minutes before consuming them.

As you can see, you can add different things to this vegetarian Spanish recipe, especially when it comes to the sauce. Even though you wouldn’t be eating the traditional berenjenas con miel you can get a little creative and serve them with any sauce of your choice.

My personal favorite is preparing half a cup of sour cream (or cream cheese) with chopped chives and put it in a small bowl beside the plate of berenjenas so you can dip them as much as you like!

Tips on Storage

In case you can’t eat your fried eggplants right away, the best thing you can make to store them and still preserve the flavor is to freeze them when they’re covered with flour (before frying them).

The eggplants covered in flour can last up to four months in the freezer, you can also freeze them in different plastic bags (or containers) this way you can grab the amount that you are eating and enjoy a Spanish snack at any time.

If they are already fried, then it is not recommended to freeze them, but you can store it for 1 to 3 days in the fridge and heat them in the oven before consuming them!

Berenjenas Fritas con Miel – Recipe Card