Techniques › Vegetables, grains and beans
Salting eggplant and zucchini
Beginner Vegetables, grains and beans
Salting eggplant and zucchini is drawing water out of sliced or cubed eggplant or zucchini with salt before cooking, for better texture and browning.
Written with AI help from the sources listed, and published by Cory. Spot a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it.
How do you do it?
- Cut into slices or cubes, toss with about 1 teaspoon kosher salt per pound, and set in a colander.
- Let it sit 30-60 minutes, until beads of liquid form and drip out.
- Press or pat the pieces dry with towels; for grated zucchini, squeeze it hard in a towel.
- Taste before seasoning the dish further, since some salt stays behind.
Why does it work?
Salt pulls water out of the cells by osmosis. In eggplant, that also collapses its spongy air pockets, so it absorbs less oil and gets creamy instead of greasy. Modern eggplants are rarely bitter, so moisture and texture are the real reasons. Zucchini is mostly water; removing some keeps fritters and gratins from turning soupy.
What are the common mistakes?
- Not drying afterward — the leftover water spatters and steams the pieces.
- Forgetting it's salted — the finished dish ends up too salty.
- Rinsing it after salting without drying — you add back the water you removed.
Still stuck? Watch someone do it on YouTube.
Learn by cooking. In Pantry to Pan, technique words in your recipes' steps link straight
to guides like this one, right when you need them.
Try it free for 14 daysMore vegetables, grains and beans
- Blanching (and shocking)Boiling vegetables briefly, then plunging them into ice water.Beginner
- Caramelizing onionsCooking onions slowly until deep golden brown, soft and sweet.Intermediate
- Pasta water and al denteCooking pasta until just tender with a little bite, and saving some of the starchy water.Beginner
- Roasting vegetablesCooking cut vegetables in a hot oven until their edges brown and their centers turn tender.Beginner
- Cooking rice (the absorption method)Simmering rice in a measured amount of water so it absorbs all of it and cooks fluffy.Beginner
- Rinsing rice and grainsWashing grains in cold water before cooking to remove loose surface starch and dust.Beginner