Roasted Eggplant and Red Bell Pepper Canned Spread
Eggplant and pepper canned spread is the Romanian preserve known as zacusca: fire-grilled eggplants and red bell peppers cooked down with onion, tomato juice, and oil, then sealed in jars for the pantry. It is a smoky, spoonable spread you slather on bread, and it keeps for months once properly canned and oven-sterilized.
This recipe, along with my Eggplant Caviar, is one of my all-time favorite recipes. When I was little, my grandma used to make this awesome eggplant and red bell pepper canned spread every autumn, and now my mother-in-law carries the tradition. As you probably know, I’m not a huge fan of complicated recipes that take a very long time to cook, and this one will keep you in the kitchen for a few hours. That’s why I usually prefer to ask my mother-in-law to send me some instead of making it myself. Yes, I’m lazy like that.
Fair warning: this spread is addictive. And by addictive I mean you’ll eat a whole jar in less than half an hour. Yes, that happens to me way too often.
This Recipe Works If You Need
- A pantry preserve that lets you put up summer eggplants and peppers at the peak of canning season.
- A make-ahead spread for breakfast or snacks that is ready the moment you open a jar.
- A naturally vegan, dairy-free spread for bread, toast, or crackers.
- An edible homemade gift that sits happily on a shelf for months.
- A way to use up a big late-summer haul of eggplants and red bell peppers before they spoil.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It tastes like the real thing. Grilling the vegetables over direct heat first is what gives zacusca its deep, smoky backbone, the flavor that makes people eat it straight off the spoon.
- It is genuinely traditional. This is the same method my grandmother and mother-in-law use, not a shortcut version, so you get the authentic Romanian result.
- It stores for the long haul. The oven-sterilization step seals the jars properly, so a single cooking session fills your pantry for months.
- It is naturally vegan. Eggplants, peppers, onion, tomato, and oil, with nothing animal-derived, so everyone at the table can spread it.
- It rewards a little patience. Most of the few hours is hands-off simmering, and the payoff is a spread far better than anything from a store shelf.
Ingredient Notes
Eggplants are the soul of this spread, and you want 1.5 kg of small to medium ones. Smaller eggplants have fewer mature seeds and less bitterness, so they cook down sweeter. Look for fruit that feels heavy and firm with taut, glossy skin; a dull, wrinkled, or light eggplant is past its prime and will taste spongy. After grilling, let the pulp drain on a wooden platter for at least half an hour, because that escaping liquid is the bitter part, and the longer it drains, the sweeter the spread.
Red bell peppers bring the sweetness and color, and 1 kg of them balances the smoky eggplant. Choose thick-walled, deeply red peppers that feel heavy for their size; thicker flesh means more roasted pulp and less waste. Grill them exactly as you grill the eggplants until the skins blister and char, which is what lets you slip the skins off cleanly and adds that roasted depth.
Onion, 0.5 kg of it, builds the savory base. Dice it fine and add the salt right at the start of sauteing, so the salt draws out moisture and the onion turns tender instead of scorching. Sauteing for a full 8 minutes before anything else goes in is what keeps the spread from tasting raw or sharp.
Tomato juice, 500 ml, ties everything together, and homemade is best here. A thick, homemade tomato juice or passata has real body and no added water, so the spread reduces faster and tastes richer. If you use a store-bought one, pick a plain passata with no seasoning so you stay in control of the salt.
Oil, 250 ml, is not optional in a canned spread; the fat carries flavor and acts as a barrier that helps preserve the jars. Use a neutral oil so it does not fight the smoky vegetables, and do not be tempted to cut the quantity, because the generous oil is part of why zacusca keeps so well and spreads so silkily.
Bay leaves, salt, and black pepper are the whole seasoning, and that restraint is deliberate. Two bay leaves perfume the long simmer, while 1 tsp each of salt and ground black pepper season without masking the vegetables. If you like a sweeter spread, a tablespoon or two of sugar stirred in during the final boil rounds it out, the way many Romanian cooks finish theirs.
Tips
- Grill until truly charred. The eggplants are ready when the skin is covered with a black crust and the flesh feels collapsed and soft. Turn them every 10 minutes or so; underdone eggplant stays watery and never develops that signature smoke.
- Never mash eggplant with metal. Use a blunt, thick wooden or ceramic knife on a wooden platter. A metal blade turns the pulp black and makes it bitter, the single most common mistake with any Romanian eggplant dish.
- Drain, don’t rush. Let the grilled eggplant pulp drain at least 30 minutes. That bitter liquid running off is exactly what you want gone, and a longer drain means a noticeably sweeter spread.
- Stir and watch the simmer. Once everything is in the pot, it boils about an hour over low heat. Check every 15 minutes and stir so it doesn’t stick and scorch on the bottom; a burnt patch will flavor the whole batch.
- Sterilize properly. Pour the hot paste into sterilized jars, lid them, set them on a metal tray, and finish in a preheated oven at 212F for an hour. Then turn the oven off and let the jars cool slowly inside, which helps them seal and prevents cracking from a sudden temperature change.
Substitutions and Variations
- Sweeter or savory. Stir 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar into the final boil for a rounder, sweeter spread, or leave it out entirely for a more savory, vegetable-forward version.
- Add a little heat. A diced hot pepper or a pinch of chili added with the onion gives the spread a warm kick without changing its character.
- Homemade vs store tomato. Homemade tomato juice is best, but a thick plain passata works; just simmer a little longer to drive off the extra moisture.
- Smaller batch. The quantities scale down cleanly if you don’t want a few hours of cooking; halve everything and you’ll still get a handful of jars.
Storage and Make Ahead
This spread is built to be made ahead. Once the jars are filled, oven-sterilized, and sealed, store them in a cool, dark pantry, where they keep for several months, which is the whole point of putting up a batch during canning season. Always use clean, dry sterilized jars and lids, and check that each lid has sealed before shelving; any jar that didn’t seal goes in the fridge to eat within a week.
Once you open a jar, keep it in the refrigerator and finish it within several days, scooping with a clean spoon each time so you don’t introduce bacteria. Serve it cold or at room temperature on fresh bread or toast. If you love this kind of spoonable eggplant preserve, you’ll also want my roasted eggplant mousse and the smoky mutabal tahini eggplant spread; for a sweeter pepper-forward option to round out the spread board, try the muhammara roasted red pepper and walnut spread.
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Roasted Eggplant and Red Bell Pepper Canned Spread
Ingredients
- 1,5 kg eggplants small to medium
- 1 kg red bell peppers
- 0,5 kg onion
- 500 ml tomato juice homemade is best
- 250 ml oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the eggplants. Heat your grill pan. Grill the eggplants on each side and turn them over every 10 minutes or so. Grill them until they are covered with a black crust.
- Peel the eggplants, cleaning off the black crust. Put them on a wooden platter and let them drain for at least half an hour. The liquid is bitter. The longer you drain them, the sweeter they’ll be.
- Mash the eggplants’ pulp with a blunt, thick wooden knife or a ceramic one, on a wooden platter (This is the secret for a delicious eggplant salad! Do not use a metal knife because it will turn the eggplants black and it will also make them bitter). The process is pretty much the same as the one I used for making this delicious Eggplant Caviar recipe.
- Grill the red bell peppers, just as you grilled the eggplants. When done, set aside and let them cool off a bit. Peel them too and remove the seeds.
Attention: Don’t use water when peeling the veggies! They will lose their taste.
- Heat the oil in a large pot. Dice the onion and saute it for 8 minutes. Add salt right from the beginning, this way the salt won’t get burned and it will become tender instead.
- Put the red bell peppers in your food processor and mash them. Add them in the pot. Add pepper, bay leaves, tomato broth and mashed eggplants. Let them boil for about one hour, over low heat. Check every 15 minutes so it won’t stick. Add 1-2 tbsps of sugar if you want it to be sweeter.
- When ready, pour the resulting paste in sterilized jars, placed on a metal oven tray. Cover them with their lids and place in the preheated oven at 212F, for another hour. When done, just turn off the oven and let them in there to cool off slowly.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a traditional Romanian vegetable preserve made from fire-grilled eggplants and red bell peppers cooked down with onion, tomato juice, oil, and bay leaves, then sealed in sterilized jars. It is a smoky, spreadable paste eaten cold on bread or toast, and properly canned it keeps in the pantry for months. It is naturally vegan.
Grilling over direct heat until the skins blister and char is what gives zacusca its deep, smoky flavor, which boiling cannot reproduce. The char also lets you peel the skins off cleanly. Grill the eggplants until they are covered with a black crust, turning every 10 minutes or so, and grill the peppers the same way.
A metal blade reacts with the eggplant pulp and turns it black, and it also makes the spread taste bitter. Use a blunt, thick wooden or ceramic knife on a wooden platter instead. This is the secret to a clean, sweet-tasting eggplant spread rather than a dark, bitter one.
Sealed jars that have been properly filled and oven-sterilized keep in a cool, dark pantry for several months, which is the purpose of canning a batch. Always check that each lid has sealed before shelving. Once you open a jar, refrigerate it and finish it within several days, using a clean spoon each time.
Yes. It is made only from eggplants, red bell peppers, onion, tomato juice, oil, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper, with no dairy, eggs, honey, or other animal products. That makes it a naturally vegan and dairy-free spread suitable for plant-based diets.
The liquid that runs off grilled eggplant is bitter, so draining the pulp on a wooden platter for at least half an hour removes it. The longer you let it drain, the sweeter the finished spread will be. Skipping this step leaves the zacusca watery and slightly bitter.
Sounds delicious! Is this safe for canning?
Yes. This is a very popular Romanian canned recipe. The trick for long-lasting eggplant and red bell pepper spread is to use the right amount of oil. It’s an oily recipe, but this is the only way to do it.
It’s my first Romanian recipe that I try and I just adore it. You have an interesting cuisine! So easy and healthy!
Glad you liked the recipe!
What can I use for tomato broth? I can’t just buy it here. Is there a recipe?
Or can I just use tomato juice? Or tomato paste, watered down??
Thanks
Hi Lois!
You can use tomato paste. It works just as well. 🙂