Escalivada
Escalivada
Charred eggplant, pepper and onion, peeled and oiled — Catalan fire vegetables, not a ratatouille.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: Escalivada.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Total
- 1 hr 5 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price

About
Escalivada is vegetables cooked in the embers or a hot oven until the skins blacken, then peeled and dressed with oil and salt. Eggplant, red pepper, onion. It should taste of smoke, not of a stew. Serve at room temperature with bread, or on toast, or next to grilled fish.
Ingredients
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Roast eggplant, peppers and onion at 220°C until collapsed and blackened, 40–50 minutes. Cover in a bowl so they steam.
50 minStep 2
Peel. Tear into strips. Dress with oil, salt, optional garlic and vinegar. Serve at room temperature.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.
Substitutions
Red pepper → Any sweet pepper
Green is grassier.
Tips
- A gas hob or barbecue skins the peppers faster.
- Anchovy on top is a Catalan extra, not required.
History & culture
Catalonia and Valencia. A salad in the Spanish sense: cooked, oiled, a start or a side.
Ember cooking is older than the name. The plate is the Catalan one people photograph.
Traditional
Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Not copied from another recipe site. Official recipe photography is pending. Photograph: Juan Emilio Prades Bel via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plato%20de%20escalivada%20con%20at%C3%BAn.jpg
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.
How long does Escalivada take?
1 hr 5 min all in — 15 min prep, 50 min cook. That is the time on this recipe, not a guess.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 4 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian, Vegan.
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Oven.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1 tsp.
How much vinegar?
1 tsp (optional) of Vinegar.
What can I use instead?
Red pepper → Any sweet pepper. Green is grassier.
Any tips from this recipe?
A gas hob or barbecue skins the peppers faster. Anchovy on top is a Catalan extra, not required.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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