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Prepare to fall in love with this Instant Pot eggplant chickpea stew for its velvety eggplant and tender chickpeas in a savory garlic tomato sauce. It is the epitome of comfort food and is vegan to boot.

instant pot eggplant chickpea stew presentation

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This dish is inspired by Lebanese maghmour, also known as Lebanese moussaka, but uses the time saving method of pressure cooking. The eggplants are not deep fried or baked, but only cubed and tossed into the Instant Pot for three minutes.

This version is meant to be quick dish, with similar flavors made conveniently in a fraction of the time.

You will also learn the layering secret, how to make this tomato based dish without getting the burn message from your Instant Pot.

Believe me, there’s nothing worse than getting the burn when you’re looking forward to amazing food. Sometimes it all comes down to how you order the ingredients in your Instant Pot.

Try this fail proof method, and see how easy it is to make this eggplant chickpea stew.

Content in this Post

Ingredients in Instant Pot Eggplant Chickpea Stew
Kitchen Tools Needed for Eggplant Chickpea Stew
How To Make Instant Pot Eggplant Chickpea Stew (Maghmour)
Pressure Cook Chickpeas in Large Batches
How to Prep For a Larger Meal
What to Serve With Instant Pot Maghmour
More Instant Pot Favorite Recipes
Storage Tips

Ingredients in Instant Pot Eggplant Chickpea Stew

instant pot eggplant chickpea stew ingredients mise en place

Eggplant — Use medium to large sized eggplants.
Chickpeas — Use canned or dry chickpeas soaked overnight. If you need to, you can also use dry chickpeas pressure cooked for a longer time.
Onions — diced onion of your choice, red, yellow or white.
Vegetable Broth — Use organic vegetable broth, homemade or store bought is fine.
Tomato Sauce — We use Victoria White Linen Collection marinara sauce that we purchase at Costco.
Tomato Paste — Tomato paste provides a rich tomato flavor to the dish.
Tomatoes — Diced fresh or canned tomatoes.
Pomegranate Molasses — Found at Lebanese grocery stores, online or well stocked specialty aisles.
Garlic — Use cloves, minced.
Oil — Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil are good choices.
Mint — dried mint
Cumin — ground
Smoked Paprika — ground
Cinnamon — ground, preferable Ceylon cinnamon.
Himalayan Salt — ground, enhances the flavors.

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Kitchen Tools Needed for Eggplant Chickpea Stew

We use a 6 quart Instant Pot to cook this dish. You can also use an 8 quart Instant Pot. If you use a 3 quart Instant Pot, you should half the recipe as the pot might only hold one cubed eggplant.

I haven’t tried it in awhile, but did have success in the past with tossing all ingredients into a slow cooker. I remember that I was happy with how it turned out, but I would definitely choose to make eggplant chickpea stew in an Instant Pot from now on.

How To Make Instant Pot Eggplant Chickpea Stew (Maghmour)

This is a simple recipe to make. First thing is to pressure cook your chickpeas. This step can be prepped ahead before you make this. Otherwise, just pressure cook your chickpeas in vegetable broth on HIGH for 25 minutes while you gather your ingredients, and dice your onion and eggplants.
Then layer your ingredients in a specific order, chickpeas on the bottom, then onions and spices, the eggplant cubes, and end with the sauces on top of the eggplant cubes. Pressure cook on HIGH for 3 min. Once complete, you will need to stir your ingredients really well to uncover your familiar eggplant chickpea stew.

STEP 1 — Chickpea Preparation

Pressure cook your canned or presoaked overnight chickpeas in vegetable broth for 25 minutes to tenderize them. If you are using dry chickpeas, pressure cook for 60 minutes and allow to natural release pressure.

STEP 2 — Layer Ingredients

On top of pressure cooked chickpeas and vegetable broth, add diced onions and spices, follow with eggplant cubes and end with tomato sauce and pomegranate molasses.

STEP 3 — Pressure Cook

Fasten lid securely, set pressure valve to Sealing, set Instant Pot to normal temperature, HIGH pressure for 3 minutes. Once complete, quick release the pressure.

STEP 4 — Stir and Serve

Give a good stir to make the eggplant chickpea stew come together. Transfer to a serving dish. Serve with pita bread wedges, salad and basmati rice.

Time Saving Tip #1

Pressure Cook Chickpeas in Large Batches

I like to pressure cook a large batch of chickpeas to use for several recipes. If you do this ahead of time, it will cut down the time for this Instant Pot recipe. Otherwise, you will need to factor in another half hour to pressure cook the chickpeas.

Here’s the thing – chickpeas, whether soaked overnight or canned, are not tender enough for that melt in your mouth texture that takes the dish to the next level.

The secret is to pressure cook the chickpeas for 25 minutes either in their own liquid (canned), or drain and add one cup of water or vegetable broth.

If you do this ahead of time, and triple the amount of chickpeas (use three cans or equivalent soaked overnight), you can also make green goddess hummus (so smooth) and chana masala. As well as any other dishes that require tender chickpeas.

You can also pressure cook them from their dry state, just be sure to pressure cook for 60 minutes plus time to allow for the pressure to release naturally.

How to Prep For a Larger Meal

If you have a large family or like to make a lot of food fast, you might consider the benefits of owning two Instant Pots. In our home, we use our Instant Pots to make impressive meals and menus in a short time.

For example, in the first pot you can make this eggplant chickpea stew, and load the second pot with the ingredients for lemon red lentil soup.

While those are cooking, you can make salad and basmati rice. Or you can prepare any other dishes you prefer.

It doesn’t take that much extra time to load the second Instant Pot and you will have so much more food in roughly the same amount of time.

In roughly one hour you can have a satisfying vegan meal that you’ve made at home for your family.

What to Serve With Instant Pot Maghmour

Traditionally, maghmour is served with pita bread that is used to scoop up the stew. You can also serve this eggplant chickpea stew with plain basmati rice or basmati rice with vermicelli. It pairs so well with salads like quinoa parsley salad (taboulleh). This dish is nice to have with soup, especially Instant Pot Lemon Lentil Soup that you will love for being so tangy and filling.

More Instant Pot Favorite Recipes

Storage Tips

Uncooked eggplant should be kept in the refrigerator to ensure maximum freshness. Since the eggplants can start to spoil relatively soon after purchase, I usually plan to cook them within a day or two.

Once cooked, this eggplant chickpea stew can be refrigerated in an air tight container for up to three days. It can also be frozen in a freezer safe container for up to six months.