HOT HONEY MISO EGGPLANT XO NOODLES
Meet the veggie bowl that steals the show: hot honey miso eggplant, roasted until dark, glossy and sticky, sitting on a tangle of XO noodles that taste like they came from your favourite noodle bar. They didn't. Our very own ambassador Chantal Straver from @dekookpsycholoog came by to show us her recipe. The eggplant gets scored, seared, roasted and painted with a hot honey miso glaze, while Chilli Chan's XO Mushroom knife-cut noodles bring the deep, savoury base with their own sauce sachets. A drizzle of Crispy Chilli Oil on top and you've got sweet, salty, spicy and umami in every bite. Fifty minutes, mostly hands-off, and seriously impressive.
Prep 20 min Cook 30 min Total 50 min Serves 2 Heat 🌶 3/5
Jump to
- Why this bowl works
- The hot honey miso glaze
- What you need
- The method
- Swaps and hard-to-find bits
- What goes wrong
- FAQs
Why this bowl works
Miso eggplant is a Japanese classic for good reason. Eggplant is a flavour sponge: score it deeply, roast it until it goes soft and silky, and it soaks up whatever you brush on top. We give it a Chilli Chan's twist by swapping the usual sugar or mirin for Crispy Hot Honey, so the glaze caramelises with a gentle chilli kick and little crunchy bits.
Then we put it on XO noodles. Chilli Chan's knife-cut noodles are sun-dried the traditional Guan Miao way and never fried, so they cook in about three minutes and stay springy. The XO Mushroom pack comes with its own rich, umami-packed XO mushroom sachet and soy sachet, which means the noodles are seasoned and ready while the eggplant does its thing in the oven.
The hot honey miso glaze
This is where the magic happens. Every ingredient in the glaze has a job:
- White miso brings salty, fermented umami.
- Crispy Hot Honey adds sweetness and heat, and turns sticky and dark in the oven.
- Rice vinegar and lime keep it bright so it never feels heavy.
- Ginger and garlic make it punchy and fragrant.
- Cornflour thickens it just enough to cling to the eggplant instead of sliding off.
Brush it on thick, push it into every scored line, and let the oven turn it into a lacquered, sweet-savoury crust. The same glaze is brilliant on tofu, salmon or chicken thighs too, so make a double batch if you like.
Everything from Chilli Chan's in this bowl is natural, zero MSG and made without any mystery flavour powders.
What you need
The eggplant
- 2 medium eggplants
- ½–1 tsp fine salt
- 1–2 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
The hot honey miso glaze
- 1 tbsp white miso
- 2 tbsp Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp water
The XO noodles
- 2 packs Chilli Chan's XO Mushroom knife-cut noodles (noodle blocks plus sachets)
- ½ tsp sesame oil, for tossing
- 1–2 tbsp of the hot noodle cooking water, saved before draining
To finish
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 spring onion, finely sliced
- ½ lime, cut into wedges
- Fresh red chilli, sliced
- Chilli Chan's Crispy Chilli Oil, to drizzle
The method
- Heat the oven. Preheat to 220°C conventional or 200°C fan.
- Score and salt the eggplant. Halve the eggplants lengthways and deeply score the flesh in a criss-cross pattern, without cutting through the skin. Sprinkle lightly with salt, leave for 10–15 minutes, then pat dry.
- Sear it golden. Heat the neutral oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Place the eggplants cut-side down and cook for 4–5 minutes, without moving them too much, until deeply golden. Flip and lightly brush the cut side with sesame oil.
- Roast. Move the eggplants cut-side up onto a lined baking tray and roast for 15 minutes.
- Make the glaze. While they roast, mix the miso, Crispy Hot Honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and lime juice. Stir the cornflour into the water until smooth, then whisk it into the glaze.
- Glaze and caramelise. Take the eggplants out and brush them generously with the glaze, working it into the scored cuts. Roast for another 8–10 minutes until dark, glossy and sticky. Keep an eye on them, because hot honey caramelises fast.
- Boil the noodles. In the last few minutes, cook both noodle blocks according to the pack instructions (about 3 minutes), stirring so they don't clump.
- Save the noodle water. Scoop out 1–2 tbsp of the hot cooking water, then drain the noodles.
- Sauce the noodles. Toss the noodles with the XO mushroom and soy sachets and the sesame oil. Add the reserved noodle water to loosen it into a silky coating.
- Plate up. Divide the XO noodles between two bowls and top each with a sticky eggplant half. Finish with sesame seeds, spring onion, fresh chilli, a lime wedge and a generous drizzle of Crispy Chilli Oil. Dig in.
The sweet-heat behind this bowl
Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey: sticky, spicy and made for glazing. Natural, zero MSG, vegan. Pair it with our sun-dried XO Mushroom knife-cut noodles for a bowl that looks like a restaurant dish and cooks like a weeknight win.
Swaps and hard-to-find bits
Good news: this bowl is already plant-based. The eggplant, the glaze, the XO Mushroom noodles and the Hot Honey are all vegan, so there's nothing to change. Want to switch things up? Here's what works.
| Called for | What it does | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Eggplant | Soaks up the glaze and turns silky | Firm tofu steaks, king oyster mushrooms, or salmon |
| White miso | Salty, fermented umami | Red or brown miso (use half, skip the soy sauce) |
| Rice vinegar | A gentle tang that lifts the glaze | Any mild vinegar, or extra lime juice |
| Cornflour | Helps the glaze stick | Potato starch, or leave it out for a thinner glaze |
| XO Mushroom noodles | The savoury, umami base | Sesame & Soy knife-cut noodles for a nuttier bowl |
What goes wrong
- Cutting through the skin. Score deep, but stop at the skin, or your eggplant halves will fall apart when you plate them.
- Skipping the salt. Salting draws out moisture, so the eggplant browns in the pan instead of steaming.
- Moving the eggplant too much. Leave it cut-side down and let it build a golden crust before flipping.
- Walking away during the glaze. Honey and miso both have natural sugars that go from sticky to scorched quickly. Check at 7 minutes if your oven runs hot.
- Overcooking the noodles. Three minutes is plenty. Sun-dried knife-cut noodles keep softening off the heat, so drain them a touch early.
FAQs
What is hot honey miso eggplant?
It's eggplant that's scored, seared and roasted, then glazed with a mix of white miso and hot honey until it turns dark and sticky. It's a spicy twist on Japanese miso eggplant, made here with Chilli Chan's Crispy Hot Honey.
What are XO noodles?
XO noodles are noodles tossed in XO sauce, a rich, savoury chilli sauce from Hong Kong. Chilli Chan's XO Mushroom knife-cut noodles use a vegan, mushroom-based XO sauce and come with the sachets in the pack.
Is it very spicy?
It sits around 3 out of 5. The Hot Honey leans more sweet than fierce, and you control the rest with the fresh chilli and Crispy Chilli Oil. Leave those out for a milder bowl.
Is this recipe vegan?
Not entirely. The eggplant, glaze, XO Mushroom noodles are plant-based however Chilli Chan's Hot Honey is not.
Can I make the miso eggplant ahead?
Yes. Glaze and roast the eggplant, cool it, then keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in a hot oven for 8–10 minutes so the glaze gets sticky again, and cook the noodles fresh.
Can I cook the eggplant in an air fryer?
You can. After searing, air fry cut-side up at 200°C for 10–12 minutes, then glaze and air fry for another 4–6 minutes. Check often, as the glaze browns faster in an air fryer.
Keep reading
- Hot honey chicken with mushroom and sesame noodles, the same sweet heat with a two-pack sauce hack
- Crispy enoki mushroom with hot honey, your new go-to vegan snack
- What is hot honey? (and 15 ways to use it)
- Knife-cut noodles: an introduction to Taiwan's Guan Miao noodles
- Browse all knife-cut noodles
Made it? Tag us. Bonus points for the sticky glaze close-up.
