A Wonderful Eggplant Parmigiana to Enjoy

This summer I have had the joy of having produce boxes delivered to my home. Many of the most recent boxes contained purple or white eggplants. I haven’t had eggplant parmigiana in forever and love it; but, I was a little concerned if my husband would love it.

It was one of those days when I realized that the eggplant needed to be cooked now or lose it. Does that ever cause you to be creative in the kitchen?

Wasting food doesn’t work well with me–so out came my recipe book.

Among the main dishes, I found a wonderful eggplant parmigiana recipe that I had and tweaked it a bit for tonight’s evening meal.

Oh, my goodness!

This newly “tweaked” eggplant parmigiana recipe hit a home run!

You know what’s crazy about it? This is a perfect recipe for most vegan diets and can be easily made gluten free; so, for many, it checks all of the boxes.

My husband loved it, too–so, it went into the FAVORITE category.

The white eggplant was what I needed to use quickly. Washing and trimming the stem was the next step of the process.

Most people cut the eggplants horizontally in rounds; but, I had seen another friend slice them longways and that just looked amazing to me. I chose the longways slicing method.

• Begin with a bowl of flour (gluten free, if desired), a bowl for an egg wash and a bowl of bread crumbs (or gluten free ones).
• Dip sliced eggplant into the flour and shake excess off.
• Immerse eggplant into the bowl with egg wash.
• Next, coat each slice with bread crumbs.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Add oil to a cookie sheet with sides. I use my lodge pizza pan for this.
• Season the eggplant with a bit of salt, pepper and dried oregano. I love layering flavors and my dried herbs are wonderful.
• Preheat the pan and add the eggplant and cook for 10 minutes and then turn. Cook an additional 20 minutes. The great texture and flavor that is provided by oven frying the eggplant before layering is wonderful.
• In a 9 x 13 dish, begin layering the recipe in this order: marinara sauce, eggplant, cheese and repeat.
• Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes until cheeses are lightly browning and sauce is bubbly.

Eggplant Parmigiana

A wonderful comfort food that is a delicious and healthy replacement for lasagna.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Equipment

• 9 x 13 baking pan
• cookie sheet or pizza pan with sides

Ingredients

  

• 3 eggplants, sliced enough for two layers in a 9 x 13 pan
• 3 large eggs
• 1 C plain flour
• 1 C plain bread crumbs
• 1 T olive oil
• 4 C marinara sauce *I used my own marinara sauce, but your favorite spaghetti or marinara sauce will work
• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 4 C mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 C grated parmesan cheese
• salt, pepper and dried oregano

Instructions

 

• Begin by slicing the eggplant either horizontally or longwise in about 1/4" slices.
• Place flour, eggs(beaten) and bread crumbs into three separate bowls.
• Dip each eggplant slice into flour…
  
• Then egg wash..
  
• And coat with bread crumbs.
  
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees and add cookie sheets or pizza pan with sides and olive oil to preheat pans before adding eggplant.
• Add coated eggplant onto hot pans and add to the preheated oven.
  
• Season with salt and pepper and dried oregano.
  
• Bake for 10 minutes and turn each slice over. Continue cooking for another 20 minutes and remove from the oven.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
• In a 9 x 13 pan, add marinara or spaghetti sauce and top with one layer of cooked eggplant.
  
• Top with mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Repeat with another layer of tomato sauce, eggplant, and cheese. End with parmesan cheese.
  
• Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until the cheese is beginning to brown and sauce is bubbly.
  
• Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

This is a wonderful main dish that offers comfort and a healthier version of a “meatless lasagna”. 

Enjoy!

Keyword eggplant, eggplant parmigiana, Marinara Sauce

Enjoy every bite of this wonderful eggplant parmigiana!

This recipe will be placed into rotation for anytime we are craving a marinara based dish.

I was amazed at how perfect it was for being a “meatless” dish.

Hope you’ll give it a try! I promise you will love it!

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