Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Easy Eggplant Parmesan is the perfect easy dinner. Healthy eggplant is snuggled into a garlic tomato sauce and baked with golden, bubbling cheese!

This eggplant parmesan recipe is the perfect post-holiday easy dinner. Firstly, it’s baked, not fried!!! Perfect for keeping you on track in the new year. Secondly, it only takes about 35 minutes from beginning to end. And thirdly, it gets baked in a skillet, or whatever you’ve got, then popped down in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves. It’s one of my favorite homemade Italian meals, right up there with Stromboli. Everyone will be asking for seconds!

EASY EGGPLANT PARMESAN
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Eggplant Parmesan Tips

1. Use tender eggplants that you don’t have to peel. The skin on an eggplant can become bitter with age, so save yourself the hassle of peeling and get some smaller young eggplants.
2. Use a ready-made tomato sauce to speed up dinner and make life easy on yourself. I like a tomato-basil or marinara sauce for this recipe.
3. Use panko breadcrumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs to get a really crispy coating on your eggplant… even after oven baking!

One of the other common questions about making eggplant parmesan is “do I have to salt the eggplant?”

Answer… absolutely not! The process of salting eggplants can feel a little like overkill. What happens when you salt an eggplant is you slice it into thick chunks and cover the eggplant in sea salt. Leave it to sit in a strainer to try and pull all the water out of the vegetable.

In all realness, the salting process is usually pretty unnecessary. Most eggplants commercially grown, just simply won’t have enough water in them to justify the time and effort involved in salting. Especially on a weeknight!

How to Make Eggplant Parmesan

1. Empty to half the contents of your tomato sauce into the bottom of your baking dish. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl place the panko breadcrumbs and add the parmesan cheese to the bowl.
3. Slice the eggplant into thick chunks and dip in some beaten egg.
4. Dip the eggplant into the breadcrumbs and place on the tomato sauce.
5. Top with grated mozzarella and some basil leaves.
6. Bake until the eggplant are tender and baked and the cheese is golden and bubbling.

That’s it. You’ve just dominated dinner in 40 minutes flat! Baked eggplant paremsan is quickly becoming my family’s favorite way to eat their veggies.

If you’re looking for some other vegetarian one-pot meals you can give this Spinach and Tomato Dhal a try. Another 30-minute meal perfect for cold nights!

Love Italian food as much as I do? Try some of my other favorites!

• Chicken Marsala
• One Pot Alfredo Pasta
• Italian Chop Salad
• Easy Chicken Cacciatore
• Parmesan Mushroom Risotto
• More dinner recipes…

Tools used to make this Eggplant Parmesan recipe

Baking Dish: A square baking dish is a must have for home cooks. This one comes with a sturdy lid for easy storing and transporting your favorite dishes!

Cutting Board: A good-sized cutting board is kitchen essential! This board is thick & sturdy and makes recipe prep a breeze.

Knives: A good set of kitchen knives is essential for any cook. This set is the best one I’ve owned so far and it comes with a knife block, steak knives, and an array of larger knives perfect for all your slicing, chopping, and cutting needs.

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Easy Eggplant Parmesan is the perfect easy dinner. Healthy eggplant is snuggled into a garlic tomato sauce and baked with golden, bubbling cheese!

Print Recipe Rate Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: eggplant, vegetarian

Servings: 4

Calories: 274kcal

Author: Deborah Thompson

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 12.5 ounces pasta sauce (I use tomato-basil or marinara)
• ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup parmesan grated
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 ½ cups mozzarella shredded
• 1 bunch basil

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF
• Empty to half the contents of your pomodoro sauce into the bottom of your baking dish. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl place the panko breadcrumbs and add the parmesan cheese to the bowl.
• Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices, then dip into the beaten egg. Place the eggplant into the panko breadcrumbs and layer on the tomato sauce.
• Top with grated mozzarella and some basil leaves.
• Bake until the eggplant are tender and baked and the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Nutrition

Calories: 274kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 902mg | Potassium: 879mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 935IU | Vitamin C: 11.6mg | Calcium: 342mg | Iron: 2.3mg

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