Baked eggplant parmesan, a classic dish of Mediterranean cuisine, the recipe that everyone agrees on at the table and brings with it the flavors of summer. The traditional recipe is the typical fried eggplant parmesan, but if you’re looking for something quicker and lighter, you can always opt for the parmesan with grilled eggplants not fried, two slightly different methods but with identical basic ingredients: eggplant, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan cheese and fragrant fresh basil.
If you need to organize between work and family commitments, you can even decide to get ahead with the eggplant parmesan prepared in advance; in fact, you can assemble all the ingredients in a baking dish to keep ready for baking.
Mine is a quick eggplant parmesan that you can choose to make with fried or not fried eggplants, they are two very similar variants in the preparation of the recipe, they only differ in the cooking of the eggplant: in the first version, you fry the eggplant slices in hot vegetable oil, in the second, you grill them on a griddle as you do with grilled eggplants with capers and anchovies.
I often alternate between the two eggplant cooking methods to satisfy the tastes of the whole family, so I thought of writing the recipe indicating how to make fried eggplant parmesan and how to prepare grilled eggplant parmesan to bake them in the oven. The choice is yours, and let me know which ones you prefer. See you next time!
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 726.33 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 28.27 (g) of which sugars 9.26 (g)
- Proteins 29.34 (g)
- Fat 57.59 (g) of which saturated 20.76 (g)of which unsaturated 34.41 (g)
- Fibers 9.80 (g)
- Sodium 6,065.70 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 520 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs eggplants
- 2.5 cups tomato sauce
- 10.5 oz mozzarella
- 3.5 oz grated parmesan
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 bunch basil
- 3 tbsps olive oil
- to taste coarse salt
- to taste fine salt
- to taste peanut oil (for frying)
Tools
- Baking Dish
- Colander
Recipe for Baked Eggplant Parmesan
Wash the eggplants and cut them into slices about half an inch thick with a smooth-bladed knife, then arrange them in layers in a colander placed on a deep plate and sprinkle them with coarse salt between each layer. Place a weight on top to apply pressure and let them drain for about half an hour. Once the time is up, or when the eggplants have released their water, quickly rinse them to remove the coarse salt and pat them dry with paper towels to dry them.
If you decide to make fried eggplant parmesan, put peanut oil in a pan, and when it’s hot, fry the eggplant without overlapping the slices and turning them halfway through cooking. When the slices are lightly golden, drain them and place them on a plate covered with paper towels. Do not add salt.
If you opt to prepare a parmesan with grilled eggplants (definitely lighter), you need to grill the eggplants. Place a grill pan or cast iron griddle on the stove, and as soon as it’s hot, arrange the eggplant slices and roast for a few minutes per side. When you see the grill marks, they’re ready. Do not add salt.
Once the eggplants are cooked according to the chosen method (fried or grilled), prepare the tomato sauce. First, chop an onion and a clove of garlic and sauté them together for a few minutes in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of oil. Then add the tomato sauce along with a few basil leaves, salt, and as soon as the sauce starts to boil, turn off the stove.
Note: If you’re using fried eggplants, use less oil in the tomato sauce.Take a baking dish and spread the bottom with a few tablespoons of tomato sauce, make a first layer of eggplants, cover with more sauce, distribute the mozzarella cut into thin slices or pieces, sprinkle the surface with part of the grated parmesan cheese and basil leaves. Repeat the operation until all the ingredients are used, making sure the last layer is with tomato sauce, mozzarella, cheese, and basil.
Once you’ve assembled the parmesan, all that’s left is to bake it in a preheated oven at 390°F (static function) for 35 minutes, with the last 5 minutes under the grill.
Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and enjoy these delicious baked eggplant parmesan right away.
Storage and Tips
Storage: The baked eggplant parmesan can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days covered with plastic wrap.
Tips: You can slice the mozzarella thinly or cut it into small pieces.
You can make the sauce with tomato sauce or canned tomatoes.
For the parmesan, you can use either long or round eggplants.
If you decide to prepare the recipe with fried eggplants, remember to use only a drizzle of oil in the tomato sauce as the vegetable will release some of the frying oil during baking.
