I must admit I am not a big fan of eggplant but I have grown to accept it over the years. I enjoy it most in its baked version. This popular eggplant parmigiana or baked eggplant with parmesan is simply the best way to have this vegetable. I love making it when I want something tasty to eat but I do not have the mood to slave away in the kitchen.
All you need is some eggplant, parmesan, mozzarella and some marinara sauce. You can use the store bought pasta sauce like I did or make the sauce from scratch. It is not too tough to make and you can make it before hand and store it too.
Some versions of this baked eggplant dish dip the eggplant in egg wash and bread crumbs before baking them while others directly bake the eggplant slices with salt and oil. From what I understand the bread crumb coated version is an American adaptation while the original Italian version bakes the eggplant as is. No points for guessing what I did. I always adapt the version with fewer ingredients and lesser work. So I baked the eggplant as is. The best part of that is we get an eggless version of this dish which is always welcome.
I adapted this recipe from Cookie and Kate replacing the sauce from scratch with my store bought sauce and some herbs because I did not have them handy.
If you like baked dishes like this for dinner or supper check out this Baked Spinach and Corn or Baked Pisto with Eggs or these delicious Baked and stuffed capsicum
Here is the recipe for this easy and delicious dish. Though this dish takes some time to get ready most of it is spent in the oven and there is very less hands on time needed to make this tasty dinner.
Baked Eggplant with Parmesan
Equipment
- OTG or MIcrowave Oven to bake
- Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 2 Eggplants / Large Brinjals
- 1 1/2 -2 cups Marinara sauce Homemade or store bought
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
- 1/3 cup Mozzarella Cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 210C
- Slice the eggplant vertically into long slices of 1/2 inch thickness and lay them on a baking tray lined with parchment
- Brush the eggplants with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle some salt and pepper on it
- Bake the eggplants for around 25 minutes till it is tender
- Spread some marinara sauce at the bottom of an 9*4 baking dish. Top it with 4-5 slices of eggplant in a single row and sprinkle some parmesan cheese on it
- Repeat these layers of sauce, eggplant and parmesan till all the eggplants are layered.
- Top the dish with mozzarella cheese
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or till the top is a nice golden brown
- Rest it for around 15 minutes in the baking dish and then cut into squares and serve
This post has been redone with a recipe card and some better pictures
Quite a yummy cheesy offering. Love to dig in.
I am guessing this will be very sinful to indulge in!..very good combination with cheese..
I am not a big fan of brinjal but would not mind the vegetable. Baked eggplant looks delicious loaded with all the cheese. Yum!!
Baked eggplant sounds tempting.
We love baked eggplant and I can eat this cheesy goodness any time of the day. Looks so tempting.
So what was the verdict? I too am not fond of eggplant, my husband usually prepares it the way he wants. 🙂
The dish looks sinful…my one time favorite eggplants are a visual treat now.
Omg, this dish is fabulous, i can have some rite now.
with all that cheese, must be yummy
Simple to make eggplant parmesan. Love that crispy crust on top.
My older one would love to dig in 🙂
droolworthy cheesy eggplant..looks yum..
This is amazing! This is my favorite. I use aquafaba if I am trying American version and my vegetarian Parmesan. I would love to have this eggplant parmesan every day too! Your recipe is excellent.
I didn’t know that the eggplant slices are not fried separately in the Italian version. But this sounds just as yummy.