Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
Get a taste of Italy with this vegan eggplant parmesan dish. This delicious recipe only requires about an hour of your time, making it the perfect weeknight meal. Layers of tasty plant based cheese, marinara, baked eggplant, and fresh basil come together for an easy and healthy dinner. There is nothing to be missed in this eggplant parm without breadcrumbs!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 273kcal
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplant sliced
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup vegan mozzarella cheese grated (can also use regular mozzarella if you don't need this to be vegan)
- 1 cup vegan parmesan cheese grated (can also use regular parmesan if you don't need this to be vegan)
- 4 cups marinara sauce
- Fresh parsley or basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 390 degrees F / 200 C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Lightly brush the eggplant slices with oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper.
- Place on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the eggplant slices from the oven and allow to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 338 degrees F / 170 C.
- To assemble the eggplant parmesan: Spread a thin layer of marinara sauce over the base of a deep 8x8 inch baking dish, cover with a layer of cooked eggplant.
- Cover the eggplant layer with a light coating of marinara sauce and a sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese.
- Repeat until all marinara sauce, eggplant and parmesan cheese has been used up with the final layer on top being marinara sauce.
- Cover the top layer of marinara sauce with remaining parmesan and vegan mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the top layer of cheese is a lovely golden brown. If you find the cheese is browning too quickly cover with a sheet of foil.
- Allow the eggplant parmesan to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, chives or torn basil leaves.
- Slice and serve with your favorite salad, steamed vegetables or garlic bread.
Notes
- For best eggplant results, slice the eggplants evenly into ¼ inch slices to help with consistency when cooking. Also, don't forget to salt the eggplant before roasting it! This will cut down on bitterness and will help make the eggplant more crispy when you bake it (since salting the eggplant removes a lot of the water content).
- To make this extra cheesy you can add additional mozzarella cheese in between each layer. However, this will increase the calories and fat content per serving.
- Baking the eggplant before assembling the dish is important so be sure to not skip this step!
- Allow the eggplant parmesan to rest after cooking to prevent it from being watery and too sloppy when slicing and serving.
- For a vegetarian eggplant parmesan, make sure to use low moisture mozzarella cheese and not fresh mozzarella as the water content is too high for this dish.
- Ensure the marinara sauce isn’t too watery as this will result in a less enjoyable, liquidy vegan eggplant parmesan bake.
- Make in small batches. If you are making this eggless eggplant parmesan for a smaller household, you can cut the recipe in half.
Nutrition
Calories: 273kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 1154mg | Potassium: 835mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 11g