This eggplant parmesan recipe isn’t just easier, it’s healthier, too! Instead of breading and frying, we roast the eggplant slices. It turns out so well!
We both fell in love with this easier method for making eggplant parmesan the moment we tried it. It skips the heavy prep and layers tender roasted eggplant slices with a quick homemade sauce, gooey cheese, and crunchy breadcrumbs.
This baked eggplant parmesan recipe takes a traditionally time-intensive classic and makes it completely doable most nights of the week. Plus, you don’t lose out on any flavor. It is genuinely one of our favorite eggplant recipes!
Key Ingredients
- Eggplant: Use small to medium eggplants. There’s no need for salting, and they roast quickly in the oven. When shopping, look for smooth, shiny skin and eggplants that feel heavy for their size.
- Homemade Sauce: I highly recommend you try the marinara sauce shared in our recipe. It’s super easy, and you can make it while the eggplant roasts in the oven. For a shortcut, use your favorite store-bought pasta sauce. Or, try this red pasta sauce for a slightly richer flavor.
- Cheese: You can’t make this without Parmesan! Use a good-quality Parmigiano Reggiano for the best flavor. Since I love melty cheese, I also add some shredded or sliced mozzarella.
- Breadcrumbs: Instead of breading the eggplant, you’ll scatter breadcrumbs on top for crunch. Store-bought works fine (we prefer panko), or use homemade breadcrumbs. If you’re gluten-free, just skip them!
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Eggplant Parmesan
Tip 1: Roast the eggplant. Forget the salting, breading, and frying! We’ll simply roast thick eggplant slices until they’re perfectly tender and golden brown. I use a really hot oven (425°F), then roast the slices (about ½ inch thick) for 35 to 45 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
See how lovely they look. The outsides are golden and caramelized, and the inside turns creamy. Plus, roasting adds so much extra flavor.
Tip 2: Make the sauce while the eggplant roasts. Store-bought sauce works just fine, but we both love the marinara sauce in our recipe below. It’s super simple to make. It takes the same amount of time as the eggplant takes to roast and keeps the eggplant parmesan tasting light and fresh. We use the same sauce when making chicken parmesan.
Tip 3: Layer the roasted eggplant, sauce, and cheese. You’ll assemble this in a large casserole dish (just like lasagna). Start with a layer of sauce on the bottom, line up the eggplant slices, then add cheese and more sauce, and repeat until you’ve used up all the ingredients.
Tip 4: Finish with breadcrumbs. We don’t want to miss out on the crunch in traditional eggplant parm, so to make up for the lack of a crispy coating, we top the whole dish with crunchy breadcrumbs. They turn golden brown in the oven, really making this eggplant parmesan incredibly good.
Serving Suggestions
We both love this eggplant recipe so much! It’s perfect next to buttered noodles or fresh pasta. I also love adding something fresh on the side, like this homemade Caesar, shaved fennel salad, or Italian chopped salad. And, since that sauce is so darn delicious, don’t miss swiping through a slice of garlic bread or focaccia!
More Eggplant Recipes
Easy Eggplant Parmesan
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This easier eggplant parmesan swaps fried breaded eggplant for roasted eggplant. Then, calls for a good amount of cheese, a homemade sauce, and crunchy breadcrumbs to bring it all together. It’s perfect. This recipe works best in a large casserole dish (13×9 inches or similar).
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
For the Eggplant Parmesan3 ½ pounds eggplant, sliced into ½-inch-thick rounds (3 to 4 small eggplants)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 ounce Parmesan, finely grated (about 1 cup)
3 ounces mozzarella, grated or sliced (about 1 cup)
½ cup panko breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs
Fresh basil for serving, torn or roughly chopped
For the Marinara Sauce¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated (about ½ cup)
Two 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
20 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or use silicone baking mats.
2Place the eggplant slices in a single layer on the baking sheets. Drizzle or brush the eggplant slices with ¼ cup olive oil, and season both sides with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Roast until brown in spots, 15 to 20 minutes. Flip, and then roast for another 15 minutes until nicely browned and soft in the middle.
3Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the ¼ cup of olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the grated carrots and a pinch of salt. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the carrots soften.
4Open the cans of tomatoes and pour them, along with their juices, into a large bowl. Using your hands or a potato masher, crush the tomatoes. Leave it a little chunky. (Alternatively, using an immersion blender directly in the can, pulse into a chunky puree.)
5Pour the tomatoes and their juices into the pot. Add the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove and discard the bay leaf, then stir in the chopped basil.
6When the eggplant is out of the oven, reduce the heat to 400°F (200°C).
7In a 9×13-inch baking dish, spread one-third of the sauce over the bottom. Arrange half of the roasted eggplant slices on top, letting them overlap slightly. Sprinkle with one-third of the Parmesan and half the mozzarella. Drizzle about half the remaining sauce over the eggplant (no need to cover it completely).
8Add the remaining eggplant slices. Sprinkle with half the remaining Parmesan and all the leftover mozzarella. Top with the remaining sauce. Finish with a layer of breadcrumbs and the remaining Parmesan.
9Bake uncovered until the sauce bubbles and the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes before serving, then top with fresh basil.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Make-ahead: Assemble the whole dish (but leave off the final layer of breadcrumbs), cover tightly, and refrigerate. Before baking, add breadcrumbs, then bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts.
- Fresh Tomatoes: To swap the canned tomatoes for fresh, you will need 4 pounds. For a smoother sauce, peel them first: cut a shallow “X” into the bottom of each tomato and drop them into boiling water for about 1 minute. Transfer immediately to a bowl of icy water. The peels will slip right off. Crush or chop them, and proceed with the sauce.
- Recipe update: We have rewritten this recipe to be clearer and now recommend our lighter, fresh marinara sauce for this dish.
- This recipe was inspired by Alexandra’s Kitchen.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
This recipe is great ! Light and healthy. It appears at least once a month on our dinner menu :). For it I use Joanne and Adam homemade tomato sauce recipe ( I omit the peppers though).
Awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing
Thanks Connor! So glad you enjoyed it.
The recipe is a keeper. Both my husband and I enjoyed it along side garlic mashed potatoes. It is really good and I enjoy eating the dish, but it does not satisfy my craving for Eggplant Parmesan.
This was amazing. Will definitely make this again!!!
How do you make bread crumbs out of sliced bread? In love with your recipes. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Cyrina, Here’s our recipe for homemade bread crumbs.
This was an easy, delicious version of eggplant parm. I used my own favorite marinara recipe with it, but it was fantastic! My husband, who is not a fan of this dish normally, even ate it and said it was really good. Thank you for this lighter, easier, version!
I tried this eggplant recipe and I and my family loved it. I get eggplant parmigiana in restaurants fairly often, so I know my eggplant. Too often the eggplant is not tender enough and the breading just gets soggy in the baking. It was easier to roast the eggplant slices than to fry them like traditional eggplant parmigiana. Great idea! The flavor of your sauce was good as well. I didn’t have enough fresh basil to make a cup, so had to improvise at the end by adding 1 tablespoon of pesto to get more flavor. My blender wasn’t working so I did my best to mash everything but still thought it was good a little chunky. I also liked the bread crumbs on top. I served it with a hamburger patty and brown rice for a simple but delicious meal.
Very tasty and healthy since the eggplant was baked. I forgot to buy mozzarella cheese so I had to use Swiss cheese and it still was delicious!
This recipe was simple yet amazing! The video was super helpful. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used finely chopped walnuts from a food processor. Will definitely make again!
I love Italian food but hate spending hours over a grueling recipe. This recipe was the solution: providing gourmet taste without the manual labor. I highly recommend this recipe and am looking forward to making it for friends to impress them 😉
We totally enjoyed this Eggplant Parmesan casserole tonight. I used my own tomato sauce recipe made from home grown SAN Marzano tomatoes. This recipe was so much easier than any other eggplant parm recipe I have used in the past….and so delicious. I added a serving of rotini which accompanied the casserole beautifully. It’s definitely a keeper recipe. Thanks for the preparation tips and the Instructional video.
I had a go of your recipe today. I had to adapt the amounts as it was just for me. It was lovely! I made the tomato and red pepper sauce and my own breadcrumbs too. I will definitely do this again. Thank you.
Hi Anne! We are thrilled you enjoyed the recipe and were able to adapt it to your needs. Happy cooking!
Hi Folks,I just finished making and eating your Favorite Eggplant Parmesan. Fantastic! I had a few variations: I used two plants and had only enough for one layer of eggplant (no problem); for the sauce I used a jar of prepared sauce and added pealed tomatoes (which I crushed in the pot); added a liberal amount of prepared minced garlic; and thinly sliced hand-full of basil to the sauce. I used panko breadcrumbs on top. I was so pleased how well it turned out! I made it in a 8 X 13 baking dish and have it all to myself as my wife cares not for eggplant. I’ll freeze several helpings to enjoy for later. Thank you, James S
Love this version! much like what I had in Greece with more of a marinara than sauce
Greetings, This Egg Plant Recipe looks great and simple. I have the ingredients and am going to make it now! I will let you know how it turned out. And, thank you for including the video. Sincerely,James
You can never have enough fresh ideas and new recipes. Looking forward to future posts. Buon Appetit.