If you guys like Eggplant Parmesan this video is a “must watch”!
I take a Classic Eggplant Parmesan recipe and share all my tips on how to lighten it up without loosing any of the flavor!
If you have ANY tips or ideas on how to lighten up Eggplant Parmesan with out sacrificing any of the flavor PLEASE leave your comments below! I love hearing what you guys have to say!!
In the meantime… hope you guys are enjoying the tail end of Summer!
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants about 1 lb each, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
- 3 cups of tomato sauce
- 3 tbsp of grated Romano
- 1.5 cup of part skim ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup of parsley chopped up
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella diced
- 2 tsp of garlic powder
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
- Olive oil cooking spray
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 400.
- Start by making the sauce if you don’t have any already made. While the sauce simmers, slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices. Lightly salt the slices and put in a colander to release excess moisture for about 1/2 hour. Lay on paper towels to soak up any extra moisture.
- Preheat oven to 400. Lightly spray the eggplant with olive oil spray on both sides and place on rimmed baking sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way through until eggplant is tender and golden brown.
- In a medium bowl combine ricotta, egg, parsley and a little salt and pepper.
- In a 9×12 baking dish, put a little sauce on the bottom of the dish and put a layer of eggplant to cover the bottom of the dish. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture. A tablespoon of grated Romano and a bit more sauce sauce. Add another layer of eggplant and repeat the ricotta cheese, Romano cheese and sauce until everything is used up. Top with sauce, a tablespoons of Romano and the chopped mozzarella cheese.
- Pop in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through and bubbling, about 30 minutes at 400 Take it out of the oven and let it sit about 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!
- Serves 6.
Nutrition
Calories: 95kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 122mg | Potassium: 364mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 165IU | Vitamin C: 3.4mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Comments
Marcia says
Dani I can’t wait to try this! I love eggplant Parmesan just not all those calories. I am running to the store and picking up the ingredients for this tonight! YUM!
Lindsey says
THanks Dani! Can’t wait to try this!!!
Melinda Neely says
This looks wonderful. It’s one of my favorite dishes, and eggplant is overflowing in my garden. I typically fry the eggplant, so I’ll try roasting it next time. Thanks for the healthy suggestion.
Marcia says
This recipe is absolutely FABULOUS!!! My whole family loved itQ Thanks Dani for another great recipe! 🙂
Joy Brasington says
I love eggplant parmesan. Sometimes I peel the outside of the eggplant as I find it tough sometimes. Thanks for your lighter version. I will definitely be using this.
♥ Joy
Leilani says
This is my husbands favorite dish, I can’t wait to make this “lighter” version. Thank you, it looks amazing.
healthy&homemade says
Looks absolutely wonderful, this is exactly how I make it but with more ricotta and less mozzarella. That’s always a good figure friendly change! ^_^
Leilani says
Well I made this dish, and oh my is it ever out of this world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be making this again and again.. Thanks!
Roni says
PERFECT timing. I’ve been CRAVING eggplant parm!
The only change I’d make is fat free ricotta… I love the stuff!
WoundedEgo says
I made this this evening (and am enjoying it now). Quite delicious.
I like that you limited the salt treatment to 30 minutes (after that, the salt gets too much)…
Browning the eggplant exposed so much yumminess.. kudos.
Thanks, Dani.
Kristina @ spabettie says
YUM… this looks perfect. Thanks for the video, I have actually never cooked with eggplant and I’ve always been nervous to try? 🙂
I think I’ll give this a shot!
Debby says
That looks yummy and I will be preparing it. TY for the video!
Melissa says
Dani, this looks amazing. It’s weird, I’ve never been a big fan of eggplant because I’ve never loved how they prepared it in Turkey. What can I say, I was a picky kid and some of that carried over into adulthood. But Carl (husband) LOVES eggplant and his birthday is Sunday so I think I might make him this. It even looks like something I would like – never loved the breaded/fried aspect of eggplant parm and always felt all that mozzarella cheese made it too heavy so this looks absolutely PERFECT. I plan on instituting the less mozzarella with my lasagna and other baked Italian style dishes as well. Perfect tip! I was actually going to try to make my own ricotta this weekend as well, so it will all come together nicely! I’ve been in a terrible cooking rut so this looks like just the ticket to pull me back in!
Tallya says
I found the written recipe to be different from the one you gave in the video. I’ve watched the video several times before I had a chance to make it and at that point my speakers were not working and I followed the written recipe. But before putting it in the oven I watched the video without sound and it looks like you are putting salt after every layer! I didn’t salt the eggplant because it was salted before sweating and I salted the riccotta mixture as was written in the written recipe. I did not salt anything else, as it appeared you were doing in the video. I did not put it into the oven yet and am wondering if I should just salt it over the mozzarella??? I love salt and usually when I salt dishes to my tastes, my family thinks it is too much salt. So if this recipe will be even slightly under salted, for me if will be really under salted.
Lisa says
Great video and I can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend!
Ognena says
Dani,
I’m not a big fan of eggplant. Will this work with zucchini?
Tx, O
Dora says
Dani, this is a GREAT recipe… I’m not a fan of eggplant and now I’m a believer. I add a little ground turkey in one of the layers to up the protein. My husband said… \this is freaking awesome\. AWESOME! Thanks!
Dani says
Love the idea of added turkey… I’m gonna give that a try!! Yum!
trevi says
The ingredients show to use 1/4 cup of basil however in the video and recipe it doesn’t say when to add in the basil. Did I miss something. Thanks
Manon says
I put it in ricotta mix, and it’s very good !
Dani says
Sounds delicious. So glad you enjoyed it.
Patricia Babiak says
Hello Dani – I’m Patricia and live in Toronto.
I saw your videos a couple of years ago and picked up some really good tips from you and I kept thinking I gotta go see Dani some more. So finally, here I am and I see that you are just getting better and better. I am so glad to find you again. I joined weight watchers and I am enjoying the program so much and your tips and recipes are going to make it that much better. Thanks so much for doing for what you’re doing. You are helping me a lot.
P.S. I always put kale into my smoodies!
Larry says
Tried this eggplant for the first time today and it is simply clean & DELICIOUS. Outstanding and will become a definite part of my repertoire because I LOVE eggplant and it really is so simple to make.
Thanks, Dani. I cook so many of the dishes on your videos and watch all the 101’s.
I like to cook from scratch and that’s what makes it all so clean & delicious.
Mary says
Hey Dani!
I’m gluten free and trying to follow a clean diet. I love how easy and simple your recipes are, I work so much better by video. This recipe is so light and delicious I make it once a month. My fiance thinks i’m the best cook, but I tell him its not me it’s Dani!! We love ya — keep ’em comin!
Mary 🙂
Dani says
My hubby loves this recipe too! It’s one of his favorites. So glad you guys are enjoying it too!
Jeff Stanley says
Could you put the eggplant in a dehydrator in lieu of salting it to draw out the moisture? thanx
Dani says
That is a great question and I’m not sure. My gut instinct is yes, b/c it accomplishes the same thing, right? – It pulls out the water… but you would have to be sure not to leave it in too long;)
Margaret Belostock says
Hi Dani-Girl!
Sure, we can easily enjoy fine-dining dishes out at some fancy restaurant as much as anyone else-yet sometimes, all we want is a little taste of home. We’re talking about satisfying the inner child with comfort food like mom used to make- bubbling with hunks of love fused throughout. Your Baked Eggplant Parmesan was much more than an unbelievably delicious recipe, it was like traveling down memory lane to my own mom’s kitchen. And it was worth the journey! Dani-girl thank you for the recipe and fond memories!
Question, I want to make your eggplant parmesan and then shipped it to my daughter who lives in Boston, MA via U.S. postal system and want to know – can it be shipped? I mean, how do I successfully have it shipped? I would imagine it would require some type of a chilled box, yet, I don’t know for sure since I’ve never shipped home cooking before. Do you have any ideas how it can be safely shipped?
Dani says
So glad you enjoy the dish! It’s one of my favorites. As for shipping I honestly don’t know. I’ve never attempted osmehitng like this but I bet theres a way to do it. Maybe try a quick google search – I’m sure there will be great suggestions! Good luck!
sb says
1. you forgot to mention in the recipe the egg and Parmesan ???? lol
Barbara says
Can I assemble eggplant Parmesan one day in advance and back it next day? When do I use basil?
Dani says
Yes ! That works – finish it with the basil.
Cindy says
Just made this today.. WOW Love it. Thanks for sharing
Dani says
Awesome! I’m so glad you loved it 🙂
Dani says
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Carolyn says
I made this tonight and it was wonderful! I added more fresh basil to the ricotta and to save time I used store-bought sauce (a jar of fire roasted and half a jar of tomato basil), which added about 2 cups more than the recipe calls for because I like it really saucy. I served it over angel hair pasta and I love it because it’s like having eggplant parmesan and vegetarian lasagna in one. Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe!
Dani says
Sounds delicious! So happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Nonna says
Hi. I make eggplant parm, healthy at least on ea week. I bake my eggplant seasoned…then I mix up cottage cheese 1% with parsley garlic s&p. I layer all with a fresh tomato basil sauce, homemade and top with a part skim mozzarella. It’s amazing
Jorge Flores says
Hi Dani, I was watching your video on homemade Eggpant Parm but I was watching it without volume cause I was at work. Did you explain what comprises the sauce?. It looks like your sauce was pre made.
Jorge Flores says
Also, where does the Basil go into the recipe it doesn’t say
Dani says
I like to sprinkle the basil over the top when it’s all done cooking.
Dani says
Hi Jorge. You can really use any tomato sauce you like. I’ll have to share a recipe soon!
Jorge Flores says
Dani, was there anything that you added to the pre made tomato sauce?
Tammy Acosta says
Hi! Thanks for sharing this recipe! Remember to add the egg(s?) to the ingredients list. 😉
Dani says
Thank you, Tammy! I just updated it now 🙂
Dominick Bellio says
I’ve made this recipe several times, I absolutely love it, I get two meals out of it. 1st meal served with pasta topped with eggplant , 2nd meal is eggplant parmigiana subs!. I’ve watched the video many times and read the directions several times.
One question….. what do I do with the basil!
Dani Spies says
I usually just serve fresh basil right over the top!!