A healthy eggplant parmesan

The Story

So, when I say healthy eggplant parmesan, what does that mean? Because honestly if you pack a dish full of cheese it’s not like you’re going to lose weight by eating it.

However, the classic eggplant parm involves breading many many slices of eggplant, frying them, and layering them with tomato sauce and cheese. To make my version healthier and a bit lighter I omit the breading altogether and instead of frying the eggplant I spray them with a light coating of olive oil and grill them. Since eggplant is basically a sponge in vegetable form, in order to evenly cook a slice of eggplant without it drying out you need a considerable amount of oil. Granted it releases a lot of the oil it initially soaks up when you first put it in the pan. But you can wind up using around a cup of olive oil just to cook all of the slices you get from the 3 or 4 eggplants you need to make a classic version of eggplant parmesan.

Eliminating the breading lightens this dish up, but also drastically reduces how long it takes to individually bread each one of those slices of eggplant. The grilling adds a smoky flavor, which is great, but if you don’t have a grill at home you can always use a grill pan.

To make this an even healthier eggplant parmesan you could reduce the quantity of cheese or even use a low fat version, but in my opinion, you really can’t beat the fresh stuff.

All you need is some arancini or caprese salad as an appetizer and you’ll have yourself a full Italian feast!

Difficulty: 5 on a scale of 1-5

Active time to prepare: 2 hours

Total time to prepare: 3 hours 15 minutes (includes baking and cooling time)

Serves: 8 - 10

The Ingredients

For the eggplant:

4 medium size eggplants (try to get longer ones vs. shorter fat ones because the latter tend to have more seeds) peeled and cut into 1/2 inch/1.25 cm slices

3 Tbsp./41 g olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the tomato sauce

3 Tbsp./41 g olive oil

1 large white onion minced

6 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup/112 g tomato paste

1/2 cup/125 g red wine

2 14 oz/800 g can whole peeled tomatoes

1 bunch basil, stems and leaves separate, leaves roughly chopped

1 Parmesan rind (optional)

For the assembly of the healthy eggplant parmesan

16 oz./453 g buffalo mozzarella cut in 1/2 inch/1.25 cm slices

4 oz/113 g grated parmesan

The Recipe

For the eggplant:

1. Place the slices of eggplant on a large tray. Drizzle them with the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

2. Cook on the grill for 4 - 5 minutes per side until they are fully cooked through, but not falling apart. Set aside.

For the tomato sauce:

1. In a large rondon or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat.

2. Add the onion, still on medium heat. Season with a sprinkle of salt and cook until softened (7-8 minutes total).

3. Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, around another 5 minutes.

4. Add the tomato paste, and cook until it darkens to a brick-red color (3-5 minutes).

5. Deglaze with red wine. Cook until reduced and the alcohol evaporates (3-5 minutes).

6. Add the can of tomatoes and crush them with the back of your spoon to break them up. Fill the tomato can once with water and add it to the pan. Stir.

7. Add the basil stems and the Parmesan rind. Simmer for 30 minutes.

8. Remove the Parm rind and the basil stems from the sauce.

9. Add the basil leaves and stir until fully combined. Set aside.

   *NOTE: This will give you a chunkier sauce, but if you like a more silky tomato sauce, you can blend it before serving.

For the assembly of the healthy eggplant parmesan:

1. Preheat the oven to 205° C/400° F.

2. In a baking dish, place the cooked eggplant slices in one layer, making sure not to leave any open spaces.

3. Spoon 3 or 4 ladles full of sauce over the eggplant and spread it out evenly.

4. Top with 1/4 of the mozzarella and parmesan.

5. Repeat steps 2 - 4 until you’ve used up all of the eggplant.

6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until fully warmed through (35 - 40 minutes).

7. Switch your oven to broil. Take the aluminum foil off the baking dish and broil until the top is golden brown (3 - 4 minutes depending on the strength of your broiler).

8. Let the eggplant parm cool for 20 - 30 minutes before slicing or it will be a sloppy mess.

DO AHEAD: You can assemble the eggplant up to 2 days in advance without baking.

LEFTOVERS: Cooked eggplant parmesan will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.