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Simple Eggplant Parmesan Recipe – So Delicious!

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This Simple Eggplant Recipe is a delicious vegetarian recipe on a budget.

Simple Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

I love a great eggplant parmesan recipe, and we have a really simple recipe you can use to make it at home for your family. We find Eggplants on sale from time to time for anywhere from $1 – $2 ea, making this recipe a great budget friendly one! Plus it is a delicious (and surprisingly meaty) recipe you can use to serve if you are a vegetarian, or are having vegetarians over as guests. Its hearty enough, that it often pleases meat eaters as well. This is one of my favorite Italian recipes. I have been making chicken parmesan for years now, but I prefer this egglant parmesan generally. It tastes similar, but with a more unique texture and flavor that I love.

If you want to sound fancy, just let your company know you will be serving eggplant parmigiana, It has such a nice ring to it!

We take a couple of short cuts with this recipe by using pre-made bread crumbs and spaghetti sauce. You could make your own though if you prefer.

Ingredients Needed for this Eggplant Parmesan recipe:

  • One Jumbo Eggplant
  • One jar of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce (or use the equivalent of homemade sauce)
  • I 8 oz. bag of Italian Cheese (mix of mozzarella, Parmesan and others). You can also use just mozzarella or just Parmesan if you only have that on hand.
  • Bread Crumbs (I prefer this mix: 1 cup of Panko crumbs, 1 heaping tbls of flour, plus 1 tsp of baking soda). You can make your own by crushing up crackers if you do not have bread crumbs on hand.
  • 2 Eggs (beaten)
  • Olive Oil
  • Johnnys Mediterranean Seasoning Mix (Optional)
  • Salt and Pepper (Optional)

How to make this simple Eggplant Parmesan Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly coat bottom of a baking dish with thin layer of spaghetti sauce.

You can peel Eggplant if you want, or leave skin on (your preference) and slice into ¼ inch slices (you can slice length wise or in smaller round slices). Lightly salt and pepper.

Add a cup of bread crumbs with 2 tsp of Johnnys Mediterranean seasonings – or to taste) to bowl

Beat the egg in a separate bowl

Dip your eggplant in the egg (covering on both sides with the egg)

And then dip into the bread crumbs to coat

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in bottom of a frying pan. Fry the coated eggplant in oil until browned up (like fried chicken would look).

Place the eggplant in the baking sheet you coated with the spaghetti sauce

Drizzle more sauce on top (can skip this step if you prefer a less tomato like taste – I like the extra flavor).

Sprinkle the top with the bag of cheese. I like to add another generous sprinkle of the Johnnys Mediterranean Seasoning, but that’s optional.

Cover with foil and bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Remove foil and turn oven on broil to crisp up your cheese on top a little (watch it closely during this stage so you do not burn it).

This Eggplant Parmesan is flavorful and filling, and makes a nice entertaining dish here as well.

I will sometimes grab two eggplants and will serve the second one up just seasoned and fried up without the tomato sauce (you can still sprinkle a bit of cheese on the top and brown). Its great to serve with dipping sauce as a side dish too.

You can also make really delicious Eggplant Parmesan sandwiches if you want. We show you how to make chicken parm sandwiches here, but you could simply swap out the chicken for this eggplant parm recipe!

Recipe for Simple Eggplant Parmesan:

Print off this recipe to add to your recipe binder or notebook.

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Eggplant Parmesan Recipe


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Ingredients

Scale
  • One Jumbo Eggplant
  • One jar of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce (or use the equivalent of homemade sauce)
  • I 8 oz. bag of Italian Cheese (mix of mozzarella, Parmesan and others). You can also use just mozzarella or just Parmesan if you only have that on hand.
  • Bread Crumbs (I prefer this mix: 1 cup of Panko crumbs, 1 heaping tbls of flour, plus 1 tsp of baking soda). You can make your own by crushing up crackers if you do not have bread crumbs on hand.
  • 2 Eggs (beaten)
  • Olive Oil
  • Johnnys Mediterranean Seasoning Mix (Optional)
  • Salt and Pepper (Optional)


Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Lightly coat bottom of a baking dish with thin layer of spaghetti sauce.
  3. You can Peel Eggplant if you want, or leave skin on (your preference) and slice into 1/4 inch slices (you can slice length wise or in smaller round slices). Lightly salt and pepper.
  4. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan (add more as needed)
  5. Add a cup of bread crumbs with 2 tsp of Johnnys Mediterranean seasonings – or to taste) to bowl
  6. Beat the egg in a separate bowl
  7. Dip your eggplant in the egg (covering on both sides with the egg) and then into the bread crumbs to coat
  8. Fry in oil until browned up (like fried chicken would look).
  9. Place in baking sheet on the spaghetti sauce.
  10. Drizzle more sauce on top (can skip this step if you prefer a less tomato like taste – I like the extra flavor)
  11. Sprinkle the top with the bag of cheese. I like to add another generous sprinkle of the Johnnys Mediterranean Seasoning, but thats optional
  12. Cover with foil and bake in oven for 20 minutes
  13. Remove foil and turn oven on broil to crisp up your cheese on top a little (watch it closely during this stage so you do not burn it).
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Eggplant Parmesan

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