Get Baked: Eggplant Parmigiana with Homemade Tomato Sauce

At its best, eggplant is a creamy, earthy and addicting nightshade. At its worst, it’s a bitter rubbery grey sponge that you’ll never eat again, which is sadly many people’s experience. I’m here to defend eggplant’s honor and prove it can be damn delicious when done right.

What I love about eggplant parmigiana, aside from its rich tomatoey gooey cheesy goodness, is that it pairs perfectly with so many things. Chicken breast, crusty bread, a leafy salad, pasta, white fish, anchovies, quinoa, broccoli, roast cauliflower… it’s the Thelma to whatever’s in your fridge or pantry right now. It’s also the perfect meal on its own.

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This particular parmigiana recipe requires you make your own tomato sauce. I’ve chosen Mario Batali’s recipe. If you’ve never done this before, get ready because you’re about to up your whole cooking game.

For tomato sauce to realize its full flavor potential, you should cook it one day in advance. If you choose not to do this then absolutely nothing bad will happen to it or to you. Your saucepan won’t explode. You will not go to cooking jail. Your sauce will still be heads and shoulders above store-bought. But it will not be The Best and that’s what we’re striving for here. I somewhat regret that it took entering my thirties to finally start listening to my mother on this ‘day before’ rule.

Tomato sauce ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 red onion, finely diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, very finely sliced
  • ½ cup carrot (loosely packed), finely grated
  • 1 Tbsp dried thyme or 4 Tbsp of fresh thyme
  • 2x 28 oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes, ideally imported from Italy*. Remove the top stem part of each tomato and crush by hand. Keep the juices.

* Italian-grown tomatoes are typically more flavorful than American-grown, and mind-blowing in recipes like this where tomato is the MVP. I used kinda pricey brands in this post however my go-to are Divella tomatoes, which are amazing and only $1 per can at my local store.

Eggplant parmigiana ingredients

  • 3 large eggplants, cut in round slices half-inch thick
  • Grated mozzarella, 1-2 cups
  • Grated parmesan, 1-2 cups
  • Pre-cooked tomato sauce
  • Salt

Ingredients

Day One: Cook the Tomato Sauce

(Watch a video demonstration here)

Put a large saucepan on a medium heat.

Add the olive oil to the pan and once it’s almost smoking, toss in the onion and garlic. Let it cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. That’s a long time to stare at a saucepan but resist the urge to rush this step. Only move on once the garlic and onion has gained a light brown caramelised color and glossy sheen.

Throw in the grated carrot and thyme. Let it cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in the tomatoes and juices. Brace yourself for splatter. Turn up the heat to high and bring the sauce to the boil. Reduce it to a low simmer and let it cook for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce thickens to an oatmeal-esq consistency.

Let the sauce cool and store it in the fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours.

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Day Two: Make the Parmigiana

I’ve always believed that the (non-)secret to soft creamy eggplant is sprinkling salt over the flesh and letting it sit for 30 minutes. However, there are people in this world who swear that salting eggplant is a waste of time. Take a moment to decide what kind of person you’re going to be. If you’ve chosen to be right, here’s a video on how to salt eggplant.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 Celsius / 430 Fahrenheit. Line two baking dishes with foil and spray/brush olive oil on the surface.

Lay down eggplant slices and bake for 15 minutes. Watch the undersides like a HAWK because eggplant burns FAST.

Once 15 minutes is up, flip the slices and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. If some of the slices turn a darker color than desired, don’t stress! They’re gonna get coated in cheese and sauce anyway.

Once the eggplant is ready, start assembling the parmigiana in an oven-friendly dish (9×13 inch or so).

We’re striving for two layers here, with ingredients laid down in this specific order:
Sauce, parmesan, eggplant, mozzarella, sauce, parmesan, eggplant, mozzarella, sauce, parmesan.

First up, scoop some tomato sauce into the dish and spread it to cover the surface. Only use a thin layer; you don’t want to drown the eggplant. Sprinkle some parmesan on top.

Next, lay down some eggplant. You don’t need to create a solid layer; leave about an inch or so of space in between the slices. Follow with a sprinkle of mozzarella, then repeat the process.

Pop it in the oven and 25 minutes later you are DONE.

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Crystal

Founding member. Former writer. Still loves Autostraddle with her whole heart.

Crystal has written 320 articles for us.

27 Comments

  1. I LOVE eggplant. Eggplant cumin dip, eggplant curry (yesterday’s dinner), eggplant stew, eggplant sammiches, quiche, and ESPECIALLY eggplant parmesan. I like that the Brits call it “aubergine” (from the French name). Aubergine sounds much more appealing than eggplant.

    I am also pro-salting. I didn’t do it once and my eggplant was bitter and terrible and while there may be a dozen other reasons why that was the case, I have never again tried to skip the salt.

    I’ve never bothered making my tomato sauce a day ahead, though I am sure you are 100% right about that and I will definitely try that next time.

    I was worried when my GF’s nutritionist advised her to limit cheese to 30g per day that this recipe would become an extremely rare treat. But to my pleasant surprise, 30g per serving was absolutely enough. I make them in individual ramekins so that we enjoy one serving (instead of eating 4 as I would have happily before) with a side salad and save the rest for the next day.

    • I’ve never tried to make eggplant curry or stew but it’s definitely on my list. There’s a middle eastern grocer near my house that does killer baba ganoush, which is currently my second favorite way to enjoy eggplant.

      I’ve seen ’30g cheese’ written in recipes and thought nope, why bother. Maybe I’ll try it next time!

      • It’s enough for a ramekin-sized serving. And I effing love cheese.

        Eggplant curry is delicious. I make it with a tomato sauce and it’s always good, but my favorite curry restaurant makes a creamy eggplant curry that is absolutely mind blowing.

        I’ll have to dig up the link to my favorite eggplant stew for you.

        ALSO glad to see you writing on here again! Hope Chicago is taking good care of ya.

  2. This is the best! I’m writing it down in my journal! I love eggplant but have always been terrified of it. It sits in the store with it’s elegant purply sheen laughing at me for not knowing how to cook it. No more!

      • That sounds too healthy for a state fair. How about bacon-wrapped cheese stuffed fried eggplant with ranch dressing to dip it in? Close enough?

      • A yoga teacher once told us that eggplant was poisonous and that if eaten in high enough quantities it would kill a person. She was wrong – I looked it up – there is a toxin in the leaves and flowers of all nightshades, but not in the part we eat – but since I already hated eggplant, it somehow stuck in my brain :-D

  7. I appreciate that this article was probably in the writing from way before the most recent Friday Open Thread, but this is *very similar* to the eggplant-y thing I was hyped about having just cooked there, so I’m taking this as a sign. I’m not sure what it’s a sign *of*, but it’s definitely a sign. For something. I’ll get there.

  10. Ugh I want this pls it looks delicious -stares hard at kitchen willing the eggplants to become delicious

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