Easy Eggplant Parmesan | Baked Eggplant Parmesan Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to cooking eggplant? ›

Slice your eggplant with the skin on (this will help it keep its shape). Brush it lightly with oil. Grill over a hot flame until the flesh is tender and you have beautiful char marks, about 5 minutes per side.

Modern eggplant has had bitterness nearly bred out of it, so many cooks have given up the practice. Salting the slices for eggplant Parmesan is not to prevent bitter flavors, but to season the eggplant itself and, at least in my experience, keep the eggplant from sucking up too much of the olive oil from frying.

You want three layers of eggplant. Anything taller and you're going to need a pan with higher sides and bigger dreams. This is the most difficult step in the process. When your beautiful eggplant parm comes out of the oven, place it down, look at it, and do absolutely nothing.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

Carefully rinse each piece of eggplant under cold water, making sure you remove all the salt. Drain. Step 3: Transfer the rinsed eggplant pieces, a few at a time, to a clean work surface and pat dry with paper towel.

This recipe calls for dry store-bought breadcrumbs, but you can also use panko in a pinch. Both dried breadcrumbs and panko are fine and dry, so they become very crisp and golden when baked or fried. Fresh breadcrumbs contain more moisture, so your eggplant parmesan may end up a bit more soggy if you use these.

The secret to great eggplant parmesan

And that is to eliminate entirely the breading step of the recipe you are most likely in possession of. Adding the breading means the eggplant slices spend too much time in the oil during browning and provide extra places for that oil to get sucked up.

Italian Eggplant

At first glance, Italian eggplants look just like globe eggplant but slightly smaller—this ultimately means the flesh is more tender when cooked. Try them in eggplant Parmesan, saucy eggplant adobo, or grill the halves and serve with a spicy tomato sauce and peanuts.

Is Brown Eggplant Safe to Eat? If an eggplant has brown spots or dark shading but shows no other signs of spoiling, such as softness, slime, or odor, then it's safe to eat. It's likely just been exposed to air and is experiencing enzymatic browning.

Salt your eggplant slices and let them sit for about 30 minutes or so on a large tray lined with paper towel! The salt will draw out the moisture, and the eggplant will also "sweat out" its bitterness. This step also helps to somewhat break eggplant's "spongy" texture.

Do you leave the skin on eggplant for eggplant parmesan? ›

The vegetable's skin is completely edible and tends to soften as it cooks, so in many recipes it's fine to leave the skin on. That said, I recommend peeling the eggplant for eggplant parmesan. As an eggplant grows larger, the skin can become tough and bitter — something that I prefer to avoid.

Hand-breaded eggplant, lightly fried and topped with marinara and melted mozzarella. Served with a side of spaghetti. Available weekdays, 11am-3pm.

There are times when keeping the skin of the eggplant on can create a tough texture or bitter taste, which is why some people peel it off for ease. The skin, however, is completely safe and edible, and contains important nutrients, says Taste of Home.

Brining adds flavor and texture to eggplants. "Mix spices and salt with water, then soak sliced eggplant in the brine for 30 minutes before cooking.

Typically eggplant behaves like a sponge, soaking up heroic amounts of oil when fried. The Terzo Piano chefs use this trick to prevent heavy aubergines: Before frying, soak the strips of eggplant in an ice water bath. They will absorb water and drop in temperature.