Easy Eggplant Parmesan with Home Made Marinara Sauce

This recipe for Easy Eggplant Parmesan is a classic Italian recipe. It is rich and creamy and full of homegrown freshness from the eggplants that are ready in my garden.

My garden is producing like mad at the moment, so I had fresh tomatoes coming out of my ears.  (the squirrels decided that I had a Shoney’s buffet in my backyard, so I had to rescue all the green ones and let them ripen indoors.) 

I also have three eggplant bushes that produced fruit all at once and I have been using them in recipes but wanted something new.

Instead of frying the eggplant slices, I baked them first. This cuts down on fat and calories. Then I layered them with homemade marinara sauce, cheese, and basil.

Making this Easy Eggplant Parmesan

This recipe calls for a homemade marinara sauce.  You can get the homemade marinara recipe here.  Bottled sauce will work if you are in a hurry but the flavor of the home made is worth the extra time.

The dish cooks into lovely layers of Italian goodness.

And a serving of this easy eggplant parmesan. It was just plain delicious! I did not miss the fat from frying the eggplant one little bit!

To follow all my recipes, see The Gardening Cook on Pinterest.

Yield: 8

Eggplant Parmesan with Home Made Marinara Sauce

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The sauce and cheesy topping for this eggplant Parmesan bake is so rich, you won't mind that it has no meat.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 medium egg plants (about 6 inches long each) peeled and thinly sliced.
• Salt
• 2 free range eggs, beaten. (I use free range. Regular eggs are fine.)
• 1 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 6 cups of home made marinara sauce. (see recipe link above the recipe builder)
• 16 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese shredded
• 1/2 cup of Parmesan Reggiano cheese grated
• 1 1/2 tsp of fresh chopped basil.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Peel the egg plants and slice them into 1/4 inch thick slices.
3. Salt them and let them sit for a little. (Do this if your eggplant is older. Mine were picked today, so I skipped this step. Salt helps older eggplants to not be bitter.)
4. Dip each slice in the eggs and then into the bread crumbs.
5. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and cook for about 10 minutes.
6. In a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, spread a thin layer of the marinara sauce to cover the bottom.
7. Place a layer of the eggplant slices on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
8. Keep repeating these layers. Add a sprinkle of fresh basil on the top.
9. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes until the cheese melts and everything is a golden brown.
10. Let the casserole sit for about 5 minutes and it will slice beautifully.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 493Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 128mgSodium: 1659mgCarbohydrates: 52gFiber: 11gSugar: 20gProtein: 25g

Nutritional information is approximate due to natural variation in ingredients and the cook-at-home nature of our meals.

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