Make a healthier twist on classic Italian eggplant parmesan at home with this easy Sheet Pan Eggplant Parmesan! Quick enough for a weeknight and baked instead of fried – delicious, without all the heaviness of fried eggplant.
Growing up, eggplant parmesan was probably my favorite thing to order from Italian restaurants. I was a vegetarian for 15 years, and I’ve never been a huge fan of tomato-based sauces, so my choices were a little limited.
But a big slice of eggplant, battered and fried, covered in cheese, and served with a side of pasta? Yes, please!
And then I became an adult and became a little more conscientious about my eating. Fried foods are a sometimes food now – and I save them for eating out. Cooking at home means looking for some healthier (and easier!) swaps. And fortunately, eating healthier doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice flavor, like with this sheet pan eggplant parmesan!
Skip frying the eggplant and bake it instead. Serve with a side of turkey meatballs, if desired – but this baked sheet pan eggplant parm is plenty delicious on its own. (I just happen to live with a small meatball-lover!). Serve with pasta if desired, but I usually opt for some roasted vegetables.
This is the delicious sort of make-at-home meal that is packed full of flavor, but doesn’t leave you feeling heavy afterwards. And as an extra bonus: you just have to wash a sheet pan when you’re done – not clean out a frying pan full of oil!
If you’d also like to make the turkey meatballs to go with the eggplant parm, you’ll also need the following as well:
First up, let’s talk about “sweating” an eggplant – what it means and why it’s important.
Eggplant can sometimes have a stringy or chewy texture, which can turn people off. To keep our eggplant soft and tender, we’re going to do something called “sweating” the eggplant. Let’s learn a little more about this with my favorite subject… kitchen chemistry!
Kitchen Chemistry
Before cooking with an eggplant, evenly apply salt to the cut surface of the eggplant and allow it to rest. Salting the surface of the eggplant results in a scientific process known as osmosis. During osmosis, the solvent (the water present in the eggplant’s cells) naturally moves from an area of lower salt concentration (within the eggplant) to an area of higher salt concentration (the outside of the eggplant). This process pulls the water from the inside of the eggplant to the outside surface.
This process is called sweating because after a little while, the eggplant is covered with little drops of water – like it’s been sweating! Rinse off the eggplant to remove the extra salt, pat it dry with a paper towel, and you’re ready to go.
People often think that sweating an eggplant is necessary to reduce bitter taste, but it’s really just the salt masking any bitter flavor. Eggplants today really aren’t as bitter as they used to be, so salting is not at all necessary for taste. Where it does make a big difference, however, is the texture! Salted eggplant is softer and more tender, especially the skin.
If you don’t want to go through the process of sweating your eggplant, look for smaller, fresher eggplant with thinner skin.
I’ve talked before about my love of sheet pan dinners (like this sheet pan Asian salmon) and how you can prep everything ahead of time.
This eggplant parm is exactly the same: you can dredge the eggplant and roll the meatballs in the morning before work, and then bake them when you get home.
You could make this even easier by using store-bought turkey meatballs, but it only takes about 10 minutes to make your own from scratch. Extra bonus: you know exactly what goes in them (and my 2.5-year-old devoured these)!
Once you get home, preheat the oven to 400°F. Once the oven is hot, pop the sheet pan with the eggplant in the oven and proceed with the recipe as directed.
You will have to flip the eggplant to ensure both sides are crispy and then add the tomato sauce and cheese, so this isn’t an entirely hands-off dinner once it’s in the oven. But all the hard work can be done in advance, leaving you free to play with your children or help with homework or relax after your day in between brief trips back to the oven!
Make this twist on Italian eggplant parmesan at home quick enough for a weeknight, and healthier too, with sheet pan eggplant parmesan and homemade turkey meatballs.
The eggplant can be salted, dredged, and placed on the sheet pan and the meatballs can be mixed and rolled the morning before baking. Store the sheet pans in the refrigerator and bake straight from the refrigerator. Add an extra 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time for the first side of the eggplant since the sheet pan will be cold when it goes into the oven.
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