A tasty vegetarian dish that is definitely worth the preparation time!
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
- 1 teaspoon onion powder, divided
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ large onion, chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic, or to taste
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- ½ (14.5 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons dried basil, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, or to taste
- 1 (15 ounce) container low-fat ricotta cheese
- 1 (8 ounce) package fresh spinach
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place eggplant slices in a large dish and cover with salted water. Let soak, about 15 minutes. Drain and cover with milk.
- Combine flour, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large resealable plastic bag.
- Beat eggs lightly in a shallow bowl that is long enough for the eggplant slices to fit in.
- Combine panko, remaining 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in another large resealable plastic bag.
- Place 1 slice eggplant in flour mixture, shaking to coat. Dip in egg. Transfer to bag with panko mixture, shaking to coat. Repeat with remaining slices.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet. Cook coated eggplant slices in batches until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining eggplant, adding oil as needed.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, 2 teaspoons pepper, oregano, basil, 1 teaspoon salt, and poultry seasoning. Reduce heat to low and cover; cook sauce, stirring occasionally, until flavors combine, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Mix ricotta cheese, spinach, egg, Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon garlic, nutmeg, salt, and pepper together gently in a bowl to make filling.
- Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling over each eggplant slice. Roll slices into logs and arrange in a single layer in a 9×13-inch baking pan. Pour tomato sauce evenly on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven until sauce is bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
- If using frozen spinach in the filling, make sure you squeeze out all the water.
- If you would like, you can add shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese to the top before baking.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 331 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 89 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1060 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this the other night and it was very tasty! My whole family (vegetarians + carnivores) loved it (although I did add ham to some of the roll-ups for the carnivores). I agree with other reviewers’ comments about how long it took to make (frying the eggplant took a lot longer than I expected, although I really liked using the ziploc bags to help with the breading). Frying the eggplant also took me somewhat more than 1/4 cup of oil, so be aware of that. Overall, though, yum!
This was more work than I bargained for, but it turned out so well I will make it again. You could take some of the shortcuts suggested in other reviews, but I do think the homemade sauce is key to the great flavor. I wasn’t able to roll the eggplant into pinwheels, so I layered the ingredients as another reviewer suggested . Next time I will make the sauce the day before to cut down on kitchen time.
This was more work than I bargained for, but it turned out so well I will make it again. You could take some of the shortcuts suggested in other reviews, but I do think the homemade sauce is key to the great flavor. I wasn’t able to roll the eggplant into pinwheels, so I layered the ingredients as another reviewer suggested . Next time I will make the sauce the day before to cut down on kitchen time.
I will definitely make this again. My son is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and he really liked this. He even went back for seconds! I did make some changes. I selected this recipe because I had several boxes of frozen sliced Italian breaded eggplants. I fried the eggplants as per the recipe, but because they were sliced the short way, I l layered them in my baking dish, kind of spread the cheese and egg filling on top, layered the rest of the eggplant slices on top, and then poured the sauce. It saved me about half an hour doing it that way. I will definitely be making this again! (PS: I like spicy so I put some curry powder just on mine to try, and it was really good! The flavors blended well together!)
This seemed to take FOREVER to prepare I will probably not make it again for that reason alone Otherwise all other ten people at my table really liked it, I was indifferent at that point, too tired to eat it…
This was a tasty meatless dish. My husband actually really liked it. I had a hard time cutting the eggplant 1/4″ and so mine ended up a little fat which made them harder to roll. There was a ton of directions and even though I am a pretty fast cook this took me around 1 1/2 hours to make and clean up all the dishes. So do this when you have plenty of time to cook but the dish was enjoyable and a nice change of pace from the typical dinner ideas. If I would change anything it would be to cut the salt in half because it did seem slightly salty.
Delicious! I did scale the recipe back b/c while I LOVE eggplant in any form, the family does not. 🙁 I did use my own sauce that I already had made, but followed the recipe otherwise. My mom makes something very similar to these and I love them, so I knew I was gonna love these too. I topped mine w/ shredded mozzarella before baking~YUM! Thanks for sharing. 🙂