This eggplant lasagna recipe layers eggplant, do-it-yourself marinara, and a flavorful three-cheese filling! It’s a hearty dinner that pleases everybody.
Were given eggplant and wish to flip it right into a meal? Do this Eggplant Lasagna, a delectable dinner recipe that swaps out the standard noodles for roasted eggplant! This gooey pan holds layers of eggplant, do-it-yourself marinara, and a flavorful three-cheese filling. Lemon zest and nutmeg takes it to restaurant-style taste. It’s a hearty gluten-free and meatless dinner thought that everybody will love! This one’s now in our common rotation to stick.
Elements for eggplant lasagna
Eggplant lasagna is a gluten-free model of lasagna that swaps the noodles for roasted lasagna. It’s very similar to a vintage Eggplant Parmesan, however skips the breading breading at the eggplant. You’ll slice the eggplant into planks, then use that for layering with the marinara and three-cheese filling. Listed here are the substances you’ll want:
- Eggplant
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Butter
- Overwhelmed tomatoes and tomato sauce
- Recent thyme
- Dried basil, dried tarragon, flooring nutmeg, and kosher salt
- Cornstarch
- Lemon zest
- Ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese
The tips to eggplant lasagna
The largest factor with lasagna recipes with out noodles like eggplant lasagna is that eggplant is 90% water. Uncooked eggplant would make the dish right into a watery mess! So there are a couple of tips to making eggplant lasagna with the easiest consistency:
- Roast the eggplant. This chefs out a vital quantity of the water, making for the easiest comfortable consistency. You’ll roast at 425°F for roughly 25 mins overall.
- Thicken the tomato sauce with cornstarch. That is any other preventative measure! Including slightly cornstarch makes a fair thicker tomato sauce with much less water.
- Let the lasagna cool for quarter-hour to set. Proper out of the oven, there could also be slightly moisture. Let the lasagna sit down and funky, which shall we it take in any final moisture.
A couple of taste secrets and techniques
This eggplant lasagna tastes restaurant-quality with only a few particular pieces to make the substances sing! We suggest making the recipe with every of those substances:
- Ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheese: The usage of 3 sorts of cheese brings a nuance in taste. Use complete milk mozzarella if you’ll to find it: it melts higher than part-skim cheese.
- Selfmade tarragon tomato sauce: That you must use store-bought marinara sauce in a pinch, however this tomato sauce is improbable! Replace oregano if you happen to don’t have dried tarragon.
- Lemon zest and contemporary thyme: Those carry a zing and freshness that’s completely very important to the flavors.
Make forward & leftover garage for eggplant lasagna
This eggplant lasagna recipe takes about 45 mins to organize, half-hour to bake, and quarter-hour to relaxation. So, it’s now not a recipe for a fast weeknight meal! Then again, there are a couple of factor you’ll do to prep this recipe prematurely.
- Roast the eggplant prematurely. One of the crucial largest time savers is roasting the noodles forward of time. Roast after which refrigerate till the time of baking. They’ll gather moisture within the refrigerator, so pat them dry earlier than assembling.
- Make the tomato sauce prematurely. It’s simple to let the tomato sauce simmer whilst you preheat the oven. However you’ll make it prematurely too! Simply refrigerate till serving: the flavour will get higher through the years.
- Or, make all the pan prematurely! Leftovers shop neatly; they may be able to be refrigerated for as much as 3 days and reheated in a 375°F oven.
Extra eggplant recipes
This eggplant lasagna is one in every of our favourite new tactics to make use of eggplant! Listed here are a couple of different eggplant recipes to check out:
This eggplant lasagna recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
Description
This eggplant lasagna recipe layers eggplant, do-it-yourself marinara, and a flavorful three-cheese filling! It’s a hearty dinner that pleases everybody.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 huge garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 15-ounce can beaten tomatoes, hearth roasted if imaginable
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce, hearth roasted if imaginable
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon (or oregano)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (or arrowroot starch)
- 1 3/4 kilos eggplant (2 medium)
- 2 ½ tablespoons chopped contemporary thyme
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 16 oz. (2 cups) ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 cups (7 oz.) shredded complete milk mozzarella cheese, divided
- ¼ teaspoon flooring nutmeg
- Recent flooring black pepper
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Roast the eggplant: Slice the eggplant into 1/2-inch slices (no less than 12 planks; don’t concern if they range in measurement). Position the slices on two parchment-lined baking sheets and brush every facet with them with olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided around the 2 trays. Roast for 10 mins, then turn and bake 10 to fifteen mins extra, till comfortable and golden brown.
- Get ready the sauce: Mince the garlic. Upload the butter to a medium saucepan over medium warmth: as soon as melted, upload the garlic and sauté till aromatic, about 1 minute. Flip down the warmth and moderately upload the beaten tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, tarragon, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and several other grinds of black pepper. Take away ¼ cup of the sauce and stir it with the cornstarch, then upload it again to the pan (this is helping to thicken the sauce). Simmer whilst making the rest of the recipe, no less than quarter-hour. When in a position to make use of, take away the pan from the warmth.
- In the meantime, get ready the cheese filling: Destem the thyme, then more or less chop the leaves. Upload 2 tablespoons thyme to a medium bowl and reserve about ½ tablespoon for topping the lasagna. To the bowl, upload the lemon zest, ricotta cheese, ½ cup Parmesan cheese, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, nutmeg, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and several other grinds of black pepper. Stir to mix.
- Flip down the oven: Flip down the warmth to 375°F.
- Compile the lasagna: In a 9” x 9” baking dish or 7 x 11 baking dish (or equivalent quantity dish), unfold a ½ cup tomato sauce at the backside of the pan. Then best with 1 layer of the eggplant, part of the cheese combination (in dollops) and about ½ cup of the tomato sauce, the usage of a spatula to unfold the sauce flippantly over the cheese. Repeat once more, topping with 1 layer of eggplant, the remainder cheese combination, and ½ cup of the remainder tomato sauce. In spite of everything, best with a last layer of eggplant, then any other ½ cup tomato sauce. Sprinkle all the best with the remainder 1 cup mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, and ½ tablespoon contemporary thyme.
- Bake the lasagna: Bake the lasagna for half-hour, exposed. Let stand for no less than quarter-hour earlier than serving (this permits the lasagna to set; you’ll let it sit down even longer if desired). Leftovers may also be refrigerated for as much as 3 days and reheated in a 375°F oven.
- Class: Primary dish
- Approach: Baked
- Delicacies: Italian impressed
- Vitamin: Vegetarian
Key phrases: Eggplant lasagna, Eggplant lasagna recipe, recipe for eggplant lasagna