This eggplant lasagna recipe layers eggplant, selfmade marinara, and a flavorful three-cheese filling! It’s a hearty dinner that pleases everybody.
Received eggplant and wish to flip it right into a meal? Do that Eggplant Lasagna, a tasty dinner recipe that swaps out the standard noodles for roasted eggplant! This gooey pan holds layers of eggplant, selfmade 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 concept that everybody will love! This one’s now in our common rotation to remain.
Components for eggplant lasagna
Eggplant lasagna is a gluten-free model of lasagna that swaps the noodles for roasted lasagna. It’s just like a basic Eggplant Parmesan, however skips the breading breading on 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 elements you’ll want:
- Eggplant
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Butter
- Crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce
- Contemporary thyme
- Dried basil, dried tarragon, floor nutmeg, and kosher salt
- Cornstarch
- Lemon zest
- Ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese
The tips to eggplant lasagna
The most important problem 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 just a few tips to creating eggplant lasagna with the proper consistency:
- Roast the eggplant. This cooks out a major quantity of the water, making for the proper tender consistency. You’ll roast at 425°F for about 25 minutes whole.
- Thicken the tomato sauce with cornstarch. That is one 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 and funky, which lets it take up any remaining moisture.
A couple of taste secrets and techniques
This eggplant lasagna tastes restaurant-quality with only a few particular gadgets to make the elements sing! We advocate making the recipe with every of those elements:
- Ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheese: Utilizing three kinds of cheese brings a nuance in taste. Use entire milk mozzarella if you will discover it: it melts higher than part-skim cheese.
- Selfmade tarragon tomato sauce: You could possibly use store-bought marinara sauce in a pinch, however this tomato sauce is unimaginable! Substitute oregano if you happen to don’t have dried tarragon.
- Lemon zest and contemporary thyme: These carry a zing and freshness that’s completely important to the flavors.
Make forward & leftover storage for eggplant lasagna
This eggplant lasagna recipe takes about 45 minutes to arrange, half-hour to bake, and quarter-hour to relaxation. So, it’s not a recipe for a fast weeknight meal! Nevertheless, there are just a few factor you are able to do to prep this recipe prematurely.
- Roast the eggplant prematurely. One of many greatest time savers is roasting the noodles forward of time. Roast after which refrigerate till the time of baking. They’ll accumulate moisture within the fridge, so pat them dry earlier than assembling.
- Make the tomato sauce prematurely. It’s straightforward to let the tomato sauce simmer when you preheat the oven. However you can also make it prematurely too! Simply refrigerate till serving: the flavour will get higher over time.
- Or, make all the pan prematurely! Leftovers retailer properly; they are often refrigerated for as much as 3 days and reheated in a 375°F oven.
Extra eggplant recipes
This eggplant lasagna is one in all our favourite new methods to make use of eggplant! Listed here are just a few different eggplant recipes to attempt:
This eggplant lasagna recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
Description
This eggplant lasagna recipe layers eggplant, selfmade marinara, and a flavorful three-cheese filling! It’s a hearty dinner that pleases everybody.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 giant garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes, fireplace roasted if potential
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce, fireplace roasted if potential
- 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 ounces (2 cups) ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 cups (7 ounces) shredded entire milk mozzarella cheese, divided
- ¼ teaspoon floor nutmeg
- Contemporary floor black pepper
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Roast the eggplant: Slice the eggplant into 1/2-inch slices (a minimum of 12 planks; don’t fear in the event that they differ in measurement). Place the slices on two parchment-lined baking sheets and brush both sides with them with olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided throughout the two trays. Roast for 10 minutes, then flip and bake 10 to fifteen minutes extra, till tender and golden brown.
- Put together the sauce: Mince the garlic. Add the butter to a medium saucepan over medium warmth: as soon as melted, add the garlic and sauté till aromatic, about 1 minute. Flip down the warmth and punctiliously add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, tarragon, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and a number of other grinds of black pepper. Take away ¼ cup of the sauce and stir it with the cornstarch, then add it again to the pan (this helps to thicken the sauce). Simmer whereas making the rest of the recipe, a minimum of quarter-hour. When prepared to make use of, take away the pan from the warmth.
- In the meantime, put together the cheese filling: Destem the thyme, then roughly chop the leaves. Add 2 tablespoons thyme to a medium bowl and reserve about ½ tablespoon for topping the lasagna. To the bowl, add the lemon zest, ricotta cheese, ½ cup Parmesan cheese, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, nutmeg, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and a number of other grinds of black pepper. Stir to mix.
- Flip down the oven: Flip down the warmth to 375°F.
- Assemble the lasagna: In a 9” x 9” baking dish or 7 x 11 baking dish (or comparable quantity dish), unfold a ½ cup tomato sauce on the underside of the pan. Then prime with 1 layer of the eggplant, half of the cheese combination (in dollops) and about ½ cup of the tomato sauce, utilizing a spatula to unfold the sauce evenly over the cheese. Repeat once more, topping with 1 layer of eggplant, the remaining cheese combination, and ½ cup of the remaining tomato sauce. Lastly, prime with a ultimate layer of eggplant, then one other ½ cup tomato sauce. Sprinkle all the prime with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, and ½ tablespoon contemporary thyme.
- Bake the lasagna: Bake the lasagna for half-hour, uncovered. Let stand for a minimum of quarter-hour earlier than serving (this permits the lasagna to set; you possibly can let it sit even longer if desired). Leftovers may be refrigerated for as much as 3 days and reheated in a 375°F oven.
- Class: Fundamental dish
- Technique: Baked
- Delicacies: Italian impressed
- Weight loss program: Vegetarian
Key phrases: Eggplant lasagna, Eggplant lasagna recipe, recipe for eggplant lasagna
