Crunchy Eggplant Parmesan
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 5 entree servings
- 8 to 10small eggplants
- Salt
- 2cups all-purpose flour
- 3large egg yolks
- 2cups dry bread crumbs or panko, seasoned with 1 teaspoon each salt, black pepper, garlic powder and dried oregano
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 3cups tomato sauce, preferably homemade
- 4 to 6ounces packaged mozzarella, shredded or diced
- Freshly minced basil or parsley, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Set a large ovenproof wire rack over a large rimmed baking sheet.
- Step 2
With a small, sharp knife, starting just below the stem, cut each eggplant lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick slices, keeping them attached at the stem. Place them on paper towels and press down on the eggplants to fan the slices out. Sprinkle with salt on both sides and set aside.
- Step 3
Measure out 2 cups ice water. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the egg yolks and half the water until almost smooth, then whisk in the remaining water. Add a little more water if the batter seems too thick; it should be runny, like glue.
- Step 4
Place the bread crumbs and seasonings in a medium bowl and lightly mix and crush together with your hands.
- Step 5
In a large, deep skillet, heat a generous ½ inch of vegetable oil until shimmering (about 350 degrees).
- Step 6
Working in batches, dip eggplants in the batter, dredge in bread crumbs and add to the skillet. Fry until nicely browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat if the eggplants are browning too quickly. Turn and cook until browned on the second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer to the rack set over the baking sheet and season with salt; transfer the baking sheet with the rack to the oven to keep warm while you fry the remaining eggplant.
- Step 7
In a wide skillet, heat the marinara sauce over low heat until bubbling. Divide the mozzarella into 8 to 10 piles (one for each eggplant). Pick up and place the piles of cheese in the sauce, spacing the piles out so they melt separately. You may need to do this in 2 batches.
- Step 8
Divide eggplants on plates. Place a spoonful of sauce next to or on top of each eggplant. Top sauce with melted mozzarella, lifting it out with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, and serve immediately.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Carol
Trader Joe's sells frozen breaded plain eggplant cutlets, one of the best things in entire store. Start with those, fry them in olive oil, line pan with em, add homemade or jar marinara, add sautéed spinach, mushrooms if you wish, top with mozzarella, bake 350 et voila. 20 mins. Done and yum.
Clark
Great recipe, though it’s very much over complicated the way it’s written. Just look at the ingredient list and wing it, really, it’s not difficult! Batter and bread sliced eggplant. Fry in safflower oil. Top with mozzarella shreds and pop in oven to melt. Plate. Spoon warmed marinara over eggplant. Grate Parmesan over it. Bam. That’s your recipe in 200 characters. Crispy. Delicious!! Served with simple Italian side salad.
Dorogaya
In Sicily, they soak the sliced eggplant in milk for half an hour, then press all the liquid out before the breading process. This makes for super-tender eggplant.
Terri
Beautiful! I love my eggplant roasted instead of fried; dredged in flour, egg and crumbs. Do you think the same method of slicing and fanning the eggplant would work if I was roasting them?
John
"Parmigiana" here means, "In the style of Parma", not, "With Parmesan."
Alexandra
After an earnest attempt, I’d recommend forgoing fanning the eggplant for presentation. It was quite a pain to bread that way, as slippery eggplant skin is pretty averse to holding breadcrumbs. Just cut off the stem and slice lengthwise. Then breading, frying, and roasting are a cinch!
Diane
I cooked the eggplant slices on my George Forman grill (a panini press would work too) and they came out nice and crisp - they absorb less of the oil than they would frying in a pan
Terf
Cut eggplant per directions. Stuck eggplant between pieces of wax paper and weighed it down. After a couple hours, rinsed, dried it, flour, egg, panko. Flash fried it on both sides until it was brown, put it on rack and let it cook in oven at 375 for 30 minutes. At same time in oven, cooked cut up fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil. Put cheese over sauce near the end of cooking to melt. Really was delicious. I
Carol Sacks
This dish is terrific. Great flavor and the eggplant is crunchy with that irresistible panko mixture. Only change for me was cooking the eggplant about 5-6 minutes per side. My go-to recipe for tomato sauce is Marcella Hazan's; you can find it here: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015178-marcella-hazans-tomato-sauce
Carol
Except...the point of this recipe is to leave the marinara and melted mozzarella on the side, not on top of the eggplant, so it stays crispy. Your recipe is different, and includes Parmesan, which this recipe does not. It isn't as if it's pages and pages of instruction -- some beginner cooks need more detail than others.
White Kitty
My Sicilian family made Eggplant Parmesan (aka melanzane alla palmiggiana, supposedly a reference to the layered roof tiles in old farm homes) without breading. Eggplant slices were simply fried with oil, garlic and salt; then placed on a plate fanned out. It was drizzled with a simple smooth marinara sauce and finished with toasted seasoned breadcrumbs and shaves of whatever cheese was on hand such as ricotta salata or caccio. You can’t get simpler than this.
Joanna Greenwood
Dreadful recipe. Took forever, very fiddly cleanup was something akin to the cleanup I imagine after a nuclear winter.
Max C.
I have a healthy spin on this. I follow the same technique but bake the breaded eggplant at 400 degrees 25 minutes per side. The eggplant is tender and delicious and not sopped with oil. Other hacks: 1. I cut my eggplant in half which is easier to fan. 2. You can use egg whites to bind a little shy of 1oz of bread crumbs to half an eggplant. This lowers the calories but not the crunch.
Gerald
This came out great and was delicious the first time I made it. I used regular old eggplant and simply sliced it thin. I served it with meatballs. Everyone loved it! The second time I used the small eggplant and tried the "fan" as pictured here. Don't bother. The batter didn't coat and it was a pain to handle. Just slice it up, dip it in and fry away!
Elena
I think I'd add some grated Reggiano to the bread crumbs. It's so good when it's part of the eggplant crust.
Cathy
YUM! The marinara sauce was key here along with the mozzarella. Also don't skip the oven step. It helps the crisp.
Jess
If you’d like to keep your eggplant thick, chewy, raw, and bitter, use this recipe. The fan method didn’t get an even sear, so I put it in the oven. For an hour. Then more. The inconsistency of thick-thin layers made for an uncooked meal. I ate the cheese off the top and then tossed the eggplant—vowing not to make more until it’s back in season.
mj
Enjoyed this a lot - I always hated how soggy breaded items got in traditional parm. Worked really well with gluten-free panko, as well.
eggplant parm
I sliced the eggplant about 1/2” rounds, dredged in flour egg w a little water, pinko Placed on oiled bake sheet n brushed oil on top Cooked at 400 20 min then turned over for 15 Reduce heat o 300 and continue cooking if no done.
JP
Any store that sells good fresh mozzarella often sells good not-from-a-jar marinara. Took the suggestions to skip the 'fan' method and that worked great.
Bex
Used a standard eggplant, cut in 1/2” rounds. Worked perfectly well. Will reduce quantity of dredge mixture in the future; lots went down the drain. Delicious leftovers when topped with bbq sauce
jDTex
Made this gluten free & it was amazing. Used King Arthur cup for cup flour, and gf Panko bread crumbs.
rachel c
Delicious! After reading the comments, I also opted for eggplant rounds from two large eggplants rather than fanning out small ones. I also ended up running out of panko, but it might be because I split the recipe. However, I had plenty of flour mixture leftover.
Celia
Sliced the eggplants but otherwise followed the recipe exactly, served with polenta (Elena's recipe on Bon Appetit). It was heavently. 100% worth the time, I will make this again.
maureen
Followed the recipe exactly. Crunchy goodness. Loved it
RDUBS
Followed the recipe. Don't let the cooking time scare you, I think it includes making the sauce (definitely make the sauce ahead of time). Most of my eggplants were round globes (Black Beauty variety?), but most successful ones were longer and thinner (Fairy Tale variety?). All about the size of an large-ish avocado. Salting the eggplant really helped soften them into a good fan. Baked them for a few extra minutes to make sure they were cooked through. Will make again.
Pam
Sliced instead of fanned. Served fried eggplant with melted mozzarella on a bed of polenta and marinara. Drizzled basil oil and balsamic over. Spectacular.
Paul Hassett
A number of people posted what is a more American version of eggplant parm. We love this one! it's not the soggy mess that we associate with the dish, but a crispy, light delicious version. Do it the way written.
gordon
Amazing. Converted three “eggplant haters” in the fam.
gordon
Sliced instead of fanned. Outstanding!
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