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Vegan Eggplant Parmesan Recipe. Breaded Eggplant baked and served over spaghetti and chunky marinara, then topped with cashew mozzarella cream. Fancy and so Delicious! Vegan Soy-free Recipe. Nut-free option. Jump to Recipe
Comfort food almost spells a loaded Eggplant Parmesan. Yes?! And it is easy enough to make home!
Make the easy Chunky pasta sauce or use premade, Make the vegan mozzarella or my nut-free vegan alfredo for topping or use vegan parmesan instead for a quicker option, get the breading station ready, Bread the eggplant slices and bake or pan fry. Assemble everything and swoon.
The recipe looks long as it has recipes for sauce, vegan mozz and the breaded eggplant. You can use premade portions for a much quicker meal. The pasta sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for upto 4 days, same with the vegan mozzarella. Just make the eggplant parmesan fresh for a nice crispy result! lets make this.
Ingredients for Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
Jump to Recipe for recipe widget. For the Chunky Pasta Sauce you need
- garlic, onion, tomatoes, tomato paste, italian herbs, black pepper and red pepper flakes
- and some olive oil, salt and sweetener
For the Eggplant Parmesan you need
- a long eggplant
- For the breading station: breadcrumbs, oregano, basil, nutritional yeast, salt, flour, cornstarch or other starch and non dairy milk. See recipe for substitute options.
For the Vegan Mozzarella you need
- cashews, flour, water, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, lemon juice, and miso
To Serve, you need some spaghetti and fresh herbs.
How to make the Vegan Eggplant Parmesan with Step Pictures
Make the Pasta Sauce: Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add onion and a pinch of salt and cook for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes. if the mixture is too thick, add 1/2 cup water.
Reduce heat to medium low. Partially cover and continue to cook for another 6 to 8 minutes. Taste and adjust flavor.
Mozzarella Cream:
Blend everything under mozzarella cream until smooth. Add to a skillet over medium heat. Cook until the mixture thickens evenly. about 3-4 mins. Mix and stir occasionally so the thickening mixture at the bottom doesnt stick.
Eggplant Parmesan: Slice the eggplant. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 15-20 mins. Then rinse and dab in paper towels.
Assemble the breading stations. In a shallow bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with nutritional yeast, herbs salt. In another bowl mix the milk with cornstarch, garlic and a good pinch of salt. Mix well. Add flour to another bowl.
Brush oil liberally on a baking dish. Dip each slice into flour, then milk then breadcrumb mixture to coat all sides, then place in the baking dish. Spray oil on top.
Bake at 425 deg F for 25 to 30 mins or until golden. (You can also pan fry the eggplant in a cast iron skillet at medium heat so the slices cook through.) Cook the pasta according to instruction on the package if you havent already.
Assemble plates and serve. Garnish with fresh basil and pepper flakes.
Can I make this Eggplant Parmesan Gluten-free?
Yes, Use gluten-free spaghetti or spaghetti squash.
For the Eggplant Parmesan, use gluten-free breadcrumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs and a mix of 2 tbsp rice flour, 2 tbsp oat flour and 2 tbsp cornstarch or potato starch instead of the all purpose flour.
Can I make this nut-free?
Yes, use my nut-free vegan alfredo for topping, or use the nut-free version of my vegan parmesan with pumpkin seeds.
More Mains for the Holidays
- Lentil Mushroom Wellington
- Grilled Portobello with Garlic Sauce.
- Lentil Quinoa Loaf
- Chickpea Loaf
- Loaded Veggie Lasagna
- Chickpea Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients
Chunky Red Sauce:
- 1 tsp oil or 2 tbsp broth
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup onion
- 15 oz diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp italian herbs, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, basil
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- a good dash of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp or more sugar/sweetener
- 1/2 tsp salt
Mozzarella cream:
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp miso
Eggplant Parmesan:
- 1 large longish eggplant, ,slice into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices
- 1 tsp salt
- Breading:
- 1 cup vegan breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup Non dairy milk, such as almond , soy or oat
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp garlic
- 1/3 cup flour
To Serve
- 8 oz spaghetti, , use gluten-free spaghetti or spaghetti squash to make gf
- fresh basil and pepper flakes for garnish
Instructions
- Pasta Sauce: at oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add onion and a pinch of salt and cook for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes. if the mixture is too thick, add 1/2 cup water.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Partially cover and continue to cook for another 6 to 8 minutes. Taste and adjust flavor. (Sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for 3 days. Or use store bought marinara or pasta sauce)
- Mozzarella Cream:(See notes for nut-free) Blend everything under mozzarella cream until smooth. Add to a skillet over medium heat. Cook until the mixture thickens evenly. about 3-4 mins. Mix and stir occasionally so the thickening mixture at the bottom doesnt stick. (Can be made ahead and refrigerated for upto 3 days. Or use store bought vegan mozzarella and top the baking eggplant in the last 10 mins of baking. at step 7)
- Eggplant Parmesan: Slice the eggplant. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 15-20 mins. Then rinse and dab in paper towels. (You can skip the salting step. Salting helps reduce the bitterness of the eggplant, but can be skipped to reduce work)
- Assemble the breading stations. In a shallow bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with nutritional yeast, herbs, salt. In another bowl mix the milk with cornstarch, garlic and a good pinch of salt. Mix well. Add flour to another bowl.
- Brush oil liberally on a baking dish. Dip each eggplant slice into flour, then milk then breadcrumb mixture to coat all sides, then place in the baking dish. Repeat for all slices. Spray oil on top.
- Bake at 425 deg F (220 F) for 25 to 30 mins or until golden. (You can also pan fry the eggplant in a cast iron skillet at medium heat so the slices cook through.)
- Cook the pasta according to instruction on the package if you haven't already. Assemble plates with spaghetti topped with pasta sauce and crisp eggplant. Add dollops of the vegan mozzarella or sprinkle some vegan parm and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was really yummy! The cheese didn’t hold up as well as I thought, but still will make again!
Awesome! It’s not supposed to set. It’s just a thick cream to reduce the time and ingredients to make it set then melt again.
Just made this, and it was amazing! I am just curious about the nutritional information listed, where does the sugar and protein come from in this recipe?
ah i recalculatetd it, not sure where it was picking up the sugar from. its updated now to 13g. protein comes from pasta and breadcrumbs.
Anything I could use instead of miso for the mozarella cream? I am making this tonight but am not doing the cream but I am wondering for next time. I decided to add garlic powder and onion powder to the bread crumb mixture and not put garlic into the milk.
omit it and add a tbsp nutritional yeast if you have that
This was astonishingly good. I know your recipes are good, but this was better than I dared hope. Even my husband, who loves greasy, cheesy eggplant parm, was grudgingly amazed at how delicious it was. Thank you!
thats so awesome!
This is a silly question but when the recipe calls for cashews does it mean salted or unsalted? This looks delicious, I’m making it tonight!
raw cashews, unroasted, unsalted
I was hesitant about this recipe since I’ve never cooked with eggplant (bad memories from childhood) but it turned out great! I used zucchini noodles to lighten it up. Thanks for another delicious recipe!
awesome!
Great recipe, thank you so much. I will be making it many more times. So glad I found your site.
awesome! thanks!
Made this with marinara that I had. The whole meal was scarfed down in minutes!! So Good!
awesome!
This looks amazing! Do you think whole wheat pastry flour would work for the breading?
yes, should work just fine
Looks awesome. “E-parm” was my favorite Italian food.
its such a simple set of flavors but so good!
Thank you
My favorite dish, Now I can make Healthy version.