I love lasagna! It is such a warm comfort food and tastes great as a leftover, sometimes even better than the first night.
Instead of using gluten free noodles for a gluten free substitute to the classic recipe, I wanted to add more veggies to this dish. Anytime I can sneak in more veggies or swap it out for bready carbs I am eager. I have been making eggplant lasagna since I was a teenager far before I became gluten free. I hope you love this recipe as much as my family does.
The only disappointment I have about this recipe is we were so eager to eat it, I forgot to get a good after the oven pic!
For this delicious and comforting lasagna, you will start by prepping your “noodles.” Peel the eggplant and take off the top and bottom of the eggplant.
Next, you will form the lasagna noodles by slicing them lengthwise into thin pieces, roughly 1/4″.
Don’t stress too much about this part if you don’t have perfect slices however you do want to try to make them as uniform as possible. An alternate, which I have done before (and better if you are not as confident in your knife skills), you can cut them into medallions. It makes it a little trickier to lay them in the pan, but either method is fine!
Next, add the eggplant to a bowl of water and salt. I normally don’t measure the salt but just sprinkle in a generous portion. This step helps to remove any bitterness in the eggplant and I use this method whenever I cook eggplant no matter my method. You want to make sure that the eggplant is fully submerged and soaks for a minimum of 10 minutes. You can also let it soak for several hours, and although extensive time doesn’t mean better eggplant, it’s okay to prep the eggplant a bit in advance for convenience. As you will notice that the eggplant floats so you can either flip it around halfway through or place a plate or bowl on top to help submerge it.
Also now is a good time to preheat your oven to 425.
To create the ricotta mixture, combine one container of ricotta cheese, one egg, and salt and pepper. I never measure salt and pepper, but roughly a 1/4 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp salt.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drain the water from the eggplant and place the eggplant onto the baking sheet. I don’t normally dry the eggplant with paper towels but you do want to make sure they are fairly dry. Lightly brush the eggplant with a tiny amount of oil and place in the oven. Depending on your slice thickness and oven, the time to cook them will vary. Check on them after 15 minutes. You want the eggplant to be tender but not so cooked that it’s soggy. My picture above was right after pulling my finished eggplant out of the oven.
While the eggplant is cooking, prep the veggie mixture. The carrot and broccoli were a delicious mixture and great flavor but not too overpowering. However, if you are not a fan of one them you could substitute it for another veggie. The veggie layer can be as full as you like or just lightly sprinkled, therefore I didn’t add any exact measurements in my recipe. I used roughly a half a bag of broccoli and about 9 baby carrots. This created a full first layer and a sprinkle on the second layer of my lasagna. I like to cook the broccoli in the microwave first to bring it to room temperature or slightly warm. Add the veggies into your food processor and pulse it to give it a good chop.
To build the lasagna, start with sauce on the bottom. Next, add a layer of eggplant “noodles”. Be sure to over lap a little if there are any really thin pieces.
The third layer will be your ricotta cheese mixture.
The fourth layer will be your veggies.
The last layer will be a sprinkling of both cheeses.
Then you can start the process again – sauce (a more generous portion this time), eggplant “noodles”, ricotta, veggies, shredded cheese. Finish the top with a little more sauce.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Trust me, this will be piping hot right out of the oven, so let it rest for a few minutes before serving and give it a few blows on your fork so you don’t burn your mouth!
I hope you enjoy! Leave me a message if you tried it or made any substitutes. Don’t forget to click on any of the pictures to save it to your Pinterest board for easy access and saving!
Hearty Eggplant Lasagna
