Easy Baked Eggplant Rollatini

If you’re looking for a vegetarian meal for Meatless Monday, look no further than this Eggplant Rollatini recipe! It’s EASY to make and full of flavor!

 

This is the BEST Eggplant Rollatini recipe. With simple ingredients and lots of Italian flavor, it’s sure to become a family favorite.

Eggplant Rollatini, sometimes seen as “eggplant rollatine” or eggplant involtini, it is simply eggplant rolled with a ricotta cheese mixture topped with tomato sauce and cheese. It is an easy low-carb, vegetarian Italian recipe that everyone will enjoy.

A Southern Italian favorite, Eggplant Rollatini has fallen off many menus in the states. Why? Well, the traditional methods of preparation are time consuming.

Why You’ll Love This Eggplant Rollatini Recipe

Thin slices of eggplant with a delicious ricotta filling, smothered in fresh tomato sauce and baked to perfection- what’s not to love!

• Classic italian meal – Similar to eggplant parmesan, this is an italian dish that your whole family will want to indulge in over and over.
• Low carb – Because we use eggplant slices instead of lasagna noodles, this dish is relatively low carb.
• Easy to make – You can have this entire main course ready and on the table in under an hour.

Ingredients

You are going to love how simple these ingredients are. Perfect for even the pickiest of eaters.

• Eggplants – I like to use medium-sized eggplants for this delicious eggplant recipe. Rather than thick slices that will become soggy, we will be cutting these into thin slices.
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – You can add these to taste, but I always prefer to freshly grind my own in order to maximize the flavor.
• Olive oil – This is what we will use in the pan when we sauté the garlic and spinach. It helps prevent them from sticking to the pan.
• Garlic clove – We want this to be finely minced. I much prefer mincing my own rather than buying the jar of pre-minced at the grocery store.
• Fresh spinach – You want this to be chopped up into relatively small pieces. Better to mix into the filling that way.
• Ricotta cheese – Make sure this is drained. We don’t want any excess moisture making our eggplant slices soggy.
• Roasted red pepper – I love the flavor that some chopped roasted red peppers add to this dish, but you can omit them if you’d like.
• Egg – We need some sort of binder to hold our filling ingredients together, and egg will do just that.
• Plain tomato sauce – You can either use a homemade marinara sauce or a store-bought tomato sauce- whichever tickles your fancy.
• Mozzarella cheese – This goes on top of the rollatini. So you can uses slices or shredded.
• Parmesan cheese – There’s just nothing like freshly shredded parmesan cheese to top these baked eggplant slices.

How to Make Eggplant Rollatini

From the cheese filling to the simple tomato sauce, this rollatini could not be easier to make!

1. Prepare oven and baking sheets. Preheat oven and spray two baking sheets with cooking spray.
2. Slice eggplant. Using a mandolin slicer, cut eggplant lengthwise. Season with fine sea salt and ground black pepper.
3. Bake. Bake until edges start to brown slightly. Slices should be pliable and flexible, but not crispy. Allow to cool.
4. Sauté spinach and garlic. Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add garlic.  Add fresh spinach and toss until fully wilted and reduced.
5. Drain. Drain and dry spinach as much as you can. Lay it flat on a paper towel to get as much water out as possible.
6. Make filling. Combine ricotta cheese, roasted red pepper, chopped spinach and egg in a mixing bowl.
7. Add filling to eggplant. Working one roll at a time, place at the edge of an eggplant slice. Roll up and place, seam side down, in a prepared baking dish coated with cooking spray. Continue with remaining slices.
8. Top with sauce and cheese. In a separate bowl, stir together tomato sauce and dried oregano. Top eggplant rolls with tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
9. Bake. Bake, uncovered. Remove and allow to sit before serving.

Bake Eggplant

The second way is probably my favorite, but by far the most time consuming and challenging. Here, you bake eggplant slices to dehydrate them, then roll them in ricotta cheese, secure the with toothpicks and then freeze them.

When you are ready to cook, roll are dipped in an egg batter and then fried. They remind me of an Italian chile relleno, but with eggplant instead of green chiles. They are served with a marinara or rose sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese.

And depending on the side and length of your eggplant, that can vary even more. If serving as an entree, plan on serving 3-4 rolls per person. I like to think they are about the size of a stuff shell.

If serving as a side dish, then place for one or two. Having leftovers isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Lunch for you!

I also found some try to add too much flavor to the eggplant, so while I am skipping a few steps on flavoring and frying eggplant, I am adding flavor to the ricotta mixture with roasted red pepper, garlic and spinach. Trying to squeeze in those veggies any way possible!

I’ve created a baked eggplant rollatini that cuts out some of the cumbersome steps, but still results in a tasty bite with a little bit of toothiness.

Variations

We like this eggplant rollatini recipe exactly as written, but there are plenty of ways for you to make it your own.

• Toppings – Instead of the cheeses I recommended, you can use any blend of Italian cheese you like. Try adding some sliced fresh basil to add a little green too.
• Meat – While this is a great option for meatless Monday or for your vegetarian friends, you can also add meat if you prefer. Add 1/2 cup cooked and drained ground beef or chicken to the ricotta mixture and reduce the amount of ricotta by half. 
• Spice it up – My recipe isn’t as written, but if you want some heat, feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes to either the ricotta mixture or the tomato sauce.

What to Serve with Eggplant Rollatini

Just about anything you serve with a traditional italian meal will go great with this eggplant. We like to serve ours with a side of bread like garlic bread or fresh baked italian bread.

And don’t forget about the veggies! An italian salad or fresh green beans or broccoli would be the perfect accompaniment to this dish.

Tricks & Tips

The trick is to bake the eggplant, but not to the point of being totally limp. Instead of using plain ricotta cheese, I add minced roasted pepper and wilted spinach.

Both give a texture component and while it isn’t the crunch of fried food, it does provide sophistication and a slight bite.

Servings may vary greatly just depending on the size of your eggplant. I had a few I made for Thanksgiving that were short and squatty, I needed four. But the ones I made today only required two.

PRO TIP: If you prefer to use fresh oregano, the swap is 1 tablespoon of fresh for every 1 teaspoon of dried.

I use a mandolin slicer to get an even, thin cut. Word to wise, still use the safety guard, you’ll thank me when you aren’t in the emergency room with stitches. It also gets more challenging to get good cuts the closer you are to the edges.

The next trick is to make sure that the filling and eggplant are as dry as possible. Any excess water that cooks off will make your tomato sauce thin and soupy. Yuck.

Drain roasted red pepper well and also dab dry on paper towels. Wring out cooked spinach well with paper towels or a kitchen towel. See notes in the recipe about how to do this. Just know the objective is to make things DRY.

Also use a low moisture mozzarella cheese. It melts better and you won’t get any liquid pooling in the bottom.

Tips for Working with Eggplant

We all love eggplant, and while it’s a common ingredient for many delicious recipes, here are a few tips to help you along the way.

• Know that eggplant is actually a fruit, not a vegetable.
• When picking an eggplant, look for a firm and heavy fruit with uniform color.
• Store eggplant in the fridge until you are ready to use.
• Do not cut your eggplant ahead of time, it gets soggy and bitter.
• Eggplant goes bad pretty fast, so buy a ripe one only one or two days before you plan to use it.
• Eggplant slices best on the mandolin when it is cold, keep it in the fridge until right before you slice it.

Storage and Freezing

Storage: Store any leftover eggplant rollatini in an airtight container. It will stay in the refrigerator for about 3-5 days.

Make ahead: you can also make this ahead of time. In fact, this is an awesome make-ahead dish and my husband might even tell you that it tastes better the next day.

Freezing: This dish also freezes well in an airtight container. Cover it well and freeze it for up to six months.

Common Questions About Eggplant Rollatini

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