My adaptation of this Italian dish of baked aubergines in tomato sauce makes for a brilliant naturally gluten free dinner. This classic Italian dish features layers of slices aubergine, baked in a rich tomato sauce and topped with cheese. Oh so good!
My Italian friends will shout at me for adding cheddar cheese (alongside the classic parmesan) to the topping, but I am a massive cheese fan and feel it adds depth of flavour.
This is a dish that the whole family can enjoy and is one of the few ways I can get my toddler to eat aubergine! She loves this aubergine parmigiana and wolfs it down.
Serve it with garlic bread, potatoes or rice and salad to complete the meal. Try my easy garlic bread or extra delicious garlic pizza bread or hasselback potatoes.
You can also batch cook this dish and freeze any leftovers if you want to do some handy meal prep at the same time. It reheats really well and the flavours develop beautifully.
Aubergine Parmigiana Recipe (GF)
You’ll find the method for my aubergine parmigiana below. Feel free to email me any questions or comments you might have. You can contact me at [email protected] or message me on Instagram/Facebook @myglutenfreeguide.
If you enjoy this dish, I would be really grateful if you could leave a star rating or review on the recipe card below. Thank you!
Laura xxx
Aubergine Parmigiana (GF)
A warming Italian dish of aubergine baked with a tomato sauce, topped with generous amounts of Parmesan cheese. Pop some garlic bread on the side for delicious dipping.
Ingredients
- 2 aubergines
- 150g cheddar/parmesan cheese
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 large onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp mixed herbs/oregano
- Dash of balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- Half a tsp of sugar
- Dash of red wine (optional)
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 180 degrees.
- Dice the onion and add to a medium-sized non-stick pan with a dash of olive oil. Cook on a low-medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent.
- While your onions are cooking down, wash your aubergines and then slice them into coins (around half a cm thick). Lay them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Then bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until they have started to brown. (alternatively you can par-cook them in a griddle pan, but I find this oven method involves less effort and uses less oil). Take them out of the oven and set aside.
- While the aubergines are cooking, crush your garlic cloves and add to the onions, turn up to a medium heat, then add the tomato puree, red wine and herbs.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, dash of balsamic and sugar, then allow to cook. Season.
- Take a small casserole dish - add a quarter of your tomato sauce to the base, add layer aubergines, cover with the same quantity of sauce, layer of aubergines, sauce, aubergines, then finally pour over the remaining tomato sauce.
- Top with grated parmesan and/or cheddar cheese and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese has turned golden in colour.
- Serve with fresh gluten free bread/rice/roasted new potatoes and a green salad. YUM.
For more family friendly dinner ideas, why not give one of these gluten free recipes a try:
Enjoy! x
