Baked Eggplant Recipe: Vegetarian Or Vegan
This easy vegetarian baked eggplant dish can also easily be converted into a vegan recipe. Plant based diets are great to keep you healthy and there are so many fun ways to keep your recipes tasting great. Also, cooking eggplant is simple and easy! You don’t need to be a master chef to be able to master this recipe. Before we get to one of our favorite eggplant recipes, let’s talk about if eggplants are healthy.
Is Eggplant Good For You?
Yes! If you are concerned about the nutrition of an eggplant, you’re in luck. Eggplants are a food that taste great and can be made in healthy ways. Although it is not packed with nutrients like some other fruits, it is still a low calorie fruit that has almost no fat. There is also some limited research showing that eggplant could be helpful in reducing blood pressure. One medium eggplant has about 200 calories and packs in close to 14 grams of fiber and almost 5 grams of protein.
Eggplant Is A Fruit!
Yes, you read that heading correctly. You may be surprised to learn that eggplant is a fruit. It is not traditionally very sweet like most fruits that come to mind, but eggplant is a fruit. It is part of the berry category. It is called aubergine in some parts of the world, but in the United States is called eggplant.
Let’s get to this healthy baked eggplant recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 16 oz bottle of pizza sauce – Try this vegan pizza sauce from NYC’s famous restaurant.
- 3 cloves of garlic chopped
- Olive oil
- Crushed Red Pepper
- Salt
- Pepper
- Fresh parsley
- Fresh parmesan – shaved or grated
Recipe For Baked Eggplant:
Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. Brush each slice with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of each one to the desired amount. Then, bake the eggplant for 15 min at 425 deg F. Flip each piece onto the other side at minute 7. You can also place the eggplant on the grill if desired.
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Added the vegan pizza sauce on top. Sprinkle desired amount of parmesan cheese on top of each individual eggplant slice. Finally, broil these for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle extra Parmesan if desired. To finish, garnish with fresh parsley before serving this yummy vegetarian dish. It is tough to find great eggplant vegan recipes, so, it is simple to make this dish vegan. Simply, either remove the cheese altogether or substitute the parmesan cheese for vegan cheese.
Be sure to try this easy vegetarian dish out the next time you need a quick healthy meal!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant
Yamaguchi S, Matsumoto K, Koyama M, Tian S, Watanabe M, Takahashi A, Miyatake K, Nakamura K. Antihypertensive effects of orally administered eggplant (Solanum melongena) rich in acetylcholine on spontaneously hypertensive rats. Food Chem. 2019 Mar 15;276:376-382. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.10.017. Epub 2018 Oct 4. Erratum in: Food Chem. 2022 Jun 30;380:132227. Erratum in: Food Chem. 2022 Jul 1;381:132228. PMID: 30409608.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30409608/
https://www.nutritionix.com/food/eggplant/1-serving
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