Lightly breaded eggplant is smothered between layers of vegan cheese sauce and tomato sauce in this soy-free vegan eggplant Parmesan.
In mid-September, My husband D and I joined a local CSA that will be delivering a big box of vegetables to us every Thursday for the next 3 months. Because it’s still warm here in Mississippi, summer crops are still pouring in, so every week the box has been full of zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant.
We try to finish up the bounty from one box before the next one arrives, but we aren’t always successful. The veggies have made their way into stir-fries, fajitas, and spaghetti sauce and have been pan-fried and roasted in half a dozen ways, and frankly we’re both in danger of losing our taste for the summer squashes, in particular. And you know I love eggplant (it has its own category on this blog, with 49–no make that 50–recipes) but there are limits to how often even I want to eat it.
But we have to eat it. It would be wasteful not to (and our cats won’t!) and I’m not really fond of frozen squash, so I’ve been resisting freezing it for future use.
As for the eggplant, I had been making a lot of baba ganoush and re-making some of my old favorites, such as this incredible Eggplant Paprikas, when D asked me to try using the Oven-Fried Eggplant that he loves in a vegan eggplant parmesan. Well, I already have a great eggplant parmesan recipe that doesn’t call for battering the eggplant, so I decided to adapt it a little and, while I was at it, make it gluten-free and soy-free to boot.
We loved it! I used white beans to make a sauce that adds just a touch of creaminess, and I replaced the homemade tomato sauce in the original recipe with a jarred sauce to save time.
It was still quite a production–the breading of the eggplant means added steps and dishes to clean up–and it’s not a recipe you should attempt if you’re short on time. For a much simpler version, see the notes in the recipe below.
Vegan Eggplant Parmesan - Soy-Free
Ingredients
Breaded Eggplant
- 1 large or 2 medium eggplants (about 1 1/4 pounds)
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt if desired
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ounce raw cashews (about 1/4 cup)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 slice bread gluten-free or whole grain
Sauce
- 1/2 cup cooked great northern beans well-drained
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon corn starch or potato starch
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt if desired
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 1 generous pinch cayenne pepper
Casserole
- 2 cups oil-free spaghetti sauce (packaged or from linked recipe)
- leaves fresh basil chopped
Instructions
- Peel the eggplant and trim off the ends. Slice it into rounds about 1/2-inch thick. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, brown rice flour, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, and black pepper. Add the almond milk and lemon juice and stir until smooth. You should have a batter a little thicker than pancake batter. If it seems dry, add a splash of non-dairy milk; if it's too liquidy, add more flour.
- Dip each eggplant slice into the batter and turn it to coat both sides and edges well. Holding the slice between two fingers, allow any excess batter to drip back into the bowl, and place the eggplant on the baking sheet. Repeat with as many slices as you can fit on the baking sheet, being careful that they do not touch. (If your baking sheet is small, you may need to make two batches; batter can thicken between batches, so add more liquid if necessary.)
- Place in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove and gently turn each slice–you may have to hold the parchment paper and peel it from the eggplant. Replace and cook until outsides are brown but not burning, about 15 more minutes.
- While the eggplant is baking, make the cashew parmesan and the sauce: Place the cashews in the food processor along with the nutritional yeast and process until finely ground. Remove half to a small bowl and set aside. Add the bread to the cashews remaining in the processor and pulse until crumbled.
- Place all sauce ingredients in blender and blend at high speed until completely smooth. Blend again briefly just before using.
- When the eggplant is done, assemble the casserole: Reduce the oven temperature to 350F. Oil an 8x8-inch or similar sized casserole dish. Place half of the eggplant slices on the bottom of the dish. Spoon half the tomato sauce and pour half the cheese sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle lightly with cashew parmesan (the bowl without the bread crumbs). Repeat the process with the remaining eggplant, spaghetti sauce, and cheese sauce and sprinkle the bread crumbs on top. Bake uncovered for about 25-30 minutes, until slightly browned. Sprinkle with fresh basil just before serving.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share!
Enjoy!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche
October 21, 2015 at 4:31 pmThis looks fabulous, can’t beat eggplant parmesan! I’d love a big wedge of this with a slice of garlic bread on the side 🙂
Food Wine Fit 40
October 21, 2015 at 5:04 pmWOW!
This looks so delicious!!
I absolutely love eggplant, it is one of my favourite vegetables. Your recipes looks fabulous.
Thanks so much for sharing
Julie
Food Wine Fit 40
Maria
October 21, 2015 at 9:05 pmHi Susan–
This looks great! Since I want to cut down prep time in the kitchen these days, the short cut version looks great is an ingenious way to go–I will definitely try that sometime. The photos are gorgeous–love the colors of the prepared dish against that bright blue casserole!! A feast of color as well as taste. xo
Michelle
October 21, 2015 at 9:20 pmLooks great! I am pinning it to try soon!
Jon
October 22, 2015 at 4:59 amHymm it looks good I must try it out.
Janet
October 22, 2015 at 8:51 amI can’t wait to try this. I love several of your eggplant recipes. I actually buy a box of eggplants in the fall & peel/blanch & freeze just so I can make the recipes in the winter months. I freeze in 1″ slices, then cut into chunks when partially frozen. Makes meals cook faster. Also roast the whole eggplant puree & add lemon juice & freeze. Thaw & add ingredients to make baba gnoush.
kd
October 22, 2015 at 11:05 pmWhat could I use to replace the cashews? I follow Chef AJ’s Ultimate Weight Loss program, no nuts. This looks so good!
Susan Voisin
October 22, 2015 at 11:08 pmYou could just leave the cashews out and blend the nutritional yeast with the bread.
cynthia
October 25, 2015 at 5:16 amforget the eggplant “parmesan” – GO FOR THE BABA GANOUSH
Sofie
October 25, 2015 at 8:57 amThis looks amazing!
Lee at Veggie Quest
October 26, 2015 at 2:20 pmHi Susan, I am ridiculously excited to try this recipe. It’s a quad-fecta (is that a word?) for me: Gluten free, soy free, low fat, and vegan. Yay! Thanks for posting!
Juliana
October 27, 2015 at 12:48 pmI love Eggplant Parmesan but hadn’t made it since changing my diet. This is fabulous! My husband, who doesn’t love eggplant parmesan, gobbled it up! He loved it and ate all the leftovers too. Delicious!
Cornelia Södergren
October 30, 2015 at 2:34 amThat looks gorgeous!
Stephanie
November 2, 2015 at 7:53 amI made this last night and it was fantastic!
Fran Cikk
November 4, 2015 at 2:41 pmI made this today exactly as you said, making your tomato sauce recipe as well. I’ve been trying to find an eggplant recipe I liked, and this was it! A bit labor intensive, but worth every minute and every dirty dish I washed. So flavorful and absolutely delicious!! I froze it into portions to keep myself from eating the whole thing. Thank you!!
Martha
November 10, 2015 at 4:50 pmDon’t forget your “Creamy Zucchini and Basil Soup” recipe to use up that zucchini! I made a lot of it this summer and froze it. Every once in a while we pull out a container for lunch. It’s a great recipe!
Tanya
November 13, 2015 at 11:48 amI am cooking this recipe for dinner tonight. For the eggplant layers, does the eggplant overlap or side by side?
Susan Voisin
November 13, 2015 at 2:37 pmI had them side by side, but if you have enough eggplant slices, you can overlap them, too.
Jill
November 17, 2015 at 7:54 pmSusan: I made this casserole for dinner tonight; but the cheese sauce didn’t thicken like I think it’s supposed to when it baked. What did I do wrong? I baked it at least 45 minutes, starting at 350 degrees and and then for about 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Should I have cooked the sauce a bit first before assembling the dish?
BTW It was delicious! Neither of us generally like eggplant, but we both loved this dish, thin as it was.
Roy
November 18, 2015 at 3:17 pmGood Afternoon,
You have done an outstanding job with this site.
I look forward to exploring further.
Thanks,
Roy
Sheena Yap Chan
November 24, 2015 at 10:25 amlove eggplant parmesan and this looks amazing!!!!!
Cheryl
November 24, 2015 at 12:07 pmI made this last Sunday. WOW! Amazing! So rich and creamy. Thank you very much for taking the time to keep this web site active and sharing your talent with us less talented in the kitchen.
Sue
December 4, 2015 at 8:56 amWhat an amazing recipe. Made it last night and it is sooo good. Can’t wait to eat it again tonight! Thank you. You are such an out-of-the-box recipe creator. I love that you share with us.
Angela Portela
February 17, 2016 at 4:20 amI finally tried this, it was delicious!. Took a fair amount of time to make but would definitely make this again. Thanks!
Archana Baikadi
February 28, 2016 at 2:17 amAwesome recipe luks simply delicious will try soon I m big fan of urs I hv tried many of your recipes and came out really well. thanks.
Hilma Jones
June 7, 2016 at 8:35 amThis is absolutely delicious!
Pamela Chamberlynn
October 21, 2016 at 11:16 pmSusan – thank you so much for your blog and wonderful recipes. I want to share that I have just discovered a truly amazing plant-based milk product that does not have nuts in it. ripple (with a small r) is pea and hemp protein. It honestly tastes like milk and has 50% MORE calcium and one gram more of protein per cup. I am glad for a plant-based calcium source to add to my wellness plan. I am thrilled because I wasn’t really liking almond or coconut milk on my breakfast cereals. I went back to try their chocolate milk and it is a very good product also. Well, I’m off to try one of your eggplant recipes this weekend 🙂 Thank you again.
Laina
May 12, 2017 at 11:24 amHi Susan,
I have the Eggplant Parmesan baking in the oven right now. I read in the recipe to sprinkle the cashew parmesan lightly on the casserole which I did. Does that mean I’ll have some left over to use for other recipes? Or was I suppose to use it all? It’s too late now, but when I prepare this in the future it will be good to know if I was suppose to use it all.
Also I didn’t have fine cornmeal so I used coarse for the breading of the eggplant (polenta). I can tell its not the best for the batter, but it worked.
It smells so Italian as it’s baking and I can’t wait to bite into it when it’s finished ! 🙂
I don’t know why I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I’m glad I found it. It’s a few extra steps, but I already know it’s going to be worth it!!!
Thanks again, Susan for your dedication to sharing vegan recipes with those of us who want to eat healthy.
Susan Voisin
May 12, 2017 at 11:49 amAw, thanks Laina! I hope you enjoy it. As for the cashew Part, the nutritional stats include all of it, but you can just use however much you want. You can even sprinkle some more on before serving if you want. The extra should keep in the fridge for quite a while.
Syd
July 24, 2017 at 7:00 pmThis was ABSOLUTELY delicious! The eggplant crusted over just right! I ended up making a whole panful last night and it’s already almost gone today with just two of us eating it. It almost is like a eggplant lasagna, too. My gluten free sister will love this recipe. 🙂 The cheese even tasted like cheese. It was outa this world.
Alison
October 15, 2017 at 11:49 pmFantastic! Was a bit worried that the cheese sauce was too runny but it thickened up while cooking. This was honestly so delicious. I used an oil free jarred tomato sauce, Simply Natural, and doubled the recipe as I had quite a lot of eggplant. I cooked it 10 minutes longer to compensate for the added volume. Yum!
Karen
January 12, 2018 at 3:42 pmI love this recipe SO MUCH! I make it in large batches and freeze the extras. I tell everyone about how good it is. I’m going to use the sauce and try to make potatoes au gratin with it. There’s nothing about this recipe I would change. So good.
Mobasir Hassan
July 28, 2019 at 10:27 amChicken parmesan was one of my favorite dish but having a recipe like this has forced me to change my taste for chicken parmesan to eggplant Parmesan.
Nicole Allen
May 1, 2020 at 1:02 pmI usually add my own tweaks to a recipe, even if I have never tried it before – but I liked the sound of this one so much, I stuck to the recipe and WOW – it was delicious! I admit I did make the easy version, though – without battering the eggplant – but I may try that next time to see what it adds. Thank you for a lovely recipe :).
Foodiewish
May 26, 2020 at 5:23 amNot just the best eggplant dish I’ve ever made, but the best eggplant dish I’ve ever had. FANTASTIC. Thank you.
Christine
August 14, 2020 at 12:22 pmHi! I would like to try this recipe but I cannot find organic corn meal (I do not want to use conventional corn because of gmo), is there an alternative, thank you.
Susan Voisin
August 14, 2020 at 1:43 pmChickpea flour may work as a substitute, but I haven’t personally tried it.
Suzanne
October 3, 2020 at 2:27 pmMy family loves this recipe. I have to double the batter (maybe my eggplants are huge), and I have a hard time flipping the eggplant after 20 min but I’ve found it’s fine if you don’t. The batter is worth the time. I love that this recipe doesn’t call for any packaged nondairy cheese but it’s still “cheesy.”
Marylyn
April 1, 2021 at 10:07 pmCan this be assembled the night before baking?
Susan Voisin
April 1, 2021 at 11:18 pmYes, that will be fine.
maulik
July 6, 2021 at 2:29 amgreat recipe
Dani Carbery
July 27, 2021 at 7:17 amHiya,
Could this be made ahead and frozen? If so, would you freeze before or after baking?
Carole
September 13, 2021 at 7:20 pmAbsolutely one of the best ever vegan and eggplant recipes I’ve tried. A lot of steps involved but definitely worth it.
Cath Heise
September 16, 2021 at 3:21 pmI really loved this recipe. Thank you so much 😊
Mary
February 15, 2023 at 7:44 pmIf I could I would give it 10 stars! I’ve made a lot of your recipes. I’ve made a lot of other people’s recipes. I’ve cooked a ton myself from my own recipes (20 years). but WOW! This totally blew my mind how amazing, delicious, etc. I made a quick sauce. I followed the recipe pretty much to a T but had to make my own almond milk. I had homemade seed bread I used. This is seriously one of my very favorite things I’ve ever made that is healthy, delicious, GF, Vegan, Soy Free, Whole Food….Thank you!!!!
After the casserole cooled and I was eating the sauce it tasted just like real ricotta and sauce only not so oily. This is the real deal! Make it, you’re going to love it!