Eggplant Parmesan (Parmigiana di Melanzane)
Golden fried eggplant layered with slow-cooked tomato sauce, melting mozzarella and nutty Parmesan, baked until bubbling. The great Southern Italian comfort bake — rich, soft and deeply savoury.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Salt the eggplant
Layer the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkling coarse salt between each layer, then set a plate with a weight on top. Let drain 45 minutes — this pulls out bitter juices and extra moisture so the slices fry crisp instead of soaking up oil. Rinse briefly and pat completely dry with a kitchen towel.
- 1.2 kg eggplant
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
✅ Done when: the slices look slightly limp and dark liquid has pooled at the bottom of the colander
Make the tomato sauce
Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over low heat, add the garlic and cook gently until fragrant but not browned, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, 10 basil leaves and the pinch of salt, then simmer uncovered over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Discard the garlic cloves at the end.
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 800 g canned tomatoes
- 10 leaves basil
- 1 pinch salt
✅ Done when: the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and no longer tastes of raw tomato
Fry the eggplant
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Assemble the layers
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Bake until golden
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Rest and serve
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Salt the eggplant
Layer the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkling coarse salt between each layer, then set a plate with a weight on top. Let drain 45 minutes — this pulls out bitter juices and extra moisture so the slices fry crisp instead of soaking up oil. Rinse briefly and pat completely dry with a kitchen towel.
- 1.2 kg eggplant
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
✅ Done when: the slices look slightly limp and dark liquid has pooled at the bottom of the colander
Make the tomato sauce
Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over low heat, add the garlic and cook gently until fragrant but not browned, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, 10 basil leaves and the pinch of salt, then simmer uncovered over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Discard the garlic cloves at the end.
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 800 g canned tomatoes
- 10 leaves basil
- 1 pinch salt
✅ Done when: the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and no longer tastes of raw tomato
Fry the eggplant
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Assemble the layers
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Bake until golden
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Rest and serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Both Naples and Sicily claim parmigiana di melanzane as their own, and the truth is probably that it grew up across the whole South, wherever eggplant, tomatoes and good frying oil met in the kitchen. Some food historians even argue the name has nothing to do with Parmesan cheese at all, pointing instead to a Sicilian word for the overlapping wooden slats of a shutter — a fitting image for a dish built from layer upon layer of fried eggplant.
Whatever its exact birthplace, it became a Sunday staple across the South: a dish worth the time it takes, made in big batches for a full table, and often even better the next day once the layers have settled together.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It turns a humble vegetable into something rich and satisfying enough to be the main event, and it's one of the dishes that best shows off the Southern Italian love of frying, tomato sauce and good melting cheese.
💡 Fun Fact
The dispute over whether parmigiana was born in Campania or Sicily is still argued, half-seriously, at family tables across both regions.
Southern Italy (Campania and Sicily)
40.85°N, 14.27°E
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