My grandmother’s easy baked eggplant Parmesan recipe is a delicious vegetarian dinner with just 15 minutes of prep! This recipe simplifies the classic Italian dish for a quick-prep, family-friendly weeknight meal. Serve it with a side of spaghetti, a simple green salad, and a basket of garlic bread.
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If you love Italian recipes, be sure to try these popular stuffed shells with meat, this 20-minute linguine with clam sauce, and this sheet pan Italian shrimp, too!
How to Make this Baked Eggplant Parmesan Recipe | Video
Certain recipes just taste like home, and this is definitely one of them. It’s an instant transport back to my childhood table. When my aunt recently passed along my grandmother’s old recipe box, I spent hours pouring over all of her recipes. One that instantly jumped out at me was this handwritten baked eggplant parmesan recipe on a weathered piece of yellow legal paper. It’s a dish that I grew up on, and I’ve continued to serve the flavorful meal to my own family as well!
Mouthwatering. I love eggplant and have made this weekly since coming across your recipe a few months back. So easy to make and the best eggplant recipe by far. Thanks for sharing.
– Yvonne
Before You Get Started
- Eggplant Parmesan is a traditional Italian meal comprised of shallow- or deep-fried slices of eggplant, layered with cheese and tomato sauce, and then baked in the oven. The popular dinner has been adapted over generations, and Americanized by families like ours. This particular recipe is an easy version for busy folks. Instead of frying the eggplant in a skillet, we let the oven do the work! It’s baked — not fried — but you don’t lose any of that delicious flavor.
- When shopping for an eggplant, look for a vegetable with smooth, shiny skin that’s uniform in color and heavy for its size. To test for ripeness, lightly press a finger against the skin. If it leaves an imprint, the eggplant is ripe. Smaller eggplants tend to be sweeter, less bitter, and have thinner skin and fewer seeds.
- You do not need to salt the eggplant before cooking it. Salting raw eggplant helps to achieve smooth and creamy eggplant, so feel free to do so if you’d like. By not salting the vegetable, however, it retains its shape and has a slightly firmer texture. That works for me!
- Corn Flakes cereal is the “secret” ingredient helps to give the eggplant that crispy, flavorful fried taste and texture. You can crush your own cereal at home or purchase a box of Corn Flakes crumbs. While some readers have reported success substituting with panko breadcrumbs, I find that Corn Flakes have a unique sweet-and-savory flavor, as well as a super-crunchy texture, that yields the best results. If you have leftover cornflakes, make cornflake chicken, too!
- This dish serves 2-3 people as an entrée. You might be able to stretch it to serve 4 people if you’re also offering a heartier side dish like pasta. For a bigger family, use 2 eggplants, double all of the other ingredients, and bake the eggplant in a 9 x 13-inch dish or on a larger rimmed baking sheet.
Directions
The oven does all of the work here, but the outside of the eggplant is still crispy and flavorful. No soggy vegetables allowed! I’ve included detailed directions for this easy eggplant parmesan recipe below, but here’s the overview:
- Pour melted butter into a baking dish. This gives the eggplant that fried taste and crispy, golden brown texture — without actually frying on the stovetop.
- Prepare egg in one shallow bowl and Corn Flake breading mixture in a separate shallow bowl. A can of pre-grated Parmesan is a great shortcut, or feel free to grate your own from a wedge if you prefer.
- Peel the eggplant. The vegetable’s skin is completely edible and tends to soften as it cooks, so in many recipes it’s fine to leave the skin on. That said, I recommend peeling the eggplant for eggplant parmesan. As an eggplant grows larger, the skin can become tough and bitter — something that I prefer to avoid.
- Slice the vegetable cross-wise into ¾-inch thick rounds. The rounds will vary in diameter since the eggplant is not a uniform cylinder, but try to keep the thickness of each slice uniform so that they cook in the same amount of time.
- Dip each slice of eggplant in the egg, and then coat with the crumb mixture.
- Arrange the breaded eggplant slices in the buttered pan.
- Bake the eggplant slices, flipping after the first 20 minutes.
- Add marinara sauce on top, sprinkle with mozzarella, and bake for 3-5 more minutes (until the cheese melts). A jar of store-bought marinara sauce (such as Rao’s brand) works well, or you can make homemade marinara sauce.
- Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or fresh basil leaves, if desired.
Serving Suggestions
This Italian-inspired dish is best when served with a side of pasta and extra marinara sauce. Don’t forget the garlic bread, breadsticks, or focaccia, too!
Looking to add some more veggies to the meal? Try a simple green salad with red wine vinegar salad, a Caesar salad, roasted yellow squash, sauteed spinach with garlic, garlic and Parmesan cauliflower mash, garlic roasted broccoli, or sauteed zucchini.
Storage Tips
This dish is best when served warm, immediately from the oven. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, but the eggplant will get soggy as it sits. I love to reheat the leftover eggplant in the microwave or in a 350°F oven for 5-10 minutes, and then add it to a hoagie roll to make an eggplant Parmesan sandwich. Delicious!
I do not recommend freezing baked eggplant parmesan, as the high water content in the vegetable yields a mushy, soggy dish when thawed.
This is my go-to eggplant Parmesan recipe! Its simply delicious! When I add the cheese at the end I turn on the oven’s broiler and keep a close watch so the cheese gets just slightly browned…yum. Thanks so much for sharing. My 3 year old loves it too!!
– Cathy L.
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Did you make this recipe?
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Watch How to Make It
Grandma’s Baked Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- ½ cup Corn Flakes cereal crumbs
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Dash of ground black pepper
- 1 small eggplant
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 2 ounces (½ cup) shredded mozzarella cheese (or use sliced fresh mozzarella if you prefer)
- Optional garnish: chopped fresh parsley, basil, or other herbs
- Optional for serving: cooked spaghetti with additional marinara sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Pour melted butter into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- Place egg in a shallow dish. Set aside. In a separate shallow dish, combine Corn Flakes crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Peel eggplant and cut into ¾-inch thick slices. Dip each slice in egg and coat with crumb mixture.
- Place in a single layer in the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes; flip the slices over, and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Pour marinara sauce over eggplant and top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 3-5 more minutes, or until the cheese melts.
Notes
- Look for a small eggplant, which tends to have the sweetest flavor.
- This dish serves 2-3 people as an entrée. You might be able to stretch it to serve 4 people if you’re also offering a heartier side dish like pasta. If you’re feeding a bigger family, I recommend using 2 eggplants, doubling all of the other ingredients, and baking the eggplant in a 9 x 13-inch dish or on a larger rimmed baking sheet.
- Corn Flakes are the best option for breaded eggplant. You can substitute with panko breadcrumbs, but they are definitely not as crispy and they’re lacking the flavor that you get from the crushed cereal.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in June, 2017. It was updated in August, 2024.
First time using this recipe came out wonderful! Used two different dishes one with butter & one using olive oil. Both were excellent. Used my home made red sauce, this will definitely be a go to recipe!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Carole!
It is GREAT!!!! I use Kikoman because it is NOT bioengineered, and a spicy marinara!!!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Jaime!
Delicious, easy, and great for big groups.
Thanks so much, Matt!
Loved this recipe.So easy to make.Tasted so good.
Thank you so much, Mary!
This was delicious. I used Prego sauce because it’s our favorite and made angel hair pasta to go with it. I highly recommend this recipe!
Thank you so much, Peg! We’re glad you enjoyed it.
Very tasty and easy to make! Warms up very good too! Will definitely be making it again.
Thank you so much, Julie!
Awesome!!
My go to recipe for eggplant parm going forward!!
Thank you! We’re honored!
Cant make because the recipe keeps going to top of page
Sorry about that, Lorie! It’s working okay on our end. Have you tried refreshing the page or clearing your cache?
Delicious. I didn’t use marinara. I chopped fresh tomatoes added some spices – salt, pepper, oregano- microwaved that for 2 minutes and out it on the baked eggplant when it was time and added the mozzarella.
We’re so glad you were able to make it work for you and enjoyed it, Rose!
Has anyone successfully froze this recipe?
Hi, Becki! I’m not sure! I would be nervous about doing so, since the high water content of the eggplant will likely result in a mushy, soggy dish when thawed.
Amazing flavor, super easy, can’t wait too make it again!!
Thank you, David!
Panko breadcrumbs don’t get soggy and work great in this recipe.
I have made it several times already. Would never pick any other recipe! It’s really terrific!
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much, Lewinski! We really appreciate your support.
Can you make this a day in advance and keep in refrigerator and bake the next day?
We haven’t tried but think it would become a bit soggy. We recommend baking it completely and reheating when you’re ready to serve!
This is my go to eggplant recipe. The whole family loves it!!
We’re so glad it’s a hit! Thank you for sharing, Ellen.
Wow this was so good! I followed through except I left my skin on….I love the butter baked eggplant idea! It came out so crispy and chewy and well cooked without the work of standing over fhe stove. I also used a sheet pan which helped bake it up more. I didn’t salt the eggplant and it didn’t matter because it was still amazing! I also cooked a side of angel hair pasta in garlic butter. I will be making this again during the weekday..so easy and delicious!
Thank you for such detailed feedback, Tatyana! We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I’ve been using this recipe for about 3 years now and it feels like it’s part of our family now!
It’s so easy and so good. I usually end up using a lot more breadcrumbs and cheese but that’s just me. 🙂
This made our day! Thank you Dallis. We’re so glad you enjoy the recipe and are able to adjust it to your liking.
This is a fantastic recipe. I’ve made it several times and we all love it. Tonight my son said, “Yay, Mom! You made those pizza squashes I like!”
We’re so happy to hear this, Cindy! Thank you for sharing.
Made this last night… great!… did home made spagehtti and made your sauce recipe. The corn flake breading is nice/flavorful. I changed up baking the eggplant… sheat pan with a bit of olive oil and butter… in the oven while it pre heats… oil is hot… put on prepared eggplant… baked as per recipe… its oven fried… chrispy… not messy/oily like in a fry pan.
Thank you, Scott! We’re so glad you were able to make it work for you and enjoyed the recipe.
This was scrumptious! I used cracker crumbs (about a cup) instead of corn flake crumbs and sprinkled the extra crumb mixture on top just before the last five minutes of baking. It was cheesy and crunchy and delicious, as well as being easy to make.
Thank you, Wendy! We’re so glad you were able to adjust it and enjoyed the recipe.