This eggplant Parmesan recipe treats its namesake vegetable kindly, so your dish turns out perfectly crisped on top and tender on the inside. Whether you’ve been making eggplant Parmesan for years, or this is your first time cooking any eggplant dish, our recipe developers’ step-by-step instructions make the process seamless.

How to Cook Eggplant Parmesan Like A Pro

Our developers tested and cross-tested various approaches before landing on this method.

Make the eggplant sweat. Sprinkling cut pieces of eggplant with salt and letting them sit at room temperature for 1 hour drains their excess water and any bitterness, so they cook up crispy.

Rinse and blot the salted eggplant. This step removes extra salt and dries the exterior, which helps the breadcrumb mixture stick.

Use your favorite breadcrumbs. Food Network Kitchen’s team prefers the texture and flavor of fresh breadcrumbs, which are easy to make with old bread. But you can also use dried breadcrumbs or panko.

Leave space around the eggplants in the pan. If the pan is too crowded, the eggplant slices will steam instead of fry and become soggy.

While cooking, adjust the temperature of the oil. Adjust your burner as you add and remove the eggplant slices. Cold, raw eggplant will lower the temperature of the oil in the pan; by keeping the oil temperature constant, the slices will fry evenly and stay crisp.

When the eggplant is done cooking, it’ll release from the pan. If you struggle to slide your spatula underneath an eggplant slice to flip it, give it a few more moments in the hot oil then try again. When the eggplant is fully cooked it will release easily.

Make the sauce while you’re frying the eggplants. This super streamlined tomato sauce only simmers for 10 minutes, so you can check on it while you pan-fry the eggplant.

What to Serve With this Recipe for Eggplant Parmesan

Serve your eggplant Parmesan with Caesar salad or a simple green salad and homemade garlic bread.

How to Freeze and Store Eggplant Parmesan

An ideal make-ahead dish, eggplant Parmesan can be prepared 2 days before you plan to serve it. Let it cool, then wrap the pan tightly with foil. Reheat, covered in foil, for approximately 30 minutes in a 350 degrees F oven. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes.

If you want to freeze this eggplant Parmesan recipe to cook and serve down the road, assemble it through the final step but don’t put the pan in the oven. Tightly wrap the uncooked eggplant Parmesan in plastic wrap then cover it in aluminum foil and freeze for 2 to 3 months. Thaw completely then bake as directed.

Other Recipes Using Eggplant

Here are a few other eggplant dishes we love:

Eggplant rollatini. Crowd-pleasing eggplant rollatini features many of the same flavors as eggplant Parmesan.

Eggplant caponata. This classic Sicilian eggplant recipe can be served as a salad or spooned into pitas or onto flatbread.

Moussaka. Another popular baked eggplant dish, moussaka combines crispy eggplant with ground beef and creamy sauce.

Air fryer eggplant Parmesan. Simplify things by making eggplant Parmesan in the air fryer with either jarred or homemade red sauce.

Recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen

Eggplant Parmesan

Total: 2 hr 15 min

Prep: 1 hr 15 min
Cook: 1 hr

Yield: about 4 to 6 main course servings

The best eggplant parmesan recipes are extra kind to their namesake vegetable. Start by giving your eggplant an upfront spa treatment: sprinkle the cut pieces with a little salt and let them sit to sweat out the extra moisture and remove any bitter notes. This recipe calls for fresh breadcrumbs but regular dried or Japanese-style panko breadcrumbs – which are coarser – can be used instead. Take your time with frying the eggplant. Be sure to start with hot oil and wait to check on the pieces until they lift easily with a spatula. The homemade tomato sauce is incredibly easy. It only simmers for 10 minutes, so you can check on it while you pan fry the eggplant.