Eggplant Parmesan is a well loved recipe, but one that often isn’t enjoyed on a grain-free diet because the eggplant is breaded. We have been really enjoying making classic breaded and fried foods with Pork Panko, and getting really wonderful results using that product.
The other week, I saw a photo of “eggplant parm” floating around the internet, and immediately got a craving for it, and knew I had to try it out in our air fryer with the pork panko.
The first thing I did was slice the eggplant, and then allow it to sweat out some moisture by salting it prior to breading it. This really helped it to get as crispy as possible, and not soggy. Once it had a nice layer of beads of water on each round, I wiped off the water and salt with a paper towel before breading.
I did season the pork panko with our Adobo Seasoning. Our Adobo is my go-to for any dishes that use marinara sauce. I love seasoning ground meat with adobo for a meat sauce, because it adds such wonderful flavor to the sauce. I knew it would really enhance the flavor, and it did!
I used the Rao’s Tomato Basil sauce, which was really delicious, and helped add more ease to this recipe. Anything that involves frying foods is time consuming, so I didn’t want to add another layer of time and stress by making my own sauce.
The eggplant fried up beautifully in the air fryer, and after layering with sauce and cheese, the dish was ready for the oven. It baked for 25 minutes, and then I topped it with fresh parsley and some black pepper.
This recipe was layered with flavor, and turned out so perfectly. I kept saying it was one of the most delicious things I have ever made. It took time to make, but it was really fun!
If you don’t have an air fryer, you can definitely make this by frying the eggplant on the stovetop in oil, but the air fryer makes things so easy, quick, and healthy!
Enjoy!
-Hayley
Grain-Free Eggplant Parmesan
Serves: 6
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 1 1 Eggplant
- 3 3 3 Pastured Eggs
- 4 cups 4 cups 4 cups Pork Panko
- 1 Tbsp 1 Tbsp 1 Tbsp Primal Palate Adobo Seasoning
- 1 cup 1 cup 1 cup Tomato Sauce, Tomato Basil Sauce
- 1.5 cups 1.5 cups 1.5 cups Fresh Mozzarella, crumbled
- 1/2 cup 1/2 cup 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 1 Tbsp 1 Tbsp 1 Tbsp Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
Process
- Rinse your eggplant, and slice into 1/2 inch round slices, and then place evenly onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, and allow the egg plant to sweat for 10 minutes. Using a paper towel, remove the moisture from the eggplant, flip to the opposite side, and repeat.
- In a shallow bowl, whisk the eggs. In another shallow bowl, combine the pork panko and adobo seasoning. You can combine the pork panko and adobo in a larger bowl, and keep adding to the shallow bowl for breading as needed.
- Coat a slice of eggplant in the egg wash, and then immediately in the pork panko, being sure that the egg plant slices are evenly coated in "breading".
- Place the breaded eggplant slice onto a clean plate, and continue with that process until each slice of eggplant is breaded.
- Heat your air fryer to 375 degrees, and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Place a layer of eggplant into your air fryer. I was able to fry 3-4 rounds at a time.
- Fry the eggplant for 5 minutes, then flip, and fry for a remaining 5 minutes. place the fried eggplant onto a clean plate, and repeat with the remaining eggplant, until each round is fried.
- Spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce onto the bottom of a shallow baking dish.
- Place an even layer of friend eggplant into the baking dish. Spoon a small amount of sauce onto each eggplant round, and smooth to cover.
- Top with a layer of mozzarella, and then freshly grated parmesan. Spoon another thin layer of sauce over the cheese.
- Repeat this layering of eggplant, sauce and cheese, ending with just the mozzarella and parm for the very top.
- Place the dish into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- Top with fresh parsley and freshly grated black pepper if desired.
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