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This eggplant rollatini recipe is an Italian classic dish that everyone loves, featuring tender eggplant slices rolled around a savory ricotta filling and baked in marinara sauce. It’s one of our favorite ways to turn this vegetable into a meal!
Why we love this recipe
Welcome to one of our favorite eggplant recipes to make a splash at dinner: Eggplant Rollatini! It’s a classic Italian dish, kind of like a mashup of eggplant Parmesan and lasagna roll ups. Tender strips of eggplant are wrapped around a creamy three-cheese filling, then baked in homemade tomato sauce and more cheese.
As two cookbook authors, Alex and I are constantly on the lookout for dinner ideas that are fun, festive, and bursting with flavor. This classic Italian dinner always impresses when we make it for dinner guests, making it one for our dinner party playbook. It is so delicious: we can’t wait to hear what you think!
Featured reader comment
“Delicious and easy to follow! Super tasty, gooey, and cheesy. A very good way to get more veggies as a main in a dinner course!” -Reese
Ingredients in eggplant rollatini
Eggplant rollatini is an American name for an Italian dish of thinly sliced eggplant rolled around a filling and baked. It Italy it’s called involtini, or involtini di melanzane (involtini made of eggplant). The eggplant may be breaded or dusted in flour before rolling, or it may be rolled without breading.
This eggplant rollatini recipe has lightly broiled eggplant strips wrapped around a filling of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. The rolls are baked in homemade tomato sauce and covered in more cheese, which makes a cozy, homey vegetarian dinner. It’s also a great gluten-free dinner alternative to lasagna rolls. The ingredients you’ll need are:
- Eggplant
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- Ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
- Egg
- Oregano, nutmeg and salt
- Chopped parsley and/or fresh basil
Ingredient notes
It’s important to use best quality ingredients in this eggplant rollatini for the best results. We recommend making the homemade marinara using fire roasted canned tomatoes, but you can substitute jarred marinara if you like. Here are a few specific ingredient notes to keep in mind:
- Use fire roasted tomatoes. Fire roasted tomatoes make the best flavor: they taste sweet and smoky right out of the can. If you can’t find them, substitute best quality tomatoes for the sauce.
- Or, use best quality jarred marinara. To save time for prep, you can use best quality jarred marinara sauce instead of making the homemade sauce. Keep in mind, the flavor is best following the recipe below!
- Whole milk mozzarella cheese makes a difference. This type of cheese melts much better than part skim mozzarella, and has a richer flavor. It also melts better when reheating.
Tips for making eggplant rollatini
Eggplant rollatini is simple to put together, but it does involve some time and effort. Here are some tips on what you’ll need to do (or jump to the recipe below):
- It’s easier to make with a partner. We’ve found it’s much more fun and comes together quicker. (Actually, we wrote a whole cookbook about cooking together, so it’s kind of our jam!)
- Broil or bake the eggplant. It takes just 6 minutes to broil one sheet pan, but you’ll need to broil in batches to cook all the eggplant strips. Alternatively, you can bake both trays at 425°F for 15 minutes until tender and nearly cooked through.
- Allow the eggplant rollatini stand for 10 minutes before serving, which helps the texture to firm up and any liquid to be absorbed.
Storing leftovers and make ahead tips
This eggplant rollatini recipe takes about 1 hour to make, so it’s best for dinner parties or weekends when you have a good amount of prep time. If you’d like to eat it on a weeknight, you can prep some of the components in advance to make for a simpler assembly. Here are a few make-ahead tips:
- Cook the eggplant strips and make the tomato sauce and filling in advance. This saves about 30 to 40 minutes off in the timing of recipe. Refrigerate all three until ready to bake.
- Leftovers store refrigerated for up to 3 days. You can make the entire dish in advance and refrigerate if you like. Leftovers tastes great after re-warming in a 375°F oven.
- If desired, you can freeze leftovers in a sealed container for up to 3 months. However, the eggplant can become more mushy after freezing, so we recommend eating it after refrigeration if possible.
More eggplant recipes
There are so many great ways to eat eggplant! Here are a few of our top eggplant recipes:
- Go for classic Eggplant Parmesan or Eggplant Lasagna.
- Try Easy Sauteed Eggplant or Roasted Eggplant.
- Opt for Eggplant Meatballs, Eggplant Caponata or Pasta alla Norma.
- Try this Japanese Eggplant recipe with garlic and ginger.
Dietary notes
This eggplant rollatini recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Frequently asked questions
This eggplant rollatini recipe requires roasting the eggplant first: you won’t need to salt it!
If you prefer a dairy-free option, you can use a vegan ricotta substitute. You could also substitute cottage cheese.
Marinara is the classic choice, feel free to experiment with other sauces like vodka sauce or even a simple tomato sauce with fresh herbs. You can also use purchased marinara sauce, but the flavor will not be as fresh and developed.
Eggplant Rollatini
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
Description
This eggplant rollatini recipe is an Italian classic dish that everyone loves, featuring tender eggplant slices rolled around a savory ricotta filling and baked in marinara sauce. It’s one of our favorite ways to turn this vegetable into a meal!
Ingredients
- 3 medium eggplants (about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds), enough for about 20 slices
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing
- 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 28-ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes**
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese, plus more for topping
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided, plus more for topping
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
- Fresh basil, to serve (optional
Instructions
- Slice the ends off eggplant, then slice it lengthwise into 3/8” thick planks (you’ll have about 20 total). Place them on a baking sheet, then brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Place one sheet in the oven and broil 4 to 6 minutes until tender and mostly cooked through. Then broil in separate batches until all eggplant planks are cooked.*
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Meanwhile, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until translucent and fragrant. Stir in the tomatoes and and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Simmer until making the eggplant rolls.
- In a medium bowl, mix the filling ingredients: the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, oregano, nutmeg, chopped parsley, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
- Spread some of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Add 1 tablespoon filling to one end of each eggplant slice and roll up. Place it in the baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with all eggplant slices. Top the rolled eggplant with a line of tomato sauce, then additional mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes until cheese is melted. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving (this helps the texture to set and extra moisture to be absorbed). Top with fresh basil or additional chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
*If you prefer, you can also bake the eggplant on two trays at 425°F for 10 to 15 minutes until tender and mostly cooked through, checking the tenderness with a fork during the bake time.
**If desired, you can substitute 28-ounces high-quality jarred marinara to speed up prep time.
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian inspired
- Diet: Vegetarian
Made it, adding spinach to the filling, excellent with or without spinach.
Delicious and easy to follow! Although 3 eggplants hardly gave me 20 slices at 3/8” thick, so my slices were closer to 1/4” thick. Used the pre-grated Parmesan in place of the shredded and used jarred marinara with the onions and garlic. Super tasty, gooey, and cheesy. A very good way to get more veggies as a main in a dinner course!
This recipe is amazing.. will definitely help in getting my family to let go of meat. I would post pictures but the dish never makes it long enough to snap a shot