I absolutely love veggie pasta recipes. My husband on the other hand, not so much. When I made this eggplant basil pasta bake with smoked mozzarella for dinner, I was floored when he said, Wow, this is really good!
I love eggplant Parmesan, but it takes waaaaay too long to make on a weeknight. I wanted to make a dish that reminded me of it, but was easier and faster to make.
This pasta bake includes all the same flavors as eggplant parm, but doesn’t required nearly as much hands on time.
Saute the eggplant and onion while the pasta cooks, and mix together the cheese filling. Then layer everything in a dish, and it only needs to bake for 20 minutes!
Variations to the Eggplant Basil Pasta Bake with Smoked Mozzarella recipe:
- Fresh basil is a must! Dried basil will not add the same level of flavor that elevates this dish to something special.
- Smoked mozzarella adds another level of flavor that takes this dish up a notch. You could also try smoked provolone. If you can’t find smoked cheese, try grilling the eggplant instead of sauteing to add a little smokey flavor to the dish!
- Salting the eggplant helps to remove any bitter notes from it’s flavor. It can be skipped if you don’t mind those flavors.
Eggplant Basil Pasta Bake with Smoked Mozzarella
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Alison's Allspice
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
- ½ lb eggplant (medium size)
- Sea salt, as needed (1/2-1 tsp)
- 1 cup diced onion
- splash olive oil
- ¼ tsp each: salt and pepper
- 6 oz whole wheat pasta
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 TBS grated Parmesan
- ½ cup diced basil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ⅛ tsp red pepper flake
- 1½ cups marinara
- 3 oz smoked mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Slice Eggplant into ½ inch rounds. Sprinkle with sea salt and let rest for 15 minutes. This should draw out some of the bitter flavors. Wipe off the salt and any moisture. Dice the eggplant.
- Combine eggplant, diced onion, and a splash of olive oil in a large skillet. Saute for 10 minutes, or until the veggies are cooked down to your liking. Season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile, par boil pasta by cooking it for half of the usual cooking time found on the package. Stop the cooking by rinsing pasta under cold water.
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- In a medium bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, basil, garlic, and red pepper flake.
- In a 9x9 inch glass baking dish, spread about ½ cup of marinara across the bottom. Top with half of the pasta, and all of the the eggplant mixture, and the cottage cheese mixture. Layer another ½ cup marinara, the remaining pasta, the remaining marinara, and the smoked mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the the sauce starts to bubble.
- Cool 5 minutes before serving.
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