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    Categories: Recipes

How to Make This Brilliant Summer Eggplant Tomato Pie

I am so tired of store bought, rotisserie chicken and a roasted veggie – our default, go-to, weekday meal. Needless to say, my husband and I have been on the hunt for new healthy recipes, that are relatively quick and easy. This Eggplant Tomato Pie hits all of those marks! Right now in the grocery store, with the beautiful summer vegetables and fresh herbs, the eggplant and tomatoes were by far the stars of store.

The eggplant tomato pie concept is extremely simple and highly customizable, as I riffed from this recipe. Tomatoes sandwich an eggplant mixture and act as a crust, the whole thing is topped with a little bit of cheese and a fresh herb, and baked.

In our experience, eggplant has proven to be a little bland, so don’t be shy with the seasoning. We left the recipe vague because vegetable flavor varies in different regions. (If in doubt, start with a 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.) We decided to follow the recipe and boil the eggplant for the sake of time, but you could easily roast it to bring out even more flavor.

Also, we sauteed the onions and garlic together, prior to adding them to the eggplant mixture, which was another departure from the recipe we found. Given the delicate eggplant flavor, we thought adding raw onion and garlic would be too powerful. Cooking the aromatics together, mellowed the flavor while adding some sweetness.

As I mentioned above, because it’s so simple, you can truly make this dish yours. For instance, you could use any number of cheeses separately or together (we used mozzarella instead of cheddar), use basil instead of parsley, use any variety of tomato or onion, etc. Alternatively, if you wanted to make this a vegan eggplant tomato pie, just nix the cheese altogether and I’m sure there are vegan breadcrumbs out there.

We also thought it better to add some parmesan to the eggplant mixture to add a combo punch of flavor and structure to the dish. We wanted to compensate for the all the moisture inherent in the veggies, and we nailed it.

Please make this dish and share it on Pinterest if you like it. How would you change this recipe to make it yours?

Yield: 8 servings

Summer Eggplant Tomato Pie

Stacey shares her recipe for simple and rustic Eggplant Tomato Pie. It's healthy, quick, easy and takes advantage of some great summer veggies.

Ingredients

  • 1 large eggplant
  • 6 Roma tomatoes, sliced into half-inch rounds
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon prepared pesto
  • 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • Fresh chopped, flat-leafed, Italian parsley
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Peel and cube eggplant, and boil in salted water until soft, about 10 minutes.
  2. While eggplant is cooking, saute onions and garlic over medium heat until translucent and fragrant, being careful to not burn the garlic, then set aside.
  3. When eggplant is soft, drain water and mash. To eggplant mash, add sauteed onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, parmesan, egg, melted butter, pesto, and mix well.
  4. Lubricate the pie pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  5. Layer on the bottom of the pan with tomato slices.
  6. Add eggplant mixture. Top mixture with the rest of the tomatoes.
  7. Add shredded mozzarella and sprinkle with the fresh parsley.
  8. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 211Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 49mgSodium 338mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 4gSugar 6gProtein 8g

Eggplant Tomato Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1 large eggplant
6 Roma tomatoes, sliced into half-inch rounds
1 medium red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon prepared pesto
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
Fresh chopped, flat-leafed, Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Peel and cube eggplant, and boil in salted water until soft, about 10 minutes. While eggplant is cooking, saute onions and garlic over medium heat until translucent and fragrant, being careful to not burn the garlic, then set aside.

When eggplant is soft, drain water and mash. To eggplant mash, add sauteed onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, parmesan, egg, melted butter, pesto, and mix well.

Lubricate the pie pan with non-stick cooking spray. Layer on the bottom of the pan with tomato slices. Add eggplant mixture. Top mixture with the rest of the tomatoes. Add shredded mozzarella and sprinkle with the fresh parsley.

Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

 

Stacey Freeman: I am a Style Maven, Mommy, Educator, and Traveler.

View Comments (51)

  • Just alright, always looking for outstanding! Why not? Good, but won't make again.

    • It’s delish. We made 2 trays. 4 eggplants 1 container of pesto and improvised amounts on everything else
      Baked eggplants. With Italian seasons and salt and pepper. Yes a bit bland. But that’s eggplant u can also use some sauce on side. We luved it.

  • I am in love with this recipe. I cooked it as above except I roasted the egg plant with seasoning, Tyme, rosemary, dried basil salt and pepper! I also added Italian parsley and basil. this is now my favorite recipe

    • Stacey Freeman says:

      I am so glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing.

  • I’ll use a pie crust for the base like my tomato onion pie

  • Do you happen to have the calorie info

  • This recipe is ok, but needs work. I found it to be a bit bland. Needs spicing up a bit. Will modify it and try again.

    • Stacey Freeman says:

      Please do post an update and tell us what you did to spice it up!

    • bellamariec says:

      I am going to make this today, I thought adding dill and feta cheese would be a wonderful additional of flavor

  • Delicious quick and easy ! Will be making this dish often! Thanks

    • Stacey Freeman says:

      Oh good! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it!

  • Bonita Antie says:

    Can I just add fresh basil instead of pesto

  • I love this recipe! I was able to get most of the ingredients from my garden! Green and hot Hungarian peppers were added to the onion/garlic mixture to give it more heat! Easy and delicious! Another way to use the eggplant in my garden!!!

    • Stacey Freeman says:

      Oh yay! I'm so glad to hear you liked it! Thanks for sharing.

  • Mary Beth says:

    It was great, but agree that it need a little spicing up. It needs salt and pepper, I added salt while boiling the eggplant. Next time I’ll add red pepper flakes wile sautéing the onions and garlic and add Italian seasonings.

    • These are great suggestions!

      • Deborah Wallace says:

        I'm making this with BAKED EGGPLANT as a top and bottom crust, and with fresh basil, caramelized onions & garlic, with several cheeses. I don't like the looks of the boiled mashed eggplant at all ! Sort of a cross between Southern Tomato Pie but with Baked eggplant!

        • Stacey Freeman says:

          This sounds great! can't wait to hear how that turns out.

  • My attempt turned out watery and mushy— I won’t make this again.