These Eggplant Parmesan Poppers have all the deliciousness of eggplant parmesan, in bite-sized form!
The only thing I’ve ever really known how to cook with eggplant (before this week) was eggplant parmesan. And I wasn’t even very good at that. They’d always come out soggy or chewy or good enough (but not good enough to actually serve to anyone). But I wanted to master the magnificence that is eggplant parmesan.
So I thought hmmm, how can we get these puppies to cook evenly. Dice them! Yes, yes…we’ll dice them then bread them! Breading is a fun, messy step that I always love. It involves an assembly line of flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs.
But how can we incorporate in that parmesan? With the breadcrumbs! These Eggplant Parmesan Bites are a fun and tasty snack to serve up as an appetizer, sprinkled over a bed of pasta, or as a meal by themselves.
Now a lot of recipe will have you deep fry then bake your eggplant parmesan, but that’s just 1) not the healthiest way of doing this and 2) too much damn cooking for this air condition-less European summer heat. No, no baking or frying.
Today we’ll pan-fry, which is just cooking on the stove with a small amount of oil. At a medium heat you’ll get a nice, crispy exterior while also reaching a fully cooked eggplant center. And it only take like 4 minutes!
Serve these Eggplant Parmesan Poppers with this Marinara Sauce!
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 140 g
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp water 15 mL
- 1 ½ cups whole-grain Italian seasoned bread crumbs 200 g
- ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese 80 g
- ¼ cup canola oil 60 mL, or a high heat oil
Instructions
- Peel and cut eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes. Place cubes in a colander and lightly salt to draw out moisture. Set aside 15 minutes. Lightly pat the eggplant pieces with a paper towel at the end to dry.
- Set up an assembly line of bowls. The first will contain flour. In the second, whisk the eggs and water. In the third, mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.
- Working in small batches, coat eggplant pieces in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Use one hand for coating cubes in dry ingredients and one hand for wet ingredients to prevent gunking.
- Once you’ve coated all your pieces, heat a bit of oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add a batch of the eggplant and toss to evenly coat in the oil. Cook until brown and crispy on all sides, about 4 minutes per batch. You’ll will need to add more oil prior to each new batch.
- Serve hot with Fresh Tomato Marinara. Garnish with grated parmesan and chopped parsley.
Michael Sulman says
This recipe looks delicious!
Sarah says
Thanks, Michael! I must say it was quite tasty. Had it for lunch everyday that week!
Michael Sulman says
I love eggplant and am always on the lookout for recipes that don’t require a lot of oil. I have a great recipe for ratatouille if you’re interested. It comes from a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook, and I’ll be happy to share it with you.
Sarah says
Yes, definitely! Anything from the people at America’s Test Kitchen is a favorite of mine! And I’d actually been thinking about learning to make ratatouille. You can send it over to the blog email, sarah@liveeatlearn.com. Thanks so much!
Sharon says
Why is this so high in sodium? It was looking really good until I saw how much sodium!
Sarah says
Hi Sharon! We use salt to draw moisture out of the eggplants. A lot of this salt doesn’t end up in the actual dish because we pat them off before coating in breading. With that said, you could probably get away with not salting them and simply patting with a paper towel to dry them 🙂
Sharon says
Thank you. I have high blood pressure and have to watch my sodium intake. But these look so yummy!!
Lauri says
I am thinking about buying an air fryer. Do you think these would work in an air fryer?
Sarah says
Yessss these would be great in there!
Rose says
Good alternative to eggplant parmesean however it did burn quite a bit on the stove so I had to make sure I was monitoring it the whole time and honestly it depends on the size of the pieces but I only cooked it for 1 min per side and it was fine – otherwise it would have burned to a crisp. Overall great appetizer
Lianne says
Hello!
Can these be made and cooked ahead of time/in advance, and served a couple of hours later? Will they still be edible and have enough crunch, or is this something that should rather be eaten straight from the pan? Thanks!
Sarah Bond says
These are best right out of the pan! If you have an air fryer though it could be useful for crisping them back up before serving.
dino says
i have made eggplant parmesan for years. The poppers was a new way for me. Even my grandkids ate them.
Sarah Bond says
So happy to hear it, Dino! 😀
Dennis Watson says
I love these poppers! Italian goodness!