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Breaded Eggplant with Bruschetta

This recipe makes a great appetizer for two if your eggplant is on the smaller side, but it can easily feed four if you’re having a family dinner. The bruschetta is fresh and delicious and the breaded eggplant is great substitute for a baguette.

For the breading on the eggplant, I made homemade breadcrumbs. Homemade breadcrumbs are extremely easy to make. I used Dave’s Killer Bread since it has extra grains in it and uses whole wheat. Making breadcrumbs is also a great way to utilize the ends of the bread if you’re like me and don’t like to eat them. I used six slices of bread and broke them into pieces. I preheated the oven to 300 and baked the bread for about 20 minutes until it dried out. After it cooled in the oven, I poured the pieces into my food processor and added a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. I then blended it until it had the consistency I wanted. Viola! Healthy homemade breadcrumbs in less than an hour! I actually made these the day before and stored them in an airtight container until I was ready to use them.

Use fresh herbs for the bruschetta if you have them available, but if you’re in a pinch, dried basil and parsley work just fine. I went out to my garden and much to my disappointment, the tomatoes had overrun my basil and essentially killed it. I got called in early for work, so I did not have to time to check with my grandfather if he had any basil or parsley. Of course, he did, but I didn’t want to be late to work.

(Thanks to Ann at Fountain Avenue Kitchen for the inspiration for Crispy Baked Eggplant!)

Breaded Eggplant with Bruschetta

Total Time 1 hour
Servings 2 -4

Ingredients

  • Eggplant:
  • 1 eggplant sliced in ½” pieces
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan
  • Bruschetta:
  • 2-3 to matoes diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 Tbsp fresh basil 1 Tbsp dried
  • 1 Tbsp parsley 2 tsp dried
  • ¼ cup shredded parmesan
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Whisk egg in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan.
  3. Dip the eggplant in the egg then coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Flip and bake 10 minutes.
  4. Mix all the bruschetta ingredients.
  5. Top the eggplant with bruschetta and enjoy!

Recipe Notes

breaded eggplant with bruschetta