Eggplant rollatini skips the pasta and swaps in eggplant! Tender eggplant is rolled up with cheese and quinoa, then baked with marinara and lots of melty mozzarella for a meatless dinner everyone will love.
Eggplant was one of my most dreaded foods when I was a kid, but oh how the times have changed. I freaking love eggplant now. Stuffed eggplant. Eggplant burgers. And now eggplant rollatini. All fabulous.
But I realize eggplant can be polarizing! Not everyone enjoys it. Eggplant rollatini is the exception, though. I stuff it full of quinoa, goat cheese or ricotta and herbs, smother in marinara sauce, and top it with fresh basil and mozzarella cheese. It's a little bit like eggplant lasagna, but rolled up instead of layered. No one can resist, even the most ardent eggplant skeptics.
Why You’ll Love This Eggplant Rollatini Recipe
- Cozy Italian flavors. If you love lasagna, stuffed shells, and vegan manicotti, you'll love this eggplant rollatini. It's got the same Italian comfort food vibes!
- Easy to make. It takes a little bit of time to roll up the eggplant, but nothing about this recipe is difficult. You can also get a head start if you'd like and prep the filling, blanch the eggplant, or assemble the whole thing in advance.
- Total crowd-pleaser. While I love eggplant roll-ups for a weeknight dinner, it's also an excellent meatless option for potlucks and holidays.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Eggplant – When you’re buying the eggplant, keep in mind that you’re going to be slicing it and rolling it up, so you want a good shape for that. Long, skinny Asian eggplants are a no!
- Ricotta or goat cheese – Ricotta is more of a traditional choice, but goat cheese is fantastic.
- Quinoa – Here’s how to cook quinoa.
- Egg – This helps hold the filling together.
- Arugula – You can substitute spinach if you’d like, but I prefer the peppery bite of arugula.
- Marinara sauce
- Mozzarella – You can buy bagged shredded mozzarella or grate your own fresh mozzarella, which is a formula for some epic cheese pulls.
- Basil
- Salt & pepper
- Grated Romano cheese – Or Parmesan, if you prefer!
How to Make Eggplant Rollatini
- Prepare. Preheat your oven to 375ºF.
- Blanch. Slice the eggplant lengthwise, then blanch it in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Let it cool until it can be handled comfortably.
- Make the filling. Stir together the ricotta, quinoa, and egg, then fold in the arugula.
- Assemble. Spread 1 cup of marinara in a baking dish. Roll the filling into the eggplant slices and place the rolls seam-side-down in the baking dish.
- Top. Spoon marinara over the top, then add the mozzarella.
- Bake. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Serve. Top the eggplant rollatini with fresh basil and cheese, then serve.
Tips for Success
- Cut the eggplant carefully. If you have a mandoline slicer, it can help you get slices that are uniform in thickness from top to bottom.
- Don’t over-cook the eggplant slices. After 3 minutes, remove them from the water. Set a timer if you need to! If you leave them in too long, they’ll get mushy.
- Don’t add too much filling. Two tablespoons may not seem like much, but it really is plenty! If you add more, it will spill out the sides.
- Meal prep it. You can assemble eggplant rollatini all the way up to the point of baking and keep them in the refrigerator for a day or two. Let them sit on the counter while you preheat the oven, then bake as directed.
Variations
- Make them vegan. Swap in your favorite vegan ricotta (or my tofu ricotta), mozzarella, and Parmesan. There’s no need to substitute anything for the egg; the filling will just be a bit softer and creamier.
- Try using zucchini. Zucchini can be swapped in for the eggplant. Use a large zucchini, blanch it for only 2 minutes, and note that the rollatini will be smaller since even large zucchini are narrower than eggplant!
- Add pesto. For a slightly different spin on this recipe, leave out the arugula and stir basil pesto into the ricotta filling.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Leftover eggplant rollatini should be stored wrapped in the baking dish or in an airtight container; it will keep up to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat in a 350ºF oven or in the microwave.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
Eggplant rollatini freezes very well! Store it in an airtight container or wrapped in the baking dish. Freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
More Italian-Inspired Recipes
- Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups
- One Pot Pasta Puttanesca
- Vegan Pizza
- 5-Ingredient Vegan Spinach Lasagna
- Vegan Meatballs
Eggplant Rollatini
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant
- 4 – 5 oz ricotta or goat cheese
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 egg
- 1 cup arugula
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- 1 cup grated mozzarella
- Chopped basil
- Salt & pepper
- Freshly grated romano cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4″ slices. Bring a pot of water to boil, add eggplant and blanch for 3 – minutes. This will help the eggplant stay nice and tender.
- While the eggplant is cooking, prepare the filling. Whip together ricotta cheese, quinoa and egg until smooth. Fold in arugula.
- Add 1 cup marinara sauce to the bottom of a baking dish. Set aside.
- Remove eggplant from water, let sit for a minute or two until cool enough to handle.
- When cool, add 2 tablespoons cheese mixture to one end of eggplant slice. Roll together. Place seam side down in the baking sheet and repeat until no eggplant slices remain.
- When assembled, spoon additional marinara sauce on each eggplant piece. Sprinkle with additional mozzarella and bake for 20 – 30 minutes until sauce bubbles and topping has browned.
- Removed from oven and top with fresh basil and romano cheese. Transfer to plates and enjoy immediately!
Nutrition
Yum!! Love eggplant – this rollatini is the perfect faux lasagna treat!
Thank goodness! I love Eggplant, but I’m tired of so many heavy recipes. This is going to be perfect for dinner tonight – it’s cold & rainy
Thanks so much for linking to my almond ricotta “cheese”! That eggplant dish is gorgeous.
Thanks for brilliantly coming up with it 😉
This looks so good! I love any type of eggplant recipe! I like the idea of rolling it too.
Thanks Angela! Would love to hear what you think if you end up making them 🙂
Gidday! This sounds great! due however to my wife’s medical problems, the tomato/marinara sauce will have to be substituted with whatever we can think of, we’ll find something as this sounds great. Please don’t be offended by me having to change the recipe but we have to do it a lot and I think the whole idea is to work around these problems if we have to and use the recipe as a ‘base’. Another thing we will have to substitute is the arugula, (more commonly known is Oz as rocket). We will probably use spinach or even kale.
Thank you for these recipes, we are enjoying them immensly. Our favourite so far is the Chicken Pad Thai quinoa burgers. At first we used white quinoa but switched to the black, more flavour, but both great! Where about in the US do you live? We are on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland and both retired and in our mid sixties so have a bit of time to try new recipes.
Got to go now, dinner ready. 7.20pm here,,,,kindest regards, David