A creamy pasta sauce made almost entirely from an eggplant? Yes, you read that right. A delicious flavorful pasta sauce packed with veggies but super creamy and velvety. It has only 5 ingredients, it's super easy and it's ready in just 15 minutes so it's a perfect weekday meal!
I love veggies, I love pasta. It's just a matter of time before I try to make pasta sauce with every single veggie available!
This is one of my older recipes, one of the staples I often make when I don't have much time or many ingredients available. It's so easy to make and so surprisingly delicious that I bet it'll become a favorite in your house too.
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How to cook eggplant
Eggplant is a very versatile vegetable, or actually fruit to be more precise. Also known as Aubergine, come from the Solanaceae plant family and it's rich in vitamins and minerals.
The most common way of cooking eggplant is by sautèeing in a skillet, better if then covered with tomato sauce like this Pasta with Eggplant and Mozzarella; or roasting in the oven. But this is not all, eggplant can also be steamed or boiled.
The flesh of the eggplant is quite spongy and is great at absorbing liquids so be careful with the amount of oil you use and if you choose to boil it, keep in mind that the result will be super mushy and only good if you blend it in a cream to make a sauce or a dip.
Check also other recipes with eggplant, like these Eggplant Pizza Bites or this Farro Salad with Grilled Vegetables.
How to make eggplant less bitter
Some eggplants, especially if homegrown or from certain varieties, can be quite bitter.
One of the most common ways of treating it is by cutting it into thick slices, covering them with coarse salt, and then pressing them in a colander with something heavy on top for about 1 hour.
The salt will help the eggplant release all the bitter liquids. Remove the salt before cooking and always taste before seasoning it again.
Although I rarely use this method because I like the slight bitterness of eggplants and also because most varieties are not as bitter as you may think.
Ingredients
This is one of my favorite quick and easy recipes and one of the reasons is that it needs only a few staple ingredients.
- Pasta. There isn't a specific pasta shape you should use for this recipe, so use the pasta shape you prefer. My recommendation is to use short pasta, like Fusilli, Farfalle, Rigatoni, etc.
- Eggplant. I use regular Italian Eggplant but any other eggplant variety you have available should work fine for this recipe. Check this guide on eggplant varieties.
- Onion. Yellow or white onion is the best choice for this recipe. Shallots or red onions would have too strong of a flavor and would turn the sauce an ugly brown color.
- Cream. Cream or milk is used to make the sauce creamier and richer. Feel free to skip it to cut down on calories or make the dish vegan.
Instructions
- Peel and chop the eggplant into cubes. Boil it in slightly salted water for about 5 minutes or steam it for about 10 minutes.
- Drizzle a pan with oil and sauté the minced onion for a minute. Add the drained eggplant and sauté for 2-3 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, add more salt to the boiling water and toss the pasta in.
- Transfer the eggplant and onions to a blender, season with salt and pepper, and add the tablespoons of milk. Blend until you get a smooth cream.
- Drain the pasta and mix it with the creamy eggplant sauce. Serve with abundant grated Parmigiano cheese on top.
Variations
- Vegan. The only non-vegan ingredients in this recipe are cream and Parmigiano. Feel free to skip both of them or replace them with vegan alternatives.
- Spicy. Add chili pepper flakes to the eggplant sauce to make it a tad spicier.
- Packed with veggies. You can add more vegetables to the eggplant to get a vitamin-packed sauce full of veggies. You can add zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, and much more.
- With bacon. If you want to add a richer flavor to this pasta dish, fry some chopped bacon in a small pan and add it at the end on top of the plated pasta.
Storage
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the pasta before reheating to make it creamy again.
FAQ & Tips
The only non-vegan ingredients in this recipe are cream and Parmigiano. Feel free to skip both of them or replace them with vegan alternatives.
You can always freeze leftover pasta, though the thawed and reheated dish will probably be overcooked and lose some of its flavors. You can freeze it for up to 3 months and thaw it overnight in the fridge.
If the frozen eggplant is raw and peeled, then yes, you can use it following the normal recipe instructions. If it's pre-cooked, grilled, or with the peel, it will not be a good substitution for this recipe.
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Pasta with Easy Creamy Eggplant Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 oz dried Pasta
- 1 Eggplant
- 1 White or Yellow Onion, minced
- 1 tablespoon Milk or Cream
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Parmigiano cheese, grated
Instructions
- Peel and chop the eggplant in cubes. Boil it in slightly salted water for about 5 minutes or steam it for about 10 minutes. Remove the eggplant with a skimmer and don’t toss the water.
- Drizzle a pan with oil and sauté the minced onion for a minute. Add the drained eggplant and sauté for 2-3 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, add more salt to the boiling water and toss the pasta in. Cook according to the packaging instructions, until al dente.
- Transfer the eggplant and onion in a blender, season with salt and pepper and add the tablespoons of milk. Blend until you get a smooth cream. Add a few tablespoons of pasta water to make it thinner if needed.
- Drain the pasta and mix it with the creamy eggplant sauce. Serve with abundant grated Parmigiano cheese on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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