As summer hits (it’s 102 degrees as I type this!), no one’s really in the mood to cook an extravagant creation. I get that. That’s why I have simple, easy recipes like my little eggplant pizzas to get through the scorching days. There’s not a whole lot to this recipe, but it’s the perfect little distraction that seems to be most appealing when we don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
In general I don’t like using the oven while it’s hot out, but these little babies cook up relatively fast so I don’t mind them so much.
You’ll Need:
1 eggplant, sliced
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
2 tsp olive oil for brushing
toppings as needed
Slice the eggplant and sprinkle with some salt on each side. Set aside for thirty minutes, then rinse and pat dry. This will take some of the bitterness out of the eggplant, especially if you’re using a larger/older fruit.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil, then sprinkle both sides 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Place the eggplants on a cooling rack that’s on a baking sheet, and bake until they are softened and a little brown, about six minutes.
Spoon the tomato sauce on the eggplant slices, then add the cheese and toppings. I’m sure you know how to make pizza! Our favorite toppings are black olives, mushrooms, and nitrate-free pepperoni.
Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for another five minutes, until the cheese is melted. Go ahead and broil it for a minute if you’d like some extra crispy toppings.
That’s it! The eggplants are a little more tangy than your everyday pizza crust, but I’ve come to really enjoy their distinct taste as an impromptu pizza crust.
This looks like the perfect way to serve eggplant to my husband! :)
We do something really similar where we roast the eggplant and layer it with spaghetti/pizza sauce and cheese, but it never occurred to me to add pizza toppings. Genius!
Thanks Danielle!
Very clever indeed! Looks much lighter than those ‘meatza’ type crusts.
Very true. I’ve actually never gotten around to making a “meatza”, I should probably remedy that someday :)
Great idea!
Thank you Julie! I have to admit that it was my wife’s idea. She’s always looking for new ways to make pizza :)
Looks great, is there a way to just print the recipe? Thanks for all and Happy Fourth of July!
Suzy
Hi Suzy, making printable PDFs of each of my recipes is one of my future projects, but for now there isn’t an easy way to print out the recipe other than copy/paste into MS Word or something :(
Hi Russ,
You might like the ziplist plugin – it will allow your readers to save and print recipes. Great site by the way!
Mind if I post some of your recipes with credit back to you?
I’d love to share them!
Jen
Hi Jen, thanks for the tip re: ziplist – unfortunately I’m still on wordpress.com so I can’t use plugins yet. I’ll probably switch to wordpress.org sometime soon. Feel free to post any of my recipes!
yum! this looks delish. thanks for the culinary inspiration. xxo
Thanks!
I like you had to wait until I had health issues to start thinking about eating differently!
If you could figure out a way to put a print recipe button your site….that would be awesome!
I am just learning on the Paleo diet as well so I need all the help I can get!
Jeff
Hi Jeff, thanks for the feedback…I’m just getting home from my summer vacationing so I plan on getting to work on the website – high on my “to do” list is a print function for the blog! :)
What a brilliant idea!
Thanks Vezina!
So simple and so brilliant, love it! Eggplant goes so well with the tomato/cheese combo (think eggplant parm). I always use eggplant slices instead of noodles in lasagna, but haven’t thought of this before. Thanks!
Thanks Sofia, let me know what you think of it if you make it!
This is absolutely my favorite low-carb way to have pizza now! Yours look soooo good!
Thanks Buttoni!
Melaina here from Rudi’s Gluten Free Bakery,
This looks great! What a creative and healthy way to re-make a favorite. We R right there with you about avoiding the oven on these hot summer nights but this looks like a recipe that will definitely be an exception! Thanks for sharing! :-)
Thanks Melaina!
I am going to do these on the grill!
Salt the eggplants, let sit for 15 minutes, then wash and pat dry – takes some of the bitterness out.
Hi Mindy, that’s a great point about salting the eggplant, not sure why I didn’t mention it when I first posted this. Amending the recipe now, thanks! :)
I save the recipes that I like on Pepperplate.com. That’s where this one is going. Great idea!
Terrific! I can’t wait to try this, my mouth is watering as we type. :-)
Kath
Nice, Kathie, let me know how it turns out!
And….it’s beautiful!
Thanks Rhonda!
Great recipe – can’t beat eggplant as a pizza crust substitute. Also, love your photography.
This looks awesome! In the winter I make a modified eggplant parm with basil or red pepper pesto but it’s way too hot to turn the oven on in my apartment now. This post was totally a light-bub moment for me. I’m totally going to try this tomorrow on the grill with pesto, fontina, and mushrooms.
I just made these for a veggie family. They’re delicious and no where near at bitter as my mom’s eggplant used to be. :) I like the thinly sliced pizzas better, but you’ll definitely need a fork for them. Thank you for sharing this idea!
Glad it turned out, Daph! :)
Husband really likes this recipe. I cut my steaks about 1 inch thick, so I had to cook about 10 minutes on each side, then another 5-10 with the toppings on it. We used to sautee in olive oil in a skillet, then top with cheese. This is similar
Beverly, sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
My whole family is clapping at this.Thanks
Glad you guys enjoyed it!
Tried this tonight and we liked it however for some reason it was still bitter. I don’t think I cooked them long enough as they were still pretty firm. Could that be why they were bitter? Also, the skin seemed more bitter than anything.. is it better to peal them?
Hi Tammy, sorry to hear the eggplant tasted bitter. Was it an old or really large eggplant? They tend to get bitter with age/size. Did you salt the eggplant? That can really reduce bitterness as well. You could definitely peel them to reduce bitterness next time, but my first thought if the skin was bitter was that you were maybe dealing with an older fruit…
What a creative, delicious and healthy idea!!! I love it. Thank you!
Hey Russ, how thick (or thin) should I be slicing the eggplant? This is my first foray into trying eggplant…
Hi Lori, 1/4″ should be fine. If this is your first time trying eggplant, I would recommend peeling the skin off of a couple of them and trying them that way – some people aren’t fans of the somewhat bitter skins at first…hope that helps!
Fantastic… thanks Russ! I’ll make sure I pick one up next weekend at the farmers market!