Eggplant gratin makes a great low carb side dish with layers of eggplant cooked in marinara sauce and cheese.
If you enjoy Eggplant Parmesan, this is a low carb eggplant recipe you will love. The addition of goats cheese gives this keto eggplant gratin a great flavour but is entirely optional.
This eggplant recipe is a lighter version of eggplant parmesan as the slices are not coated before baking. The result is a softer and creamy cheesy eggplant dish.
Carbs in an eggplant
Eggplant or aubergine as it is also known as, is a great low carb vegetable with a 100g serving being 3g net carbs.
Eggplant is part of the nightshade family and is used in many low carb vegetarian recipes as a main dish. For a change, we are using it for a side dish.
How to prepare the eggplant
For this recipe we have not salted the eggplant to withdraw any excess water as we wanted a soft eggplant for this gratin. However, if you prefer to salt the slices before cooking, feel free.
If the eggplants have a tough skin, then peel them before hand. Some eggplants have a bitter skin so if in doubt, remove them. The ones we used were fresh and plump so the skins were kept on.
How to make keto eggplant gratin
For the marinara sauce we used our low carb recipe but store bought can be used as long as it's keto friendly. Check the labels for sneaky sugar.
- Slice the eggplants.
- Bake in the oven.
- Place in a baking dish.
- Spoon Marinara sauce on the eggplant slices.
- Add the goats cheese.
- Spoon the cream and cheese mixture on top.
- Repeat the layers.
- Bake and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
Either omit the goats cheese or replace it with Feta Cheese.
Replace the cream with ricotta cheese for a thicker gratin.
More low carb gratin recipes
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Eggplant Gratin
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ cup marinara sauce
- ½ cup cream heavy/whipping
- ½ cup Mozzarella cheese grated
- ¾ cup Cheddar cheese, grated ¼ cup for the topping
- 3 oz goats cheese
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F degrees and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Slice the eggplants into ½ inch slices and lightly brush with the olive oil. Place the slices on the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until golden. Flip over half way through cooking.
- In a medium bowl, mix the seasoning, cream, mozzarella and ½ cup of the Cheddar cheese.
- Place a layer of the baked eggplant into a baking dish.
- Spoon half of the marinara sauce on the slices.
- Top the slices with the goats cheese. Either slices or crumbled.
- Spoon half the cheese mixture on top of the eggplant slices.
- Repeat the layer and top with ¼ cup Cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cheese has melted.
Notes
YOUR OWN NOTES
