This Vegan Eggplant Rollatini recipe is a delicious Italian-inspired dinner with bake eggplant filled with vegan tofu ricotta and marinara sauce.
If you love Italian food, like my Hidden Veg Pasta Sauce, Red Lentil Pasta, or Lemon Broccoli Green Pasta, this eggplant rollatini is for you. This vegan eggplant rollatini is also high-protein and low-carb for a quick healthy dinner.
Rollatini is an Italian-inspired recipe that consists of baked eggplant slices, filled with basil-flavored ricotta and baked in a tomato sauce. It’s a vegetarian dinner but not vegan as it contains a lot of dairy.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make vegan eggplant rollatini recipe are:
- Large Eggplant – Don’t peel your eggplants. Trim the leafy stem and slice them lengthwise into a 1/4 inch thickness (6mm).
- Salt – Salt is used in many steps of this recipe. First, to sweat the eggplant. It means salt will naturally extract the water from the vegetable avoiding your dish from being watery. Then, salt is used as a seasoning for the vegan ricotta or vegan tomato sauce.
- Olive Oil – Prefer locally-sourced extra-virgin olive oil.
- Tomato Marinara Sauce or tomato passata.
- Garlic – fresh or powdered.
- Basil – Fresh or dried basil if preferred. If you use dried basil, reduce the amount to 1 teaspoon.
- Pepper – Black or white pepper.
- Dried Oregano – or dried parsley.
- Nutritional Yeast – Preferably enriched in Vitamin B12.
- Vegan Cheese – Pick a plant-based cheese type that melts.
How To Make Vegan Eggplant Rollatini
It’s very easy to make this low-carb vegan dinner using only a bunch of simple, wholesome ingredients.
- Before you start, preheat the oven to 430°F (220°F).
- Cover a large baking sheet or two baking trays with parchment paper and slightly oil the paper with an olive oil spray.
- Set the trays aside.
- Cut off the top part of the eggplant. Place the eggplant up, on the flat side where you cut the stem.
- Using a sharp knife, slice thin eggplant slices about 1/4-inch thick (6mm).
- Place each slice on a plate and sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant. Set aside 10 minutes for the vegetable slices to sweat and extract their natural water.
- Meanwhile, prepare the vegan ricotta filling. You have two options for the vegan filling. The high-protein option is made of tofu, my favorite. The other one is made from almonds. Prepare one of the following recipes: Tofu Cottage Cheese, Almond Ricotta.
- Next, flavor the previous recipe with fresh chopped basil, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast. Set aside in the fridge.
- Now, pat dry the eggplant slices on both sides using absorbent paper.
- Line the eggplant slices next to each other on the baking sheets. Don’t overlap them.
- Bake for about 40 minutes at 430°F (220°F), flipping halfway, until the slices are soft and cooked.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool on a plate.
- Meanwhile, add all the tomato sauce ingredients into a non-stick saucepan. Bring to medium heat and simmer 5 minutes until warm and fragrant.
- Remove from the heat and set aside.
- To make the process easier and faster I like to line up all my ingredients in front of me. It means you will have Baked Eggplant Slices, Vegan Ricotta, Lukewarm Tomato Sauce, Vegan Shredded Cheese. Also, prepare a baking dish, slightly oil with olive il bottom and sides then spread half a cup of tomato sauce at the bottom. Set it aside.
- To roll the rollatini, place a slice of eggplant in front of you and scoop 1 or 2 tablespoons of ricotta filling at the bottom of the slice, as seen in the pictures below.
- Roll tightly from the bottom to the top and place each eggplant rollatini next to each other in the baking dish.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C).
- When all the rollatini have been filled and placed in the dish, spread the remaining tomato sauce on top.
- Sprinkle some vegan shredded cheese all over the dish and bake at 350°F (180°C) until the sauce is bubbly and the center of the rollatini is warm. It takes between 15 and 20 minutes to bake and melt the cheese on top.
- Serve the eggplant rollatini plain or with some grain on side like coconut jasmine rice or your favorite pasta.
Allergy Swaps
This vegan dinner recipe is allergy-friendly as it’s naturally:
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
- Dairy-free
- Low-carb keto-friendly
Below are some options to make this easy vegan dinner, even if you have allergies to some of the ingredients in this recipe.
- Tofu-Free – For a soy free recipe use my almond ricotta recipe as a filling.
- Low Fodmap – Skip garlic.
Storage Instructions
These eggplant rollatini can be stored up to 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge. You can freeze your rollatini to make ahead some healthy lunch. Place the rollatini in an airtight container and pop it in the freezer for up to one month. Thaw in the fridge the day before and rewarm in the microwave or non-stick saucepan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the most usual questions about this Italian-inspired recipe.
Yes, you can follow the same instructions using zucchini slices. However, zucchini bake way faster bout 10 to 15 minutes.
Yes, if you don’t have the nutritional yeast, skip it. The filling won’t taste as cheesy, but it will still taste amazing.
More Vegan Dinner Recipes
If you like healthy vegan dinners like this, you’ll love these other recipes.
Did You Like This Recipe?
Leave a comment below or head to our Facebook page for tips, our Instagram page for inspiration, our Pinterest for saving recipes, and Flipboard to get all the new ones!
Vegan Eggplant Rollatini
Ingredients
Tomato Sauce
- 2 cups Marinara Sauce
- 3 Garlic Cloves - peeled, crushed
- 1 ½ teaspoons Dried Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
Vegan Tofu Cheese Filling
- 1 batch Vegan Cottage Cheese
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Basil - chopped
- 3 Garlic Cloves - peeled, crushed
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast
Topping
- ½ cup Grated Vegan Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 430°F (220°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper with olive oil.
Slice Eggplant
- Trim eggplant ends, don't peel the skin off, and slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices (6mm). Look at the pictures above in this post for visual help on how to hold the eggplant to cut it perfectly.
- Sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant slices and set aside 10 minutes until the eggplants sweat.
Prepare tofu filling
- Meanwhile, prepare one batch of my Vegan Cottage Cheese Recipe and stir in the extra ingredients listed above: chopped basil, crushed garlic, nutritional yeast, and salt. Set aside in the fridge.
Bake eggplant slices
- Pat dry the eggplant slices with absorbent paper to remove extra salt and the water that naturally extracted from eggplant.
- Brush both sides of the eggplant with olive oil and place on the prepared baking tray.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, flipping halfway.
Prepare tomato sauce
- Meanwhile, place all the tomato sauce ingredients in a non-stick saucepan. Bring over medium heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until warm and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside until the eggplant slices are cooked.
Assemble the rollatini dish
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (180°C).
- Grease a large baking dish with olive oil and spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce at the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
- Line in front of you the baked eggplant slices, lukewarm tomato sauce and tofu filling.
- Place one eggplant slice in front of you and place two tablespoons of the tofu filling at the bottom of the slice. Roll tightly up to the top and place in the baking dish (watch my picture above for visual help). Repeat with the remaining eggplant slices and place each eggplant rollatini next to the other in the container.
- Top the rollatini with the lukewarm tomato sauce and sprinkle vegan cheese all over the dish.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is grated, and the tofu filling is warm.
Storage
- Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze them for up to 1 month.
Thanks so much for all your delicious recipes.
I made this and all the meat eaters wanted more! Haha. Definitely a win!
Oh thank you so much for the review