Eggplant Lasagna and Prosciutto and Mozzarella

Incredibly good Eggplant Lasagna made with layers of eggplant instead of pasta! This low carb lasagna is comforting made with prosciutto, mozzarella, and a creamy cheese sauce. solid comfort food for a rainy day…..or any day for that matter!

It's no surprise that we are addicted to lasagna of ALL kinds be it a Classic Beef Lasagne made with fresh spinach pasta or something different like our Butternut Squash and Goats Cheese Lasagna.

What we LOVE about this eggplant lasagna is that we've replaced the pasta with eggplant making it “lighter” and low carb. There's also no meat sauce to make we use only prosciutto and mozzarella which doesn't sound like much but OMG it is good and filling!

We will admit that like any other lasagna there are quite a few steps to making this. You have to bake eggplant (for only 10 mins) and make two simple sauces BUT everything is easy and we've got a ton of helpful tips to help you make it perfectly first time!

And as always we have a step by step photos to guide you through the recipe so you can see what everything should look like too. The recipe takes over an hour but is simple and WELL worth the effort.

How to Prepare Eggplant to Make Lasagna

Should you salt eggplant? – The simple answer is no. There's no need to salt the eggplant for this recipe, we tested it many times and there's no difference. If you cut the eggplant thin enough and bake it you won't have a watery lasagna at all!

Should you peel the eggplant? – We mean, you can if you want to but we don't. It's an extra step and the skin has a ton of nutritional value so we keep it on. If you prefer to peel it then we find a sharp knife works best over a peeler.

We prepare the eggplant by slicing it thin (a sharp knife is a must or it'll be tricky) laying it on a lined baking tray, sprinkle with salt and oregano and baking it in the oven for 10 minutes until soft. So simple and easy.

How to Make Eggplant Lasagna – Step by Step

Thinly slice the eggplant to ¼ inch (½ cm) thick. Spray or lightly drizzle the baking tray with olive oil and place the eggplant slices evenly on the tray. Sprinkle with salt then drizzle with more olive oil (about 1 tbsp per tray). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until soft then set aside (photos 1-2).

Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pan or skillet and add the finely chopped garlic cloves followed by the fennel seeds and oregano. Fry for 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant but not browned (photo 3).

Add the white wine and reduce by half (simmer the liquid until only half remains). Add the chopped tomatoes then add a splash of water to the empty can (around 1-2 tbsp) swirl it around to get the last drops of tomato then add that to the sauce with the tomato paste and a good pinch of salt and pepper (photos 4 & 5).

Stir everything together then use a potato masher to crush any big chunks of tomato (this step is optional it makes the sauce smoother). Simmer the sauce for 10 minutes then set aside (photo 6).

Now make the white sauce. Add the butter to a saucepan on a low-medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour to a thick paste and continue to cook for 1 minute (photos 7 & 8).

Slowly while whisking add the milk a little at a time allowing the sauce to thicken each time (we usually do this in 3 pours) (photo 9).

Once the last amount of milk has been added and the sauce is starting to thicken add the nutmeg, salt, pepper and grated gruyere cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted then set aside (photos 10 & 11).

How to Assemble the Lasagna

You can do this in individual dishes or one large dish. First, add a small layer of tomato sauce (this should be spread sparsely don't add a lot of sauce) then add a layer of sliced eggplant (photos 12 & 13).

Next, add another sparse layer of tomato sauce then tear up slices of prosciutto and dot them around. We use 1 slice per layer if doing individual dishes or 3-4 slices if doing one large dish (photo 14 & 15).

Top the prosciutto with slices of mozzarella (2 thin slices for individual dishes or 6-8 for one large dish). Finally, top with a layer of white sauce (photos 16 & 17).

Add another layer of eggplant then follow with the tomato sauce, prosciutto, mozzarella, and white sauce. Finish with the eggplant again and finally top with more white sauce, a sprinkling of parmesan and any leftover slices of prosciutto (photo 18).

If using individual dishes lay them on a baking tray (or 2) and cover with foil (cover a large dish with foil too) then bake in the oven. Remove foil and 10 minutes before the end of cooking and bake again until the prosciutto is crispy.

Top Tip: If you want to make the white sauce without butter or you realised you don't have any butter to make it then use this recipe here for making white sauce!

Top Tips for Making Eggplant Lasagna

• There's no need to salt the eggplant before baking slice them thin.
• You can keep the skin on (our preference) or peel it, it's up to you.
• You can bake the eggplant and make the sauces in advance to speed things up when you are ready to eat.
• When making the white sauce use a whisk and not a wooden spoon for an extra smooth and creamy sauce without lumps.
• Other than gruyere, fontina would work well or go with parmesan.
• Always grate the parmesan yourself and never buy pre-grated as it doesn't taste nearly as good!
• Nutmeg is a secret ingredient to an good white sauce so don't skip it if possible.
• Use HIGH QUALITY canned tomatoes. The sauce isn't cooked for long so you want to make sure it tastes good by buying the best quality.
• To save time you can use sieved tomatoes (pureed tomatoes) or passata instead of making tomato sauce make sure that you use a quality brand.
• You can prep the whole lasagna in advance and store it in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
• Leftover lasagna will store well in the fridge for 1-2 days or can be frozen suitable containers.

More Italian recipes you might like

Pasta

Lasagne al Forno (Italian Beef Lasagna)

Sides

Italian Stuffed Eggplant (Mozzarella and Tomato)

Mains

Eggplant Rollatini with Spinach and Ricotta

Pasta

Pasta Alla Norma (Eggplant Pasta)

Ingredients

Makes 4 - 6 servings

Lasagna

• 3 small/medium eggplant / aubergine ((or 2 large))
• 8.8 oz (2 balls) mozzarella ((250g) cut into thin slices)
• 4.2 oz prosciutto ((120g))
• 2 tbsp parmesan (freshly grated)
• Salt and pepper

Tomato Sauce

• ½ tbsp olive oil
• 15 oz canned chopped tomatoes ((400g))
• 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• ½ tbsp fennel seeds
• ½ tbsp oregano
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

White Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter ((50g))
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour ((50g))
• 2 cups semi-skimmed milk ((400ml))
• ¼ tsp nutmeg (grated)
• 3/4 cup gruyere cheese ((50g) grated)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F and line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper.

2. Thinly slice the eggplant to ¼ inch (½ cm thick. Spray or lightly drizzle the baking tray with olive oil and place the eggplant slices evenly on the tray. Sprinkle with salt then drizzle with more olive oil (about 1 tbsp per tray). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until soft then set aside.

3. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pan or skillet and add the finely chopped garlic cloves followed by the fennel seeds and oregano. Fry for 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant but not browned.

4. Add the white wine and reduce by half (simmer the liquid until only half remains). Add the chopped tomatoes then add a splash of water to the empty can (around 1-2 tbsp). Swirl it around to get the last drops of tomato then add that to the sauce with the tomato paste and a good pinch of salt and pepper.

5. Stir everything together then use a potato masher to crush any big chunks of tomato (this step is optional it just makes the sauce smoother). Simmer the sauce for 10 minutes then set aside.

6. Now make the white sauce. Add the butter to a saucepan on a low-medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour to a thick paste and continue to cook for 1 minute.

7. Slowly while whisking add the milk a little at a time allowing the sauce to thicken each time (we usually do this in 3 pours).

8. Once the last amount of milk has been added and the sauce is starting to thicken add the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and grated gruyere cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted then set aside.

Assemble the lasagna

1. You can do this in individual dishes or one large dish. First, add a small layer of tomato sauce (this should be spread sparsely don't add a lot of sauce then add a layer of sliced eggplant.

2. Next add another sparse layer of tomato sauce then tear up slices of prosciutto and dot them around. We use 1 slice per layer if doing individual dishes or 3-4 slices if doing one large dish.

3. Top the prosciutto with slices of mozzarella (2 thin slices for individual dishes or 6-8 for one large dish). Finally, top with a layer of white sauce.

4. Add another layer of eggplant then follow with the tomato sauce, prosciutto, mozzarella and white sauce. Finish with the eggplant again and finally top with more white sauce, a sprinkling of parmesan and any leftover slices of prosciutto.

5. If using individual dishes lay them on a baking tray (or 2) and cover with foil (cover a large dish with foil to then bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until the prosciutto is crispy.

6. Let rest for 5 minutes then serve.

Kitchen notes

• There's no need to salt the eggplant before baking slice them thin.
• You can keep the skin on (our preference) or peel it, it's up to you.
• You can bake the eggplant and make the sauces in advance to speed things up when you are ready to eat.
• When making the white sauce use a whisk and not a wooden spoon for an extra smooth and creamy sauce without lumps.
• Other than gruyere, fontina would work well or go with parmesan.
• Always grate the parmesan yourself and never buy pre-grated as it doesn't taste nearly as good!
• Nutmeg is a secret ingredient to an good white sauce so don't skip it if possible.
• Use HIGH QUALITY canned tomatoes. The sauce isn't cooked for long so you want to make sure it tastes good by buying the best quality.
• To save time you can use sieved tomatoes (pureed tomatoes) or passata instead of making tomato sauce make sure that you use a quality brand.
• You can prep the whole lasagna in advance and store it in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
• Leftover lasagna will store well in the fridge for 1-2 days or can be frozen suitable containers.