Skinny Eggplant Rollatini (VIDEO)
Sliced eggplants stuffed with an Italian cheese and spinach mixture, rolled into little cylinders and baked until super tender with ooey gooey cheese…these skinny eggplant rollatini are scrumptious and you can enjoy them guilt-free! They are naturally gluten free and low carb, too.
I am so excited by today’s recipe! These Skinny Eggplant Rollatini are so insanely delicious they would turn any eggplant hater into an unconditional lover. Yes, really! They are so tender you don’t even need a knife to cut them, they’ll just melt in your mouth. And look at all this gooey cheese! Doesn’t it look scrumptious? The only though of these rollatini makes me hungry!
The stuffing is made with three types of cheese (ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan) and spinach. Now, before you freak out because I said spinach (did you freak out?), let me tell you a little something. I’ve never been a fan of cooked spinach. Give me fresh spinach in a salad or a green smoothie any day but cooked? I’ll pass, thanks. Except, you really can’t taste them in these rollatini! Adding spinach with the cheese mixture is the perfect way to sneak in some greens without even realizing it. Delicious and healthy, win win!
Skinny Eggplant Rollatini
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants
- 1 cup 9 oz/ 250 g reduced fat ricotta
- 1 1/2 cups shredded light mozzarella divided in 1/2 cup and 1 cup
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
- 9 oz / 250 g frozen spinach thawed and squeezed to remove as much liquid as possible
- 1 egg
- 1 garlic clove germ removed, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup tomato passata or marinara
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
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Remove eggplants' ends and slice them thinly lengthwise. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil and place 12 eggplant slices on it. You may need to use two baking sheet or bake eggplant in two batches depending on the size of your oven). Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool.
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While eggplants are cooking, prepare ricotta/spinach mixture. In a bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella (1/2 cup), parmesan, spinach, egg and garlic. Mix well and season to taste.
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Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish.
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Generously spread ricotta/spinach mixture on an eggplant slice (about two heaped tablespoons), roll it and arrange in prepared dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining eggplant.
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Top with remaining tomato sauce (1/2 cup) and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella (1 cup). Cover with foil, reduce oven to 350F and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until cheese is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve.
Recipe Video
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Are you slicing the eggplant horizontally or vertically? Also, are they sliced about 1/8 – 1/4 inch?
Thanks so much – sounds terrific!
Hi Cathy,
The eggplants are sliced horizontally and I would say about 1/6 inch! I’ll update the recipe.
Have you tried freezing this before baking?
I haven’t tried but I think it would freeze well, yes 🙂
no, eggplant will be like a leather, do not freeze this dish!
I did try since I left this comment and it freezes well 🙂 Not leather-y at all.
This might be a silly question, not sure.. but is this a good dish to reheat and eat for leftovers? Thanks!
It’s not a silly question at all 🙂 These rollatini make great leftovers yes!
Please consider this, (from EUFIC.org)
In short: Please eat your spinach right away, do not reheat!
“Spinach and other leafy vegetables contain high concentrations of nitrate. The amount depends on the variety, season, and the soil and water conditions where the vegetable was grown. Nitrate itself is totally harmless, but it can be converted to nitrites, and then to nitrosamines, some of which are known to be carcinogenic. Enzymes present in bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite. This happens especially when spinach is heated, stored and then later reheated. Nitrite itself is a harmless compound, but it should be avoided by infants of up to 6 months. It can affect the ability of the blood to transport oxygen by transforming haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the blood, into methaemoglobin, a form of the protein which is unable to carry oxygen. This can be dangerous for babies and is commonly known as “Blue Baby Syndrome”. However, in view of the fact that acidic conditions favour the formation of nitrosamines from nitrite, coupled with the facts that nearly all foods contain some protein and are exposed to acid in the stomach nitrosamine production cannot completely be prevented. Hence the recommendation to avoid reheating spinach.”
Could I make and refrigerate fm before baking? Would it hold up? Or be mushy?
Hi Emma! I’m not sure, they might become too watery. I would prepare everything ahead (bake the eggplant, prepare the cheese mixture) and assemble when you’re ready to bake them. Hope this helps!
How thin do you slice the eggplant? I think I sliced them to thin
I would say about 0.4/0.5 cm (that would be a little more than 1/8-inch if that makes sense). Why do you think you sliced them to thin? The filling oozed out?
How can I reduce the amount of sugar?
Hi Sherry 🙂 I think most of the sugar in this recipe comes from the tomato passata and the eggplants, so I don’t think you can really reduce the amount. Make sure you use a tomato sauce without added sugar. If that’s still too much for you, I’d suggest using another recipe unfortunately 🙁 Hope this helps!
To reduce the sugar, avoid low-fat dairy. Use the full fat dairy products, they don’t have added sugars.
Wendy is right! When food manufacturers remove certain elements from food and convert it to “low fat or no fat” the reduction of the oils (naturally occurring or added) is replaced by SUGAR. Therefore if low sugar is a goal, perhaps a diabetic requirement, use full fatted Dairy just use a little less to cut down on the natural Sugar in the products. Also, if you reduce volume of item and need more “oomph” or volume to offset lower use of any Dairy product you can use no sugar canned evaporated milk and they have a “skim milk” version I have cooked to decrease volume and make it thicker. Also, plain yogurt is often substituted for Dairy as some of this recipe calls for. There are options; just don’t use “low/no fat”. Regarding Tomato Sauce (Marinara) or any type, I never buy a jar that has any sugar in it whatsoever. Tomato Sauce does not require, nor should anyone add Sugar. When I make Sauce at home sometimes the canned tomatoes are a little sharp – that is why and when some cooks put sugar in… I will add a carrot – or 2 – whole and fish it out after the sauce is cooked. Carrots have naturally occurring sugar and add just the right amount to a sauce. BTW, I make big pots of Sauce and freeze it. Pasta night, we use our frozen Marinara, Meat Sauce, Eggplant, sometime we make tomato sauce with sausages, etc.
Forgot one thing… when I fish the carrots out, I rinse them off – carefully and mash ’em up for the dog. Carrots – healthy treat for pets. Sometimes I eat it myself right out of the pot…shhhhh, don’t tell anyone.
I just sliced the eggplant crosswise, which is not nearly large enough for the filling. The photo shows lengthwise, but in the top comment you say horizontally, which is crosswise.
Please clear up my confusion.
Molly, sorry about the confusion! I thought horizontally meant lengthwise (I’m not a native speaker, my English is not perfect, sorry!). You do need to cut them lengthwise, not in rounds, if that makes sense. I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe 🙂
Yum! This looks and sounds delicious! I now know exactly what I’m going to make with my first batch of eggplants from the garden. I think I may even be able to get my husband to like them with this recipe 🙂
Oh you’re so lucky to have fresh produce from your garden! I’m jealous!! haha. I hope your hubby will enjoy this recipe!
Do you need to sweat the eggplant slices? I know that is not included in recipe, but would it help with any water build up? Not the best cook, just asking to learn. 🙂
Hi Mary! No, there’s no need in this recipe. You pre-bake the eggplant slices and then stuff them. I hope you’ll like this recipe 🙂
These look so yummy! I just recently posted a recipe round-up of the best low carb lunches and this was one of my favorites!
Oh thanks so much Vicky! Heading to your blog now 🙂
Have you ever tried using fresh spinach? We always have a lot of that on hand!
I haven’t tried but I’m pretty sure it would work well! Just chop them before adding them to the cheese mixture. Let me know how you go 🙂
This was the best meatless, no bread or pasta, meal I think I’ve ever had. I would never guess they weren’t noodles.
Do you think this is gluten free? (Looking for ideas for a dinner party).
Thanks for an amazing recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that Heide!! Yes, it’s gluten free so it could be perfect if some of your guests are GF 🙂
I made this using fresh spinach. I did chop it and put it in the microwave for one minute to make it easier to blend. This was very good but for personal taste I would add more garlic and more Parmesan.
Thank you Odette 🙂 It’s good to know it works well with fresh spinach too!
I soooo want to make this very soon. It looks delicious!! I’ve already ‘PINNED’ it!
Thanks a lot Cecile!!
Can you make this without eggs?
Yes definitely. The cheese mixture won’t be as compact though and might fall more easily from the rollatini’s sides so be careful. Enjoy!
I made these last night and absolutely loved them! Everything came out perfect and the flavor was so so good! I’m American living in Europe so having C and grams listed helped a lot! I’ll definitely be making these again and again.
So glad to hear that Emily! I’m French, living in Australia (and Canada before that) and most of my readers are in the US so definitely used to juggling with the two measurement systems! Glad it was helpful 🙂
By any chance do you have the nutrition vales for this recipe? Looks amazing!
Yes Tracy, they are right in the recipe box
Do yoy have the container coumt for 21 day fix?
I’m sorry I don’t!
this looks AMAZING! is that nutritional info for the whole recipe? do you think i would be able to use a cream based lasagne sauce instead? i don’t eat tomatoes 🙁
The nutrition facts are for 3 rollatini 🙂 I think you could use a cream based sauce yes, but the taste and nutrition facts would be very different!
This is so easy to make, best to cut the egg plant length ways thinly. Recipe didn’t say.
Definitely making again ????
Sorry about that, I just updated the recipe 🙂
I made this tonight, but I laid the slices in the pan and made two layers rather than rolling them.
It was absolutely delicious and easy to make. I forgot to put the spinach in it, so served it as a side. Thank you so much. WONDERFUL!!!
Skinny Eggplant Lasagne then! Great idea Shirley 🙂 Happy to hear this recipe was a hit for you!
I used a cashew ricotta cheese just because I didn’t have any on hand, which worked well. I also left them flat like a lasagna rather than rolled. We loved this dish and I will definitely make it again and perhaps roll it next time because that does look better. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Really happy to hear that Donna 🙂 And I love the sound of cashew ricotta cheese! Is it made entirely of cashews?
No, there are a few ingredients. The recipe is at simple-veganista.com
http://www.simple-veganista.com/2012/10/cashew-ricotta-cheese.html
Thanks for sharing!
I just made these and they were fantastic! The only thing I did differently was to use fresh raw spinach. I layed it on the eggplant after spreading the ricotta mix. Thank you for an easy yet delicous healthy recipe!
A few people have mentioned using fresh spinach and I love the idea. Will try it next time 🙂
Hi ! Ty for sharing this recipe first of all , now secondly I already made this recipe quite often LOL ! I’ve got a few other recipes with eggplants as well , but not totally meat free . I have been using bacon ( thin bacon only ! ) and that was just soooooo delicious ! really eggplant is a veggie that you can use in so many varieties of recipes but better is that this ‘ berry ‘ , as it is actually a berry is so healthy at the same time ! I’m having them all year round ! In summer I use them half , second half goes into freezer , already baked/cooked or just raw ! lovely eggplants !
I’m a big eggplant fan too! So glad to hear you love this recipe Vicky 🙂
Had a bounty of eggplant from the garden. I cook for two. Made this; divided into several (about 2 1/2c) ramekins and froze. Great to have on an evening I might be alone with a yummy green salad, a generous glass of wine and, depending on how well our bathroom scale and I are getting along, a slice of homemade garlic bread. Also a good side to add to a spaghetti dinner to cut down on the amount of pasta we would otherwise consume. We both really enjoyed this and I’ll make it again❤️
That sounds lovely Pam! Thank you 🙂
I’ve made this dish numerous times and it is a favorite of mine. My husband and mother love it especially because it’s ‘skinny’. Today I’m making it for my mother and will deliver it tomorrow. I used fresh spinach because I had it. I took the extra eggplant (OK those that I cut too thin and the ‘ends’), diced them and sauteed it in oil and garlic. I will use as a side tonight once I figure out the main dish — LOL. I love quick, easy and delicious recipes.
That’s so sweet of you Lisa to cook for your mother! And I’m super happy to know you’re using my recipe for that 🙂 I hope you found that main idea hahah
Made it! They didn’t last that’s how good it was!
Loved it as a substitute for pasta or lasagna
I flipped the eggplant over and baked for an extra 5 minutes but other than that same, great recipe, thank you 🙂 🙂
*****
Hey Maryam, so happy to hear you loved them 🙂 Thank you!
Wow these eggplant rolls look fantastic. I bet they are delicious too. Can’t wait to try it!!!
Thanks Ionoa! Hope you love them 🙂
Olá, vou fazer a receita, amei a ideia. Preparo o molho de tomate temperando com tomilho e hortelã frescos. Fica divino.
Muito obrigado!