Home » Lunch And Dinner » Vegan Eggplant Rollatini Recipe
By Author Hiya, I’m Shashi
Posted on - Last updated:
Stuffed with a spicy potato bean filling and simmered in a deliciously spiced, creamy tomato coconut sauce, this vegan eggplant rollatini was as fun to eat as it was to make.
Traditionally, eggplant rollatini is an Italian dish that consists of thin slices of eggplant that have been dusted in flour or breadcrumbs, stuffed with a seasoned ricotta filling, rolled up, placed in a baking tray, and baked topped with a tomato-based sauce and cheese.
However, what I have here today is a spin on traditional eggplant rollatini. Much like this Za’atar Cacio e Pepe, this eggplant rollatini is a nutritious plant-based recipe with a boatload of spices thrown in.
If you are looking for a cheese-free, vegan eggplant rollatini made with wholesome ingredients, you are in the right spot!
How does this Vegan Eggplant Rollatini differ from Traditional Eggplant Rollatini?
- There is NO cheese, not even vegan cheese, in this recipe.
- The eggplant slices are not dusted with flour or breadcrumbs.
- The eggplant slices are not fried.
- It is ready in 30 minutes or less!
Instead, this spin on eggplant rollatini consists of:
- Thinly sliced eggplant slices that are lightly sprayed with olive oil and baked before being filled.
- A delicious immune-supporting, inflammation-reducing filling made of sauteed onion, garlic, ginger, potato, spinach, and black beans that are spiced with turmeric, coriander, and smoked paprika.
- A decadently creamy sauce made with a mixture of sauteed onion, ginger, garlic, organic tomato paste, organic vegetable stock, and coconut milk.
- A recipe that is cooked quickly – mostly on the stovetop!
While the 15-ingredient list might look long at first glance, you might have most of these ingredients lying around your kitchen. And, there are several ingredients that overlap between the filling and the sauce.
This is a fun recipe. One to play around with that will hopefully have you enjoying a healthy plant-based meal every now and then.
One tip in making this eggplant rollatini is to make sure to chop up the onion, ginger, garlic, and potato into very small pieces. The smaller the pieces, the less likely they are to fall out of the eggplant as you stuff and roll them.
While I wouldn’t recommend changing the spice quantities up to much, I would urge you to substitute any of the other ingredients.
If you don’t like potatoes, use sweet potatoes instead.
If you prefer pinto beans, then use those.
If you prefer frozen kale to spinach, go right ahead and use that. If you have some leftover fresh spinach you need to use up, by all means, use that instead.
My daughter and I so enjoyed this tasty and easy plant-based eggplant rollatini as it is:
✅ So flavor-packed!
✅ So healthy!
✅ Such a filling vegan dish!
✅ So much fun to make and eat!
While we enjoyed this dish as our main course for dinner, you could opt to serve this as a side along with this Biryani, or enjoy it as your main course with some roasted broccoli.
Seeing each serving came in around 350 calories, we were tempted to dig into seconds. But, that would mean we would not have any leftovers for the next day and so we opted to grab a slice of this flourless chocolate cake instead.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Stuffed with a spicy potato bean filling and simmered in a deliciously spiced, creamy tomato coconut sauce, this vegan eggplant rollatini was as fun to eat as it was to make.
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant
For the filling:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger
- 1 medium yellow potato
- 3 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 cup frozen spinach
- 1/2 cup canned black beans (rinsed and drained)
- salt and pepper to taste
For the sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger
- 1 tbsp organic tomato paste
- 1/2 cup organic vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Rinse and slice eggplant lengthwise into about 1/8th of an inch thick slices. Then place eggplant slices on a baking tray lined with aluminum. Lightly spray eggplant slices and place in the oven to bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Remove when done and set aside to stuff with filling.
Let's make the filling:
- While eggplant slices are baking, peel and chop up the onion, ginger, and garlic.
- Add the oil to a large frying pan and place it over medium heat/flame and add in the chopped garlic and onion and state about 5 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't burn.
- Quickly rinse and chop up the potato in very small pieces and make sure the black beans are drained and rinsed as well.
- Add the ginger, potato, coriander, smoked paprika, turmeric, and frozen spinach to the sauteing onion and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes or until potato chunks are tender and spinach is hot.
- Add in the black beans and stir well.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Then set filling aside in a bowl.
Let's make the sauce:
- Peel and chop the onion, garlic, and ginger for the sauce.
- Then add the oil to the same pan the filling was made in, and place over medium heat/flame.
- Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes.
- Add in the tomato paste, vegetable stock, and coconut milk and stir well for about 2 minutes and turn off the stove.
- Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
Let's Assemble this vegan eggplant rollatini
- On a slice of eggplant, add a spoonful or so of the potato, bean, spinach filling.
- Carefully roll the eggplant slice up, trying to keep as much of the filling inside.
- Place the rolled and stuffed eggplant in the pan with the sauce, with the open part of the eggplant facing down.
- Roll and stuff all the eggplant slices and place them all in the pan with the sauce.
- Spoon a bit of the sauce over the rolled and stuffed eggplant slices so they are all covered in the sauce.
- Cover the pan and turn on the stove to low and let simmer for about 5 more minutes.
Serve
- Serve garnished with parsley and chili flakes.
Notes
When chopping the onion, garlic, ginger, and potato for the filling, shopping them super small will keep them from falling out of the eggplant slices as they are rolled.
You can save time by using pre-peeled and chopped onion, garlic, and ginger.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4Serving Size 1
Amount Per ServingCalories 350Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 0mgSodium 372mgCarbohydrates 34gFiber 9gSugar 7gProtein 6g
