A low-carb, sheet pan eggplant Parmesan

that even eggplant skeptics will enjoy!

Hi! I hope your week is going well. I am crib training our 7-month-old and feel like I’ve been in a weird, sleep-deprived fog. But my highlights this week are commitment-free evenings (my kids’ swim season is done, hooray), a really good book I finally am finishing up (The German Wife), and a ridiculously easy eggplant Parmesan recipe that I’m excited to share.

It’s eggplant season and we’ve enjoyed this dish twice this week. It’s delicious and so simple and has the potential to convert any eggplant skeptics.

I will be the first to admit that I’ve never been the biggest fan of eggplant. I tolerate it okay, and yes, there are some eggplant dishes that I really do enjoy (a couple that I’ve even shared on my blog, like this Turkish eggplant casserole) but I tend to reach for other produce.

This summer, after chatting with the sweetest Trader Joe’s employee and feeling genuinely inspired by her excitement over her favorite dish, stuffed eggplant, I’ve made it a goal of mine to get creative and try out new ways to cook it. (Do you have favorite eggplant recipes? Please share!)

I consider eggplant Parmesan to be sort of a gateway dish to eating eggplant. It’s smothered in marinara, there’s melty cheese involved, and the eggplant is commonly breaded and fried for a deliciously crisp coating. All elements for something really tasty.

My version eliminates many of the steps of “restaurant” eggplant Parm (I call it that because I’m not sure that the breading is traditional), but it doesn’t lack in flavor. It does cut down the prep time, however, which is always a plus.

Eggplant is cut into cubes, tossed in an Italian seasoning/Parmesan mixture, then roasted.

The final few minutes of cook time is simply to heat the marinara and melt the burrata.

Instead of eggplant rounds, sliced and breaded, you’ll cut the eggplant into cubes and roast it at a high heat, coated in a mix of fresh finely-chopped Parmesan and Italian seasonings. (The method is just like my Mediterranean Roasted Eggplant recipe, one of the most popular on my site.)

The surface area of the eggplant gets perfectly roasted and slightly caramelized, while bits of the Parm-seasoning mixture toast up until crispy, right on the sheet pan. You’ll then spoon some of your favorite marinara on top, add some burrata or fresh mozzarella, and return it to the oven for a final few minutes to let all that yumminess heat and melt.

It all cooks up in 20 minutes flat. And it’s a meatless, low-carb, gluten-free and keto-friendly meal with incredible flavor.

I realize this recipe requires you to heat your oven to 450 in the middle of July but I promise it’s worth it. 😊 I haven’t tested it, but I’m sure you could make it on a pellet grill, too.

This recipe is available to paid subscribers. It’s listed below along with a printable PDF. If you enjoy good food, healthy eating, and would love some tasty, low-carb dinner inspiration in your inbox every Thursday, consider upgrading to a paid subscription!

---

More from the blog

I just shared this dill pickle egg salad recipe on Stem and Spoon and it’s one of those does-this-actually-require-a-recipe recipe because it’s just so simple and effortless. But I think sometimes we all need reminders that you can eat well and make quick, nutrient-dense meals with minimal ingredients.

Egg salad is totally underrated in my opinion. Each bite tastes like a deviled egg, but with way less work involved.

Dill pickle egg salad on spinach with tomatoes, more pickles and olive oil for a quick, nutrient-dense lunch.

Here are a few others that I think you’ll enjoy:

• Traeger smoked asparagus

• Air fryer rotisserie chicken (I’ve been using this seasoning blend but roasting the chicken on a pellet grill at 450°F for about 45 minutes to 1 hour)

• Easy keto chicken Parmesan (in case eggplant is just not your thing)

• Broccoli almond soup

• Sugar-free blueberry jam

• Low-carb tomato sauce (a great homemade sauce for eggplant Parm, by the way)

---

Thoughts on GBM Day

Today as I write this, it’s Glioblastoma Awareness Day (GBM Day) and coincidentally, it happens to fall near (sometimes right on) Ian’s birthday every year. We’ll be celebrating his 38th birthday on Saturday with a homemade sushi feast. Good sushi is always his request on his birthday (I haven’t made sushi rolls in years so I don’t know if I can technically call it good sushi but that’s what we’re doing for Ian’s treat-yourself weekend!). Two days later, he will have a routine follow-up MRI, which always makes us a little nervous.

I am so grateful that Ian is here, healthy and doing well, more than seven years since he was diagnosed with GBM. It’s strange to think that we’ve spent all of our 30s navigating this disease and focusing on keeping him well. To our family, celebrating 38 with him is nothing short of a miracle.

He is the exception though, which is exactly why awareness days like GBM Day exist. Glioblastoma is known to be a death sentence for the majority of patients, and while we choose faith over fear when it comes to statistics, we can’t completely ignore them either. A cure is always something we hope for but it takes years— decades even— to get a drug through each phase of a clinical trial to patients who need it most. It’s even more complex for a disease like GBM which is rare and extra difficult to treat given its location. We’re grateful for conventional treatments and modern medicine, medical advances like Optune, and the ability to pursue integrative and metabolic therapies like a ketogenic diet.

I mention this because our journey to keto and low-carb eating all started with Ian’s diagnosis. My goal with Stem and Spoon was (and still is) to create a helpful recipe resource for people like us, searching for a different way of eating to improve their own health. There are so many reasons that may have led you here and whatever they are, I hope you find Ian’s story inspiring and the recipes here nourishing.

We can’t wait to celebrate our favorite guy on Saturday.

Our little family a few months ago. Photo by Kora Jo Photo Co.

---

A 20-minute sheet pan eggplant Parmesan

There’s not a whole lot that goes into this dish and that’s the beauty of it. If you need it to be dairy free or vegan-friendly, you can make a few simple swaps, which I’m listing out in the notes for you.

A quick tip: be mindful of how much sauce you’re spooning on top of the eggplant. The first time I made this, I didn’t really measure, I just sort of eyeballed how much sauce I wanted to add. I ended up with way too much and a mushier eggplant which really defeats the whole purpose of roasting it first.

I’ve found that 1/2 cup of marinara total ends up being the ideal sauce-to-eggplant-to-cheese ratio.

Below is the recipe for my paid subscribers! Thanks again for your support and I hope you love this one as much as I do.

Have a fantastic rest of your week,

Abby