🍆 What Makes This Recipe So Good
All the delicious Italian flavors you love from a typical eggplant (or chicken) parmesan are present and accounted for in this recipe! The breading is perfectly seasoned, plus you’ve got a rich tomato-y marinara sauce and creamy mozzarella cheese. What makes this eggplant parm keto-friendly, when the traditional version isn’t? It’s all in the breading! Traditional breadcrumbs and wheat flours are a no-go on a keto diet, but here we’re using almond flour, pork rinds, and parmesan to bread our eggplant slices. If you can’t use almond flour, just replace it with even more pork rinds. The leftovers are great for lunch the next day! Refrigerate any leftover eggplant parm in an airtight container up to 4 days. To reheat, bake it in the oven at 350° Fahrenheit or pop it in the air fryer. You can also microwave it, but the breading won’t be as crisp.
👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips
Make sure your eggplant slices are all the same thickness. If they’re not, they won’t cook evenly, and the thinner slices will burn (or at least dry out) while the thicker slices will be undercooked. I like to use a mandoline to ensure all my slices are all evenly thick. Want to make a keto eggplant lasagna instead? Just leave off the breading entirely! Layer the baked, unbreaded eggplant with marinara and mozzarella as you would here. You’ll save a few carbs that way, too, though you’ll lose a little of the crunch you’d get in a traditional eggplant parm. A technique called sweating helps cut down some of the bitterness of the eggplant. To sweat the eggplant, slice it into discs, then arrange them on the baking sheet, unbreaded. Sprinkle salt on top of the discs, then flip them over and repeat, then go do something else for about an hour. The salt will draw out any bitter juices, which you’ll see on top of the discs. Rinse them well to remove the juice and excess salt, then dry them really well before proceeding with the recipe.
🥩 More Keto Recipes You’ll Love
Keto Big Mac Recipe Crockpot Marry Me Chicken Creamy Jalapeño Popper Dip (Low Carb, Keto) Keto Tacos with Homemade Keto Tortillas Reuben Casserole (Low Carb, Keto Option) Keto Stuffed Peppers Marry Me Chicken Keto Whipped Cream Keto Chicken Noodle Soup
