Crispy on the outside and super soft on the inside with toppings of marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese. This Air Fryer eggplant parmesan will be a super hit in the family. Serve on the side of whole grain pasta for a perfect wholesome healthy meal.
I love eating eggplant parmesan in the restaurants. And, the only thing I don't like about them is the amount of oil that goes into the breaded crust of eggplants. Did you ever notice it?
I never tried making this Italian dish at home until now. But my recent investment in Air Fryer encouraged me to make a healthy version of breaded eggplants. And after trying a lot of recipes in it such as homemade french fries, crispy zucchini fritters in it to name a few, it was not a total surprise how well this eggplant parmesan came out.
Jump to:
How to bread eggplant?
This is a three-step process. Start with cutting thick slices of a large eggplant.
Then, in a deep round plate, prepare the bread crumb mixture. You can season and spice it for a delicious crust. In another shallow bowl beat eggs with some flour to make a batter for coating the eggplant slices.
Thinly apply the egg batter on all sides of the eggplant slices. Then put these slices in the breadcrumb mixture and turn around a few times to completely cover them.
Find detailed ingredients list and step-by-step instructions below for making these healthy breaded eggplant parmesan.
How to make eggplant parmesan in the Air Fryer
Using Air Fryer is very simple for any recipe. Preheat the Air Fryer before placing any food. It hardly takes a few minutes. My Philips XL Air Fryer takes only 3 mins to preheat.
In the preheated Air Fryer place breaded eggplant slices. Lightly spray some olive oil to develop a nice golden brown crust. Once the crust is formed and the eggplant is almost cooked spread some marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese on the top of each slice. Cook further until the cheese melts. Or, simply serve crispy breaded eggplant as an appetizer with some marinara sauce as a dip on the side.
You need to cook eggplant in 2-3 batches depending upon the size of the Air Fryer. Our XL size Phillips Air Fryer can cook four larger slices of the eggplant at a time.
This delicious and healthy eggplant parmesan will make you feel proud about your investment in the Air Fryer!
Helpful tips!
- Buy organic eggplant if possible. It tastes much better than regular ones.
- Use whole wheat bread crumbs to make this dish even more healthy.
- To bread the eggplant use fork to hold the eggplant slices. This really makes applying the breadcrumb crust without getting your hands dirty. Insert a fork in the eggplant slice and hold it in one hand. Then using a small clean brush apply a thin layer of egg-flour batter evenly on all sides. Put the battered slice in breadcrumbs and turn it over to coat the breadcrumbs on the other side. Repeat it a few times to apply a nice and even coating.
- Use fresh mozzarella cheese on the marinara sauce for a more fresh taste. You can easily find fresh mozzarella in local grocery stores.
More Air Fryer recipes you will love to try
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments if you REALLY like this recipe. Thank You!
📖 Recipe
Easy Air Fryer Eggplant Parmesan
Would you like to save this recipe?
Email yourself a link to this post and come back to it later!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant mine was around 1.25 lb
- ½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 3 tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning mix
- 3 tablespoon whole wheat flour
- 1 egg + 1 tablespoon water
- olive oil spray
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- ¼ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- fresh parsley or basil to garnish
Instructions
- Cut eggplant into roughly ½" slices. Rub some salt on both sides of the slices and leave it for at least 10-15 mins.
- Meanwhile in a small bowl mix egg with water and flour to prepare the batter.
- In a medium shallow plate combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning blend, and some salt. Mix thoroughly.
- Now apply the batter to each eggplant slice evenly. Dip the battered slices in the breadcrumb mix to coat it evenly on all sides. See the helpful tips section above to do this task perfectly.
- Place breaded eggplant slices on a clean and dry flat plate and spray oil on them. See notes section for details.
- Preheat the Air Fryer to 360F. Then put the eggplant slices on the wire mesh and cook for about 8 min.
- Top the air fried slices with about 1 tablespoon of marinara sauce and lightly spread fresh mozzarella cheese on it. Cook the eggplant for another 1-2 min or until the cheese melts.
- Serve warm on the side of your favorite pasta.
Notes
- Rubbing some salt to eggplant slices ahead makes it leach out the water from the inner cells. This step makes eggplant soft when cooked.
- First, spray oil on the breaded eggplant slices when stored in the plate. Then put the oiled side down on the wire mesh of the Air Fryer. Now spray oil to cover the other side. This way both sides of the eggplant will have an even brown color when cooked.
- I cook the parmesan-crusted eggplants in two batches. Our Phillips XL Air Fryer holds 4 large slices at a time.
- If you prefer meat you will also love this Chicken Parmesan In the Air Fryer.
Tina Eisenschmidt says
Delish!! Loved it and will make it again! This is one of those recipes you can get creative with according to your mood for food. Thank you for sharing! 5 STARS!
Nancie says
Excellent and easy - my favorite combination! So much quicker than oven eggplant parmesan and very tasty.
Carmen Coy says
Thank you for sharing.
We absolutely love eggplants. This recipe is sooo amazingly tasty and easy to prepare. Also love the idea with the brushing on the batter and using a fork to dip in the breadcrumb mixture- far less wastage.
Will try that technique also with pork and chicken schnitzel.
Pamela Downs says
This has been my go-to recipe for eggplant parmesan since getting my air fryer toaster oven 2 years ago, I always have to at least double the bread crumb mixture and the batter! I guess I use bigger eggplants. My air fryer doesn't have a 360-degree setting, I use 375 and 8 minutes-perfect, I do also microwave my eggplant to soften it before I make this, doing it the day before so it will be cold and not cook my batter!
Karen says
This is absolutely delicious and very easy to make, but I had to double the batter amount and had to cook the slices longer. My oven has an air fryer component so I don’t know if that made a difference or not.
Becca says
My boyfriend is hard to please and he loved these. Added to the meal rotation!
T. Hene says
Delicious!!!
Sasha Griffith says
Awesome!! Ok, so I did modify. I didn’t add the olive oil… I cooked eggplant without toppings before… and when it was close I pulled them out and topped with ricotta, fresh mozzarella and sauce. Then Garnished with basil and parm. I did do most of them in oven at 400*F my air fryer is small & I tripled the recipe. They stayed super crisp but soft inside! Love love!
Kerry says
My 1st air fryer experience! I modified it to make the recipe from mushrooms, not eggplant. This worked great! So delicious was easy and will so make it again!
Laura says
Followed the recipe exactly and it was absolutely perfect and delicious!
Marlies Maltese says
Omg!! These were the best!!! I think the batter is the key to making these super delicious. This will definitely be my go to recipe for healthier eggplant parm.
Pamela Downs says
I have made this recipe several times! It is the best Air Fryer Eggplant recipe I have found. I love it so much I have actually taken pieces of Eggplant to other people to have them try it because it is so good!
Sloan Phillips says
Hi what is the serving suggestion for this recipe? It looks wonderful!
Margaret Carmen says
Super excited to try this recipe! Your photos look so good!
I love eggplant parmesan, but I am not a fan of frying in oil. This seems like a great air fryer recipe. Thanks for sharing!
KC says
I made this recipe and it turned out PERFECT! I did leave the eggplant slices in a deep bowl for 30 minutes after rubbing salt on both sides. This really pulled out the extra moisture. I patted each slice with a paper towel prior to coating it in the egg wash. This step was helpful in getting a good crust on the cutlets. I also flipped the slices after 5 minutes and cooked for the additional 3 minutes on the other side before putting a dollop of marinara and fresh mozzarella (fried for another 3 minutes to melt cheese and warm marinara. Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I have already had multiple people ask me to share it! 😋