Eggplant Polenta Lasagna is a vegetarian lasagna dish made with polenta instead of noodles and eggplant and mushrooms for additional veggie goodness. 15 minutes of prep are all you need to make this delicious lasagna-like dish!
Do you ever impulse-buy something at the grocery store and then not have any idea what to do with it? I do that from time to time, and it always makes me laugh at myself.
That is what happened with this prepared polenta that I bought. I had served polenta before, but it came frozen from Trader Joe’s as part of a prepared side dish. All I had to do was microwave and serve!
So this tube of prepared polenta that I bought on impulse was a completely different animal. It sat in my pantry for a couple of months, because I didn’t have a plan.
One day I was working on a recipe for a lasagna with eggplant, and it hit me that the polenta would make a great addition to that dish! So I put it all together, and it was a huge hit with the family.
The polenta added a nice texture and mild corn flavor that perfectly complimented the eggplant and mushroom flavors and did not overpower the cheese and sauce.
My favorite part of the dish, however, was that I totally skipped the hassle of dealing with lasagna noodles!
Thing 2 is very sensitive to textures in his food, so I did roast the eggplant ahead of time to insure that it would be soft enough in the lasagna, and I also cooked the mushrooms a bit in the microwave for the same reason.
However, if you like your mushrooms to have a little more substance, you can probably skip that step altogether.
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Eggplant Polenta Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant (sliced into rounds about 1/4 inch thick)
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese (1 container)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 16 ounces sliced mushrooms
- 24 ounces marinara sauce (1 jar)
- 18 ounces prepared polenta (1 tube, sliced into rounds about 1/4 inch thick)
- 16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Spray the eggplant rounds with a little olive oil spray, then place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.1 large eggplant
- While the eggplant is roasting, in a medium bowl combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and egg.16 ounces ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 egg
- Place the mushrooms in a microwave-safe dish and heat about 5 minutes on high, stirring halfway through, to soften them slightly.16 ounces sliced mushrooms
- Once the eggplant is done, turn the oven down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Spread a little of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole pan.24 ounces marinara sauce
- Place half of the polenta rounds on top of the sauce.18 ounces prepared polenta
- Spread half of the ricotta mixture on top of the polenta.
- Place half of the eggplant rounds on top of the ricotta mixture.
- Distribute half of the mushrooms on top of the eggplant.
- Sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese on top of the mushrooms.16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- Spread half of the marinara on top of the mozzarella.
- Layer the rest of the ingredients: polenta, ricotta mixture, eggplant, mushrooms, sauce, mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for about 15 additional minutes.
Nutrition
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alison
I'm living in Vietnam at the moment, with no access to pre-made polenta, but I do have a package of dry. Can I assume that the pre-made polenta is just that, someone else made and it's like "day old"? So therefor, I can just make some polenta and then the next day use it in your lasagna recipe? Thanks!
Kristin
I think that is totally worth a shot! Good luck and let me know how it turns out. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Teresa
Hi Kristin, I'm featuring your lasagna recipe on my blog this week on Party in Your PJ's! Thank you for linking up!
Nikki@SoulfullyMade
This looks so delicious! I love polenta and eggplant! Perfect combination.
Teresa
I've never tried polenta, but this looks and sounds so good that I think I will! Thank you for sharing it with us at Party in Your PJ's.