Mediterranean Vegan Eggplant Roll Ups
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A light, easy and fresh dinner – Mediterranean Vegan Eggplant Roll Ups. A combination of seasoned cauliflower rice rolled up in grilled eggplant over marinara.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to incorporate more vegetables into every meal. And you’re probably thinking…”Rene, you’re vegan. Aren’t you already drowning in vegetables?”
And yes, vegetables are obviously a HUGE part of my diet already. But I’m not going to lie, it is easy to overload on bread and potatoes and push those greens to the side. So to avoid this, I have been loading up on the veggies.
Don’t worry, I’m still eating bread and potatoes – I mean, I’m not a crazy person. But, I’m making an extra effort to throw extra veg on my plate at every meal. Zucchini, spinach and my newest obsession – cauliflower rice.
I’ve preached to you about the beauty of cauliflower. From my Vegan Cauliflower Meatballs to my Roasted Cauliflower Buffalo Pizza. Cauliflower is such an adaptable veggie.
It may smell funky while you’re cooking it, but with the right seasonings it becomes super tasty. With all that being said, in today’s recipe we are doubling down on veggies with these Mediterranean Vegan Eggplant Roll Ups.
Cauliflower is sautéed with garlic, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and hummus. Then everything gets rolled up into grilled eggplant slices and baked on a bed of simple marinara sauce.
This meal is perfect if you are craving something pasta-ish, but want to lighten it up.
After it bakes, top it all off with some fresh herbs and vegan parmesan. Then…dig in. Make this on Sunday and have lunches all week.
Tips & Tricks
You’ll notice that half of the roll-ups are large and the other half are on the tiny side. That is because I used one eggplant instead of two. And since eggplants are smaller on the sides, you will end up with about four slices that are on the small side. Want all of your roll-ups to be uniform? Just use two eggplants instead.
Need more recipe inspo? Check these out:
Mediterranean Vegan Eggplant Roll Ups
Ingredients
FOR THE EGGPLANT
- 1 eggplant sliced in 8 half inch pieces
- olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
FOR THE FILLING
- 1 head cauliflower
- 3 cloves garlic peeled
- 4 ounces sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 5-6 large basil leaves
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup plain hummus
- 2 tablespoons vegan parmesan
- 2 cups baby spinach chopped
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- salt & pepper to taste
FOR THE CASSEROLE
- 3-4 cups marinara
- vegan parmesan for topping
- fresh parsley or basil for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice eggplant into eight 1/2″ slices. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat a griddle over medium-high heat. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Working in batches, grill eggplant until there are gill marks on both sides and eggplant begins to soften. Add additional oil to the pan between batches if needed. Set eggplant aside.
- Cut the cauliflower into florets and place in a food processor. Pulse until the cauliflower is the size of rice. Add garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and basil to the food processor and pulse until combined.
- Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add cauliflower mixture to the pan. Sauté for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add hummus, parmesan, baby spinach, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper to the pan and stir to combine. Sauté for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until everything is thoroughly combined, cauliflower is softened and spinach is wilted. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Pour marinara into the bottom of a baking dish and spread evenly. Top each eggplant slice with 2-4 tablespoons of filling (depending on how wide the slice is). Roll eggplant slices up and place in the baking dish on top of the marinara sauce, seam-side down.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes – or until everything is warmed through.
- Remove from the oven and top with parmesan and parsley (or basil). Plate eggplant with marinara and serve.
Notes
- If you want 8 uniform slices of eggplant, you will want to use 2 eggplants. If you are ok with 4 of the slices being on the smaller side (like I did), use 1 eggplant.
This is one of my absolute favorite recipes. I omit the oil and parm and it turns out fantastic. Really creative idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
So glad you love it Kiley!
Does the eggplant have to be soaked for an hour/overnight with salt to get rid of bitterness? I don’t have a griddle. Should I pan fry or use my regular grill?
I don’t always salt my eggplant – usually if it is fresh, you should get away without salting it. But if you want to be extra cautious, and have the time, then you can salt it beforehand. And either of those grill options would work. A regular grill sounds like it would add great flavor!
I made this it was delicious and I loved it. Thanks
Yay! So glad tou liked it!
Do you have the nutritional information on this? Fat, carbs, sodium…you have so many recipes that look delicious, but I need to know the nutritional values before I can eat anything. Thanks
Love this recipe! I added chopped almonds to give the filling some texture.
Yum – that sounds like a good addition!
Delicious. I didn’t really follow the recipe in terms of quantities, but it turned out fab. I used nutritional yeast instead of vegan parmesan. I also put the sauce on top of the rolls. Doesn’t look as pretty but I prefer it this way. I don’t have a griddle so had to use a fry pan. Love to figure out a way to use less oil as I had to use quite a lot. Would defs add olives next time. Thanks for this ?
So glad you liked these – and that you were able to adjust based on what you had on hand 🙂
Maybe I did something wrong? I actually ended up throwing it away. There was three times more cauliflower than there was eggplant.. to me, it was a waste of effort and ingredients. Sorry I hated it
Sorry it didn’t work out for you!
Made this tonight for dinner. I used a mandolin to get the eggplant strips which worked perfectly and I grilled them on the BBQ. It was a big hit and I’ll definitely be making this again. ?
Looked delicious !!! I made it for dinner for tomorrow but I Have too much filling ??still what other dish I can do with it?
Thank you
Marie
It would be great in a grain bowl or a salad! You could also make some butter noodles and serve it over top.
This looks amazing I am going to give it a try.
Woo! Let me know how you like it!
OMG it is soooo good!
This came out great. The filling is delicious! Thanks!0
Woowho! So glad you liked it!
Thanks I made this with kale instead of spinach and an array of other veggies that were in my fridge. Totally delicious!
Yay – I love using up veggies in the fridge, and this is the perfect recipe to do it with 🙂 So glad you liked it!
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This turned out amazing! I could not find vegan parm so I substituted with nutritional yeast, worked great! Also right before I put the dish in the oven I sprinkled a bunch of pitted kalamata olives over everything. Wow wow wow. Will make this for life!
I’m loving this recipe! I couldn’t find vegan parm but used vegan mozzarella and nutritional yeast
I also used Japanese eggplant and cut it length wise with the mandolin and rolled it that way. Wish I could add the pic!
For those who said they “couldn’t find Vegan Parmesan Cheese” Easy to make!! : 1 cup walnuts, 1 Clove Garlic, 1TBS Nutritional Yeast – blend in food processor until fine crumbles. You can eat by the spoonful it is so yummy!!
Thank you…
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Sun dried tomatoes don’t set with me well, any other suggestions I could substitute?
You could do lots of different things – artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, or you could even fold in some sautéed cherry tomatoes.
This was soooooo good. I made it for my hubby and Italian friend both who are not vegan and they both had seconds!!! Delicious, thank you so much for always making me look like a star cook ?.
This is one of my favourite new recipes. I have made it several times. I make an extra batch of the stuffing and then freeze it, then when I have some eggplant I just layer it like a lasagna. I always add extra Vegan Parmesan, that stuff is like crack to me !
So glad you like it! That is a smart way to save some time – layering it like lasagna. I will have to try it that way!
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Omg I love this recipe!!! I’m in love with vegetables now. Thanks for showing me a different way to spice things up besides another boring salad ?. Just to let you know I’m a black girl who’s parents and grandparents have always cooked southern home cooking. I recently became vegan due to acne issues and now I can honestly say I’m happy it happened to me because it showed me the toxic waste I was digesting. Thank you ?! Sidenote: the filling is great as a dip with Van’s gluten free crackers… sooo delicious!
So glad you liked this – veggies definitely don’t have to be boring 🙂
I’m so on board with this recipe. Made it today with minor swaps, plus a little spaghetti on the side. Very tasty, and I have enough filling leftover for a second batch. Guess I need another eggplant!
This recipe is so fun to make! My husband even helped roll up the eggplant. Will absolutely be making again.
It was yummy it tasted like pizza!
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I’m thinking this would work with Zucchini instead of eggplant. Your thoughts?
Totally – your roll ups will be a bit smaller so I would go with 2-4 zucchini (depending on how big they are) to make sure you have enough for all of the filling.
Made with diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts no lemon juice but added juice from the jar of artichokes also used a vodka sauce marinade. No vegan cheese stuff dont like it I added oregano and fresh Italian parsley the hummus I used had black olives in it as well
Came out super good oh I also used bagged frozen cauliflower rice since we had no fresh cauliflower