Yummy Baked Eggplant Meatballs

These Yummy Baked Eggplant Meatballs are the perfect Sunday night dinner. They are a little time intensive, but not difficult. The base of the meatballs is roasted eggplant, lentils & brown rice. Pan fried until crispy and then baked in marinara sauce until super tender. Serve them with garlic bread or pasta for a cozy dinner at home!

Step One: Prep the Eggplant Meatballs

Like I mentioned, this is a time intensive recipe. BUT, I don’t want that to deter you. A lot of the time is spent waiting for things to bake or cool. And the first thing we need to do is roast the eggplant.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and drizzle the cut sides with olive oil. Place the eggplant cut-side down on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until the eggplant is super tender. You’ll know it is done when the skin starts to collapse.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.

Scoop out the eggplant from the skin and add it to a food processor with the lentils, brown rice, garlic, parsley, onion, oregano, salt & pepper. Pulse until combined, being sure not to over-process it. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the breadcrumbs. Mix until combined and place in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.

Step Two: Make the Sauce

While the eggplant is roasting, you can get started on the marinara sauce. It is a super simple sauce, but is super tasty.

Heat some oil in an oven-safe stock pot over medium heat. Add diced onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes and cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes.

Pour in the crushed tomatoes & jarred marinara. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer while you finish the meatballs.

Step Three: Make the Meatballs

Once the meatball mixture is chilled it is time to form the meatballs! Oil your hands, and use a cookie scoop (or eyeball it) to make 8-10 meatballs.

Before we can bake the meatballs, we are going to give them some crust. Add the rest of the olive oil to a skillet and heat it over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the meatballs and cook until browned on all sides (approx. 2 minutes per side) – lower the heat as needed so they don’t burn.

Use tongs to place the meatballs in the marinara sauce. Top with vegan mozzarella and some fresh oregano. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Step Four: Serve

Pull the meatballs out of the oven and top them with some more fresh oregano and grated vegan parmesan.

When it comes to serving these, you have some options. You can eat them as is – just grab a fork and dig in. You can serve them over pasta. Or you can make some garlic bread and get to dipping. I think my favorite way to eat these is with garlic bread. Since the meatballs are so tender, they basically melt on the bread. Soooooo yummy.

This is a recipe that will make your whole house smell amazing! You have to give it a try!

Tips & Tricks

I bought my lentils pre-cooked to keep this easy. You can usually find cooked lentils in the produce section or in the canned section.

I used a microwave pouch of brown rice to keep this easy.

The meatballs are meant to be super tender. If you want a slightly dryer texture, I would increase the breadcrumbs to 3/4 cup.

If you don’t have fresh oregano, you can use basil instead.

For a crispier top, turn the oven to broil for the last couple minutes of cooking.