Baked eggplant rolls: the clever version that starts from the jar
In short: baked eggplant rolls come together in 20 minutes when you start from eggplant preserved in olive oil. The slices are already cooked and soft: you fill them with ricotta, roll them up, cover with passata and bake at 190 °C for 15–18 minutes. No frying, no eggplant to slice and salt.
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Eggplant rolls are a buffet classic: a soft slice rolled around a filling, baked until golden. Delicious. But the traditional recipe begins with the most tedious part — slicing the eggplant, salting it to drain, frying or grilling each piece. An hour of work for an appetiser.
The shortcut is to start from eggplant already preserved in olive oil. They are thin slices, already cooked and dressed with extra virgin olive oil: soft, pliable, ready to be rolled. You skip the frying and all the grease it brings. If you'd like to get to know the product first, here we explain how to choose good eggplant in olive oil and 4 ways to use it.
Ingredients (serves 4, about 12 rolls)
- 1 jar of eggplant in extra virgin olive oil (212 g, whole slices)
- 200 g ricotta
- 50 g grated parmesan or pecorino
- a few spoonfuls of passata or tomato sauce
- fresh basil
- salt, pepper
- 1 small mozzarella or scamorza (optional, for the stringy version)
Time: 10 minutes prep, 18 minutes in the oven.
How to make baked eggplant rolls
- Heat the oven to 190 °C. Drain the eggplant from the oil and lay the slices on a board, patting them lightly.
- In a bowl, work the ricotta with the parmesan, a grind of pepper, a few torn basil leaves and a pinch of salt.
- Place a teaspoon of filling at one end of each slice and roll it up.
- Spread a few spoonfuls of passata over the base of a baking dish and arrange the rolls seam-side down, snug against one another.
- Finish with a little passata on top and, if you like it stringy, some pieces of mozzarella or scamorza. Dust with more parmesan.
- Bake for 15–18 minutes, until the surface is golden. Let them rest a few minutes before serving: piping hot they fall apart.
The detail that makes the difference
The slices shouldn't be squeezed dry, but neither left dripping with oil. Pat them just enough: too much oil and the base turns greasy, too little and they dry out in the oven. The right point is a slice that looks glossy but feels dry to the touch.
And arrange the rolls snug, one against the other. They support each other and stay closed during baking, with no need for toothpicks.
Variations
Stringy — a few cubes of mozzarella inside the filling, as well as on top. When you cut the roll, it stretches.
Sicilian style — add a few pine nuts and a little soaked raisins to the filling: sweet and savoury together.
Without tomato — white, just ricotta and parmesan, gratinated with a drizzle of the eggplant's oil. More delicate, excellent as an elegant starter.
The same slices, without rolling them, are perfect on crostini too: we cover them in our quick bruschetta with preserves.
Why it works with eggplant in olive oil
Eggplant fried at home soaks up unpredictable amounts of oil and changes every time. Our eggplant in extra virgin olive oil are regular slices, already cooked and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, with no added preservatives: pliable enough to roll without tearing.
They come from the long eggplant, sliced and preserved in EVO oil. It's the same product you'd put on a board or a bruschetta — here it just makes one extra trip to the oven. You'll find it with the other vegetables in the preserves collection.
FAQ
Do I have to fry the eggplant?
No. Starting from the ones in olive oil, they're already cooked: you roll them and they go straight into the oven. That's why this version takes twenty minutes.
What can I fill them with besides ricotta?
They work with stracchino, with a mix of tuna and capers, or in a vegan version with tofu and basil blended together. The soft slice holds any creamy filling.
Can I prepare them in advance?
Yes. Assemble the dish and keep it covered in the fridge until a few hours before; bake when ready to serve. Leftovers are good warm the next day too.
How do I stop them opening during baking?
Roll them seam-side down and arrange them snug in the dish. Their mutual weight keeps them closed, with no toothpicks.
