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Decent eggplants are hard to come by in my area so when I see them, I grab them. In this recipe, lightly breaded and baked eggplant slices were piled on low carb Kaiser rolls spread with either garlic or pesto aioli, topped with grilled onions and red bell peppers and fat free mozzarella. After placing the top half of the rolls on the layers of veggies and cheese, they were pressed and grilled on an indoor grill until the roll was toasted and the cheese melted and gooey.
These panini can be served for lunch with some fresh fruit. Pair them with a bowl of soup, side salad or vegetable side dish and they make a satisfying dinner.
Eggplant panini make a great meatless meal and are bursting with flavor. The hubby and I love them with pesto or garlic aioli. I usually make one of each and we go halfsies and enjoy the best of both varieties.
Please see the recipe card below for exact amounts and directions.
Ingredient Round Up
- Eggplant
- Homemade seasoned bread crumbs – Instead of breading and baking the eggplant slices, you can grill them instead.
- Egg whites
- 647 Schmidt’s Kaiser Rolls – You can substitute in low carb bread or rolls of your choice.
- Fat free shredded mozzarella or cheese of your choice
- Garlic aioli or pesto aioli
Sodium Alert: The sodium content in this recipe is high due to the high salt content in the bread and cheese. You can lower the sodium by grilling the eggplant slices instead of breading and baking them. This will reduce the sodium by 121 mg. Using Good & Gather reduced fat mozzarella from Target will lower sodium by another 50 mg but it will raise the pts. Replacing half of the mayo with plain non fat yogurt will reduce sodium by approximately 80 mg depending on the brand of yogurt and mayonnaise used. All of these changes will lower the sodium for the panini with garlic aioli from 708 mg to 457 mg.
Making the Eggplant Panini
- Slice the eggplant. Place the eggplant slices into salted water and soak to remove the bitterness. After soaking the slices, rinse them off lay them out on paper towels to dry off.
- Set up a dredging station. Place the seasoned bread crumbs on a plate and place the egg white wash in a pie plate.
- Dip the eggplant slices in the egg whites and then lightly coat them with the bread crumbs.
- Place the breaded eggplant slices on a cookie sheet sprayed with olive oil or Pam. Place in the oven and bake. Turn the breaded eggplant slices over half way through the baking cycle. Remove the cookie tray of eggplant slices from the oven when done and set aside.
- Slice the onion and bell pepper. Grill them on an indoor grill until they are tender and starting to brown. Remove them from the grill and set them aside.
- Prepare the garlic aioli by mixing light m
- Cut the rolls in half and spread each side with either the garlic or pesto aioli. Place eggplant slices on the bottom half of the rolls.
- Layer the grilled onions on top of the breaded eggplant slices.
- Next layer the grilled red bell pepper strips on top of the grilled onions followed by the shredded mozzarella.
- Place the top of the roll on the bottom half of the sandwich. Place the sandwich on an indoor grill or panini press and grill until toasted and the mozzarella is melted.
- Cut the eggplant panini in half. Serve and enjoy.
Serving Ideas
- Eggplant panini are a satisfying lunch that can be served with a side of fresh fruit.
- Add a side Italian chopped salad, Capresse salad or heirloom tomato salad to an eggplant panini and you have a nice dinner.
- White bean soup, bruschetta, a tomato based zucchini stew or roasted vegetables also pairs well with eggplant panini.
WW 5 pt with garlic aioli; 6 pt with pesto aioli
Note: You can lower the total points of the panini by grilling the eggplant slices instead of breading and baking them. Substituting two slices of low carb bread for the Kaiser roll will also lower the points.
Servings: 2 panini
Calories: 258kcal
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Chef knife
- cookie tray
- pie plate
- bowl
- plate
- measuring cups and spoons
- indoor grill or panini press
Ingredients
Garlic Aioli
- 2 tbsp light mayonnaise
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Baked Breaded Eggplant
- 1 medium eggplant
- ½ c homemade seasoned breadcrumbs from low carb bread
- 2 egg whites or one whole egg
- 1 tbsp water
Panini
- 2 647 Kaiser rolls
- 2 slices chopped onion
- ½ medium bell pepper, red
- 4 tbsp shredded fat free mozzarella
- 1 tbsp garlic aioli
- 1 tbsp pesto aioli
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉.
Prep the Eggplant
- Slice the eggplant. Put the slices in a bowl and liberally sprinkle them with salt. Fill the bowl with water. Place a plate on top of the bowl and weigh it down to keep the eggplant submerged. Let soak for 30 min.
Prep the Garlic Aioli
- While the eggplant is soaking prep the aioli. Add the garlic powder to the light mayonnaise and mix together. You can use a finely minced clove of fresh garlic in place of the garlic powder but it will have a strong bite to it. Choose your preference and go with it.
- If you choose to use pesto aioli, I posted a recipe for it a while back that you can follow. I link to it in the body of this post. I always have some pre-made pesto aioli on hand in the refrigerator.
Preparing the Eggplant
- After soaking for 30 min, rinse off each eggplant slice and place it on a paper towel to dry off. Use another paper towel to blot the top surface dry.
- Place the bread crumbs on a plate. Place the egg whites in a pie plate, add the tbsp of water and beat together.
- Dip each eggplant slice into the egg white wash and then into the bread crumbs. You are looking to lightly bread them. Place the breaded slices on a cookie sheet sprayed with olive oil spray or Pam.
- Place the cookie tray of eggplant slices into the oven and bake at 400℉ for 10 min. At the end of 10 min, turn each slice over and return to the oven and bake for another 10 min. Remove from the oven when done and set aside.
Preparing the Panini
- Take the 2 slices of onion and cut them in half and separate the rings. Slice the red bell pepper into strips.
- Place the onions and bell pepper strips onto a preheated indoor grill or panini press. I use a Cusinart Deluxe Grill set to 400℉. Grill the onions and peppers until they are tender and starting to brown. Remove them when done and set aside.
- Slice the kaiser rolls in half. Spread ½ tbsp of aioli on the top of the roll and another ½ tbsp of aioli on the bottom of the roll. Use which ever aioli you prefer, the garlic or the pesto. I normally make one panini with pesto aioli and the other with garlic aioli and the hubby and I have a half of each panini .
- Put a layer of baked breaded eggplant slices on the bottom of each roll. Place a layer of grilled onion rings on top of the eggplant slices. Put the bell pepper strips on top of the grilled onions. Lastly, place the shredded fat free mozzarella on top of the pepper strips.
- Place the top of the rolls on the top of the sandwich. Place the sandwiches on the grill or panini press and lower the top. Grill until the rolls are toasted and the cheese is melted.
- Cut the panini in half. Serve and enjoy.
- You will have enough eggplant slices to make 2 more panini. I put the left over eggplant slices in an air tight container and refrigerator. The next day I make fresh panini with the left over eggplant slices.
Notes
I used 647 Schmidt's Kaiser rolls. You can substitute a different roll or low carb bread of our choice. The Kaiser roll is 3 pt and two slices of most low carb breads are 2 pt so that will reduce the total pts to 4 pt and may slightly reduce sodium depending on the brand of bread substituted.
You can grill the eggplant instead of breading and baking it. That will save another pt and reduce the sodium by 121 mg to 587 mg.
You can switch to Good & Gather reduced fat shredded mozzarella from Target and reduce sodium by 50 mg to 658 mg. Both grilling the eggplant and using this lower sodium cheese will bring the sodium down to 537 mg when made with garlic aioli.
Replacing half of the mayo with plain non fat yogurt in the garlic aioli will reduce sodium by approximately 80 mg depending on the brand of yogurt and mayonnaise used bringing the sodium down to 457 mg.
The nutrition data for the panini made with garlic aioli is at the very bottom of the recipe card.
The nutrition data for the panini made with the pesto aioli is below:
cal 263 kcal | fat 3.6 g | sat. fat 0.3 g | carb 56.3 g | fiber 28.4 g | sugar 9.5 g | protein 17.9 g | sodium 725 mg
Nutrition
Serving: 1panini | Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 17.6g | Fat: 3.4g | Sodium: 708mg | Fiber: 28.4g | Sugar: 9.4g
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