Sautéed Eggplant with Panko is a great topping for ravioli, chicken, pasta, and more. You could also eat it alone as a side dish.

If you follow Drugstore Divas on Instagram, you know that our backyard garden has been doing so well this year. It’s amazing how some years it just does better than others. This year, our real anomaly is the eggplant plants. They’ve been growing so well, which has started to make me think of other ways to cook eggplant. The other day I made Sautéed Eggplant With Panko that was just amazing.

Our homegrown eggplants are round and softball-sized. If you are picking up an eggplant from the store for this, you’ll probably end up with a long, oblong eggplant. That’s fine. It will just make a lot more of the recipe than the smaller eggplant.

Sautéed Eggplant With Panko

What You’ll Need:

• 1 eggplant
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/8 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

What You’ll Do:

Dice the eggplant, leaving the skin on.

Put it in a bowl of water, completely soaking the eggplant. Add a pinch of salt. Let it sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The salt will pull out any bitterness in the eggplant.

Drain the eggplant and rinse it.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the chopped garlic and sautée until the garlic starts to cook.

Add in the eggplant. Cook until the eggplant is tender, approximately 15 to 20 minutes (depending on how small you chopped it). Be mindful of stirring quite a bit so that the garlic doesn’t burn.

Remove from the heat. Toss in the Panko and stir to coat the eggplant.

Use it to top ravioli, pasta, chicken, or just serve it as a side.

Want more eggplant recipes?

Baked Eggplant Meatball Parmesan

Breaded Eggplant Parmesan Bites