Easy Pepperoni Eggplant Pizzas
Baked easy pepperoni eggplant pizzas topped with a homemade tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Half pizza and half eggplant parmesan!
Easy Pepperoni Eggplant Pizzas
Jump to RecipeHere are two dishes that have a lot in common: Pizza and Eggplant Parmesan.
Both of them can be a bit of a pain to make from scratch (especially on a weeknight), but you can take the best parts of both and smash them together in what turns out to be a very delicious and easy recipe.
Plus, since there are no carbs or refined sugars in the recipe you can use that trending foodie word of the year: Paleo. I won’t use it, but you could.
Since these little eggplant pizzas are on the small size, they are also great for an appetizer. Or just fake out your kids and tell them your having pizza for dinner. You can blame it on me when they feel slighted.
Easy Pepperoni Eggplant Pizzas
- Serves:
- Serves 4
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Total Time:
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Baked easy eggplant pizzas topped with a homemade tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Half pizza and half eggplant parmesan, these are a great quick meal!
Ingredients
Instructions
1) Slice eggplant into 3/4-inch slices. If you slice them too thin, they will fall apart while they bake.
2) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place eggplant slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle the eggplant slices well with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.
3) Bake eggplant slices for 15 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10-12 minutes until the slices are slightly browned and crisp around the edges.
4) Meanwhile stir together tomato sauce with garlic powder, paprika, red pepper flakes, dried thyme, a drizzle of olive oil, and a small pinch of salt and pepper.
5) When eggplant slices are done, add a smear of tomato sauce to each round, then top with a mound of grated cheese and a few pieces of chopped pepperoni. Add a few fresh leaves of oregano to each pizza.
6) Bake pizzas for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted and browned around the edges.
Serve pizzas while warm as an appetizer or as a meal. 3-4 slices makes a great meal.
Nutrition Info
Easy Eggplant Pizzas
Eggplants can be an unwieldy veggie to be sure. They are large, have tough skins, and can be on the bitter side. Typically, if you’re making a baked dish with them (like these eggplant parm rolls), I would recommend salting and pressing them to remove some of the liquid.
But, there’s no need to do that for these little pizzas. Just slice the eggplant into thickish rounds. Shoot for 3/4-1 inch slices. If you get them too thin then they won’t stay sturdy after baking.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. and lay out your rounds on a baking sheet or two lined with parchment paper.
Drizzle them all with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can use a liberal hand with the seasonings.
Bake these guys for 15 minutes and then flip them and bake them for another 10-15 minutes. When they are done, they will be deflated slightly, but also browned on both sides and slightly crispy around the skin.
Topping Time
As far as I can tell, you could top these with any pizza toppings you like.
I kept my toppings pretty straightforward: cheese, pepperoni, and a little fresh oregano. You could use mozzarella, but provolone and eggplant are made to go together so trust me on that one.
Because these pizzas are on the small side, be sure to chop up your toppings (like pepperoni) so they fit nicely.
While you can use almost any topping, I’m not sure I would recommend using a white pizza sauce. The tomato sauce is pretty important, but there’s no need to do anything fancy. I just mixed up some basic tomato puree with a blend of spices. The secret ingredient which I wouldn’t normally put in pizza sauce is dried thyme.
Thyme really tastes great with eggplant so use it if you have it.
Finishing the Eggplant Pizzas
After your eggplant bases are baked, add a smear of tomato to each one. Easy enough right?
Then top each one with a mound of cheese and toppings.
I like using parchment paper for these because the cheese will melt around the eggplants and get a bit crispy. They are still easy to slide off the sheet though thanks to the parchment.
Stick them back into the oven for 5-6 minutes until they are melted and browned around the edges.
Serve these beauties while they are melted and warm. You probably won’t be able to actually pick them up and eat them like a slice… they are more of a fork and knife situation.
These easy eggplant pizzas are great appetizer or meal for a cold winter night!
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About Macheesmo
Read MoreHello! My name is Nick Evans and I write and manage Macheesmo. I started Macheesmo 11 years ago when I was just learning my way around the kitchen. I love to cook and love everything food-related, but I have no formal training. These days I focus on fast, accessible recipes with the occasional “reach” recipe!
I’ve posted almost 2,000 recipes on Macheesmo. For each one, I do my best to give full explanations of what I did and tips on what I’d do differently next time. I’ll bring up the tricky parts and the easy parts.
I hope you can find something and cook something!
Fabulous Nick!!! And the topping ideas could be endless :-) Right now I’m craving Middle Eastern food & thinking I could top these with some garlicky hummus & ground beef flavoured with Ras el Hanout. Hope Betsy is doing well!
That’s so funny. While I was writing this I thought that I should’ve tried some middle eastern toppings. I think they would be SO good on it. Nice call. :)
Great minds think alike huh! ;-)
Love it! Good tip about the parchment. I never want to leave any of the crispy cheesy goodness behind! Pinning this for later.
OMG! These look amazing! I love eggplant!
These look great! I’m always on the lookout for fun new appetizer ideas (I throw lots of parties!). I’ve pinned this to make it later. Thanks!
Love this idea! Pinned!
These mini eggplant pizzas are ah-mazing, I pinned!
I bet you could use Japanese eggplant for one-bite or two-bite pizzas.
What a great idea! It looks so good. Can’t wait to try this.