An Eggplant Caprese Grilled Cheese is the perfect comfort food with all seasonal summer ingredients, perfect for dipping in soup or serving with a side salad! A delicious sandwich that takes lunch to the next level.
Looking for more sandwich options? Try our Eggplant Parm Sandwich, The Italian Breakfast Sandwich, Mediterranean Chicken Wrap, or Peppers and Eggs Sandwich!
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Why This Grilled Cheese
This eggplant grilled cheese is the perfect sandwich for the summer. It is filled with these beautiful beefsteak tomatoes, graffiti eggplants, pesto, mozzarella, and freshly grated parmesan neatly placed between two slices of this homemade whole wheat sourdough bread.
They're is nothing like a grilled cheese with all fresh ingredients from the garden! This one is perfect for dipping in our Roasted Carrot Ginger Soup or Classic Italian Minestrone. Or try a Gruyere Grilled Cheese with Classic Pasta Fagioli!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Eggplants. These are called graffiti eggplants, and they are similar to Italian Eggplants, which are hard to come by in the South. They are just a little sweeter than the eggplants you normally buy at the supermarket.
- Sourdough Bread. I love to use sourdough bread because it's usually what we have in the house, especially in the summer. Italian bread will work just fine also.
- Tomatoes. The riper the better. They will make the sandwich delicious.
- Pesto. You need about ½ a cup of pesto. You could make a traditional pesto or try out pea pesto, especially if you're running low on basil.
*Please see the recipe card below for more information on the ingredients.
Step-by-Step Directions
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. We could make everything on the grill or you can bake your tomatoes in the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
Step 1: Slice your tomatoes into nice thick slices for roasting. Place onto a baking sheet with parchment paper and season with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Step 2: Place the whole baking sheet on the grill for 10 minutes or bake in the oven for 20 minutes. The tomatoes should be a deep red color when finished. I suggest adding more time if they don't look like this! You can see which tomato was the ripest here.
Step 3: Season your eggplant with the same seasoning you used for your tomatoes, and now you're going to bring them outside to grill. They should cook relatively quickly, 3-5 minutes on each side or until you see a nice sear on each side.
Step 4: In a medium frying pan, place 1 tablespoon of butter and bring to medium heat. Butter one side of each slice of your sourdough for good measure. We're not here to save the arteries today. Put parmesan and mozzarella on the bread and top with eggplant, pesto, tomatoes, basil, and then more of both kinds of cheese.
Press the sandwich down onto the frying pan and cook until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes on each side. You'll want to add another tablespoon of butter before placing the other side in the frying pan. Fry the other side of the sandwich and remove from the pan.
You could serve this with some lentil soup or Orzo and Garbanzo Bean Salad and dip it in the extra pesto. Or serve it with our Spicy Vodka Sauce for dipping! It finishes with the perfect crispy crusty bread and cheesy mushy inside.
Pro-Tips
- When you grill your eggplant, you want to make sure they are cooked on high heat to remove as much moisture from it as you can.
- When melting mozzarella, always use a block of mozzarella instead of fresh. It gives you a better melt for grilled cheese.
- Thick-cut tomatoes work best for roasting. If you cut them too thin, they'll shrivel to nothing.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. The only thing I currently grow in my garden is basil. In the summer we try to make huge batches of pesto and freeze them so we can have some fresh pesto in the winter.
If you don't have a grill, you could bake the eggplant or fry it in a cast iron pan. Just be sure to salt the eggplant and let it sit for about 20 minutes if you choose to do it this way to draw out some of the moisture. Then wipe them dry with a paper towel.
I always go for the smallest eggplants I can find. They tend to be less chewy and mealy. In some places, you can find small Italian eggplants, which are perfect.
Don't forget to leave us a review to let us know how you enjoyed the sandwich! Follow us on Instagram @vindelgiudice and Tiktok @alwaysfromscratch.
More Summer Recipes
📖 Recipe
Eggplant Caprese Grilled Cheese
Equipment
- 1 cast iron pan or grill for eggplant
- 1 large frying pan
Ingredients
- Sourdough Bread Sourdough is preferred for this recipe, but you can use any kind of bread you'd like!
- 3 Beefsteak Tomato The riper the better
- ½ cup Pesto
- 4 tablespoon Butter
- 1 Small Eggplant, sliced into ½ inch slices
- 1.5 cup Mozzarella Cheese
- ½ cup parmesan
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 Handful Basil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and Grill to Medium-High heat. You can bake your eggplant on a separate pan from tomatoes if you'd like, but I prefer grilled eggplant.
- Slice your tomatoes and place on a baking pan with parchment paper. Dress generously with Extra Virgin Olive oil, salt and Pepper. Roast tomatoes for 20 minutes in the oven. You can also roast your tomatoes in the pan right on the grill and cut the time down to 10 minutes
- Season eggplant in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and pepper and grill both sides for 5 minutes. If you aren't grilling, cook them on a cast iron pan for 2-3 minutes per side on medium-high heat.
- Slice your sourdough bread and butter one side of each of the bread. In a frying pan on the stove melt 1 tablespoon of butter on medium heat.
- Pile up your sandwich with bread butter side face down, then parmesan and mozzarella, tomatoes, eggplant, pesto, basil leaves, and the remaining cheese. Close the sandwich and press down on to frying pan and fry for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Flip and fry other side.
- Slice open and enjoy this beautiful Eggplant Caprese Grilled Cheese!
Notes
- Whether you grill your eggplant or fry, you want to make sure they are cooked on high heat to remove as much moisture from them as you can.
Martin
This was so much fun to make and absolutely DELICIOUS. recipe was easy to follow as well, can’t wait to try more!