Are you tired of the usual eggplant recipes? Fried eggplant, grilled, breaded, roasted, sauteed, or even in a salad or soup? You name it! You might serve all of these already to your friends and loved ones.
You were searching for something new, something that you can do for your eggplant stuck on your countertop. You’re thankful for how easy to find all yummy recipes with just one tap away.
It’s great that you found this easy-to-make eggplant parmesan!
It has a cheesy and flavorful sauce combined with your crispy eggplant. It will surely get a five-star rating for your family! But you must feel something is missing. Yes! It’s better with a side dish!
What to serve with eggplant parmesan?
The next search that you need is to find the perfect combo for your eggplant parmesan. Since you’re making a healthy meal, many side dishes can easily get along with it. In this post, all the best side dishes that are perfect to combine with eggplant parmesan will be covered.
Top 17 Sides to Serve with Parmesan Eggplant
- Coleslaw
- Pasta salad (see how much to serve per guest)
- Baked potato
- Spaghetti
- Rice
- Pasta
- Mac & cheese
- Salad
- Tomato
- Broccoli
- Green beans
- Sweet corn
- Beef – sloppy joes
- Pork Slider
- Turkey patties
- Potato Chips
- Sweet Potato Wedges with Chili
Below are the general options that you can choose from. Since you’ll have eggplant with sauce and cheese, you can either go for meat, seafood, another type of vegetable, or even bread for your side dish. You can also have salad, soup or pasta.
Now to make it more specific to help you decide which one to start. Keep on reading because it is included in this article.
Different side dishes for eggplant parmesan
Here comes the side dishes that you can make together with your delicious eggplant parmesan to have another feast to share with your guests and family.
Meat
Since you have your healthy vegetable already, having meatballs, steak, Italian sausages, or chicken cutlets are great partners for your main dish. It will bring deep flavors that everyone will love.
You know that meatballs are best with sauce and cheese, so having them in your eggplant parmesan, you won’t need to explain why they will be a great pairing.
For steak, you know how important a dish it is but it will always give an extra punch if you’ll have it in your tasty eggplant parmesan. Even Italian sausages are smokey and savory, which will give an amazing flavor to your creamy dish.
And don’t forget your breaded chicken cutlet, its crispiness will bring your meal to the next level of deliciousness.
Seafood
If you’re trying to lessen your meat intake and wanted to go for a healthier option, you can have a grilled shrimp or a cioppino.
If you’re in a hurry and just wanted a simple side dish, you can never go wrong with grilled marinated shrimp. It will only take around 3-4 minutes to be cooked and don’t forget your marinated sauce to brush on it to complete your impressive dish.
But if you want to try another new recipe, you can go for cioppino. Have you heard about it? Or have you tasted it before? If not yet, it’s an Italian-American fish stew. It has scallops, clams, crabmeat, and mussels. It will be the best time to surprise your friends with how amazing you are in the kitchen.
Vegetables
Another vegetable recipe won’t be a miss-hit for your celebration. You can absolutely serve eggplant parmesan with roasted or mashed potatoes, grilled zucchini, roasted broccoli, spaghetti squash pasta, stir-fried cabbage, Italian green beans and tomatoes, or sauteed spinach.
As you can see, few choices can blend well with your main dish. You can start with potatoes, either you serve them roasted or mashed. You can make it a little spicy and even kids will love the slight crispiness of the roasted potato. While for mashed potatoes, there will be no doubt about this recipe since it’s the ultimate best friend of all meals.
For a quick side dish, you must have the grilled or stir-fried cabbage. Why? Because within 10 minutes it will be all ready to serve. You can also try roasted broccoli by simply baking it in your preheated oven until you get the tender and a little brownish of it.
You can cook Italian green beans and tomatoes too if you want another tastiest recipe. With few ingredients, it can result in a more colorful and healthy dish. Since we’re talking about healthy dishes, another recipe full of nutrition is sauteed spinach. After washing it thoroughly, in a few minutes in the pan with other seasonings, it will come out nice and hot.
But if you’re up for another challenge, you can go with spaghetti squash pasta. It might sound difficult to do but with simple ingredients, it can result in a buttery and tasteful than pasta noodles. Plus, it’s healthier and new for the eyes. So it won’t just be good for you and your family’s health but they will like how creative you are too.
Bread
One of the best side dishes is garlic bread. It tastes great with pasta and this will not be an excuse for your eggplant parmesan. It’s very simple and easy to make. Start by preparing your loaf of bread, melted salted butter, salt, minced garlic, and parsley.
Imagine how you are going to dip this garlic bread in your cheesy sauce from your eggplant parmesan. It is already giving you that comforting feeling just by thinking of it, how much more after you cooked it already.
Salad
It’s another batch of mixed vegetables that you can pick as your future side dish for your delicious eggplant parmesan. And if you’re planning to have a salad, you can prepare either antipasto, mixed greens, Caprese, grape and feta kale, or macaroni salad.
Antipasto salad is a popular side dish for this meal. It’s a combination of meat and vegetables with cheese and complementing vinaigrette.
Looking for a wonderful toss of green leafy veggies? Mixed vegetables will be the right choice for you and your family. It will give a refreshing kick and will blend well with your saucy eggplant parmesan.
But if you want a simple side dish fresh from Italian cuisine, you can have Caprese on the top of the list. It’s a traditional Italian salad where ingredients represent the color of their flag; green basil, white mozzarella cheese, and red tomatoes. That’s an additional history to share with your family while enjoying dinner.
Next is a sweet and salty combo salad, grapes, and feta kale. You can add walnuts and unsalted sunflower seeds and drizzle with honey vinaigrette. You can always add based on your desired taste.
Lastly, but absolutely not to be the least on your list, is macaroni salad. If your eggplant parmesan should be served hot this side dish should be served the other way around. It’s creamy and in between sour and sweet which will complement your savory eggplant parmesan.
Soup
If you wanted to take a sip with a soup, there are a few side dishes that can be an answer to that as well. You can either serve a creamy tomato soup or a hot Zuppa Toscana.
On your tomato soup, you can even top your eggplant parmesan on it. Since it will perfectly combine the sauce and the soup itself.
While Zuppa Toscana, with its combined ingredients such as vegetables or meat and bean soup or broth, is truly a perfect blend with your star dish. It will bring your family closer when delicious food like these will be served.
Pasta
The way it looks, you might think eggplant parmesan is a pasta dish. Which is not. In fact, you can even have a pasta side dish to complete this hearty meal. On the list are pasta bolognese, butter noodles, and Gnocchi.
Your pasta bolognese is another Italian dish that is made with meat sauce with small bits of tomatoes. It is a family favorite that no one can deny, plus pairing it with your main dish will make them love it more than ever!
But if you’re into simpler pasta, go for butter noodles. It’s as easy as one, two, and three. It only needs noodles and butter. With these two main ingredients, it can make your eggplant parmesan tasty at its best.
Down to our last list, is Gnocchi. It may sound unfamiliar but it’s actually not as complicated as you think. Either you use dough or potatoes to make its pasta. Whatever you choose between the two, it can certainly give more texture as your side dish.
What to serve with eggplant parmesan (side dishes)
It’s definitely a bunch of options that you can pick from and decide which one to serve for your friends and family. From general categories to specific side dishes, this creamy eggplant parmesan and your desired side dish will be a great meal for any occasion or even for a simple lunch or dinner.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to choose and make your version of a delicious feast!