This Veggie Sandwich with Roasted Eggplant and Fresh Mozzarella is up there in my top five favorite veggie sandwiches of all time.
This veggie sandwich is packed full of flavor. It has roasted veggies with olive oil; tomato slices, eggplant, red bell pepper, and red onion. Melty, chewy, fresh slices of mozzarella. Toasty, gluten-free buns. And my go-to Homemade Balsamic Dressing.
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For More Veggie Recipes:
Parmesan Roasted Potatoes – Easy Little Potato Company Inspired Side
Breaded Parmesan Stuffed Zucchini Halves – The BEST Side Dish
Kale Salad with Apples, Craisins, and Goat Cheese – Easy Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
Easy Pico De Gallo, Five Ingredient – Better Than Store-Bought
Should I Make This Roasted Veggie Sandwich For Lunch or Dinner?
I highly recommend this to be a dinner sandwich – I promise it is filling and flavorful enough to be the main star of a meat-free meal.
This sandwich is a bit on the time-consuming side (it’s definitely not like slapping together a peanut butter jelly or even a grilled cheese). The eggplant needs to be properly salted to take away the bitterness, veggies need to be roasted, buns need to be toasted, etc.
What Makes my Roasted Veggie Sandwich so Good?
My fiancée and I figured it out. It took three or four times of eating this sandwich to make the connection. This sandwich has all of the main components of pizza.
Surprised?
There’s the thick, toasty carbs from the toasted olive oil-drizzled bread, the roasted tomatoes, red bell peppers, red onion, and chewy, melty fresh mozzarella slices.
Now, don’t go into this expecting a pizza, this sandwich is a thing all of its own. It’s just that the reason this sandwich is so weirdly addicting is that it’s practically a version of elevated pizza. But if now you’re only craving pizza, you should try out my Easy Gluten Free Pizza Crust recipe.
Oh, and if you’re an eggplant lover, this one’s for you.
Does Salting Eggplant Remove Bitterness?
Yes, it does!
Modern eggplant is cultivated to be less bitter than the earlier eggplant. However, salting them still helps to remove excess moisture and some bitterness. It also can help improve the texture, giving them a creamy bite.
I forgot to salt my eggplant once in another dish and the bitterness drew my mouth up, so I continue to salt.
How to Salt Eggplant:
- Cut your eggplant into coin slices. Eggplants are thin on one end and fat on the other, because of this you will have varying sizes of coins – that’s normal.
- Set the eggplant coins out in a single layer on a cutting board. Vigorously salt each slice.
- If you scroll up to the picture above, you can see droplets of moisture on the eggplant. This is what it will look like after the salt has sat on it about 10 minutes. Rinse the eggplant coin and flip to the other side. Salt.
- After another 10 minutes, rinse again and set eggplant coins on your cookie sheet.
You can easily prep your other vegetables while the eggplant is having its me-time.
Notes on Veggie Sandwich with Roasted Eggplant & Fresh Mozzarella:
- I highly recommend making my Homemade Balsamic Dressing go with this sandwich. It’s very simple to make, uses clean ingredients, and is one of the addictive flavors in this recipe. I love this dressing so much that it’s one of the main stars in another recipe, my Strawberry Balsamic Chicken Salad.
- Be sure to salt your eggplant for 20 minutes (see the above instructions in my post) to remove any bitterness.
- Eat this sandwich fresh from the oven. It tastes the best warm and toasty.
- You can make the dressing a day ahead of time to help streamline the process. Sometimes if a refrigerator is kept too cold, the olive oil in the dressing can solidify after a couple of days. You can either set it out at room temperature for half an hour or so or warm it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds. (If you store in a jar; never put a mason jar lid in the microwave).
- Slice all of your vegetables to the same thickness so they all roast at the same time.
- I always serve this sandwich with a small side salad of Spring Greens and extra Homemade Balsamic Dressing.
- You can easily make this sandwich glutinous by buying a pack of normal rolls or crusty bread/baguette. That’s what I do for my fiancée.
Veggie Sandwich with Roasted Eggplant and Fresh Mozzarella
Ingredients
For the Veggie Sandwich:
- 1 pack of gluten-free rolls or baguette - I used Schar hamburger buns
- 1 red onion - sliced into coins
- 2 tomatoes - sliced into coins
- 1 eggplant - sliced into coins
- 1 red bell pepper - sliced
- 8 oz fresh ball of mozzarella cheese
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided - 2 for vegetables, 1 for drizzling on bread before toasting
For the Homemade Balsamic Dressing:
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 ½ tbsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp honey
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Homemade Balsamic Dressing:
- Add all of the ingredients to a mason jar, and shake until well incorporated. You may have to stir to get the honey off of the bottom, and then shake again. Taste test with a piece of lettuce. Add another tbsp. of honey if too tart for your taste.
For the Veggie Sandwich:
- Slice eggplant into coins and place in a single layer on a cutting board. Salt vigorously. Let sit 10 minutes, rinse, flip on other side and salt again. Rinse after another 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, wash and slice the tomato, red onion, and red bell pepper. Arrange on a cookie sheet. Add eggplant to another cookie sheet. Drizzle both trays with 1 tbsp. olive oil each. Do not drench the eggplant with olive oil as it will soak in like a sponge. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until vegetables are tender and browned. Remove veggie trays from the oven and cover them with foil.
- Slice bread long ways, brush with olive oil and flip it crust face up. Toast for 3-5 minutes in the oven. Remove, flip right-side up, and top with one or two slices of mozzarella per half of the bread. Place back in the oven for 5-8 minutes, or until the cheese has melted a little bit down the sides. Remove from oven.
- To assemble the sandwich: Stack slices of each veggie on top of one another. We prefer to eat our sandwiches open-faced and with a fork and knife so we can pile on the roasted veggies. Serve with a sauce bowl filled with Homemade Balsamic Dressing and dip with each bite, or drizzle overtop. Pairs well with a side salad of spring greens & extra dressing.
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