Inspired by a beloved Italian classic, this Tomato, Eggplant and Ricotta pasta is all about simple ingredients and big flavors. It’s a great vegetarian dinner to add your weekly rotation!

Creamy Tomato, Eggplant & Ricotta Pasta – A Comforting Italian Classic

Pasta alla Norma, a traditional Sicilian dish, is made of pasta and sautéed eggplant tossed with tomato sauce and topped with ricotta salata. It’s a wonderful vegetarian dinner. It can be thrown together in under an hour with very little effort and it’s very satisfying.

This take on the classic is just as simple and straightforward, but the main difference lies in the cheese: this Tomato, Eggplant & Ricotta Pasta calls for fresh ricotta as opposed to ricotta salata. While ricotta salata is dry and crumbly, fresh ricotta is soft and creamy, and in this recipe, added straight to the sauce.

Choosing the Best Eggplant

As with most vegetables, the eggplants you buy at a farmers’ market are usually quite fresh, but the ones you get from the supermarket are likely to have experienced a longer interval between harvest and the move into the store’s shelves.

When buying eggplant, look at the little green cap: the brighter the green, the fresher the eggplant.

Examine the skin: it should be glossy, taut, and completely smooth. Squeeze the eggplant gently: it must not feel spongy; it should spring back firmly from your touch. When held in the hand, it must feel light; if it is heavy in the hand it could be weighed down by too many seeds. It should be slightly firm but not hard.

Eggplant yields a creamy and sweet flesh when baked whole, but tends to be a little less sweet, and even bitter sometimes, when cut into chunks and sautéed. In that case, you might want to first purge the eggplant of bitter juices by salting the chunks ahead of time and allowing any bitter juices to drain away (pat the slices dry before cooking).

I’ve never had to follow the purging method when making this pasta. I cook the eggplant chunks in abundant olive oil and they always come out nicely browned, soft, and sweet. But keep that in mind in case you might find them bitter.

Step-by-Step Instructions

The prep here involves minimal chopping: cut the eggplant into small cubes, finely dice the onion and garlic. Feel free to measure with your heart when it comes to the garlic.

You can use a skillet or a saucepan for the sauce, just make sure it’s big enough to fit 1 can of tomatoes plus the other ingredients.

Start by cooking the eggplant in an abundance of olive oil. Eggplants are infamous for soaking up a lot of oil and because we’re skipping the drying process here, they’ll require quite a bit of olive oil, which will make them flavorful and nicely golden brown. Keeping adding olive oil as need until the eggplant is nice and crispy. And don’t forget to add some salt!

Then it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients: cook the onion and garlic until they’re translucent and fragrant. Then add the cherry tomatoes and let them cook until they’re bursting with flavor – literately. Again, make sure to season every step of the way. Add in a new ingredient, add in a little bit of salt.

Add the canned tomatoes and allow the sauce to simmer until the reduced and thickened and wonderfully saucy.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente. Add the ricotta to the sauce, followed by the pasta and make sure to add a little bit of the pasta cooking water, too. The starchy liquid helps thicken and emulsify the sauce, binding it to the pasta, creating a smoother, richer and more cohesive dish!

Taste and adjust the seasonings one last time before garnishing it with fresh herbs and serving.

If you make this Tomato, Eggplant & Ricotta Pasta please be sure to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you and I love responding to every comment. And don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram. I’d love to see your photos!