Rachael Ray’s
Vegetarian Schnitzel

Rachael Ray takes a unique spin on eggplant, transforming it into vegetarian schnitzel

Rachael Ray gets creative in the kitchen, using sliced eggplant to create vegetarian schnitzel for her non-carnivorous friends.

While some die-hard German food lovers might have trouble considering what Rachael makes an actual “schnitzel”, you can’t deny it looks delicious. Check out the video below and see just how easy it is to make a vegetarian-friendly schnitzel!

The inclusion of the roasted peppers, capers, and parmigiano-reggiano gives this dish more of an almost Italian feel than the classic German schnitzel, but the delicious breading and lemon wedges are straight out of your favorite hofbrau.

By infusing flavor into the eggplant via the marinade, Rachael avoids the need to do too much seasoning of the breading itself. By doing this, she assures that even if some breading falls off during the cooking of your eggplant “cutlets” you don’t lose any flavor in the process.

One other thing that Rachael doesn’t make expicitly clear in the video is that the eggplant needs to sit in the marinade for a bare minimum of four hours, preferrably even longer than that. By having it sit that long, you allow the flavors to really incorporate into the eggplant itself. You can also experiment with the spice blend for the breading; in addition to garlic, onion, and nutmeg, there are any number of spices that complement the flavors perfectly.

To make this vegetarian schnitzel recipe by the book, you’ll need the following ingredients:

  • 1 large firm eggplant
  • Salt
  • 2 lemons, 1 juiced and 1 cut into wedges
  • 2 tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for drizzling
  • Black pepper
  • 3 large field or bell red peppers
  • 3 tablespoons capers
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 1 teaspoon granulated onion
  • About 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
  • Oil, for shallow frying

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