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Home » Recipes » Slow Cooker Recipes » Slow Cooker Eggplant Pasta with Sausage

Slow Cooker Eggplant Pasta with Sausage

By meredith on October 18, 2018 · 2 Comments

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eggplant pasta
eggplant pasta in dish
eggplant pasta

A delicious and easy dinner idea for weeknights!  This slow cooker eggplant pasta recipe made with a rich sauce of tomato, dry white wine and sausage.  Add a little heavy cream (optional) and parmesan to finish it off!

eggplant pasta

Early autumn is an ideal time to use up that eggplant you’ve been eyeing in your garden for weeks. I’d walk by the growing purple bulb on my way to the basil and think about how I really needed to do something with it!

eggplant in garden

Is Eggplant A Fruit

Eggplants are actually a fruit that can be used in a variety of dishes because it readily absorbs other flavors. Like a tomato, you can eat both the skin and the seeds, but it’s not advisable to eat it raw so it’s almost always cooked. We grow eggplant every year because I adore that indistinguishable deep purple hue. For those who’ve never tasted an eggplant, they will surely know its color. I think one of my high school prom dresses was inspired by it!

How Do You Make Tomato and Eggplant Sauce

The eggplant simmers in the slow cooker to create a rich sauce made with tomato, dry white wine and sausage. When ready to serve, just add fresh cooked pasta. A couple of years ago, I came across a recipe in an issue of ‘Good & Fresh’ magazine that involved eggplant pasta and a slow cooker. Brilliant!  I’ve changed the recipe quite a bit to enhance the flavors for our family. I now call it “Slow Cooker Eggplant Pasta with Sausage”  It’s a dish we all enjoy this busy time of year.

Are you ready to make “Slow cooker Eggplant Pasta with Sausage” with me?

Come on in to my kitchen!

sausage in cast iron pan

First off, in a heavy bottom skillet, cook one pound of your favorite ground sausage in olive oil and set it aside.

fennel and onion in pan for eggplant pasta

Using the same pan, saute chopped onion with minced garlic and fennel seeds. The fennel will start to pop and crisp up as they cook with the onion and garlic. It smells wonderful!

How To Prepare and Peel Eggplant

how to peel eggplant

Meanwhile, you will peel the eggplant with a vegetable peeler. Eggplants are ideally harvested when the skin is glossy and thin while the inside flesh is cream colored and firm. We want to remove the skin for this recipe because the slow cooker will soften the eggplant and make them almost invisible in our dish – a sneaky move for picky eaters.

chopped eggplant for slow cooker eggplant pasta

How Do You Know If The Eggplant is Fresh

You can see that the seeds are a light golden brown. That means the eggplant has been freshly picked. If you cut into an eggplant that has dark brown or black seeds, it has been picked for awhile. You can still use the eggplant as long as the flesh is still firm.

Discard the peels and chop up two cups of the eggplant fruit.

parsley and basil chopped for eggplant pasta recipe

How to Make Eggplant Pasta

Add the sausage, onion mixture and eggplant to your slow cooker. Next, chop up fresh parsley, fresh basil and add dried oregano and salt.

tomatoes and eggplant ingredients for pasta

To the slow cooker, also add fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste. Look at the pretty colors represented here!

adding wine to slow cooker for eggplant pasta recipe

Don’t get out your stir stick yet. We are going to add some dry white wine. I like to buy those small size wines in the cooking section of your grocery. You could use pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc or chardonnay.  Measure out dry white wine with 1 cup of water. Pour them both into your slow cooker.

ingredients in slow cooker for eggplant pasta

Give it all a good stir. Doesn’t that look yummy? Just wait until it cooks down and makes your kitchen smell like an Italian bistro. Cover and slow cook on HIGH for 3.5 hours or on LOW for 7 hours.

slow cooker eggplant pasta with sausage in bowl

When ready to serve, cook 10 oz. of pasta (penne, ziti, macaroni – whatever!) in salted water. Drain the pasta well and stir it into the sauce. Sometimes I also stir in a little heavy cream to make it more decadent and top with fresh grated parmesan. Enjoy this with a salad and maybe even a glass of that leftover white wine. It’s a unique dish that will give you another reason to love that amazing purple fruit.

Happy Autumn!

More of the Best Slow Cooker Recipes

  • Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe
  • Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Bacon
  • Slow Cooker Vegetable Barley Soup
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slow cooker eggplant pasta with sausage in bowl

Slow Cooker Eggplant Pasta with Sausage

  • Author: meredith
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 7 hours
  • Total Time: 7 hours 25 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
  • Category: Main
  • Method: Slow Cooker
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Slow cooker eggplant pasta made with sausage.  Seasoned with fresh basil, parsley and topped with parmesan.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound ground sausage (any kind)
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup white onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ teaspoon fennel seed
  • 2 cups eggplant, chopped with skin removed
  • ½ cup fresh parsley
  • ¼ cup fresh basil
  • ½ teaspoon oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 14.5 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes
  • 6 oz. can of tomato paste
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup water
  • heavy cream (optional)
  • fresh parmesan (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a heavy bottom skillet, cook the ground sausage in about 2 T. of olive oil and set it aside.
  2. Using the same pan, saute the onion, garlic and fennel seeds until the seeds pop and start to crisp.
  3. Meanwhile, peel an eggplant with a vegetable peeler. Discard the peels and chop up two cups of the eggplant fruit into small cubes.
  4. Add the sausage, onion mixture and eggplant to your slow cooker.
  5. Next, chop up and add the fresh parsley, fresh basil and add the dried oregano and salt
  6. To the slow cooker, add the can of fire roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, dry white wine and water.
  7. Stir well and set your slow cooker for LOW at 3.5 hours or HIGH for 7 hours.
  8. When ready to serve, cook 10 oz. of your favorite pasta pasta in salted water and stir the pasta into the sauce.
  9. Stir in heavy cream and/or top with fresh parmesan (optional)

Keywords: eggplant pasta, slow cooker eggplant

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Dutch Apple Pie Recipe »

About meredith

Meredith is a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom living in NW Ohio and is the author and photographer of many recipes on Cleverly Simple. She loves to adapt recipes to her family’s eclectic tastes and is learning to provide nourishment for any bellies who walk through the door at a moment’s notice.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Aimee

    July 29, 2019 at 7:19 am

    This looks yummy! I just wanted to confirm that it’s 3.5 hours on high or 7 hours on low…?

    Reply
    • Meredith

      July 29, 2019 at 9:10 am

      Yes, that is correct! 🙂

      Reply

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Lynette Rice head shotHi, I’m Lynette. My desire is to help women who feel uninspired weave time honored recipes into their routines to create a sense of simplicity. Most of my recipes come from the treasured recipe box passed down from my great-grandma, grandmother and mother. And I want to share them with you.  Learn more.

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