An easy twist on Pasta alla Norma, Sicily’s famous eggplant pasta with fragrant tomato sauce and ricotta salata cheese! I bake the eggplant in the oven until it’s perfectly tender while the tomato sauce happily bubbles on the stove for a weeknight-friendly dinner that’s ready in under an hour!
Pasta alla Norma is one of Sicily’s most loved summer dishes for good reason. Like many traditional Italian recipes, the ingredient list is short, and you don’t need fancy equipment or cheffy techniques to make it. What makes it so special is its simplicity, celebrating sunny Mediterranean flavors without anything extra.
Most Pasta alla Norma recipes call for frying the eggplant, but I find it easier (and just as delicious) to roast it in my oven. The gentle heat softens the eggplant until it’s beautifully tender, and you can make the tomato sauce while it bakes.
If you love other classics like eggplant parmesan and Italian caponata, you absolutely need to try this Pasta alla Norma recipe. If you’re an eggplant sceptic, I think this eggplant pasta will change your mind!
Table of Contents
What is in Pasta alla Norma?
To make Pasta alla Norma, you’ll need pasta, eggplant, tomato sauce, ricotta salata, basil, and olive oil. I made a quick tomato sauce myself as the eggplant roasted for this recipe. You’ll need:
- Eggplant: Select eggplant with deep-colored, shiny skins, and they should be heavy for their size.
- Garlic: Gives a deeply savory flavor to the simple tomato sauce.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Go for a quality olive oil with a pleasant taste. (I love the richness of our Italian Nocellara with this recipe.)
- Seasoning: Red pepper flakes bring a layer of heat to the quick tomato sauce for added complexity. Dried oregano is more concentrated than fresh, bringing a bold Mediterranean flavor to the easy sauce. Use a quality dried oregano with a green color and strong aroma. Kosher salt enhances the flavor.
- Canned diced tomatoes: If you have a can of whole tomatoes, simply pulse them in a food processor until diced.
- Pasta: Feel free to use what you have, but I prefer using a short cylinder-shaped pasta like rigatoni with ridges. The gaping center and the ridges will hold on to the tomato sauce, making every bite extra flavorful.
- Ricotta Salata: A semi-hard cheese made from sheep’s milk whey. (Just like traditional fresh ricotta, except it’s pressed, salted, and aged.) Salty, creamy, and mild, it gives a touch of richness without dominating. Substitute with Parmesan or Pecorino, or leave it off for a dairy-free option.
- Parsley brings a pop of color and freshness. Substitute with basil.
How to Make Pasta alla Norma
You want the eggplant to be very tender for this Pasta alla Norma recipe. Feel free to keep the tomato sauce simmering a bit longer if you’re working with a very firm eggplant. Here are the steps:
- Prep the eggplant. Trim 2 eggplants, then and partially peel them from top to bottom in a striped pattern. Slice them into 1/2-inch thick rounds, then season all over with salt. Set aside for a few minutes to expel their bitterness (ideally 30 minutes if you have time).
- Meanwhile, get ready to roast. Heat the oven to 425°F. Brush the bottom of a large sheet pan with olive oil. Mince 5 garlic cloves. Chop enough fresh parsley to get 1/2 cup. Grate 1/2 cup’s worth of Ricotta Salata.
- Roast the eggplant. Use a paper towel to wipe the eggplant dry and remove excess salt, then arrange the eggplant slices in the pans in one single layer. (Eggplant slices should not overlap, each should be comfortably touching the bottom of the sheet pan. Use two oiled sheet pans if necessary.) Roast in the heated oven for 20 minutes, then flip and rotate until deeply golden brown, anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a separate large deep pan, heat 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, lower the heat and cook, tossing regularly, until the garlic gains a little bit of color. Add the tomatoes (with their juices), oregano, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a quick boil, then lower the heat and let simmer briefly.
- Finish the sauce and cook the pasta. When the eggplant is golden and tender, remove from the oven and stir into the sauce. Let simmer while you cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to package instructions (mine took about 11 minutes). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water before draining.
- Finish and serve. Add the pasta to the sauce and give it a good stir. If the sauce looks a bit dry, add a splash of the reserved pasta water and toss until the pasta is well-coated. Taste and adjust seasoning. Finish with the chopped parsley and grated ricotta salata.
What to Serve with Pasta alla Norma
The great thing about this eggplant pasta recipe is that it is a satisfying meal by itself, you don’t need to add much else to the dinner table. I like to start with a big fresh salad like this white bean salad or a simple lemony arugula salad.
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Ingredients
- 2 eggplants (about 2 pounds in total)
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with their juices
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 pound rigatoni pasta
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup grated ricotta salata
Instructions
- Prep the eggplant. Trim the eggplant, then and partially peel them from top to bottom in a striped pattern. Slice them into 1/2-inch thick rounds, then season all over with salt. Set aside for a few minutes to expel their bitterness (ideally 30 minutes if you have time).
- Meanwhile, get ready to roast. Heat the oven to 425°F. Brush the bottom of a large sheet pan with olive oil.
- Roast the eggplant. Use a paper towel to wipe the eggplant dry and remove excess salt, then arrange the eggplant slices in the pans in one single layer. (Eggplant slices should not overlap, each should be comfortably touching the bottom of the sheet pan. Use two oiled sheet pans if necessary.) Roast in the heated oven for 20 minutes, then flip and rotate until deeply golden brown, anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a separate large deep pan, heat 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, lower the heat and cook, tossing regularly, until the garlic gains a little bit of color. Add the tomatoes (with their juices), oregano, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a quick boil, then lower the heat and let simmer briefly.
- Finish the sauce and cook the pasta. When the eggplant is golden and tender, remove from the oven and stir into the sauce. Let simmer while you cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to package instructions (mine took about 11 minutes). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water before draining.
- Finish and serve. Add the pasta to the sauce and give it a good stir. If the sauce looks a bit dry, add a splash of the reserved pasta water and toss until the pasta is well-coated. Taste and adjust seasoning. Finish with the chopped parsley and grated ricotta salata.
Video
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including the olive oil and oregano used in this recipe.
- Salting the eggplant before cooking is an optional step, but I do think it improves its flavor and texture
- Other tomato sauce options: If you keep some homemade spagetti sauce in your fridge, that will work too. Or, if you’re too short on time, you can use a quality store-bought marinara sauce instead.
- Make-ahead option: You can prepare the sauce and roast the eggplant one day in advance. Store them in the fridge in separate containers.
- Leftovers & Storage: Store leftover pasta all norma in a tight-lid container in the fridge for 3 days. Warm up over medium heat.
Nutrition
*This post has recently been updated with new information for readers’ benefit.
Looks delicious
Easy and delicious!! Close to what we had in Palermo!! Thank you!!!!
Thank you for this recipe. The flavors melded very well. I additionally added mushrooms.
This was so delicious and hearty!! We made a few adjustments, like adding roasted broccoli, adding homemade alfredo sauce along with the marinara, and adding dried basil. They elevated an already amazing recipe! My mother and I had lots of fun cooking this for our Christmas meal. Will definitely be coming back to this recipe xx
Hi Vaishnavi, Devin here from the Mediterranean Dish team. Very happy to hear you loved this recipe & thank you for sharing your tips!
I will give all five stars it’s a great one
love it.
I love this recipe!
I’m not a great fan of eggplant and overcooked it. Still came out great!
Loved it and will cook it again.
Thank you Suzy.
Eggplant stuck to my trays so might need to put more oil on next time. Overly spiced for kiddos so will use half the flakes next time.
Can you double check the sodium content? It seems really low. I would love to try this but have to watch sodium
Hi, Karen. I just went and took another look, and the number listed there is correct based on the ingredients. Please note, though, like many recipe websites, we use a software program based on the ingredient list to help us with nutritional information, and it is a best estimate as we are not dietitians. Here is the link to our full Nutritional Information Disclaimer.
So yummy. Definitely a go to recipe even just for the sauce!!
Very yummy dish, and very fast & easy.
I did salt & wipe the eggplant before roasting at 450°. I used my own Arrabbiata sauce since I had it on hand and that gave it a bit of an extra kick. I used penne pasta just because it’s easier for some to handle, though the rigatoni picks up more of the sauce- a trade off. Lastly, I didn’t have ricotta salada so I added a dollop of regular ricotta on top of each serving. It was wonderful.
Utterly delicious and so simple! Don’t skip roasting those eggplants, such amazing flavour 🙂 We used feta because that’s what we had in the fridge.
This recipe was an unexpected surprise with flavor! It tasted like it came straight out of a restaurant’s kitchen. My spouse doesn’t care for eggplant because it can be mushy, but following this recipe with drying it out with salt for 30 mins really did the trick! It even tastes better the next day after the noodles soak up all the juices. When putting leftovers away, I saved 3/4 cup pasta water to pour over so it wouldn’t be dry the next day. Serving it for lunch the next day, was even better than the first night! This recipe is perfect for a dinner party!
Will be doing this 2 nite
So healthy my Dr. asked me are you on a diet?
My lab results were excellent
I told her I’m doing the Mediterranean Dish.com
Suzy you are the best.
That is so wonderful to hear, Miriam!!
Suzy, This is another delicious recipe from you! I will definitely make this again!
Yay! Thanks, Barb!
Another delicious recipe! I was pressed for time so did not have time to roast the eggplant. Instead I cooked it on my grill pan until just a hint of char. This recipe is the magical mix of simple to make but complex flavours.
Suzy – every time I make one of your recipes, I feel like like someone who is “making dinner” to “a cook”. Thank you so much.
Thank you for trying the recipe and taking the time to leave a review.