Ratatouille is a classic French vegetable stew from Provence made with eggplant, red bell pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil and herbs- a summer celebration in one dish! Video.
Summertime. It was a song. It was a season. I wondered if that season would ever live inside me.
Benjamin Alire SAenz
Here is one of our favorite recipes for Ratatouille. During the summer months when eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and zucchini are in season, the flavor of each vegetable is elevated-you really don’t need to do too much to them! Making Ratatouille is a beautiful way to highlight your garden veggies and truly captures the essence of summer!
Easy Ratatouille Recipe | 60-sec video!
WhY You Will Love This recipe!
- The best flavor and texture! Roasting the veggies instead of stewing them intensifies their flavor, caramelizes them a bit, and gives them a better texture.
- Fast and easy! It only takes about 15 minutes to prep the veggies, and then they go into the oven to roast.
- Versatile! Serve it over pasta, rice or polenta, or pile on toast. Get creative! Ratatouille can be served warm or cold.
- Nutritious & Healthy! This recipe is all about the veggies and it is totally vegan!
- Perfect for meal prep! Make a big batch of Ratatouille on a Sunday, then serve it up in various ways during the workweek (see below for ideas). You can also freeze Ratatouille for winter- a little summer treasure when we need it most!
Table of Contents
ingredient Notes
- Eggplant– Globe or Japanese are great, but any variety will work here.
- Bell Peppers– Red, yellow, orange or green. Nice opportunity to get colorful!
- Summer Squash– Zucchini, yellow summer squash, patty pan whatever is fresh and available.
- Tomatoes- Any variety will work here!
- Herbs– Thyme, oregano, or rosemary or a combination! Or make Herbs de Provence!
- Olive oil – use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil, for the best flavor.
- Vinegar– Just a splash. Balsamic or Red wine vinegar both work.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Ratatouille
- Prep the veggies: Cut all the veggies into bite-sized pieces.
- Toss! Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on 2 sheet pans.
- Bake! Stirring every 20 minutes.
- Season with more salt and pepper to taste, and a splash of vinegar.
- Serve immediately, or cool and refrigerate (or freeze) until ready to use.
What is ratatouille Eaten with?
- It makes a delicious appetizer with French bread or baguette slices to mop up all the juices.
- Spoon warm ratatouille over creamy polenta for a delicious vegetarian meal– comfort food in a bowl It’s probably my favorite way to eat it.
- Create a pasta dish out of it! Toss ratatouille with pasta along with capers and grated pecorino for a punch of flavor!
- Turn Ratatouille into breakfast, serving it over toast and topping it with an egg.
- Serve it as a healthy vegetable side dish to grilled fish or meat.
And here’s how to serve ratatouille for breakfast or brunch; warm and spoon over toast, and top with an egg if you like! So yummy.
faqs
Ratatouille originated in Provence France in the 1700’s, traditionally made as a stew with summer ripe vegetables. The combination of eggplant, bell peppers, summer squash, herbs and olive oil with just a touch of vinegar is what creates the beautiful flavors.
In France, ratatouille is typically served with baguette, crusty French bread, polenta, pasta and rice.
Ratatouille, in essence, means a stirred, chunky stew. “Rata” translates to ‘stew’ in French, while “toiler” is a verb meaning to ‘stir and mix’.
More Recipes You May Enjoy
- Mexican Rice with Sheet-Pan Veggies
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Miso Tofu with Veggies & Rice
- Sheet-Pan Szechuan Chicken and Brussels Sprouts
I hope this easy, delicious Ratatouille Recipe inspires you to try something new and different this summer! Let us know how you like it…. it is one of our favorite meals!
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
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Ratatouille Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 mins
- Yield: 5–6 cups 1x
- Category: dinner, vegetarian dinner, appetizer, side dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Ratatouille is a classic French dish from Provence made with eggplant, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil and herbs- a celebration of summer in one dish! Serve with crusty bread or baguette as an appetizer, serve over creamy polenta, rice, or pasta for a delicious vegetarian meal, or serve as a side dish or for breakfast over sourdough toast with an egg.
Ingredients
- 4 cups eggplant- 3 Japanese eggplant or one large globe eggplant
- 1–2 red bell pepper – or use yellow bell pepper or green bell pepper
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 2 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash
- 1 onion
- 8–14 garlic cloves, whole, peeled
- 2–3 tablespoons fresh herbs – fresh thyme, oregano, or rosemary or any combination.
- olive oil for drizzling
- salt and black pepper to taste
- splash balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
Optional Garnishes: Italian parsley or fresh basil ribbons, red chili flakes, olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F and line two sheet pans with parchment.
- Prep the veggies: Using a vegetable peeler, peel eggplant if you want – or remove some of the skin in long strips. (Or if you prefer, leave the skin on.) Cut into ½-inch thick bite-sized pieces. Slice the bell pepper into ½-inch wide strips. Cut the tomatoes into 3/4-inch wedges. Slice the zucchini the long way and then slice into ½ inch thick half-moons. Slice the onion into ¼-½ inch thick half-moons.
- Spread out the veggies on the sheet pan in a single layer (this is why you most likely need two sheet pans).
- Drizzle with olive oil and toss, using enough oil to coat generously. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Toss well.
- Roast in the hot oven for 20 minutes; then scatter the whole garlic cloves (peeled) and herbs and mix the veggies. Roast for 20 more minutes, mix again. Turn heat down to 300F and roast for 10-20 more minutes, or until tender and edges begin to caramelize- watch closely here.
- Remove from oven, taste, adjust salt and pepper, and drizzle with a little splash of vinegar, carefully mixing.
- Use immediately, or cool and refrigerate (or freeze) until ready to use.
Notes
Ratatouille will keep up to 4 days in the fridge in an air-tight container or can be frozen for up to 6 months. It can be eaten warm or chilled.
Garlic: I really love garlic, so I add a lot here; feel free to cut back if you like!
To serve with pasta: cook pasta according to directions. Heat Ratatouille in a large skillet adding a little more olive oil and capers (optional). Stir in the cooked pasta, adjust salt. Sprinkle with grated pecorino (optional) and fresh herbs.
To serve over toast: Toast the bread, heat up the Ratatouille and poach an egg. Drizzle toast with a little olive oil, top with warm Ratatouille and poached egg. Season with salt and pepper and top with fresh herbs.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 147
- Sugar: 7.1 g
- Sodium: 202.8 mg
- Fat: 9.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.1 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This was so good and I don’t normally like recipes with eggplant but I couldn’t get enough!
Great to hear Kiera!
This is so easy, and if you follow the recipe (veggies in a single layer), they come out nice and roasted. I served it over the recommended Creamy Polenta, and it was such a hit I am making it again tonight.
Awesome Debbie-glad you enjoyed this!
Made this last night and had left overs today, served with mash (and meatballs with gravy for the kiddos). Id like to start by saying I normally pick out and avoid eggplant and zucchini in every dish I come across. but lately my body is craving allllll the veggies so decided to give it a go. I peeled and salted the eggplant as recommended to lessen any bitterness. I absolutely loved and devoured this dish. Its sensationally good!! This will go into our regular rotation. Chefs kiss! Yum!
Wow Kayla, love that you are following your body’s instincts! So glad you enjoyed this!
Super🙏😊
Huge hit, and I don’t usually like eggplant. I made this exactly as written. If there was any change it was probably a little extra oil or salt. This recipe felt like a big gamble, but it paid off big time. I am so grateful for your recipes. They never disappoint.
I am so glad you enjoyed this Lynn!
Best Ratatouille recipe I have ever made and my whole family loved it too! Wonderful way to use all the end of summer veggies coming from the garden or farmer’s market.
Feasting at home is my go to for healthy delicious recipes. I love the variety of flavors, all the spices and herbs and that the recipes are not complicated. I appreciate all the variations recommended to in case I don’t have a ingredient or want to skip/add a protein. I have shared your website with all of my friends and family, because they always ask for the recipes! Thank you for making healthy eating so delicious!
Thanks so much Sally! Very appreciated!
So delicious and simple
Great to hear!
Perfection! Loved the simplicity and followed the recipe as written other than omitting the peppers. It was a very tasty dinner that allowed me to use eggplant, tomatoes and fresh herbs from the garden and it’s so rewarding to put them to good use. Served over polenta and drizzled with some leftover balsamic reduction from another recent meal. I wouldn’t change a thing and into my recipe box it goes. Thank you so much for another recipe that I’ll add to the late summer lineup.
Thanks Lyn, glad you liked this!
Tasted great but the veggies felt soggy: maybe not roasted long enough? TU
Possibly, or maybe were they too close together? If so, they can steam instead of roast.
I loved this but my father and brother did not. I would recommend definitely peeling the eggplant, their complaint was that it was too bitter. Personally, this is how I will make ratatouille in the future, I love the caramelization and it NOT being saucy like many ratatouille recipes are.Thank you for the great alternative of this dish
Thanks, Christina. The other thing you could do is to peel the eggplant in strips- so there is basically half the skin. And in general, the bitterness comes from the seeds- so if very seedy, this can the cause. Salting the eggplant helps remove this bitterness.
Thank you, good to know, I didn’t know the seeds made it bitter.
I’m crazy for recipes like your Sheetpan Ratatouille, Sylvia. Often, I will use leftover recipes freshened up with another day’s addition. This works beautifully and cuts down on extensive prepping and cooking. Thank you.
Thanks so much!
Delicious, and so easy. Served the vegetables over polenta with a poached egg. Finished it with a drizzle of a herb and garlic infused olive oil. Incredible!
Yum Lauren, love your additions!
Made with Thai eggplant instead of Japanese and dry farmed early girl tomatoes. It was so good! I especially liked the depth of flavor from all that roasting. I used the ratatouille all three ways, but my favorite was the pasta with capers, chili flakes and some bread crumbs.
Awesome Jennifer! Glad you gave this a go!
Fantastic like everything else you create. What a gift you are!
🥰 Awwww. Thanks Lisa.
This was fabulous! I had extra zucchini that I needed to make something before I lost them. Mine was heavier on the zucchini because of that however it still is a winner. I could have ate the entire two sheets in one sitting. Cant wait to use it over toast with the egg. Thank you for this.
Thanks Sonja! Glad you enjoyed it!
This is a winner all around! I made mine using suggested ingredients plus some shallot and butternut squash. Note to self-cut eggplant into smaller chunks. Two sheet pans are the way to go. I was in a hurry so roasted at 425*. It is delicious, as expected, and can’t wait to try the toast/ poached egg version tomorrow!
Thanks Anna, glad you enjoyed it!
This was so delicious for such minimal effort! Great variations you’ve suggested.
Easy to veganize. Keep up the fabulous work. Loving this blog.
This was so delicious for such minimal effort! Great variations you’ve suggested.
So easy to veganize. Love your recipes!
Glad you enjoyed this Lisa!
I was told to send much gratitude from my husband!!!
Just delicious – simple, basic recipe and yet achieves a heightened flavor profile by respecting and allowing the vegetables to stand on their own.
I can’t decide which zucchini recipe of yours I like best – this or the tian – a close tie!
Thanks Joyce!
This has become a family favorite! So delicious and has officially made the weekly rotation 🙂
Awesome Courtney!
Hi- the “vegan category” is based on the ratatouille recipe. 😉
Made the polenta with goat cheese and chicken broth. Delicious! My vegetables were very well after 15 mins. Is it really 400 degrees for 20 mins then 20 mins then 10-20 more at 300? Some of my veggies were black after the 1st ten mins. I had two trays side by side. Would that make them burn? Will try again because all the flavors were delicious but with much less cooking time.
Oh shoot. All ovens are different, do you have an electric oven? If so,middle and lower rack is best. Also if they were cut really small, they would cook faster?
This recipe is absolutely delicious and simple. I’m eating it right now in the creamy polenta!
Thanks for sharing pretty cool stuff. I’ve tried this one this morning. And, it’s really pretty yummy. Also, using toaster, it was very easy to prepare. Lots of love from India.
thanks so much!
So good! A new weekly staple
A new favourite for a vegetarian student! I love how easy this is to throw together in one pan and then reheat throughout the week. I didn’t have any fresh herbs, but substituting in dried rosemary and thyme worked fine.