The main ingredients in ratatouille have an assortment of roasted eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, garlic, and fresh herbs, and then simmered in a delectable fresh-style marinara-style sauce.
During the summer season when fresh vegetables are plentiful, we love making this lighter stew and it's so versatile with our serving suggestions and additions you can add to this recipe.
This recipe can be adapted with more or less of what you really prefer, and although it has no meat in it, you can even add cooked meats to this stew for a heartier meal.
The stew is traditionally served over hard-crusted French bread served plain in a bowl, or with cooked rice, some cooked pasta, and then garnished with a drizzle of olive oil.
Through the years I have made different versions of this recipe using leftover cooked meat and added IE: boneless chicken, boneless beef, or pork (which is not authentic) but adds a bit more flavor to the sauce.
Our family also loves a little spice added to the sauce so we always have some red pepper flakes and grated cheese available on the table for garnishing.
During those hot summer days, this light lunch is perfectly served with a few pieces of toasted garlic baguette bread.
Just scroll to the bottom of the page to print off the directions for this super easy-to-make Ratatouille recipe.
Easy to Make Step by Step to make Ratatouille
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or brush with cooking oil and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Note: to save time, if you have an air fryer add the vegetables to an oil-sprayed basket and air fry at 400 degrees until they start to brown anywhere from 8 to 13 minutes depending on wattage (eggplant cooks faster you can do that first, and then the rest).
- Cube and slice vegetables then roast or air fry them until the edges are brown then set aside.
- Puree the tomatoes in a food processor then make the marinara fresh sauce.
- Simmer the sauce while the vegetables are cooking.
- Add, them to the sauce and simmer for 15 more minutes.
- Serve stew in a bowl with hard-crusted bread, rice, or pasta, or garlic mashed potatoes
- garnish with olive oil, red pepper flakes, cracked black pepper, and grated cheese if desired
Other Additions and Serving Ideas:
- use squash in yellow and green and omit the eggplant (if you're allergic to eggplant or dislike it)
- add red, green, and yellow sliced peppers for an array of color
- add hot peppers if desired
- chopped celery
- chopped green beans
- sliced mushrooms
- julienned carrots
- fennel chopped
- sliced onions are in the original recipe (we leave them out due to leftovers are overwhelming in onion flavor if you have any)
- ground seasoned cooked meats can be added for meat lovers
- sprig or rosemary and a sprig of thyme
- San Marzano whole tomatoes put through a food processor can be substituted for fresh
- serve with cooked pasta, rice, and mashed potatoes, over hard-crusted bread
Ingredients You Will Need Refer to the recipe card below for exact measurements
- fresh eggplant cubed,
- plum tomatoes
- yellow squash and zucchini squash
- garlic cloves, sliced thin
- dried oregano
- fresh basil leaves chopped
- bell peppers
- salt, and pepper to taste
- olive oil
- Garnish: Pecorino Romano grated cheese (or Parmesan cheese), red pepper flakes, cracked black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil
Some of Our Other Sauces We Love and Eggplant Recipes
Eggplant Parmesan
Zucchini Rollatini
Eggplant Boats
Pasta Primevara Sauce
Bolognese Sauce
Scampi or Alfredo Sauce
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Eggplant Vegetable Stew
This eggplant stew is such an easy dish to make, really there isn't much to it except what you decide to add to the pot.
The most time it takes is cubing the vegetables, and roasting them everything else will come together quickly so don't be intimidated on trying the recipe.
As I mentioned previously if you want to speed up the process of cooking the vegetables you can air fryer them for around 8 minutes at 400 degrees and (check them to your preference) if you have an air fryer.
Again, it's a basic stew with vegetables, adapt away, add what you want, and use only cooked meats (leftovers are perfect from another meal) for a heartier meal, just not the traditional Ratatouille.
Ratatouille
Yield: 10
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
This is a French vegetable stew with eggplant, zucchini, and more. It's bursting with fresh summer herbs and simmered in a fresh tomato sauce
Ingredients
- 2 pounds plum tomatoes or very ripe beefsteak seeds squeezed out
- 1 medium eggplant cut into cubes
- 1 large bell pepper, cut into cubes or strips
- 1 medium-to-large zucchini cubed
- 1 large yellow squash cubed
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 5 cloves garlic finely minced
- 4 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves
- a pinch of dried oregano
- Optional: you can add a small sliced onion (we aren't a fan) especially in leftovers it's overwhelming we usually add a few more diced tomatoes in ours. If you like spicy add some red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper.
- Note: If you have meat lovers add cooked meat of any kind, just add the meat until it is warm folding it in with the vegetables do not cook it in this pot or the vegetables will be mushy.
Instructions
- Start with taking the skins off the tomatoes by plunging them in boiling water and then into ice water, then they will peel easier.
- Add them to a food processor and crushed them into a thick puree. Set aside.
- Cube the eggplant and place on paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and let the cubes drain for 30 minutes then rinse off with cold water.
- Note: to keep the eggplant from turning brown brush with lemon juice.
- Place all the sliced and cubed vegetables on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or brushed with cooking oil.
- Toss the cubed vegetables in olive oil ( around 3 tablespoons, salt, and pepper evenly (you can also use seasoning salt blends) then add them to the baking sheet.
- Roast them in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for around 15 to 20 minutes( refer to the note below).
- Note: usually the eggplant and squash cook faster. As the vegetables begin to brown remove them with a slotted spoon and set them aside. These vegetables can also be fried in olive oil until browned also.
- In a large dutch oven soup pot, add a little more olive oil and saute the garlic (onion would go into this step if used) until golden which takes around 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, dried oregano, and fresh basil to the pot place on low heat, and simmer for around 12 to 15 minutes.
- Place all roasted vegetables into the pot and simmer on low for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serving Suggestions: over hard-crusted bread, over-cooked rice, over-cooked pasta,
Notes
Other Additions:
- use squash in yellow and green and omit the eggplant (if you're allergic to eggplant or dislike it)
- add red, green, and yellow sliced peppers for an array of color
- add hot peppers if desired
- chopped celery
- chopped green beans
- fennel chopped
- sliced mushrooms
- diced tomatoes
- julienned carrots
- sliced onions are in the original recipe (we leave them out due to leftovers are overwhelming in onion flavor if you have any)
- ground seasoned cooked meats can be added for meat lovers
- sprig or rosemary and a sprig of thyme
- San Marzano whole tomatoes put through a food processor can be substituted for fresh
- serve with cooked pasta, rice, garlic mashed potatoes, over hard-crusted bread
Nutrition Facts
Calories
583.62Fat (grams)
45.96Sat. Fat (grams)
6.06Carbs (grams)
13.57Fiber (grams)
11.04Net carbs
3.6Sugar (grams)
4.98Protein (grams)
22.41Sodium (milligrams)
25.13Cholesterol (grams)
0
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Eggplant Favorite Recipes
Eggplant Ricotta Casserole
Eggplant aka Zucchini Roll-Ups
Eggplant Parmesan
Eggplant Boats