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There’s no easier, healthier or tastier way to enjoy fresh summer vegetables than in this simple Dump-and-Bake Ratatouille! Served hot or cold, it’s a delicious side dish or vegetarian entree that completes any meal.
If you want to feed your family lighter, nourishing options that still taste good (and that your kids will actually eat), then this easy ratatouille recipe is the perfect solution!
What ingredients are in Ratatouille?
Ratatouille is a hearty, stewed vegetable dish from the Provence region of France. It traditionally consists of seasonal vegetables, garlic, and olive oil – often in a tomato sauce. Basic, right?!
But there’s nothing basic about this flavor combination!
Classic ratatouille ingredients (especially in the summer months) include:
- Eggplant
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini and/or yellow squash
- Onion
- Bell peppers
- Fresh herbs
- Garlic
- Olive oil
They slowly cook together and create the most delicious, satisfying, and nutritious vegetable stew that you have ever tasted!
As usual, I’ve kept my recipe very simple – without the fuss of fancy layers, spiral designs, or any other “formal” presentations that you might find in other similar dishes.
Using my dump-and-go method, this baked ratatouille is totally hands-off! Just stir everything raw in one big dish and let the oven do the work!
How to Serve Ratatouille:
This recipe is so flexible! You can serve the dish warm, at room temperature, or even chilled (leftovers straight from the refrigerator are SO GOOD).
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Keep the meal vegetarian and serve the veggies in a bowl like a thick stew – garnished with freshly grated Parmesan and with some crusty French bread for dipping;
- Add poached, fried, or scrambled eggs and toast for a nutritious and hearty brunch;
- Serve it as a side dish with a protein-based entrée for a filling dinner, such as:
- Ribeye Steak with Garlic Butter;
- Country Pride Pork Chops;
- The Perfect 15-Minute Grilled Salmon;
- 20-Minute Garlic Shrimp Skillet;
- or even just a store-bought rotisserie chicken and some biscuits!
Even more healthy side dishes to enjoy the season’s produce:
Dump-and-Bake Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant
- Salt and pepper
- 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
- 2 sweet bell peppers (any color), seeded and sliced into strips
- 3 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into slices
- 4 tomatoes, quartered and seeds removed
- ÂĽ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- ÂĽ cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano)
- 1 small can (6 ounces) tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil plus additional for serving
- 4 teaspoons minced garlic
- Optional garnish: capers, drained
Instructions
- Cut the eggplant into chunks. In a colander, toss the eggplant with 1 tsp. salt, then let drain for about 30 minutes. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels.
- Meanwhile, spray a deep 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl (or in the prepared dish), toss together eggplant, onion, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, parsley, basil, oregano, tomato paste, olive oil, and garlic.
- Transfer vegetables to the prepared dish, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes, stirring once or twice during the baking time to make sure that the vegetables cook evenly (or until vegetables are tender). Garnish with capers, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper just before serving.
I’m so excited to try this one!!! You make great easy meals that are yummy! Thank you Blair!
Thanks so much, Ashley! I hope you love it! I’m craving another batch after looking at these photos again. 🙂
What a delicious veggie filled meal! And so easy too!!!
Thanks, Kristy!
This is fabulous, especially with farm fresh vegetables. I don’t usually comment on recipes but this is just wonderful. I’ve got my second batch in the oven rn.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Patricia! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi
This is ABSOLUTELY my go to recipe for ratatouille. Every time a winner.
Thank you
Wonderful! Thanks, Venessa! I’m so glad to hear that. 🙂
Have not made this yet but can this be made in slowcooker, for how long would you cook this ..
Yes! I just made it in a slow cooker two weeks ago. 🙂
Every slow cooker runs on slightly different temperatures, so I always suggest that you keep an eye on it the first time that you’re cooking the recipe in your slow cooker. That said, I find that the recipe works perfectly when cooked on LOW for about 6 hours or on HIGH for about 3 hours.
I have to say this was beyond my expectations. It was super yummy and super easy which is what I look for with recipes. Even my overly picky boyfriend liked it
I didn’t cut the recipe in half so I have this for days, hoping it will heat up well! If it does definitely will make again for meal prepping!
So happy to hear that. Thanks, Sarah!
This looks great! I’m going to try it in the crockpot cuz it’s too hot to fire up the oven.
Very easy and delicious. I didn’t have much tomato paste so I used some sun dried tomatoes and I added chopped black olives at the end instead of capers and some parmesan cheese.
I’m getting ready to make this a second time. Lots of eggplant from the garden and this is so delicious. I put it all in the slow cooker because I don’t like to turn on the oven during the hot weather. So easy. I need to figure out how to freeze my eggplant so I can make this in the oven this winter. Thanks for the great recipe. Love, love, love it.
Thanks, Chalene! I’m so glad that you love it!
Making this for dinner tonight. I can’t wait to try it. I put it together this morning to allow all the flavors to sit for a while. It already smells so good!
YUM! So tasty, Melanie! Hope you enjoy!
I have made Ratatouille twice this week. The first time I used a classic recipe, cooking each vegetable separately and then mixing then all together. It was a brown, mushy mess. I tried this one because I had all the veggies still. This was so much better! I did cook it twice as long, at a lower temp. It was delicious and beautiful. If I make it again I think I’ll try the Crock-Pot!
That’s wonderful, Kay! I’m so glad that it was a hit. Thanks for letting me know!
Oh this looks sooo delicious! I don’t like eggplant but I can leave that out & add more courgette (zucchini to you! Lol! I’m in Scotland) or tomato. Or an extra soupcon of both! LOL! I will make it in my slow cooker, but I wondered… do you think it would freeze okay? Or would, perhaps, bottling it be a better way to store it longer? I can grow most of the ingredients in summer but not winter. But I would love to have ratatouille in the winter months… So I’m wondering what would be best of the two methods? I’ll probably try both in time but I would like the opinion of someone who’s a more experienced cook.. TYIA.
Hi, Kate! Yes, this definitely freezes well. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Thank you for such a speedy reply and the advice! I’m certainly going to try freezing some so I’m grateful for that info! I’m sure I’m going to love it but I’m going to find out – this is my project for today! 🙂 I have everything in the fridge so no time like the present to do it! Can’t wait to try a bowl of it! Thanks so much, Blair!
That’s awesome — enjoy!
The recipe fails to mention the point of, and how to properly, salt the eggplant. While it may be said that using a colander implied rinsing, it was not obvious. It wasn’t until I did the post-mortem on what went wrong, that I found out that the process is supposed to remove bitter juices from the eggplant. Needless to say, my dish did not turn out well… I’m just glad I was only making this for me. With a horrible experience with eggplant, it’ll be some time before I try it again, but the lesson is learned. Please clarify your recipe instructions.
Hi, Chris! You shouldn’t need to rinse the eggplant after salting it. The salt will draw out some of the moisture from the vegetable, which is why you want it in a colander (so that the liquid can drain out). Using 1 teaspoon of salt for all of those vegetables should be an appropriate amount of seasoning (especially since you’ll pat the eggplant dry), although it’s definitely a matter of personal preference. I’m sorry that this dish was a disappointment for you.
This was the first time I tried making ratatouille. The recipe was easy to follow and the ratatouille was amazing! I baked it in the oven. It made more than I anticipated, filling a 9×13 pan plus an 8×8 pan (must have been using large vegetables), which is great because now we have enough for a few days. The only change I made from the recipe was to substitute dried parsley for the fresh, only because I didn’t have any fresh available. It still tasted great.
Awesome, Lain! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it — and can enjoy leftovers, too. Thanks for your note!
Hi Blair,
Absolutely love this recipe, it is easy and really healthy. This recipe has become part of my weekly rotation. So good I had to share with all my friends at the office. Thanks so much for sharing.
That’s wonderful to hear, Debbie. Thank you!
Hi Blair! Was there a reason why you do not put salt on the veggies before they go in the oven?
Hi, Debbie! Since you salt the eggplant before baking, I like to wait to salt the rest of the veggies when they’re done and I can adjust the amount of salt accordingly. Otherwise I worry that the dish might taste too salty for some with the already salted eggplant. That said, you can certainly salt the other veggies before baking as well!