Ratatouille is a simple dish of layered vegetables cooked until tender. We top it with fresh herbs and a splash of olive oil.
Healthy, simple, and pretty, serve these roasted vegetables with crusty bread or even pasta.
What is Ratatouille?
Ratatouille (rat-a-too-ee) comes from Nice, France, and is actually a simple but delicious vegetarian dish (and it was also in this style in the Disney movie of the same name).
There are two different ways this dish can be prepared. Either with chunked vegetables cooked in a broth resembling a vegetable stew or sliced and layered like as in this particular recipe.
If time allows, I prefer the presentation and texture of this sliced and layered ratatouille recipe. The roasting adds great flavor and I love the texture of the thinly sliced vegetables. It can be served as an elegant main dish, or as a beautiful side dish with chicken or pork chops!
Ingredients/Variations
This recipe is a great way to enjoy those fresh garden veggies and a hearty and healthy vegetarian entree!
VEGGIES Eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini are sliced, then sauteed and arranged in layers in a pan. Yellow squash, peppers… add your favorite vegetables to the mixture.
SAUCE Crushed tomatoes, peppers, spices, garlic, and onion simmer together to create this delicious sauce! The diced pepper (or shredded carrot) adds a bit of sweetness to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.
Short on time? Replace the homemade sauce with marinara.
How to Make Ratatouille
This delicious ratatouille recipe is simple to prepare.
- Simmer the sauce ingredients in a pan until thickened (per recipe below). Spread the sauce into a baking dish.
- Thinly slice vegetables (I use a mandolin) and stack them. Arrange the stacked vegetables on their side over the sauce. Brush with olive oil.
- Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the veggies are tender and browned.
Top with chopped basil, and serve immediately! A slice of homemade garlic bread or fresh french bread is the perfect pair for soaking up this delicious sauce!
As a side dish, serve with balsamic pork loin, roasted chicken breasts, or this easy grilled salmon recipe.
Got Leftovers?
Ratatouille makes great leftovers! Especially the next day when all of the flavors have had a chance to really blend together.
For leftovers, keep ratatouille in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to reheat, for up to a week. Refresh flavors with a little salt and pepper and enjoy!
Ratatouille can also be served cold on a bed of salad greens for a quick and nutritious lunch at work, too!
Delicious Vegetable Side Dishes
- Easy Ratatouille – made with chopped veggies
- Oven Baked Tomatoes – delicious garlic parmesan crust!
- Zucchini Casserole – just 3 main ingredients
- Easy Grilled Eggplant – just season, grill & serve!
- Easy Oven Roasted Asparagus – ready in 15 mins
Did you make this delicious Ratatouille? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Easy Layered Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ small onion chopped
- ½ cup shredded carrot or diced red bell pepper
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 small eggplant sliced
- 1 large zucchini sliced
- 3 roma tomatoes sliced
- ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper or more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Cook onion, garlic, and bell pepper in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat, 4-5 minutes or until tender.
- Add crushed tomatoes and seasonings and simmer 15 minutes or until thickened. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile, cut vegetables to 1/8" thickness.
- Pour sauce into a 2 qt baking dish. Arrange sliced vegetables standing up on their sides over the sauce. Brush with remaining olive oil.
- Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve hot or warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Like our recipes?
Follow us on Pinterest!
Wow!!! A beautiful and delicious side dish. I added a little shaved parm on the top and inserted a few leftover homefries in between every stack. I will make again and again. Thank you!
I really like the tastiness of this. Will try next with slommy, potatoss and thin carrots curled with a base of pasatata. Will call it potatauille
Great recipe! I added a couple tablespoons of butter to the sauce and pureed it with my immersion blender before adding it to the casserole dish and it was delicious! Served with some angel hair pasta on the side with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and it was a great meatless dinner!
Ooo, that sounds delicious, Caroline! Thanks for sharing.
Delicious and easy :)
This was delicious! Mine didn’t look as pretty as the picture though. Only thing I changed was added some mozzarella for last 15 minutes and served over pasta.
Super easy and so pretty! Used what we had in the garden and bought an onion. Maybe I forgot to season it but it’s very forgiving
Served with Linguini it was a perfect summer supper
This is a million times better than my French mom’s ratatouille. The eggplant is slightly crunchy on the edges and the vegetables are not mushy, which was the bane of my existence as a child!
I don’t hate ratatouille anymore.
Could I use a different type of tomato than Roma, if that’s not what I have on hand?
The texture and size of a roma tomato is the best choice, but other tomatoes would work for sure Holly. Enjoy!
Can this be prepared ahead of time (like a day in advance)? Fridge and cook a day later or Cook, fridge and reheat?
Hi Jennifer, it should work well both ways. For leftovers, we store ratatouille in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Beautiful vegetarian dish. This recipe was so easy to follow. Thanks!
You are welcome Dawn!!
Made this for my family a couple of nights ago. Used my favorite diced tomato instead of crushed and 4 cloves fresh garlic but otherwise made nearly to the letter. It was outstanding and we’ll surely add this to the saved recipes. Well done.
So happy you enjoyed it David!
I omitted the eggplant and layered yellow greed squash with tomato olive oil and salted a peppered Italian seasoning
Baked with mozzarella pieces last 15 minutes
This looks great! Can this be frozen then reheated?
We have not tried reheating this recipe after frozen but you want to try I would recommend not overcooking the veggies so they don’t get soggy when reheating. Hope that helps!
i want the recipe
You’ll find the recipe in the post Mike. Click the Jump to Recipe button at the top, or scroll to the recipe card. Enjoy the ratatouille!
Outstanding delicious dish! Definitely a “keeper” recipe for me!
I love your recipes! Ratatouille is one of my favorites, especially when all fresh garden and market veggies are in season. Will make this tonight since I have most available! Thank you so much for sharing!! Wish I was able to forward some of these recipes to some of my out of state “chef” friends who, like me, love to cook!
Thanks Rita, so happy we can share them with you :)