This delicious French-inspired ratatouille comes with melty veggies infused with fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and thyme. It's made in a single dish, in the oven! The perfect summer side-dish!
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While Ratatouille is definitely not the prettiest dish, it's one that certainly doesn't lack on flavor!
📘 What is a Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a French vegetable stew prepared from summer vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, and bell peppers.
Ratatouille is traditionally cooked on the stove, and requires to sauté each vegetable separately before combining them together. This version skips all of that and is made in a single dish, in the oven! It is slowly baked until the vegetables are melty and almost glazed!
🥣 How to Make Ratatouille
First, start by dicing all of the vegetables into large chunks and transfer them to a deep baking dish. Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a generous pinch of salt, and stir to coat.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 400°F to slightly brown the vegetables.
In the meantime, combine the diced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar (for complexity and a subtle tartness), sugar, minced garlic, and dried thyme. Let the tomatoes marinate for about 30 minutes.
Next, add the marinated tomatoes, as well as their juice, to the baking dish and stir to combine with the other vegetables.
Finally, bake for another 2 hours at 200°F, or until veggies are super melty! Baking at a low temperature for a long time will help concentrate the flavors and glaze the veggies!
🍚 What to Serve with Ratatouille
This ratatouille is delicious served as a side dish with:
- You favorite grain: For example this Clay Pot Rice, brown rice, quinoa, couscous, or even noodles!
- Protein: Make it a complete meal by serving ratatouille with baked tofu, vegan chicken, sautéed tempeh, or these Sweet & Spicy Tofu Balls!
- Bread: Serve this ratatouille with crusty bread, or homemade banh mi!
💬 FAQ
- Should I peel the eggplants? You can, however I don't think it is necessary. You cannot feel the skin after baking.
- How long does this ratatouille keep? Ratatouille will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It reheats perfectly and tastes even better the next day!
- Can I freeze ratatouille? Yes, ratatouille freezes beautifully, and will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer. Simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
If you are looking for an easy and flavorful summer side-dish, you are going to love this ratatouille! It's plant-based, requires basic ingredients, and is perfect for meal-prep!
🇫🇷 More French-Inspired Recipes
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
📖 Recipe
Easy Oven Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 onion
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- 3-4 medium tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2-3 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Start by dicing the zucchini, eggplant, red bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Transfer the diced veggies to a 9x7-inch baking dish. Drizzle with the olive oil, add the salt, and stir to coat. Bake for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, dice the tomatoes into 1-inch cubes and transfer to a bowl or deep plate. Add the balsamic vinegar, sugar, minced garlic, and thyme. Stir to coat, and let the tomatoes marinate for 25-30 minutes.
- Next, remove the baking dish from the oven and add the marinated tomatoes (as well as the juice). Stir to combine the tomatoes with the other veggies.
- Place the baking dish back into the oven and lower the temperature to 200°F (100°C). Bake for about 2 hours, stirring once halfway through baking.
- Remove from heat, taste and adjust saltiness if needed. Add the chopped basil and stir to coat.
- Serve warm with rice, quinoa, or noodles! This ratatouille will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Oven dishes are great, in winter. They simply aren’t suitable for summer in Illinois. Temps here can approach triple digits with same humidity. Not everyone has central air.
Good idea..easy and idiot proof(necessary for me,big time).Take care.Alexandria
Glad you like it Alexandria! 🙂
When it first came out of the oven I was afraid of all of the aubergine, haha, I have a love/hate relationship with it. However, found myself reaching for this dish again and again to pair with gnocchi, tofu scramble, whatever. So good! And a great way to incorporate lots of tasty veggies into diet. Yum! Extremely easy to make, too. Thanks for another hit!
I'm glad you liked this recipe Ali! Thanks for your rating ^^