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Easy Ratatouille Recipe – simple and elegant dish, mad with layered vegetables over tomato sauce, baked until tender. Topped with olive oil, herbs and cheese. Low carb and vegan option available.
Serve as a main dish or a side dish. It goes well with all kinds of meat and seafood.
This dish could be prepared as a vegan or vegetarian. The addition of cheese on top is totally optional.
It also doesn’t have too many carbs, like 8 net carbs per serving. Ratatouille screams summer, just use your store bought or garden veggies to make this amazing, light and tasty dish. You can make a big batch and refrigerate for later.
Serve with your summer grilled meats like these Grilled Pork Chops or with a big slice of Crusty No Knead Dutch Oven Bread.
What is Ratatouille?
Ratatouille is a classic French stew from Provence, made with tomatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, eggplant and tomato sauce. Browned to perfection vegetables with tomato sauce, olive oil and herbs, this dish has a mild sweet and delicious taste. The name has nothing to do with the popular Disney movie ratatouille.
Layered or chopped?
You may have seen or tried the cubed vegetable version or the layered, round sliced vegetable version of this French Provencal dish.
In fact the dish I’m sharing with you today is called Tian and is pretty similar to Ratatouille, which is made with cubed vegetables.
The Tian dish is a layered dish that features thin vegetable slices atop a tomato sauce base.
Ratatouille, on the other hand, uses similar (or the same) ingredients but is made like a stew.
So today’s layered Ratatouille is technically called Tian.
How to make this Easy Ratatouille Recipe
Ingredients:
The vegetables:
You can use a mandolin slicer for the vegetable rounds, but I personally prefer cutting them with my sharp knives.
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- Squash (I did not have any today and did not use it)
- Onion
The sauce:
- Olive oil
- Crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
- Onions
- Garlic
- Peppers (optional, I did not use any)
- Seasoning for the sauce – I used a combination of dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme and black pepper)
- Salt
- Sugar – to reduce the sourness from the tomatoes
- Balsamic vinegar – adds some flavor
Toppings:
You can skip the toppings, but I wouldn’t do so.
Make sure you drizzle some olive oil on top of the vegetables to keep them moist.
You can top the baked dish with chopped fresh herbs like parsley, thyme and basil. Adding some grated Parmesan will make it taste delicious.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cook onion and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add tomatoes, salt, sugar and seasonings and simmer for 12-15 minutes, until thickened.
Cut vegetables into 1/8 inch thickness.
Pour sauce into a 2-3 quart baking dish (either round or square).
Arrange sliced vegetables alternating tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and onion standing up on their sides. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
Uncover and bake for additional 15-20 minutes, until tender.
Add salt and pepper on top. Drizzle with olive oil. Add grated Parmesan cheese and parsley (optional).
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
More tender vegetables or harder vegetables?
If you prefer your vegetables tender, I’d cover the dish and bake covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for another 20 minutes.
If you’d like the vegetables to be “crunchy”, you can bake uncovered for the whole time.
! Cooking time may vary greatly, depending on the thickness of the vegetable slices, oven temperature and type of baking dish used.
Leftovers – how to store?
Store Ratatouille leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you happen to have a lot of leftovers, you can freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stove top or in the microwave.
More Vegetarian Recipes:
Easy Ratatouille Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 roma tomatoes, sliced
- 1 large zucchini, sliced
- 1 small eggplant, sliced
- 1 onion, cut into thin rings
- 14 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
- 1 onion, chopped (for the sauce)
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Cook onion and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add tomatoes, salt, sugar and seasonings and simmer for 12-15 minutes, until thickened.
- Cut vegetables into 1/8 inch thickness.
- Pour sauce into a 2-3 quart baking dish (either round or square).
- Arrange sliced vegetables alternating tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and onion standing up on their sides. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for additional 15-20 minutes, until tender.
- Add salt and pepper on top. Drizzle with olive oil. Add grated Parmesan cheese and parsley (optional).
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this for my parents and they loved it, It’s also really nice to look at with the different mix of colors. Thanks again!
OMG looks so perfect and delicious. I love zucchini.