This easy ratatouille recipe is my take on the classic vegetable stew from Provence, France. Tomato, eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers simmer with aromatics until they soften, release their juices, and become jammy and delicious.
Ratatouille recipes traditionally call for a long, slow simmer. In this weeknight-friendly version, I’ve adapted the classic recipe using a very simple technique.
I quickly boil the stew for 5 minutes, then I gently simmer until the vegetables are nice and soft but still maintain their shape. As an added bonus, you only have to wash one pot! What’s best: it’s even better the next day. Freeze a big batch to brighten your January with summer’s best flavors. Or, enjoy this healthy vegetarian, dairy- and gluten-free stew for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week long.
Like a good pasta salad or quiche, ratatouille is famous for its flexibility. Serve it hot, cold, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, at a picnic, as a main, as a side, topped with a fried egg or on its own.
Table of Contents
What is Ratatouille?
Ratatouille, pronounced “rat-uh-too-ee,” came long before the totally heartwarming–some might say life-changing–animated movie. The flavorful and vibrant vegetable stew has deep roots in the culinary traditions of Provence, a region in the south of France. Renowned for its rustic simplicity and ability to capture the essence of summer in each bite, it showcases the bountiful produce of the Mediterranean.
The origins of ratatouille can be traced back to the 18th century. Considered a peasant dish, it was invented as a practical way to use an abundance of seasonal vegetables grown in local gardens. Over time, ratatouille became a celebrated symbol of Provençal cuisine. Its popularity spread throughout France and eventually across the globe.
Ratatouille represents the essence of the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fresh, seasonal ingredients and the joy of communal dining. Whether served as a main course or a side dish, ratatouille stands as a testament to the beauty of simplicity, the celebration of seasonal ingredients, and the ability of food to bring people from all walks of life together around a table!
Ratatouille Recipe Ingredients
Like my Roasted Vegetable Salad, this easy Ratatouille recipe uses classic Mediterranean produce. Thankfully, the same ingredients are easy to find in just about any grocery store. The vegetable stew is best in the warmer months when eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini are at their most vibrant. Consider doubling and freezing if you have a large enough pot.
- Produce: For this simple stew, opt for the freshest seasonal produce you can get your hands on. High quality eggplant, yellow onion, bell peppers (green, red, yellow or a combination), garlic, vine-ripe tomatoes, and zucchini are what make this delicate dish so special.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, paprika, and dried rosemary bring an aromatic quality to the vegetable stew. I use typically sweet Spanish paprika from our spice shop, but smoked paprika would also be delicious.
- Fresh herbs: Thyme and basil add a fresh quality, lightening the velvety stewed vegetables.
- Olive oil: Use a nice extra virgin olive oil with some personality, like our slightly peppery Spanish Hojiblanca.
- Acidity: Red wine and sherry vinegar add a depth of flavor, balancing the sweetness of the cooked vegetables. The alcohol will cook off, but if you’re avoiding alcohol entirely you can substitute with vegetable or chicken broth. Simply season with more sherry vinegar to taste.
How to Make Ratatouille
Like my winter vegetable stew, this easy ratatouille recipe builds flavor quickly and easily using just one pot. Keep an eye on the vegetables as they cook: you want them to be soft and delicate, but not mushy.
- Salt the eggplant: Peel 1 pound of eggplant, removing the peel entirely or in a striped pattern for a more rustic look. Cut into 1-inch pieces and place in a large colander in your sink. When ready, sprinkle generously with salt and leave for 20 minutes as you prep the remaining ingredients. When the eggplant has sweated out its bitterness, pat dry with paper towels.
- Prep the produce: Meanwhile, finely chop 1 yellow onion. Slice 2 bell peppers into 1-inch pieces. Mince 6 garlic cloves (see our how to mince garlic guide for tips). Chop 2 pounds of tomatoes, saving their juice as you go. Slice 2 zucchini into 1/2-inch half moons.
- Cook the onion and peppers: In a large heavy pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the onions. Cook, stirring regularly, until they’re translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the bell peppers and cook until softened, about 4 minutes more.
- Add the remaining veggies: Add the garlic, tomatoes and their juice, zucchini, and eggplant. Stir in 1/2 cup of red wine and 2 sprigs of thyme. Season with a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon each of black pepper, paprika, and dried rosemary.
- Boil then simmer: Raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Turn the heat to low, then cover and simmer until the vegetables are soft and the liquid has thickened, about 20 minutes.
- Season: Remove the ratatouille from the heat, taste, and adjust salt to your liking. Add the sherry vinegar and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Top with fresh basil.
- Serve: If you have time, cover and allow the ratatouille to rest in its warm pot for 1 hour or so before serving. When you’re ready to serve, ladle into bowls. Optionally, top each with a sunny side up egg and pass around some crusty bread for dipping. Enjoy warm, at room temperature, cold, any which way!
Tips for Making the Best Ratatouille
Cooking ratatouille in one pot is simple, easy, and totally feasible on a given weeknight. Three important things to keep in mind before you get started:
- How to chop your vegetables? Some recipes call for small-dice, while others call for chopping the ingredients in large chunks for a more rustic feel. It’s a matter of personal preference. I tend to chop my vegetables in 1-inch pieces so they get nice and velvety without losing all of their natural texture. To add more interest, I cut the zucchini or summer squash into half moons. The key is to make the vegetables all about the same size so they cook at the same rate.
- Salt the eggplant. Salting the eggplant may be an optional step but I highly recommend it. The salt helps in three ways: First, the eggplant sweats out any bitterness (yes, I know not all eggplants are bitter). Second, it helps break down its spongy texture. Finally, it helps it cook more quickly, saving us from overcooking the other vegetables while we wait on the eggplant.
- For the best flavor, rest in the warm pot for 1 hour before serving. This will allow the flavors to settle and deepen beautifully. You do not need to heat before serving, ratatouille is great just warm.
How to Serve Ratatouille
Ratatouille is like a relationship: you have to let things cool down a bit to really appreciate how good it is! The simple stew is rather muted when it’s served too hot or too cold. Allow the stew to rest if you have the time, and serve at room temperature to appreciate all the delicate, nuanced flavor.
There is a small French bakery near me called Douceur de France. Without fail, every time we visit, I order their ratatouille. They serve it just warm in a bowl, topped with a perfectly runny fried egg and a piece of crusty French baguette on the side. If I’m serving ratatouille as the main course, which I often do, this is exactly how I serve it.
Though ratatouille needs no further embellishment, it’s also a classic side dish that goes well with simple roast meats, like lamb or chicken. For a simple yet totally luxurious meal, serve with freshly baked focaccia on the side. For a dinner party, kick things off with another French classic: the Niçoise Salad.
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Sweet Spanish Paprika
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Ratatouille (One-Pot Vegetable Stew)
Ingredients
For the Stew:
- 1 lb eggplant, peeled (or striped) and cut into 1-inch pieces
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 bell peppers (mix of red, green, or yellow), sliced into 1-inch pieces
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 lb tomatoes, chopped
- 2 zucchini, sliced into 1/2-inch half moons
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Salt the eggplant: Place the eggplant in a large colander in your sink. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 20 minutes as the eggplant sweats out its bitterness. Pat dry to remove the water and excess salt.
- Cook the onion and peppers: In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering but not smoking, add the onions. Cook, stirring regularly, until they’re translucent (about 5 minutes). Now add the bell peppers and cook for another 4 minutes, and continue to stir as they soften.
- Add the remaining veggies: Add the garlic, tomatoes and any of their juice, zucchini, eggplant, wine, and thyme. Stir in the black pepper, paprika, and rosemary. Season with kosher salt.
- Boil then simmer: Raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Turn the heat down, then cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes or so.
- Season: Remove the ratatouille from the heat, taste, and adjust salt to your liking. Add the sherry vinegar and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Top with fresh basil.
- Serve: If you have time, cover and allow the ratatouille to rest in its warm pot for 1 hour or so before serving (see recipe notes). To serve, ladle into bowls. Optionally, top each with a sunny side up egg and pass around some crusty bread for dipping. Enjoy warm, at room temperature, cold, or any which way your heart desires.
Video
Notes
- Resting: If you have the time, allow the ratatouille to rest in its warm pot for 1 hour or so before serving. This will allow the flavors to settle and deepen beautifully. You do not need to heat before serving, ratatouille is great just warm.
- Make ahead and leftovers: You can make Ratatouille ahead and refrigerate in a sealed container (preferably not plastic due to the tomato’s acidity). It will keep well for 4 days or so. Take it out 30 minutes or so before you are ready to serve. Warm it through over gentle heat or just bring it to room temperature.
- Freezing: Freeze ratatouille, tightly sealed, for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, and again bring to room temperature before serving. If you prefer warm, use gentle heat. If, as a result of freezing, you find the texture to have softened too much, you can puree and serve ratatouille more as a creamier soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams and spices.
Nutrition
*This post first appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2018 and has been recently updated with new information and media for readers’ benefit.
Really delicious! (I left out the rosemary bc my husband dislikes rosemary) The explicit directions were perfect and super helpful! Will make again! Suggest using Motti brand tomatoes canned whole for simplicity-sake. It’s a lot of chopping! (I doubled it )
This is a flat out great recipe. This is easier than cooking the vegetables in batches. My eggplant was pretty big – well over a pound – so I added a 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes to be sure I had enough tomato. But other than that did not change the recipe. It is easy and flavorful. I like the chunky texture of the vegetables. Thanks for a great recipe. I am sure I will make this many times.
What is the serving size? My mom is following Leto and counting carbs. Thank you
Hi, Sara. Once made, this particular recipe can be divided 6 to get the approximate “serving size”. The nutrition info here is our best effort and we use a program that calculates that for us based on the ingredient list that we input. The exact serving size measurement (by grams, cups, etc) is another layer that’s harder for us to precisely calculate at the moment.
Delicious! I did cook the squash and eggplant on a fry pan first. And i only had red wine vinegar but this is fire! Highly recommend!
This is my new favorite recipe for veggies. I wanted to follow the recipe exactly, but did not have sherry vinegar, and the only thyme I could get was dried. Even so, the flavor is wonderful! I will be making this regularly. The paprika was a nice surprise. Loved this!
Delicious and easy. I made this the day before I to let the flavors meld, and by the 2nd day it was even more delicious. I did try to eat this at room temp, but because it is so darn cold here in LA, I needed to warm up. I cooked it in a sauce pan and barely let it come to a simmer. With the addition of the egg, it was perfect. I don’t eat much bread – but what a great excuse to do so. I piled the vegies onto the bread and thought at my next party, I will make a dryer ratatouille crostini topped with feta. I will definitely make this again (and again). Thank you!!!
Made this dish last night and it was wonderful! I didn’t have sherry vinegar and used red wine vinegar instead. Served it with farro and chicken thighs and we cleaned our plates. This dish will definitely go in our dinner rotation!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Denise!
Hi Suzy,
I’m a great fan of yours and have tried, with success, several of your recipes.
However this time allow me a couple of remarks.
As a french person as cannot allow wine in the ratatouille! In fact no liquid, the juice of the vegetables is enough.
Here in the south of France traditionnally each veg is cooked separately, this is time consuming so I go for the middle road…. cast iron pot on one side and a frying pan on the other. My veg (apart from onions fried directly in the pot) are fried a couple of minutes with olive oil in the pan then added to the pot and mixed.
This seals in the flavour of each veg.
My last tip, and personnal touch, is to save a couple of cloves of garlic mince it with some parsley and mix it in the ratatouille just before serving it.
I usually make a big pot, even for the 2 of us, as you suggest the day before alway better next day, we never eat it on the day of cooking.
Unfortunately when frozen, I always end up with mush, tasty mush but mush all the same!
I have also served ratatouille at room temprature with a drizzle of olive oil on a warm summer’s day a delight!
Thank you for the feedback, Roselyne. We always appreciate learning about the variations people have on traditional recipes.
When do you add the tomatoes?
Hi, Linda! You add them with the garlic, zucchini, eggplant, wine, and fresh thyme springs.
I have made and enjoyed several your recipes but this ratatouille is fantastic. My husband agreed and this type of dish isn’t usually as exciting for him as for me so that’s a huge compliment. What a wonderful blend of flavors and the texture is amazing. We used just a sprinkle of fresh grated asiago cheese on top.
Love your tasty, healthy recipes!
So glad to hear it, Cindy! Thank you!
I haven’t made the dish yet, but as I was searching for a way to use my garden bounty in a big way, this ratatouille recipe sounds better than the rest and I’m going to make this tomorrow, I’ll let you know how it goes. The red wine I have in the house right now is a cabernet so that is what I’ll use. Do you use dry or sweet?
My next hunt is a cucumber recipe that ISN’T pickles!
Hi, Sandra. I use a dry wine here. Also, we have sooooo many great recipes using cucumbers on the blog. Hope you check them out! Cucumber Salad is one of my favorites!
This is hands down the best ratatouille recipe I have ever made! Absolutely delicious!
Yay! Thank you so much, Annette!
Made this as a Lenten Friday meal and it was so delicious! My husband loved it too! I will definitely be making this one again. Thank you!
Thank you for such a delicious recipe! My husband isn’t a fan of tomatoes (he likes the taste, but not the texture), so I used a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes in place of fresh. It still turned out amazing. Will definitely make it again!
So glad you enjoyed it, Suzanne!
Loved this so full of flavour will be a regular meal xxx
Thanks, Bernadette!
I have never left a review for a recipe. We love ,love this recipe! It was so delicious and the perfect comfort food for a rainy or cold day, or an excellent way to use up some of those vegetables from the garden in the summer. Thank you for this filling, flavorful recipe!! Highly recommend!!
Thank you so much, Alex!
I love ratatouille! I always quick sauté the eggplant in some olive oil as the first step (after the light salting, and draining), then remove it and start sautéing the rest of the items, then add the pre-sautéed eggplant into all the rest to finish the cooking. This dish is so healthy and versatile to be served as a side or main dish! My French mother in law taught me to make this wonderful dish when I was living in France.