Easy French Ratatouille Is a Must-Make Summer Recipe (2024)

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Laure Joliet

Laure Joliet

updated Oct 2, 2022

summer

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Easy French Ratatouille Is a Must-Make Summer Recipe (1)

Make this thick and silky French stew of eggplant, zucchini, sweet peppers, and ripe summer tomatoes before summer ends.

Serves8Makesabout 2 quartsPrep20 minutesCook1 hour 5 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes

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Easy French Ratatouille Is a Must-Make Summer Recipe (2)

When your garden is overflowing and your kitchen is packed with produce, there is ratatouille. This thick and silky French stew of eggplant, zucchini, sweet bell peppers, and ripe summer tomatoes will use up your extra vegetables in one fell swoop, making enough food to feed a crowd, pack for lunch, and still freeze for later.

Making ratatouille is definitely a project for a weekend afternoon; it’s easy, but fairly time-consuming. First there’s getting all the vegetables washed, chopped, and ready. Then you need to cook them in batches — partly so they can brown instead of steam, and partly because the vegetables tend not to fit in a single pot until they’ve started breaking down a little.

The Best Time to Eat Ratatouille

Once this is all accomplished and the vegetables are simmering away on the back burner, there’s the waiting. You can certainly eat your ratatouille as soon as all the vegetables are warmed through — that’s a perfectly tasty and fresh meal — but the real magic of ratatouille happens after it’s been bubbling away for an hour or more. The vegetables melt into each other, turning silky and completely tender, while the thyme and garlic infuse every corner of the pot. Stirring in the basil at the last minute is the pièce de résistance.

This recipe for ratatouille comes from my dad, a genuine Frenchman who learned to make the dish while growing up. It’s filling, full of vegetables, and gets even better on the second and third day. I recommend serving it with plenty of crusty bread close at hand.

Tester’s Notes

This is the quintessential vegetarian summer recipe — what else uses and celebrates so much of the bounty of the summer produce? Ratatouille is a great way to turn that bumper crop of summer squash or tomatoes into a tasty side dish or topping for crusty bread. We’ve simplified the recipe a bit and clarified the amounts you’ll need. If you find yourself with even more produce than planned, you can easily double the recipe and freeze the extras for when you want a taste of summer.

Christine, April 2018

Comments

Easy French Ratatouille Recipe

Make this thick and silky French stew of eggplant, zucchini, sweet peppers, and ripe summer tomatoes before summer ends.

Prep time 20 minutes

Cook time 1 hour 5 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes

Makes about 2 quarts

Serves 8

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons

    olive oil, divided, plus more for serving

  • 1 1/2 pounds

    eggplant (1 large), large dice

  • Kosher salt

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 1/2 pounds

    zucchini or summer squash (3 to 4 medium squash), large dice

  • 1

    medium yellow onion, diced

  • 2 cloves

    garlic, minced

  • 2 sprigs

    fresh thyme

  • 1

    bay leaf

  • 1 pound

    tomatoes (3 to 4 medium), large dice

  • 1

    large bell pepper, large dice

  • 1/4 cup

    loosely packed fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced, plus more for serving

Instructions

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the eggplant, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil to the pot. Add the zucchini, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the eggplant.

  3. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, and bay leaf and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and bell peppers. Add the reserved eggplant and zucchini and gently stir to combine.

  4. Bring to a simmer, then turn down the heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 1/2 hours. A shorter cooking time will leave the vegetables in larger, more distinct pieces; longer cooking times will break the vegetables down into a silky stew.

  5. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Just before serving, stir in the basil. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve, sprinkling each serving with more basil and drizzling with more olive oil.

Recipe Notes

Making a larger batch: This recipe can be doubled and adapted to use whatever vegetables you have.

Flavor extras: For something different, try adding a tablespoon of smoked paprika, a pinch of red pepper flakes, 1/4 cup of red wine, or a splash of vinegar to the ratatouille.

Storage: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Filed in:

Dairy-Free

dinner

Freezer Friendly

french

Gluten-Free

Healthy Living

Easy French Ratatouille Is a Must-Make Summer Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the secret of a good ratatouille? ›

Cooking each vegetable separately before combining them in ratatouille ensures that each component cooks to the right texture and retains its distinct flavor. Different vegetables have varying cooking times; for instance, eggplants and peppers take longer to become tender compared to tomatoes and zucchini.

What are the most common ingredients used in ratatouille? ›

Ratatouille Ingredients
  • Onion and garlic – They create the stew's flavorful base.
  • Eggplant – Any kind!
  • Zucchini – I've been obsessed with Italian striped zucchini (pictured above) this summer, but other varieties of summer squash are also fair game. ...
  • Peppers – Yellow, orange, and red bell peppers all taste great!

What is the best way to eat ratatouille? ›

How to Serve Ratatouille. Ratatouille can be the main dish with a side of crusty bread or a salad accompanying a meal, but it's also good served over polenta, pasta, mashed potatoes, quinoa, and rice. Use it as a filling for omelets and tarts or as a side for grilled or roasted meats.

Why is ratatouille made at the end of summer or beginning of autumn? ›

It starts with ripe, in-season produce. In Western hemispheres, eggplants, onions, red peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini are plump, plentiful, and actually taste like something, summer through early fall. Make and eat ratatouille in abundance then.

What is the correct order of steps for making ratatouille? ›

  1. Step 1: Roast Nuts. Start by roasting the pine nuts in a dry frying pan. ...
  2. Step 2: Prepare Eggplant. Dice the eggplant, put the cubes in a strainer and sprinkle with salt. ...
  3. Step 3: Slice the Onion. ...
  4. Step 4: Cook the Onion. ...
  5. Step 5: Add Tomato Puree. ...
  6. Step 6: Cook Peppers. ...
  7. Step 7: Mushrooms and Zucchini. ...
  8. Step 8: Eggplant.

How to cut onions for ratatouille? ›

Halve onions through their roots, and slice halves into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Slice zucchini into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Cut eggplant into 1-inch cubes or spears. Seed peppers, and cut them into 1/4-inch-thick strips.

What is usually served with ratatouille? ›

Ratatouille can be served as a first course with bread; it can also be served as a side dish, as you would any vegetable side. However, I most enjoy serving ratatouille as a main-ish dish; that is, as an anchor to a summer's dinner. I love serving it with flatbread or artisanal crackers and a good array of cheeses.

What pairs well with ratatouille? ›

One of the best ways to enjoy ratatouille is as a side dish. It goes well with grilled meats like chicken, pork, or beef as well as stewed and sauced recipes. The rich tomato sauce and fresh herbs add a burst of flavor that complements the smoky, savory taste of roasted, stewed or grilled meat.

How long should ratatouille be in the fridge? ›

Ratatouille can keep for up to 5 days in the fridge. And the best thing is that it often gets better after a day or two in the fridge since the flavours from the ratatouille ingredients have time to meld together. Let it cool completely and store it in an airtight container.

What is the final dish in ratatouille called? ›

The final dish on the movie is Confit Byaldi, which was the brain child of Thomas Keller, an American chef.

What is the dish called at the end of ratatouille? ›

The dish that Remy creates in Ratatouille, technically, isn't Ratatouille. It's really a dish that goes by the name of (fancy French term alert!) Confit Byaldi that was perfected by the great chef Thomas Keller.

What is the sad part of ratatouille? ›

Sad: Remy Loses His Family

The rats must flee quickly with the old lady on their tails. Remy does his best to keep up during the escape, but eventually loses his family in all of the chaos and is left alone and without a home.

What is the French name for ratatouille? ›

The modern recipe for Ratatouille originated in the Nice and Provencal regions of France. Its official French name is Ratatouille Niçoise.

Is ratatouille a French or Italian dish? ›

Ratatouille (/ˌrætəˈtuːi/ RAT-ə-TOO-ee, French: [ʁatatuj]; Occitan: ratatolha [ʀataˈtuʎɔ]) is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables that originated in Nice and is sometimes referred to as ratatouille niçoise ( French: [niswaz]).

How to make the perfect ratatouille in Disney Dreamlight Valley? ›

To make ratatouille in Disney Dreamlight Valley, you'll need to bring the following ingredients to any of the stoves/hobs in the game: eggplant (AKA aubergine), zucchini (AKA courgette), onion, tomato, and the spice of your choice. Simply chuck those food items into any active hob and your job will be done.

What is the main lesson of ratatouille? ›

Anyone can cook. This one is seriously emphasized in this movie by not only Chef Gusteau, but by the theme of the movie. And it's so true, if you want to cook, you can. If the rat in this movie can put that much precision into Ratatouille, you can throw together a new recipe.

What is ratatouille usually made of? ›

Think of the vegetables that grow well in your yard, ready to be picked together in late summer and early fall — that's ratatouille. It's a stew of zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant, with herbs and spices and some onions and garlic usually thrown in for good measure.

Where does ratatouille say the best food is made? ›

NARRATOR: Although each of the world's countries would like to dispute this fact, we French know the truth; the best food in the World is made in France.

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