Roasted Ratatouille = The Best Ratatouille
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Last Friday, before heading out to see friends for a long weekend, I made the roasted ratatouille from my friend Gena Hamshaw’s Food52 Vegan. I chopped up every pepper, onion, eggplant, tomato, and zucchini I could find, threw them into my largest roasting pan, tossed them with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme, and salt, and cooked them till they released their juices and melted into a stewy mix.
That evening, I tossed the ratatouille, as Gena suggests, with pasta, then packed up what remained for the road. My friends and I ate the ratatouille all weekend, cold straight from the fridge for lunch, spread over grilled bread before dinner.
What I love about this ratatouille’s flavor is the subtle bite lent by the balsamic vinegar, which evokes eggplant caponata though the sharpness here is more mellow. It is irresistible.
What I also love about this roasted ratatouille is how unfussy and forgiving it is. In the notes, Gena writes: “Traditional ratatouille can be a little high maintenance: It simmers on the stovetop for an hour or longer and often requires adding specific vegetables at specific times.” With roasting, on the other hand, all of the vegetables and seasonings enter the pan at once.
With the exception of a quick stir halfway through cooking, the process is hands off—there’s no sautéing, no (vigilant) monitoring, no staggering the entry of the vegetables. When the vegetables release their juices, and when those juices then reduce down into a thick, stewy mix, it’s done.
How to Make Roasted Ratatouille
Here’s what you do: Gather all of your ratatouille vegetables: tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, summer squash, and garlic.
Roughly chop everything. As you chop, pile the vegetables into your largest roasting pan, seasoning each layer of vegetables with salt.
Pour olive oil and vinegar over top. Crack pepper over top.
If your pan looks like this, don’t worry! (And don’t stir either.)
Transfer pan to the oven and roast at 400ºF for 45 minutes. At this point, when the vegetables have released some of their juices and have shrunk down considerably, you can remove the pan, and carefully give it all a stir.
Return the pan to the oven and continue to cook for 2 hours (or more or less), stirring halfway, until the vegetables become completely stewy, almost jammy in texture.
Spread your ratatouille over toast, toss with pasta, use as a layer in a summer lasagna, or simply eat with a spoon. Ratatouille freezes beautifully, too, so don’t be afraid to pack it into quart containers, and stash it away for a future use.
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PrintRoasted Ratatouille = The Best Ratatouille
- Total Time: Varies: 1 to 3 hours
- Yield: Varies: 1 to 3 quarts
Description
This is adapted from Food52 Vegan by Gena Hamshaw.
Use this recipe as a guide: It’s best to use a balanced mix of vegetables, but the roasting process is forgiving. For instance, I’ve made this with and without zucchini; I’ve used a mix of vegetables that leans heavy on the eggplant at times and heavy on the tomatoes at others. I’ve used all sorts of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc.
Also, I often make a quadruple (or more!) recipe, so don’t be afraid to load up your largest roasting pan. The key is to be patient with the roasting. Let the vegetables cook until the liquids reduce, and the mixture becomes thick and stewy. When I double/triple/quadruple the recipe, I scale the dressing as needed. When my roasting pan is completely loaded, I use 1 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (or 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup vinegar), and I cook the vegetables for 3 hours.
Also, I often omit the thyme altogether: I simply season each layer of vegetables with salt as I add them to the pan. Then once all of the vegetables are in, I pour over the olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. After 1 hour, I stir it; then I stir it again every hour after that until it has roasted for 3 hours total.
Ingredients
For the roasted ratatouille:
- 12 ounces eggplant, (about 1), chopped into 1-inch pieces, see notes above re quantities
- 1 1/4 pounds tomatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 12 ounces zucchini (about 2), chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 2 red bell (or other) peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 yellow or white onion, chopped
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 to 1/2 cups olive oil, see notes above
- 2 to 4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, optional
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- Freshly cracked pepper to taste
For the pasta:
- dried pasta
- roasted ratatouille
- freshly grated parmesan
- basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- In a large roasting pan or casserole, combine the tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion, shallot, and garlic. Note: I add the vegetables to the pan as I finish chopping them, and sprinkle each layer of vegetables lightly with salt.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, thyme, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Pour over the vegetables. Toss to coat. Season with pepper. (Alternatively: If you’ve seasoned each layer of vegetables generously with salt, simply pour the olive oil and vinegar over the vegetables. As noted above, I omit the thyme.)
- Bake for 30 minutes, then stir well. Bake for another 30 to 45 minutes (or longer, especially if you’ve increased the quantities: if my roasting pan is really loaded, I roast the vegetables for 3 hours, stirring once every hour, until the juices really begin to reduce/thicken) until the vegetables are all very tender and the released juices are beginning to thicken. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper as desired.
- To serve, spoon over toast or toss with cooked pasta, grated parmesan, finely chopped basil and enough of the reserved pasta cooking liquid to make a nice sauce.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 to 2 hours (or more)
- Category: Vegetable
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: French
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
319 Comments on “Roasted Ratatouille = The Best Ratatouille”
I made this a week ago for dinner and could not believe how flavorful and delicious it is!! The house smelled scrumptious, so I had a feeling it would be good…it was absolutely DELICIOUS!! My hubby and I ate it with pasta and just couldn’t get enough. I’m making it again tonight and can’t wait for dinner! This will be on a regular rotation at my house.
Thank you for this amazing recipe!
P.S. I called my 13 year old grandson after we ate it and told him that he and I need to make it together and watch Ratatouille – LOL! He loves to cook and we love that movie!
Awwww how sweet? I love this so much. Thanks so much for writing and sharing all of it. Enjoy your dinner and a movie date with your grandson 💕💕💕
This is delicious and a great way to empty out the fridge! I had 3 half peppers (red, orange, yellow) to use up. I also had some tomatoes, red onions, zucchini and mushrooms. Just had to pick up some eggplant. It smelled delicious while roasting. Love that the recipe is forgiving because I didn’t have enough to even fill my roasting pan! Also like being able to freeze and use later, although I know I’ll eat this up with pasta.
Great to hear, Irene! Thanks so much for writing and sharing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Popping in years later to write, yet again, how amazingly delicious this is. My toddler and I eat the whole thing for two meals. She even forgets the pasta I add. Also, when you share the recipe (with credits, of course!) or feed people – instant super stardom.
Awwww love reading this, Lili! Thanks so much for writing and sharing 🙂
Delicious! I serve my ratatouille over soft polenta that I grate Parmesan into. If there’s leftover polenta, I spread it into a pan, cover & chill. Within the next few days, I take it out of the pan, slice it into triangles, lightly oil the triangles & grill toll hot & grill marks appear. Great with leftover ratatouille.
When I’ve made a double batch of ratatouille & have lots of leftovers, I’ve also taken some leftovers & blitzed the mix with my immersion blender & a kittle veggie stick to make an easy soup.
I am just making this following your recipe, but the video shows a lot more vegetables than what the recipe states. In the recipe you state yellow onion, but video is red. Is this a forgiving recipe that can interchange onions, peppers & squash? I can’t wait to try it when I’m done!
Thank you!
Yes, so forgiving! I actually never really follow the recipe anymore: I just load up my largest roasting pan with a combination of ratatouille veg — sometimes it’s more tomato heavy, sometimes it’s more eggplant heavy, etc — then dress with salt, oil and vinegar, and roast away. Interchange veg as you wish!
This was delicious! I didn’t have eggplant so used zucchini & cherry tomatoes from my garden. Will be making again! Flavor was wonderful! Thank you!
Great to hear! Thanks for writing 🙂
I was going to make ratatouille and I thought ‘how come I never roast my veggies first?’, Googled roast ratatouille and found this! Validated my question and will never NOT roast again. The flavour is richer and it’s somehow easier to make, too … less stirring I guess. Thank you!
Great to hear, Jane! Thanks for writing 🙂
I love this and have sent the recipe to friends who now love it as well.
Thank you—-this is a vegetable treat! Easy to make, nothing to peel—-just have to be around to still it up. Sublime.
Great to hear, Maria! Thanks so much for writing and sharing 🙂
This is my 4th time making this delicious recipe. SO yummy. Today I was debating whether or not to add the cauliflower that I keep forgetting about in my fridge, but I thought it wouldn’t really work with the other flavors, so I opted not to. Was wondering whether you’ve ever made it with cauliflower or if you have an opinion about whether you think it would work.
Thanks for this and all your other amazing recipes!
I have never used cauliflower… honestly, I think it was a good call to leave it out. I’m not sure it would work here or really add anything. Glad you love the recipe!