Aromatic herbs & beautiful fresh vegetables come together in this very hearty, super healthy Easy Ratatouille Recipe which combines big flavour with simplicity. A perfect, quick & easy week night dinner!
Sometimes the simplest meals are the best and that is certainly the case with my Easy Ratatouille Recipe. It is great with rice, pasta, quinoa, couscous, as a topping for a baked potato or simply with some Homemade No Knead Focaccia Bread. It can also be served as a side and keeps really well in the fridge for three to four days where the flavours just keep getting better. We always end up arguing over who gets the leftovers!
WHAT IS RATATOUILLE?
Ratatouille is a traditional French vegetable stew that poor farmers would make to use up their excess vegetables. ‘Touiller’ in French means ‘to toss’ or ‘stir it up’ hence the name. I can assure you though, that when you eat this rich and hearty dish, you will feel anything but poor.
There are many different ways to cook Ratatouille and some of the more traditional ways take a little while to make. One way to do it is to cook every one of the vegetables individually then layer them up and bake in the oven. Whilst I am sure the finished result is delicious, I wanted to bring to you a quick and Easy Ratatouille Recipe which would combine the big flavours of aromatic herbs and fresh vegetables with simplicity for a quick and very healthy week night meal.
I like to keep my vegetables quite chunky but if you prefer them smaller then by all means cut them that way. Just bear in mind that they won’t take quite as long to cook so you will need to adjust the cooking time to suit.
Some people recommend salting and sweating eggplant before cooking. Whether or not this makes any difference at all is a controversial matter. Personally I don’t think that it makes a difference to flavour at all. Years ago eggplant did have a tendency to be bitter but they have evolved over the years and are now much mellower than they were. If you would prefer to sweat yours prior to getting started with this recipe then go for it but personally I think life is too short!
My Easy Ratatouille recipe combines the traditional eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, fresh tomatoes, onion and garlic but also has the addition of some rosemary and fennel. The rosemary adds just a very slight undertone but the fennel adds pops of delicious aniseed flavour to every bite. I am somebody who isn’t keen on strong aniseed flavours but trust me here as the fennel isn’t too strong and works extremely well with the other flavours. If you really are a fennel hater and won’t take my word for it, then feel free to omit it.
This Easy Ratatouille Recipe is:
- Healthy
- Quick and easy
- Fragrant
- Full of flavour and texture
- Hearty
- Satisfying
- Super delicious!
Quick & Easy Ratatouille Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional, see recipe notes)
- 1 large onion , chopped
- 3 - 4 cloves garlic , chopped finely
- 1 large eggplant / aubergine , chopped into chunks
- 2 large zucchini , chopped into chunks
- 2 large bell peppers , any colour
- 900g | 4.5 cups chopped fresh tomato , you may substitute chopped canned tomatoes but the finished flavour won't be quite as good
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary , or fresh
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 large bay leaf
Instructions
- Make sure that all of the ingredients are chopped and ready to go.
- In a large pan saute the onions in olive oil over a medium heat until translucent. If you wish to keep the recipe oil-free use a couple tablespoons of water for sautéing instead.
- Add the garlic and continue cooking until just starting to brown,
- Add all of the other ingredients and leave to simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Give it a good gentle stir (you don't want to break the veggies up too much).
- Cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the tomatoes have broken down.
- Serve & enjoy!
Notes
Estimated nutrition per serving:
Long time vegan, creator of A Virtual Vegan & author of the book 
Alexander J Rauch says
Far exceeds expectations! Excellent recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! I’m so pleased you enjoyed it!
Joanna says
Oh! I almost forgot… I also added some blended up basil and olive oil (pseudo pesto) that I had in my freezer from our last big batch of CSA herbs and I put some frozen chunks on the bottom of my bowl before spooning in the piping hot ratatouille. The heat from the meal melted the pesto and left me with DELICIOUS little surprises in my bowl every once in a while! A vegan pesto would do the same trick, whether frozen or fresh, whether on top of the dish or buried at the bottom. <3
Joanna says
So much flavour! Farmers’ Market tomatoes make a world of difference :)
I added a bit of extra olive oil and a touch LESS salt (1.5 tsp instead of 2 tsp) plus an extra bay leaf. This meal was a total hit and we will definitely be adding it into our regular dinner rotation. Thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it Joanna. It’s the perfect recipe to be using your farmer’s market tomatoes in! Thank you for stopping by to leave feedback!