Traditional French Ratatouille is a bright and delicious stew of summer vegetables. Rich and flavorful with hints of olive oil, onion, garlic, and fresh herbs, quick simmered to allow the fresh vegetable flavors of the eggplant and zucchini to shine through.
My traditional ratatouille recipe is easy to make and is the perfect accompaniment for chicken, pork, or beef. Or my favorite way, simply served with a crusty loaf of bread and Romano or parmesan cheese.
Originating in the South of France, ratatouille is made with yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, red or green bell peppers, sweet onions, garlic cloves, and either fresh tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. Seasoned with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, fresh basil, and oregano. Not only is it a great way to use summer’s bounty of fresh produce, it’s amazingly delicious!
Making ratatouille properly doesn’t take that long. It’s just a few steps cooking the vegetables in the right progression so they don’t get mushy. Then a quick simmer and you’re ready to enjoy this classic French dish.
What I like the best about ratatouille is it can be served hot, at room temperature, or chilled. And honestly, it always seems to taste better the next day.
If you love vegetable dishes, you’ll love my Sicilian Caponata Recipe.
What Ingredients do I need to make ratatouille?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make ratatouille. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
*You’ll find some recipes that use a bay leaf, I’ve never been fond of the flavor so I leave them out, but feel free to add it to the seasonings.
*I used crushed tomatoes for my ratatouille because it cuts down on the simmering time. But you can use fresh tomatoes (even cherry tomatoes) in your version of this French classic, but if you do, you’ll need to add a little tomato paste.
These are the ingredients used to make Ratatouille:
- olive oil
- sweet onion
- red bell pepper
- yellow bell pepper
- garlic
- eggplant
- zucchini squash
- yellow squash
- San Marzano whole tomatoes in juice
- fresh basil
- fresh oregano or dried oregano
- red pepper flakes
- sea salt and black pepper
- Italian parsley
How to make Authentic French Ratatouille
- Add olive oil to a large saute pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Let the oil get hot then add the peppers, onions, and garlic to the pan and saute for 2 minutes
- Add the eggplant and season with salt and pepper and let the eggplant cook for 10 minutes, or until the eggplant begins to look cooked.
- Add the zucchini, and yellow squash to the mixture and let it cook for about 5 minutes. The vegetable slices should be slightly cooked.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes to the mixture. Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the ratatouille simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the eggplant is fully cooked. Don’t overcook the vegetables, they should not be mushy.
Can I use other vegetables to make this dish?
Traditionally, these vegetables are used in making this French vegetable stew. But I won’t tell if you want to add mushrooms, olives, spinach, or your favorite bitter green to the mixture. After all, it’s your dinner.
Reseason the ratatouille as needed and get ready to enjoy the best ratatouille you’ve ever had!
Serve my Traditional French Ratatouille as a side dish, over pasta, rice, or your favorite grain. It also makes a delicious topping for grilled or roasted chicken, beef, pork or fish.
Recipe FAQ’s:
Yes, it can. Fresh tomatoes were the original ingredient in the recipe and over the years cooks have substituted canned whole peeled tomatoes for ease of use, quicker cooking, and not having to worry about the tomato skins.
Ratatouille is a rustic southern French vegetable stew whose origins are said to be from Nice, France. Its traditionally made with eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, sweet onions, and tomatoes. Its typically served during the summer months when fresh produce is abundant and can be served hot, room temperature or chilled.
No, you don’t. The salting process is supposed to keep the eggplant from absorbing as much oil, but I have never bothered with that process and have always had wonderful results in all the dishes I use eggplant in.
Ratatouille goes well with grilled or roasted meats, such as flank steak, chicken, pork chops, and leg of lamb. It also goes well with rice and of course crusty bread for dipping. But you can really serve this delightful vegetable stew with just about any entree.
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Authentic French Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon olive oil more as needed
- 1 -1 ½ cups sweet onion rough cut
- 1 cup red bell pepper rough cut
- 1 cup yellow bell pepper rough cut
- 2 tablespoon garlic finely chopped
- 4 cups eggplant – peeled and cubed you may leave the skin on if you prefer
- 1 – 1½ large zucchini squash sliced
- 1 – 1 ½ large yellow squash sliced
- 28 oz San marzano whole tomatoes in juice can substitute 5 large fresh tomatoes chopped
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano finely chopped or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper optional
- 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian parsley finely chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large saute pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Let the oil get hot.
- Add the peppers, onions, and garlic to the pan and saute for 2 minutes
- Add the eggplant and season with salt and pepper, and let the eggplant cook for 10 minutes, or until the eggplant is beginning to look cooked.
- Add the zucchini, and yellow squash to the mixture and cook for about 5 minutes. The squash should be slightly cooked.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes to the mixture. Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the ratatouille simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the eggplant is fully cooked. Don’t overcook the vegetables, they should not be mushy.
- Reseason as needed and serve over chicken, fish, pasta or simply as a side dish.
James Maslach
I have been making ratatouille for fifty years, using Julia child’s recipe. My son wanted to make it. I searched the internet, and was intrigued by your approach, which also was easy to teach my son. The result was the best ratatouille I have ever eaten, with each element maintaining its tasteful identity. Thank you. We will revisit this recipe often , especially when we want to impress guests.
Chef Dennis Littley
That is quite a complement, thank you! I do love a good ratatouille and have made in different ways over the years, but this is my favorite.
Carolyn Hetke
I used fresh tomatoes so I reduced the simmering tim significantly, about 20 minutes total. Sauce was probably not as thick as with canned but it was delicious with fres summer vegetables. Will definitely make again!
Linda
Dear chef Dennis this is the second time I have this recipe. It is the best ratatouille I have ever tasted. I’m having this for dinner on rice. My family loves this. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying my ratatouille recipe. It’s a personal favorite of mine.
Sharon T
This is very good. It is time consuming chopping everything, I cut the recipe in half which was difficult (it would be helpful to give amounts of vegetables I weight or measurements). My only difficulty was trying not to keep the vegetables from burning when adding the squash.
Robert Levine
A very easy and no-fuss tasty recipe for ratatouille.Went well vwill our dinner of carbon steel pan grilled lamb loin chops and pommes de terre fondantes. Looking forward to tomorrow when we will use the leftover ratatouill on pasta. This has replaced our prior ratatouille recipe which tasted no better and had more steps because of separate cooking of the vegetables before combining sll the ingredients. We definitely will be making this again.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the Ratatouille Robert!
Chenée
Your ratatouille was amazing and a great way to enjoy seasonal veggies! Thanks for the recipe!
Sharon
This French ratatouille uses the best vegetables of the season! It was soo delicious!!
Freya
I thought I knew how to make proper ratatouille but your recipe was so amazingly good!
Heather
Always wanted to try making authentic French Ratatouille. We loved it. And what a delicious way dinner with fresh summer produce! Served with crusty bread – big hit!
Leslie
I loved your idea of serving this with a crusty loaf of bread! It was the Perfect combination!!!
Enri Lemoine
Delicous ratatouille, Chef! As usual, you nailed it!
Mikayla
I had everything I needed in the cupboard and from my garden. Very filling and truly a bounty of flavors, it was very good. I even have some for lunch tomorrow.
Jessica
My garden always has an abundance of squash varieties, and this recipe looks perfect for using them up! I did wonder about the eggplant preparation, so thank you for addressing that in the post. Looks wonderful!
Loreto and Nicoletta Nardelli
Ratatouille is one of our favorite ways to have all the summer vegetables. Scrumptious in flavor, it presents well and can accompany a variety of dishes.
Lisa
I can’t believe how delicious this ratatouille was and how easy it was to make! I enjoyed it cold from the fridge the second day with crusty Italian bread!