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Ratatouille
Ratatouille is hearty, colourful, and packed with the rich flavour of slowly cooked Mediterranean vegetables. Aubergine, courgette, capsicum, tomatoes, and onion are cooked until tender and beautifully melded together, creating a dish that’s simple but deeply satisfying. It works brilliantly as a side dish, spooned over crusty bread, or served with rice, pasta, or grilled meat for an easy meal that makes the most of plenty of vegetables.
Ratatouille
My ratatouille is a rustic French vegetable stew made with aubergine, courgette, peppers, tomatoes and plenty of herbs. I love how the vegetables soften into a rich, savoury sauce while still keeping a little texture, making this an easy side dish or light meal that works beautifully with crusty bread, grilled meat or fish. It’s colourful, comforting and a brilliant way to make the most of simple vegetables without turning them into anything fussy.
Ingredients
- 2 aubergines, diced into 1.5cm cubes
- 2 courgettes, diced into 1.5cm cubes
- 2 peppers, sliced
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 390g tomato passata
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh thyme
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the aubergine and a large pinch of salt. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until soft and golden. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and add the courgettes and a large pinch of salt. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until soft and golden. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet. Cook the peppers and onions for 5 minutes, or until just soft. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
- Pour in the red wine and simmer for 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.
- Stir through the passata, a large pinch of salt, and a sprig of thyme. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until thickened.
- Return the aubergine and courgette to the skillet and simmer for an additional 5 minutes until everything is well combined and heated through.
- Serve topped with freshly torn basil.
Notes
- The secret to great ratatouille is cooking each vegetable separately before combining everything in the sauce. It takes a bit longer but means each vegetable retains its own flavour, texture, and colour rather than all steaming together into a uniform mush.
- Aubergine is a sponge for oil. Don't be tempted to add more oil when it looks like it's all been absorbed. Keep cooking and it will eventually release its moisture and start to turn golden.
- Salting each vegetable as it cooks draws out excess moisture and seasons the vegetables from the inside. Don't skip this step.
- The red wine adds depth and a lovely acidity that balances the richness of the passata. Use something you'd actually drink. It doesn't need to be expensive, but it does need to taste good.
- Ratatouille is one of those dishes that improves significantly the next day as the flavours meld together. If you have the time, make it a day ahead and reheat gently before serving.
- I use this large wide skillet for ratatouille. The wide base gives you maximum surface area for cooking the vegetables in batches and reducing the sauce properly.
- Dice the aubergine and courgette into even 1.5cm cubes so they cook at the same rate and hold their shape in the finished dish.
- Fresh basil added at the very end rather than during cooking keeps it vibrant and fragrant. Don't be shy with it.
- Ratatouille is naturally vegan and gluten free, which makes it a brilliant dish for feeding a crowd with mixed dietary requirements.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat gently on the stovetop over low heat.
- This dish freezes beautifully. Portion into freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat gently on the stovetop.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 120Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 57mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 2g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Serve this with
- Serve alongside my Paprika Lamb Cutlets for a hearty Mediterranean-style dinner. The smoky lamb works beautifully with the soft courgette, aubergine, peppers and rich tomato sauce.
- Spoon over creamy mashed potatoes or buttery polenta for a comforting vegetarian meal. Both soak up the tomato-rich juices beautifully and make the ratatouille feel much more substantial.
- Pair with my Halloumi Schnitzel for a brilliant meat-free dinner. The crisp, salty halloumi gives you loads of texture against the soft vegetables and deeply savoury tomato sauce.
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Ratatouille recipe
Movie Night Inspiration (Thanks to a Cooking Rat)
The other day we were having one of those movie marathons where you’ve settled in, blanket and all, with zero intention of moving for at least three hours. We popped on Ratatouille (because, honestly, who doesn’t love a rat who can cook?), and somewhere between the animated chopping and stirring, I realised something. For all my love of food and French cuisine, I had never actually eaten ratatouille. How on earth had I missed that one? It’s not like I shy away from vegetables. I adore a rustic dish, and French peasant food is basically my love language. So naturally, I had to rectify this oversight immediately.
Now, there are two main versions of ratatouille floating around out there. One is the visually gorgeous, spiralled, oven-baked sort that looks like it belongs on a Parisian Instagram feed. The other is the more traditional, rustic vegetable stew that’s thrown together in a pot and left to bubble away until the flavours deepen and mellow. I went for the second – I’m not here to faff about with mandolins and spiral placements when what I really want is something warm, comforting, and bursting with flavour. Spoiler alert: it was divine. Honestly, I don’t know why I waited so long.
What surprised me most was how intensely summery the dish tasted. Aubergine, courgette, capsicum, and tomato all come together in this gloriously sun-soaked medley that feels like a holiday in a bowl. It’s the sort of thing you want to eat with a chunk of bread, at a rickety wooden table outside, while the sun begins to dip below the horizon. It’s simple, it’s hearty, and it’s got that effortless French charm that makes you feel far more sophisticated than you actually are.
Cooking Ratatouille Properly (And Without Losing the Will to Live)
Look, I get it – it sounds a bit tedious, the idea of frying each vegetable separately. I rolled my eyes when I first read that, too. But hear me out – aubergine isn’t like courgette, and courgette isn’t like capsicum. They all need their own time in the spotlight to really shine. If you chuck them all in together, you’ll end up with a soggy mess and none of the layers of flavour that make this dish really sing. Treating the vegetables with respect sounds a bit dramatic, but honestly, it makes all the difference. You want the aubergine to soak up some oil and get that melt-in-your-mouth texture. The courgette should still have a bit of bite. And the onions? Soft and sweet, never rushed.
I also decided to deviate slightly from the standard recipe and added a splash of red wine instead of the usual red wine vinegar. It just felt right, you know? Letting it reduce down gives the whole thing this rich, velvety depth that vinegar just can’t compete with. I know a lot of recipes call for sugar, but I skipped that entirely. My tomatoes weren’t particularly sweet, but honestly, a bit of salt brought everything into balance. I never add sugar to tomato sauces, and I’ve yet to be proven wrong about that. The peppers were already bringing plenty of sweetness to the party, so I left it at that.
Once everything was cooked and bubbling away, I let it simmer until the vegetables had surrendered into a harmonious stew. It smelt heavenly. Like something your French grandmother would make if you were lucky enough to have one. I ate a big bowlful that night, and it felt like summer wrapped me in a hug. It’s the kind of food that’s good for your soul. And your leftovers? We’ll get to that next.
Making the Most of Leftovers (Without Even Trying)
So, here’s the thing with this recipe. It makes a lot. And I mean a lot. I know I could halve it, but then I’d be left wanting more the next day and kicking myself for not making the full batch. So, leftovers it is. And honestly, I’ve found the perfect way to use them up. After a day or two, I throw whatever’s left into the food processor with a handful of fresh basil and blitz it all into a pasta sauce. No waste, no fuss, just a ridiculously flavourful sauce that clings to pasta like it was born to do it. You can even freeze it and have it waiting for you on a busy night.
The pasta sauce idea came about mostly by accident. I’d made this massive pot and after three bowls I was starting to eye it a bit suspiciously. Like, alright, love, you’ve done your job. Time to transform. And transform it did! The basil adds this lovely herbaceous note that lifts everything, and the texture when blitzed is silky and luxurious. You’d think I’d spent hours crafting some bougie tomato base, but nope. Just good old leftover ratatouille doing its thing.
This is the kind of meal that makes me feel a bit proud of myself in the best way. Like I’ve got my life together just enough to repurpose one dish into another without relying on a microwave meal. It’s real food, made with love, and turned into something else with barely any effort. And it’s budget friendly, which never hurts. Especially when the food feels this generous and luxurious. Honestly, it’s meals like this that remind me why I love cooking. And eating. And movies about rats who cook.
Frequently asked questions
Why cook each vegetable separately rather than all together? Cooking everything together would cause the vegetables to steam in each other’s moisture rather than caramelise properly, and you’d end up with a uniform, slightly mushy stew where everything tastes the same. Cooking each vegetable separately in a hot pan with oil and salt gives each one its own golden, slightly caramelised edges and allows it to develop its own flavour before everything comes together in the sauce at the end.
Why does the aubergine absorb all the oil so quickly? Aubergine is extremely porous and acts like a sponge, absorbing oil almost immediately. Don’t be tempted to add more when it looks like the pan is dry. Keep cooking over medium heat and the aubergine will eventually release its moisture, start to soften, and turn golden. Adding extra oil at this stage just makes the finished dish greasy.
Does ratatouille really taste better the next day? Yes, genuinely. The flavours meld and deepen overnight in a way that freshly made ratatouille doesn’t quite achieve. If you have the time, make it the day before and reheat gently before serving. It’s one of those dishes where the leftovers are often better than the original.
Ingredient breakdown
Aubergine
Diced into even one and a half centimetre cubes and cooked first, alone in the pan with a large pinch of salt and just a small amount of oil. The salt draws out moisture and seasons the aubergine from the inside while it cooks. The low initial oil quantity is deliberate because aubergine absorbs oil immediately and adding too much results in a greasy finished dish. Cook it for the full ten to fifteen minutes until properly soft and golden before it comes out of the pan.
Courgette
Diced to the same size as the aubergine and cooked separately in the same pan after the aubergine comes out, with its own large pinch of salt. Cooking it separately means it develops its own golden edges and retains its flavour and texture rather than steaming alongside the aubergine and turning soft and indistinct. The same ten to fifteen minute cook time applies.
Peppers and onion
Cooked together in the third round after both the aubergine and courgette are done, for about five minutes until just soft before the garlic follows. Peppers and onion need less time than the other vegetables and go in together rather than separately because their textures are similar and they benefit from cooking alongside each other.
Garlic
Three cloves of minced garlic added after the peppers and onion have softened, cooked for a minute until fragrant before the red wine goes in.
Red wine
Half a cup poured in after the garlic and simmered for five minutes until reduced by half, which cooks off the alcohol and concentrates the flavour into the base before the passata goes in. Use something you’d actually drink because the flavour is directly reflected in the finished dish.
Passata
The sauce base that everything eventually simmers in, added after the wine has reduced and simmered for fifteen to twenty minutes until thickened before the aubergine and courgette go back in. A good quality passata makes a real difference here because it’s the primary liquid and its flavour concentrates as it reduces.
Olive oil
Used in three separate additions, each doing its own job. A small amount for the aubergine, a tablespoon for the courgette, and the remaining tablespoon for the peppers and onion. Dividing it this way means each vegetable gets what it needs without the finished dish becoming oily.
Fresh thyme
A sprig added with the passata and simmering in the sauce as it reduces, infusing a quiet herbal depth that suits the Provençal character of the dish. Remove it before serving.
Fresh basil
Torn and scattered over the finished dish just before serving rather than being cooked into the sauce, which keeps it vibrant, fragrant, and visually striking. Don’t be shy with it.
Salt and pepper
Added at multiple points throughout the cooking process rather than just at the end. Each vegetable gets a large pinch as it cooks, which seasons it from the inside and draws out moisture during the individual cook stages. Season the sauce again when the passata goes in and taste at the end before serving.
This recipe was featured on Twinkl as part of their ‘Easy Ways to Get Your 5 a Day‘ campaign.
