What happens when you take thinly sliced vegetables, layer them in a dish, add a rich red sauce, plenty of herbs, and a cheesy topping? You get this insanely delicious Oven Roasted Ratatouille, aka “the vegetable dish that vegetable haters won’t be able to get enough of.” While this interpretation of ratatouille isn’t exactly traditional, I think you’re going to love it. It kind of reminds me of pizza, but like, made out of really pretty vegetables (and it certainly made my house smell like pizza).
Originally posted 5-19-2014, updated 7-8-2021.
What is Ratatouille?
Ratatouille is a classic French dish made of stewed vegetables, like tomato, zucchini, eggplant, onion, and bell pepper. It’s rich, comforting, and perfect for sopping up with a piece of crusty artisan bread or ladling over a bowl of polenta. As with most recipes that have been around for generations, there are many interpretations of ratatouille, and I definitely took mine in a different direction.
Rather than stewing the vegetables together in a pot, I chose to make an oven roasted ratatouille, which is a common alternative to the stewed version. Not only is oven roasting the sliced vegetables super pretty, but it’s a little more hands-off than stewing vegetables in a pot, which I appreciate. I also added marinara sauce to the bottom of my casserole dish which ends up mixing with the juices from the vegetables and creating the most delicious sauce (get some bread ready for dipping). Lastly, I topped with cheese, which definitely isn’t the norm for ratatouille, but it sure was delicious! And it really created that pizza-like effect.
What Size Vegetables to Use
This recipe is extremely flexible. I’ve given some approximate weight values for the vegetables below, but you can really use whatever size you have available and whatever you can squeeze into your baking dish. But a word of advice–once sliced the volume of the vegetables always ends up being more than you estimated, so err on the side of smaller vegetables.
And you don’t have to make the vegetables line up or alternate perfectly in the dish. Just squeeze the slices in there and you’ll be good! I promise it will still taste great even if it doesn’t look perfect. ;)
What Kind of Baking Dish to Use
The size of the dish you’ll need will probably vary a bit with the size of your vegetables, but I would suggest using something in the neighborhood of a 9″x11″ rectangular casserole dish, or a 3 quart round dish. You can use a dish made with glass, ceramic, or metal.
How to Serve Oven Roasted Ratatouille
Oven roasted ratatouille makes a delicious side dish for grilled or roasted meat, like Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Garlic Butter Baked Cod, or Herb Roasted Chicken Breast. You could also serve this as part of a vegetarian meal by pairing it with something like a rich and creamy risotto or serving it on top of a bowl of polenta.
Oven Roasted Ratatouille
Servings 8 ¾ cup eachIngredients
- 1 cup marinara sauce ($0.50)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.25)
- 1 eggplant (about 1 lb.) ($1.49)
- 1 zucchini (about ½ lb.) ($0.71)
- 1 yellow squash (about ½ lb.) ($0.55)
- 3 Roma tomatoes ($0.87)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/8 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.01)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella ($0.94)
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional) ($0.09)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Thinly slice the yellow onion. Slice the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes into ⅛-inch thick slices. Cut any pieces with a larger diameter into half-rounds.
- Pour the marinara in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Sprinkle the sliced onions over top.
- Begin to line up the sliced eggplant, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes into the dish, standing on their sides, and in an alternating pattern until all of the pieces are used up. Drizzle the olive oil over the vegetables, then sprinkle the basil, oregano, salt, and pepper over top.
- Transfer the dish to the oven and roast the vegetables for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over top. Return the casserole dish to the oven for five minutes, or until the cheese is melted and creamy.
- After roasting, sprinkle the chopped parsley over top, then serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Oven Roasted Ratatouille – Step by Step Photos
For this recipe, I used one small eggplant (about 1 lb.), one yellow onion, one yellow squash (1/2 lb.), one zucchini (½ lb.), and three Roma tomatoes. The eggplant, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes are the vegetables that will get layered pretty in the dish, while the onion will be hiding underneath in a base layer.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Thinly slice the eggplant, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes. You want everything to be similar in height when placed in the casserole dish, so for pieces with a larger diameter, you’ll want to slice those in half (I did this for the eggplant and larger ends of the squash and zucchini). Aim for ⅛-inch thick slices.
Thinly slice the onion. Spread 1 cup marinara in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Sprinkle the sliced onion over top.
Layer the vegetables in the dish standing up on their sides, like cards in a card catalog (wait, did I just date myself??). They do NOT need to be perfect. Just start squeezing them in as best you can. It’s nice to try to alternate them in a pattern, but once you get toward the end you might have more left of one type of vegetable, so just start popping them in there anywhere they’ll fit. Drizzle 1 Tbsp olive oil over top. Sprinkle ½ tsp dried basil, ½ tsp dried oregano, ⅛ tsp freshly cracked pepper, and ¼ tsp salt on top of the vegetables.
Transfer the dish to the preheated 400ºF oven and roast for 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzarella on top. Return the dish to the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and creamy.
Top with a little chopped parsley, then serve!
So delicious… and it’s just begging for a beautiful baguette to bathe in it. Mmmmm. You’ve got to spoon some of that sauce from the bottom of the pan onto your plate!
Closer look? So pretty. I ❤️ vegetables!
Hi Beth,
I love our website and recipes!
I was wondering if you thought it’d be ok to prepare this dish ahead of time (day before)? Then pop it in the oven once I’m home from work?
Thanks for your help!
Yes, I think that would work well with this recipe. You may need to increase the cooking time slightly since everything will be cold from the fridge when you put it in the oven.
Tried this and loved it! First time making & eating ratatouille – it’s so pretty when you stack up the veggies! I had too much tomato (too much of all the veggies really….should have taken your advice!) so I just chopped it up and tossed it with the marinara on top! Tasty!
Will have to grab the crusty bread to go with next time, all those juices are just asking to be sopped up.
This is my first time using eggplant with anything — got any other eggplant recipes for a newbie??
I know what I’ll be doing with my extra zucchini and squash — grill time!
Eggplant is great on the grill, too! :)
The dish is in the oven right now. Just want to thank you for all the love and care you put into this site. Your tips really make a difference! I almost used too many veggies but your hint to use less really helped. I appreciate the attention to detail that goes into the recipe. It’s very helpful for a beginner like me.
Yumm! First time making it and it was thoroughly enjoyed!
This turned out fantastic! Everyone asked for seconds. I’ll be adding this to my meal rotations!
Beth!! You did it again!! This is my first response to any of your recipes. I’ve tried others from your site and have enjoyed them all thus far!! Very taaassttie!!! I used smoked Gouda cheese instead and still very good!! I paired this dish with the Chili Roasted Potatoes!!! A++.
I made this tonight and it is delicious! Instead of stacking the veggies, i just cut them all into cubes and threw them in a baking dish and poured the marinara sauce at the bottom, top and baked. I left out the cheese and sprinkled some fresh basil on top to finish it off. I think it would still be great over rice or pasta. This will DEFINITELY b added to my must have rotation!
How does this dish do frozen? I have a ton of extra squash and zucchini from my csa and would like to use them all up. Thanks!
The veggies will definitely be more moist and mushy after reheating from frozen. That being said, the flavor should still be great. The texture thing doesn’t bother me much, but some people are more sensitive to it than others.
I tweaked this by subbing an extra squash for the egg plant and adding 1/2 cup quinoa (made with chicken broth) to the bottom of the dish before adding the marinara (Beth’s slow cooker recipe). I used some leftover feta cheese instead of the mozzarella. The result is a hearty, savory dish. So good!
This was so good!! I was nervous because I’m not a huge fan of eggplant but this was super tasty! Very impressed! I used the new Kraft Shredded cheese with a hint of Philadelphia herb and garlic in it and it was spot on! Thanks for a great dish!
This was fantastic! I made it 2 days in a row because I sliced way too much zucchini. Mine only served 2 with a slightly smaller dish and I spent a little more with all organic ingredients but still budget-wise. Thanks!
I want to add mushroom to this, should I just cook them into the tomato sauce or should I slice them and add them to the rows? will they cook better one way or the other???
Hmm, I think I’d cook them into the sauce. They shrink so much when cooked that they probably won’t do well in the lineup of slice. :)
Eating this right now. I couldn’t find yellow squash, so I substituted a potato and added a cucumber.
It’s amazing. Next time I’ll skip the cuke and potato and add bell peppers and mushrooms I think!
Smashing success with this recipe! I never cared much before for zucchini or squash, but I had faith and it was delicious! Super satisfying, looked and smelled amazing, and when I logged the recipe on MFP an entire fourth of the dish was under three hundred calories! :D
Any differences in cooking time at high altitude?
Hmm. I’m not sure. I’ve never done any high altitude cooking :(
I followed your times & temperatures and it turned out great! As always.