Ratatouille is a tasty, humble, one-pan vegetable stew made with onions, zucchini, sweet red pepper, tomatoes, and an aromatic bouquet of herbs and spices. You can enjoy this single-serving meal on its own or consider serving it with chicken or fish.
One of my favorite dishes to make is skillet ratatouille. This humble, vegetable-filled dish is a wonderful way to incorporate beautiful produce into your meals.
What Is Ratatouille?
Ratatouille is not just a popular Disney movie. It is also a traditional French vegetable stew made with zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, often eggplant, and herbs. The vegetables are cooked together with olive oil in one pan until they are tender.
The ingredients can vary from recipe to recipe based on the vegetables used. My ratatouille recipe changes from time to time based on the ingredients I have on hand.
Why This Recipe Works
- Cooks in minutes: This simple skillet ratatouille is full of diced vegetables and a bouquet of aromatic herbs and spices. All of the ingredients cook in one pan for easy cleanup and surprisingly, everything cooks in about 15 minutes.
- A delicious vegetarian dish: Ratatouille is a hearty and satisfying vegetarian dish. It is often served as a main course but can also make a lovely topping to spoon over grilled meats.
- Versatile recipe and easy to customize: It’s the meal to make when your garden is overflowing and your kitchen is packed with produce.
- Easy to make: This traditional ratatouille recipe is not fussy. It’s simple and easy. Some ratatouille recipes call for cooking each of the vegetables separately. This easy ratatouille recipe is made in one skillet and all of the vegetables cook together.
- A gluten-free recipe: Ratatouille is gluten-free and can be vegan if you leave out the cheese.
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil: I use extra virgin olive oil in this ratatouille recipe as well as in every other recipe on One Dish Kitchen that calls for olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is the least processed form of olive oil. It is an unrefined oil and the highest-quality olive oil you can buy. Because of the way extra virgin olive oil is made, it retains a more true olive taste. It also contains more of the vitamins and minerals found in olives. It's my favorite type of olive oil to use but you may use lighter olive oil instead.
- Vegetables: Use an onion, garlic, a zucchini, a red bell pepper (or use a yellow or orange bell pepper), and a tomato.
- Seasonings: Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper. The main herbs found in Italian seasoning are basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary. If you don't have Italian seasoning, use one or two of these herbs instead.
- Parmesan cheese: For topping.
See below for ways to use leftover ingredients.
How To Make Ratatouille For One
See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add thinly sliced onions, thinly sliced zucchini, chopped red peppers, and salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are slightly tender.
- Stir in chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes.
- Transfer the ratatouille to a bowl or a plate and top with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Expert Tips
- Use the freshest produce you can.
- This is one of the best ratatouille recipes around. It’s one that can be made with a variety of vegetables. If you don’t have zucchini, feel free to substitute summer squash or eggplant. Green, yellow, or orange peppers can be substituted for the red pepper too.
- Ratatouille is absolutely delicious on its own but you might like to consider adding it as a topping to grilled chicken or fish.
Frequently Asked Questions
For this easy ratatouille recipe, I use a 10-inch skillet. For best results, use a pan of similar size.
If you would like additional information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page.
For examples of the dishes used at One Dish Kitchen, please visit our Store page.
Absolutely! One of the wonderful things about ratatouille is that it can easily be customized. If you'd like to add eggplant to ratatouille, chop the eggplant into small pieces and add it with the onions, peppers, and zucchini to cook in the pan.
What Is The Difference Between Ratatouille and Caponata?
Both dishes are similar, they're essentially both vegetable stews. Caponata is an eggplant dish from Sicily often sweetened with raisins and pine nuts. Ratatouille is a French dish and does not always have eggplant in it.
If you add eggplant to your ratatouille, consider using the leftover eggplant in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:
* Eggplant Parmesan
* Baba Ganoush
* Chicken Tagine
Yes. If you'd like to make a larger batch of ratatouille, double the ingredients.
For a different flavor, try adding ¼ teaspoon of smoked paprika, ⅛ of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or a few tablespoons of red wine to the ratatouille.
Serving Suggestions
Ratatouille is so versatile. Enjoy it over brown rice, quinoa, couscous, or with crusty French bread. It can be enjoyed hot, room temperature, or even cold.
Other ways to enjoy ratatouille are:
- As a topping for grilled chicken, beef, or fish.
- With poached eggs.
- Tossed with pasta.
- Folded into an omelet.
Make Ahead & Storage
Ratatouille can be made ahead of time. Leftover ratatouille can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients left over from this traditional ratatouille recipe, you might consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:
- Onion: French Onion Soup, Chicken Fajitas, Salisbury Steak, Hush Puppies
- Zucchini: Zucchini Noodles with Garlic and Shrimp, Zucchini Lasagna, Vegetable Casserole, Zucchini Bread
- Red bell pepper: Chicken Chili, Sausage and Peppers Sheet Pan Meal, Sloppy Joe, Stuffed Peppers
- Tomato: Chicken Caprese, Caprese Toast, Taco Salad, Crustless Quiche with Tomato and Pesto
- Parmesan cheese: Twice Baked Eggplant, Shrimp Scampi, Alfredo Sauce, Cheesy Baked Eggs
- Garlic: Risotto, Pork Stir Fry, Shepherd's Pie, Bruschetta
Other Vegetarian Recipes
If you like this recipe for skillet ratatouille, you might also like these simple single serving vegetarian recipes:
- Chickpea Curry
- Baked Pasta With Roasted Vegetables
- Vegetarian Chili
- Green Curry
- Saag Paneer
- Vegetarian Enchiladas
If you’ve tried this recipe for ratatouille or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.
If you take a picture please tag us on Instagram (@onedishkitchen) we’d love to see it!
Ratatouille For One
See the post above for expert tips,
FAQs and ways to use leftover ingredients.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ small onion , thinly sliced
- 1 small zucchini , quartered lengthwise, cut into thin slices
- 1 small red bell pepper , chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Roma tomato , coarsely chopped
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ⅛ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add thinly sliced onions, thinly sliced zucchini, chopped red peppers, and salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are slightly tender.
- Stir in chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes.
- Transfer the ratatouille to a bowl or a plate and top with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes
- Use the freshest produce you can.
- This is one of the best ratatouille recipes around. It’s one that can be made with a variety of vegetables. If you don’t have zucchini, feel free to substitute summer squash or eggplant. Green, yellow, or orange peppers can be substituted for the red pepper too.
- Ratatouille is absolutely delicious on its own but you might like to consider adding it as a topping to grilled chicken or fish.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
J. Hegyi says
Great recipe.
Gretchen Nelson says
Absolutely fantastic!!!
Patricia A Potts says
Quick and easy to put together but more importantly delicious and very filling and made a very enjoyable lunch.
Elle says
I’ve made this twice now. It’s easy, fast and very good!
Joanie Zisk says
Elle, I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know.
Jolene Walters says
I've used many of your recipes and they were good. I'll try this one; however, no eggplant? I'll just have to add it in as I can't imagine this without eggplant. It looks like a simple, easy, and good recipe; but I will add the eggplant.
Joanie Zisk says
Eggplant would be a delicious addition. One of the things I love about making ratatouille is that I get to switch up the vegetables based on what is in season or what I currently have on hand. Enjoy!
Erik says
I've wanted to try this for quite some time. Wow was it delicious! Thank you for the great recipe.
As a single person, I really enjoy the whole Recipes for One collection.
Joanie Zisk says
I'm so glad you enjoyed the ratatouille and it's great to hear that you are finding the recipes helpful.
Billie says
This is comfort food for me!! And I love the idea of putting over spaghetti squash!!
Jani says
This was SO delicious. Made it twice; second time I used it to top spaghetti squash. Yum.
Joanie Zisk says
Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us. We appreciate it so much!
I'm so happy you enjoyed the ratatouille. I love the idea of adding it to spaghetti squash, what a delicious idea!
Joanie