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Ratatouille is a tasty, humble, one-pan vegetable stew that’s ready in only 20 minutes. 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.
Enjoy your bowl of ratatouille with some great accompaniments. Try it with nutty brown rice, crusty French bread, wrapped in a fluffy egg wrap, or mixed with your favorite buttered noodles. Each option adds its own delicious twist to the dish.
RELATED: 20 Minute Meals For One
Why You’ll Love This Ratatouille Recipe
- 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 steak or baked chicken.
- 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.
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.
Ingredients
- 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. These same vegetables can be found in our Sheet Pan Greek Chicken and Mini Vegetable Lasagna.
- 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.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why I used them. For the full recipe please scroll down to the recipe box at the bottom of the post.
If you have any ingredients leftover from this recipe, check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder.
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
- Fresh Produce: Always choose the freshest vegetables available for the best flavor.
- Vegetable Variations: This versatile ratatouille recipe works well with different veggies. Substitute zucchini with summer squash or eggplant, and use any bell pepper color if red is unavailable.
- Serving Suggestions: While great on its own, ratatouille also makes an excellent topping for grilled chicken or fish.
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.
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.
Adding Eggplant: Yes, you can add eggplant to ratatouille. It’s a versatile dish, so feel free to customize. Just chop the eggplant into small pieces and cook it with the onions, peppers, and zucchini.
Ratatouille vs. Caponata: Both are vegetable stews, but with differences. Caponata, from Sicily, often includes eggplant, raisins, and pine nuts and has a sweeter flavor. Ratatouille is a French dish and doesn’t always contain eggplant.
Using Leftover Eggplant: If you have leftover eggplant, try using it in these 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 1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/8 of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or a few tablespoons of red wine to the ratatouille.
Other Vegetarian Recipes
If you like this recipe for skillet ratatouille, you might also like these simple single serving vegetarian recipes:
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this recipe, check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder or you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:
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
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
- Fresh Produce: Always choose the freshest vegetables available for the best flavor.
- Vegetable Variations: This versatile ratatouille recipe works well with different veggies. Substitute zucchini with summer squash or eggplant, and use any bell pepper color if red is unavailable.
- Serving Suggestions: While great on its own, ratatouille also makes an excellent topping for grilled chicken or fish.
Nutrition
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.
I haven’t made this yet, so no rating. I’m planning Thankgiving, and there’s one Vegetarian. Thank you for giving me simple ideas, without making a crazy cooking day even crazier.
Wonderful, easy recipe. I needed to add about twice the seasoning for the flavor we like. I will make this again
Great recipe.
Absolutely fantastic!!!
Quick and easy to put together but more importantly delicious and very filling and made a very enjoyable lunch.
I’ve made this twice now. It’s easy, fast and very good!
Elle, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know.
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.
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!
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.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the ratatouille and it’s great to hear that you are finding the recipes helpful.
This is comfort food for me!! And I love the idea of putting over spaghetti squash!!
This was SO delicious. Made it twice; second time I used it to top spaghetti squash. Yum.
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