A couple of weeks ago my family was on vacation in sunny southern California. Several friends commented on my instagram photos that it was unusually cool and rainy back home in Idaho. As much as I adore sunshine and beach weather, as a temperate-blooded Seattle girl, I couldn’t wait to get home to cooler temperatures. Turns out it was just a cruel joke by mother nature. Like much of the rest of the country, we came home to a heat wave.
A lot of people only pull out their slow-cookers in the fall and winter, but it’s actually one of my favorite cooking methods when the temperatures rise and it’s even too miserably hot to venture outside to the bbq to grill. It doesn’t put out a lot of heat in your house, and it’s super low maintenance. The great thing about this recipe that makes it absolutely perfect for summer is that it uses tons of vegetables, and most of these are ones I have growing in my yard. It’s a great way to use up those garden goodies! Even if you don’t have a garden yourself, these classic summer veggies are in season right now, which means they should be at low prices in stores as well.
Traditional ratatouille, cooked uncovered in the oven, relies on evaporation to get rid of the large amounts of moisture contained in the vegetables. If you just tossed all of the vegetables in a slow-cooker, a device designed to trap and contain heat and moisture, you’d get a watery mess. That’s what has turned me away from slow-cooker ratatouille recipes in the past, and what made me so excited to see a solution in a recent issue of Cook’s Country. Broiling the vegetables before popping them in the slow-cooker not only evaporates a lot of the excess liquid, but it adds flavor through caramelization. The result is an amazingly flavorful, thick vegetable stew. It may not be the prettiest dish (okay who am I kidding, it’s not pretty at all) but I will tell you- I could NOT stop eating this stuff. It was so perfect with a yummy loaf of crusty bread, and it made the perfect light summer meal. What amazed me the most, is that my kids ate it without a second thought. I told them it was soup, and didn’t mention it was straight-up 100% vegetables and none of them complained. I’m still sort of amazed by that. Maybe I forgot to feed them that day so they were unusually hungry. It happens.
Seriously though, I wish you could all come over to my house and eat a bowl of this because I know it just sounds like a bunch of vegetables tossed in a crock pot but trust me- it’s SO GOOD. Just try it. It’s good for you (bonus!). We’ll start with eggplant, zucchini (you could use some yellow squash too), red bell pepper, onion, and garlic.
Chop them up into big pieces and drizzle with olive oil, a little sugar, and some spices.
A signature flavor in this dish, and lots of French cooking, is herbs de Provence (Provence is a region in France). You can find it with the rest of the spices in the grocery store. It’s one of my favorite seasonings, a mix of yummy things like rosemary, savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and most uniquely, lavender.
You’ll spread out your veggies over 2 baking sheets and trust me, you’ll need both! This will look like a ridiculously large amount of food, but it cooks way, way down, so resist the urge to cut the recipe in half. Pop those under the broiler until they’re nice and golden brown and caramelized. If you have heat setting options on your broiler, I’d recommend using a medium heat so they can broil for a good 10 minutes or so. This step gets rid of lots of liquid and adds great color and flavor.
As soon as those veggies are done you can toss them in your slow-cooker along with a big can of diced tomatoes that have been drained. Next time I make this I’m going to experiment with fresh tomatoes, but the canned work great.
That all gets stirred together with a little flour (which will thicken the juices into a sauce as it cooks) and salt and pepper. Cook it on low for about 4 hours. I love this recipe for Sundays because we’re away at church for 3 hours, so I can start it cooking before we leave and it’s hot and yummy right when we get home (and the house smells like heaven.)
To finish, add in fresh chopped basil and grated Parmesan cheese. The original recipe calls for adding in additional olive oil at the end, but I didn’t feel like it needed that at all. I did however feel that it would benefit from just a bit of acidity so I added in a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and it was perfection.
I’m telling you, this is like pure summer in a bowl. Every yummy flavor of your garden all in one dish.
And it must, must be eaten with a big chunk of crusty bread.
This easily serves 8-10 as a side dish, and if you want to make it a more substantial meal, pair it with grilled cheese panini, or a ham and cheese sandwich and a salad. It also goes great with grilled chicken, fish, or steak. Or pasta. Okay, pretty much anything. And as one reader noted after eating it in France, it’s great served over something like couscous, rice, or pasta as well.
Slow-Cooker Ratatouille
Recipe very slightly adapted from Cook’s Country Aug/Sep 2013
Ingredients
2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 zucchini (about 8 oz each), quartered lengthwise and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 onions, roughly chopped
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence*
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
If you don’t have any herbs de Provance, you can sub 1 teaspoon each of dried rosemary and dried thyme.
Instructions
Adjust oven rack 4 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. If you have different heat settings available on your broiler, set it to medium. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil. In a very large bowl, combine egg plant, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, olive oil, sugar, garlic, and herbs de Provence. Toss until combined.
Divide vegetables evenly between prepared sheets and spread into a single layer. Broil, 1 sheet at a time, until vegetables begin to brown, about 10 minutes (or faster, if your broiler has only one heat setting and it’s super hot!) While the veggies are broiling, turn them a couple times during the cooking process to evenly cook them. Transfer broiled vegetables to slow cooker and add tomatoes.
Stir flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper into vegetables in slow cooker. Cover and cook until veggies are tender, about 4 hours on low. Stir in balsamic vinegar, Parmesan, and basil. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Yields: about 8, 1-cup servings.
Questions & Reviews
Looks yummy!
Some cooks said canned tomatoes are better than fresh ones. But I’m quite a health-conscious. I still believe that fresh materials are always the best.
I love ratatouille cover with grated mozzarella cheese.
Hey! I just wanted to let you know that we tried your recipe last night and it was so amazing! My husband eats Paleo so we opted out of the flour and the sugar, but all of the sweetness from the broiling still gave it that somethin-somethin. 🙂 Also, the advice to use balsamic vinegar was divinely inspired. Definitely a do again!
I just wanted to let you know I made this, and it was absolutely delish! And yes, my house smelled like heaven! My whole family loved it — thanks for a great, healthy recipe!
Can you not just roast all the veggies with the seasonings as you advised, and call it done? Skip the slow cooking entirely?
Hey there!
I’m a Virtual Assistant working with a client, Tiffany of Eat at Home Cooks on a summer series called “100 Days of Summer Slow Cooker Recipes”. We’re hoping to feature your recipe in the series! We never share the recipe, just the picture, a blurb about why we think it is great, and a link back to this page for readers to come visit you all and get the recipe straight from the source!
We’ve had GREAT success with our series, and all of our featured sites have gotten lots of traffic and new followers. Everyone’s been loving it!
If you’d rather not be featured, just shoot me an email and I’ll take you all off the list. 🙂
You can visit http://eatathomecooks.com/2014/05/100-days-of-summer-slow-cooker-recipes.html to see what’s been featured so far, and how we’re doing it.
Let me know if you have any questions!
I’ve made ratatouille before,and my family has always loved it. Well, yesterday I couldn’t find my recipe so I started looking online. I was dubious about using a crock pot, but I was intrigued by the idea of roasting the vegetables first. OMG! This is the best ratatouille I’ve ever had. I made two minor substitutions. I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned. I did not roast them. I peeled and diced them, then added them into the crock pot with the roasted vegetables. I did not have herbs de province so I used fresh rosemary, thyme, and lavendar finely minced. I served it with brown rice and a nice baguette. Once again, this is the best ratatouille ever. Roasting the vegetables is pure genius. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.
hi – I’ve commented before about how much we like this! and I hadn’t made it all winter long but here we are with my #3 child turning 15 on Wed and I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner and this is what she asked for!!! and since we have friends and family coming over to celebrate I am having to make 3 crockpots full (on a forecasted 90 degree day!!) – Thanks for all your wonderful inspiration this mom of 7 LOVES it!
Hi all,
We were very pleased with this recipe! Very quick to prepare. One caveat, it did give me wretched, explosive gas all night long. I was forced to sleep on the couch. I still have gas, in fact I am tearing ass right now. Recommend installing a bio hazard quarantine facility in your home after eating. Enjoy!
I was just reading through the comments and when I came to yours I couldn’t stop laughing! Don’t you hate it when that happens with delicious food? You want to eat it again, but you know what you’ll be in for if you do…
This is one of my favorite dishes! The best way to eat it is served over this recipe for cheesy polenta-http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cheesy-polenta/ the only difference I do is use mozzarella cheese for the polenta. Try it, I promise it is amazing!!!
This is wonderful! I have been slowly cooking my way through this website and with each endeavor finding recipes that are truly delicious. This one was no exception! I tried this with a huge (can you say cantaloupe?! Yeah, that’s how big) fresh tomato from a friends garden and it was fantastic!!! This will be a staple in our home from now on. Thanks for the great recipes!
I’ve got this in the crockpot right now and it smells so good! I’m excited to try a new recipe that’s chocked full of healthy veggies!
Wow. I made it twice in one month. That was amazing. Thank you!
I just wanted to say I made this recently when I had some girls over for dinner, and it was delicious. Holy yum. So much so that the other girls asked for the recipe and I passed along the link. This is definitely one of my new summer favourites!
Making this tonight for tomorrow’s dinner. Someone asked about good, crusty bread in Utah. Harmon’s grocery store has the best bread. I am an Italian girl from New Jersey and we are very picky about our bread!
Trying to figure out if I can make this work on a weeknight after getting home from work….think it would work in a crockpot on high for 2 hours?
You know, since everything is so soft, I bet it would work. Give it a shot and let us know 🙂
Made this tonight and it was a big hit! Now I need to find a friend with some excess eggplant!
I have made a similar version before but I would put some browned ground beef in to get a little bit of protein in it. This is one of my favorite early fall recipes to have and it freezes really well to have later on in the winter time when you can’t find the summer squash.
Way delicious!! My husband and I are big fans, my kids picked at the chunked veegetables but loved the saucy part. Kids…. So good though, I can’t wait to make it throughout the summer!