Slow Cooker Ratatouille with Polenta

This Gradual Cooker Ratatouille is the best dish for those times when you have tons of greens lying all around the property and no strategy what to do with them. Manufactured with eggplant, zucchini, yellow summer time squash, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes, this sluggish cooker supper is the top vegetarian comfort food.

All you have to do is chop up your veggies and toss them into a slow cooker. Sit back and let the gradual cooker do its thing. Aren’t those the most effective kinds of recipes? Soon after 4 several hours, pop some polenta into the oven, and just like that – meal perfection!

This uncomplicated ratatouille is excellent as a side dish or a primary program. It also can make a mouth watering sauce, dip, or spread. It’s comparable to Caponata or Pepperonata in that it can be utilized in numerous distinct ways.

For the reason that ratatouille retailers and reheats so properly, it serves as a amazing make-in advance food. I advocate doubling the recipe and saving the leftovers to provide around a bowl of pasta or grains for lunch the future working day. It is even better the up coming working day!

Wanting for a much more classic ratatouille? Consider this baked version.

What is Ratatouille?

Ratatouille is a vintage French stew that is commonly designed with stop-of-summer generate like eggplant, zucchini, summertime squash, bell peppers, and tomatoes. It is believed to be from the area of Provence.

In the vintage preparation of Ratatouille stew, all of the veggies are cooked individually in olive oil and then merged. This edition simplifies almost everything by owning the veggies all cook dinner with each other in the slow cooker. The resulting dish is delightful but it won’t have some of the basic caramelization you would uncover in the typical variation.

Vital Components

To make this tasty recipe, you will will need the pursuing ingredients:

• Polenta: Polenta is built from corn and has a comparable texture to grits. In this recipe, we bake it into crispy rounds for the ideal complement to ratatouille. Swap in cooked grains, creamy polenta, pasta, or crust bread if you like.
• Zucchini: Zucchini is a high-fiber, low-calorie veggie that is loaded in nutritional vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, and other plant compounds.
• Eggplant: Eggplant is an absolute necessity when it arrives to ratatouille. It’s a excellent resource of important natural vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.
• Summer months squash: This is a type of yellow squash that is harvested when immature, or when the rind is still edible and tender. It’s packed with important vitamins and vitamins, and provides scrumptious flavor to the dish.
• Bell peppers: For a definitely wonderful pop of colour, I adore to use a blend of red and environmentally friendly bell peppers. Feel no cost to use any shade of bell peppers you choose.
• Italian seasoning: You can use a retail outlet-acquired Italian seasoning mix or make your very own from scratch with oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary.

Recipe Recommendations and Variants

Here are a few of my most loved guidelines and methods to aid you make this Sluggish Cooker Ratatouille:

• Caramelize the onions initial. For some extra flavor, attempt caramelizing the onions on the stove in advance of tossing them into the sluggish cooker. Certain, this adds a several more minutes of prep time. It also will make it even far more delicious!
• Layer the veggies. For a extra standard ratatouille, layer the greens within the gradual cooker! To do so, slice your zucchini, squash, and eggplant into rounds and layer them around top of finely-chopped tomatoes.
• Incorporate some protein. For an extra fulfilling and well-rounded dish, come to feel totally free to increase the protein supply of your choice. This dish goes great with hen, sausage, or sauteed shrimp. For a vegetarian protein resource, I advise chickpeas, lentils, or tofu.
• Swap up your veggies. The vintage vegetables in ratatouille are zucchini, squash, eggplant, and tomatoes. Nonetheless, you can mix and match whichever veggies you have at house.
• Substitute tomatoes. If you simply cannot uncover fire roasted tomatoes at the retailer, you can swap them out for your favored canned whole tomatoes in its place.

How to Serve Sluggish Cooker Ratatouille

Below are my most loved methods to provide this delightful, healthy evening meal recipe:

• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and refreshing basil and provide as a massive outdated bowl of hearty stew. You could also try pairing it with a facet salad like this Effortless Arugula Salad.
• If you are hunting for one thing additional filling for a evening meal get together, provide this ratatouille as a delectable sauce poured around your favorite pasta. Pair it with crispy garlic bread and this dish instantaneously becomes a mouth-watering Italian feast.
• Attempt spooning this ratatouille in excess of a bowl of brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice for a small-carb alternative. Best with refreshing parsley and feta cheese.
• Change this into breakfast by topping the leftover ratatouille with poached or fried eggs. 

How to Keep Ratatouille

Have faith in me when I say that you are likely to want to make enough of this sensational dish for leftovers. I normally make a large batch so I can love the leftovers for lunch in excess of the following few days. Before storing the dish, you will need to have to allow it to awesome down to room temperature. Then, transfer it to an airtight storage container and retailer it in just one of two means:

• In the fridge for up to 5 times.
• In the freezer for up to 3 months.