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Carrot Ratatouille Recipe

Given all the colorful carrots of spring, it’s a great time to make carrot ratatouille. That’s right – carrot ratatouille, or carrot-tatouille if you’re feeling clever. It’s your favorite baked vegetable stew, but featuring colorful carrots instead of zucchini or eggplant.

Carrot ratatouille in round baking pan.

What is Ratatouille?

What is ratatouille? (Pronounced rat-ah-TOO-ee.) It’s a traditional French country stew, usually made with summer vegetables. The original peasant form was chunky – as in, a real stew. But the dish has since adopted a much more sophisticated look. Now, when you see ratatouille, you will often see an exquisitely layered dish that might have taken as much time to arrange as it takes to cook. (And of course you may have seen the crowning dish in the animated movie of the same name.)

The common thread through most ratatouille is the ingredients: Tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, fresh herbs, garlic. But, depending on the season or the mood of the chef, this list can change. And that’s where carrot ratatouille comes in.

How Do You Make Carrot Ratatouille?

We had the inspiration to make a ratatouille with carrots when we saw these beautiful spring carrots in bright orange, yellow, and purple. (Thank you, Melissa’s Produce.)

Orange, purple, and yellow carrots on a cutting board.

We thought it would be great fun to arrange these colorful carrots in a circular pan and make an artistic stew. There was one little complication, though. The traditional vegetables (again, eggplant, zucchini, etc.) have a much higher water content than carrots. So for this particular dish, we started with parboiled carrots that are a little softer, and added a little extra liquid.

To begin, you boil the carrots just to soften them (four or five minutes). Then to a tomato-based sauce you add vegetable stock (or chicken stock, if it doesn’t need to be vegetarian) to give the carrots a little more liquid to soak up. Spread the tomatoe-y sauce on the bottom of a pan, and arrange the carrots in a circular pattern.

Carrots arranged in circular pan before baking.

Carrots waiting to be baked.

Then bake them and – voila! – You have a carrot ratatouille.

Carrot Ratatouille

A delicious carrot ratatouille - a stew made from colorful spring carrots.

Course Main Dish/Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword carrots, ratatouille, yellow carrots
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 30 small (3-4") colorful carrots, peeled, with tops removed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 large red pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
  • 1/2 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • additional olive oil for drizzling
  • fresh herbs for garnish

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the carrots, and boil for four to five minutes, or until the carrots start to soften. Remove from the water and drain. When the carrots are cool enough to cut, slice in half lengthwise.

  2. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the peppers and onions and saute until softened. Add the garlic, and continue cooking 2-3 minutes until the garlic is fragrant. Add the diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, and salt. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes.

  3. Pour the sauce into a large circular baking pan and spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Arrange the carrots in a circle, with the narrow end pointing inward. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the carrots.

  4. Bake the carrots at 350 for 40 minutes, or until the carrots are soft and lightly caramelized (this will bring out the sweetness). Garnish with fresh herbs and serve.

Notes on Cooking Carrot Ratatouille

Just a few notes on cooking this colorful dish:

First, this dish is a cinch to prepare if all of your vegetables are prepped first. So in other words, have your carrots peeled before you par-boil them (yes, it’s a pain, but you will thank yourself with the clean end result), and your peppers and onions chopped.

Second, what kind of pan should you use? The very best kind of pan is a round enameled baking dish. For this version, we used a very well seasoned cast iron baking pan. However, don’t do this unless your cast iron pan is very well seasoned and can handle the acidity of the tomatoes.

Third, how should you serve it? We served this as a delicious side dish. However, you could match it with a grain and/or beans to make it a central part of a vegetarian meal. Also worth noting: The sauce that the carrots sit under is delicious. We served our carrots with a loaf of crusty bread, which we used to mop up the sauce. So good! (How good? We made it two days in a row!)

Enjoy!

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