For those of you with kids, you may hear Ratatouille and think of the cartoon movie where a bunch of rats run around cooking. But not for this sheet pan ratatouille with creamy polenta. It's like a bountiful garden and the results from a challenge set by The Recipe Redux team. This challenge also inspired another recipe, Sheet Pan "Fish" & Chips.
This recipe used to be much more difficult, cooking each vegetable separately on the stove. You can now make this ratatouille all on just one sheet pan which makes for easier cleanup. You should peel the eggplant because the skins tend to separate and get tough to eat, but don't need to salt it to release its moisture, unless you want to take this extra step. You don't need to peel the tomatoes, though. Just chop all of the vegetables into about 1" pieces and throw them onto some parchment paper or lightly spray your pan with oil.
Leave off the tomatoes until about 20 minutes into the roasting time. Then add them to the pan and continue to roast another 20 minutes until the vegetables are wilted, steaming and soft. You don't want them to get crispy. This sheet pay ratatouille should be moist so if they're getting too crisp, bring them together a little more on the pan.
One of the ingredients is mushrooms and it states and you can use your favorite. Mushrooms are so hearty and each type has its own unique quality it brings to a dish. You may use button or cremini mushrooms but here’s a list of some other delicious mushroom options.
It's recommended that you use only fresh herbs for it makes the dish. You will want to chop the fresh herbs to make them more edible and to bring out the natural flavors. Chopping herbs is not the same as chopping vegetables. Herbs are tricky and require good knife skills or an herb chopper. This recipe calls for marjoram and many people like to sub oregano if they can’t find marjoram. In this recipe, oregano would work because it pairs well with tomatoes but since we want to use fresh herbs, marjoram is the better choice.
I like to serve it atop creamy polenta. Creamy polenta needs more liquid and the addition of unsweetened non-dairy milk helps. Add a little nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and it's ready to go. With all of the flavor of the ratatouille, you don't need a complex polenta.
I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Vegan Sheet Pan Ratatouille with Creamy Polenta recipe! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 40 minutes |
Servings | people |
- 1 large Eggplant chopped 1" If the peel is tough then peel
- 2 medium zucchini chopped 1"
- 1 large onion chopped 1"
- 1 large green pepper chopped 1"
- 8 oz your favorite mushrooms small left whole, large cut in half
- 4 large roma tomatoes chopped 1"
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and cut in half
- 2 Tbl fresh marjoram chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh basil
- 1 Tbl fresh parsley
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup polenta
- 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (more as needed)
- salt & pepper to taste
Ingredients
Polenta
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- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put all of the vegetables except tomatoes on parchment or oil-sprayed pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan and add the chopped tomatoes, stirring to mix all.
- Roast for another 20 minutes, making sure the vegetables stay moist. Remove from the oven when the vegetables are wilted and a bit mushy.
- Add the fresh herbs.
- Serve over polenta.
- Heat the vegetable broth over medium in a large saucepan to a slow simmer.
- Slowly add the polenta in a stream, whisking the whole time.
- Cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently until thick and creamy. Scrape the bottom to avoid burning the cornmeal mixture.
- Stir in soy milk and nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste before removing the pan from the heat.
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Thanks so much! ????
This looks like such perfect comfort food – can’t beat a whole load of veggies on top of a mound of polenta, can you! Fantastic! xx
What a great idea to serve ratatouille over polenta!
Sounds like a wonderful recipe I would love to try, however I am allergic to mushrooms. What other vegetable would be a good alternate in this? Thanks in advance.
Hi, Faye, I think a great substitution would be some kind of squash. I just roasted up some butternut squash I bought already cubed from the store. That makes it super easy. The squash was so tender and sweet. Although not traditional, you could try potatoes, carrots, cauliflower or beets, or you could just up the quantities of the other veggies in the recipe. Best of luck.
Sounds great and I will give it a try tomorrow. 1 question: do I have to use the yeast for the polenta, and if so: why? Thank you for your kind reply!
Hi, no you don’t have to use the nutritional yeast. It’s there for flavor since there’s no cheese in this recipe. It needs a little something so it’s not bland. I just decided to change from water in the polenta recipe to vegetable stock and that will help with flavor, as well. Of course, salt helps, unless you’re restricting it. 🙂 Hope you enjoy.