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Throw your favorite fresh garden vegetables in your slow cooker or Instant Pot, and top with a super easy lemon basil sauce for a healthy weeknight ratatouille! Only 10 minutes of prep time before you have delicious vegetables on your table. Lemon Basil Ratatouille is impressive and so deliciously flavorful using nature’s best.
A twist on classic Ratatouille
It’s summertime! Which means, let’s eat our weight in summer produce. My favorite summer activities include eating dinner outside, spending time at the pool, and shopping all the delicious produce at my Farmer’s market. As a nutritionist, I know the importance of eating in season vegetables! We get the opportunity to load up on nutrients and get more vitamins and minerals from the produce.
Besides eating a ton of summer salads, I also love finding ways to use up these vegetables. So on a whim, I decided to toss all of my farmer’s market finds in my slow cooker. My goodness it was absolutely fantastic!! The vegetables tenderized perfectly, and the tomatoes softened to make a delicious sauce with the lemon, garlic, and basil.
How to make Slow Cooker Ratatouille:
- I used zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, onion, and tomatoes. As an Chop up the veggies (not the tomatoes) and toss into your slow cooker. Chop of your veggies (not the tomatoes) and throw in the slow cooker. I like adding zucchini to some of my recipes, especially that it is in season during the summer. It’s a great time to use it in more than just slow cooker meals. Check out my Zucchini Chips, and Vegetable Garden Pasta for more delicious ways to enjoy it.
- In a food processor, blend lemon, basil, tomato paste, garlic, a little olive oil, and white wine vinegar. Pour over top of the veggies, and let cook for 5-6 hours on low.
- Serve hot on top of pasta or all on its own. Add parmesan, salt, and fresh basil for a bit of more flavor.
Variations:
- Feel free to customize with your own favorite vegetables! I am sure a bell pepper would be delicious, or the use of fall or winter squash would also be super yummy.
- Looking to add protein? Try this alongside Grilled Chicken or Lemon Pepper Salmon
Can you make this in the Instant Pot?
Absolutely!! I have added instructions for the Instant Pot because this is a recipe I make all the time! It works perfectly in either the slow cooker or Instant Pot. This is the Instant Pot I use for all of my recipes.
Serving:
This delicious Ratatouille tastes amazing in a bowl on it’s own with extra basil. For my kids, I serve over pasta with some parmesan cheese. You can also serve over spaghetti squash!
I also love this dish paired with my Easy House Salad.
Slow Cooker Lemon Basil Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 1 small eggplant*
- 2 medium sized zucchini
- 2 medium sized summer squash
- 1 large white onion
- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1 cup loosely packed basil
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
Instructions
- Begin by chopping your vegetables into small chunks. Keep the tomatoes whole.
- For the Slow Cooker:
- Place all vegetables inside the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Blend together, basil, olive oil, lemon, garlic, tomato paste, vinegar, and salt in a food processor or blender until the basil is completely pureed and incorporated. Toss on top of the vegetables.
- Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
- Serve hot with extra basil for garnish, and salt to taste.
- For the Instant Pot:
- Place all vegetables inside the bottom of your Instant Pot.
- Blend together, basil, olive oil, lemon, garlic, tomato paste, vinegar, and salt in a food processor or blender until the basil is completely pureed and incorporated. Toss on top of the vegetables.
- Secure the lid on your Instant Pot. Select the manual function. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Once complete, use a natural release.
- Serve hot with extra basil for garnish and salt to taste. Serve as a side dish, or over your favorite pasta or spiralized vegetable noodles.
Hi! I know this recipe was posted a long time ago, but I was wondering if you think pasta could be added to the instant pot and cooked all together? It looks like there’s quite a bit of liquid from the veggies cooking… do you think there’s enough that I could toss a handful of spaghetti on top of the veggies in the instant pot and it would cook, too? Or maybe add a couple cups of water for the pasta to soak up without affecting the veggies too much? Thanks for your help!
Hi Nicole, I definitely think there is enough liquid to do that if you were just doing 1-2 servings of spaghetti. Unfortunately, I am not sure on how long you would need to pressure cook? That would be my only hiccup. Sorry I am not much help!
This was absolutely delicious!!! I made this today with the instant-pot and it came together flawlessly. I was a little worried that the veggies would be mushy but they had just enough bite to them. I needed to use up some leftover diced canned tomatoes (about 1/2c) so I used those in lieu of fresh and flavors were still bright! This is such a wonderful use of all those delicious summer veggies! Served with some homemade sourdough and topped with fresh basil – perfection!
This was delicious! I added about a teaspoon of maple syrup to balance the vinegar. A great dish!
Great addition!
Hi, I’m wondering if the veggies are super mushy from being cooked so long?
They are soft, not mushy. They taste perfect!
You were right – the texture was just right! My husband loved the dish. A coworker had given me some lemon basil (didn’t even know that was a thing) and it worked perfectly with this! I threw in some green beans too because i had some. We ate it with some pasta. Guys – don’t leave off the fresh basil garnish at the end..it gives it good flavor. I did have to add some salt at the end. Will make it again!