You will love this healthy Ratatouille soup with homemade pesto that is chock full of veggies!
You have heard of Ratatouille, right? The classic Provençale dish of baked eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini & onions made famous by the Disney movie of the same name? Well, before Disney shined a spotlight on Ratatouille, it has been a favorite dish of South of France Grandmothers. In honor of my French Grandmother-in-law, Pierrette, I was inspired to make a soup version of Ratatouille topped with a spoonful of her homemade pesto. What a discovery!
If you like Ratatouille Soup you will also enjoy Soupe au Pistou. Soupe au Pistou is a hearty yet summery vegetarian bean soup packed with mixed vegetables, pasta and LOTS of basil. The perfect meal in a bowl , ideal meal prep to get you through the week.
You will certainly also love my Potage aux Légumes recipe - a deliciously healthy blended vegetable soup, just like Grandma used to make. I always have a pot of it in my fridge!
Ratatouille soup will surely become one of our household staples. The soup is very simple to make and my recipe is made purely with vegetables, water, herbes de provence and a dash of salt, c'est tout! I could not imagine a healthier soup - it is satisfying and filling without any starches. No potatoes or pasta! Not to mention it is so comforting and delicious.
Of course, I suggest to serve this soup like Mamie Pierrette served all of her soups: with a layer of parmesan at the bottom of the bowl and a generous shaving of parmesan on top! She was of Italian origin after all...
Soup Sunday Challenge
Ratatouille Soup is recipe #8 of our Soup Sunday Challenge. Since the beginning of January we have been making one pot of soup per week. Healthy, comforting soups to make on the weekend to have easy meals on hand through the week. This recipe is vegetarian and full of nourishing vegetables.
You can still sign up for the Soup Sunday Challenge, which runs until February 27th 2022. I will send you a free Soup recipe ebook, featuring my top 10 Soup recipes when you sign up!
I will be cooking a soup recipe live on Instagram at 11am EST every Sunday morning until February 27th.
Ingredients for Ratatouille Soup:
- 1 cup chopped white onion
- 2 cloves of chopped garlic
- 2 cups of roma tomatoes, cored & diced (about 4 tomatoes)
- 2 cups of diced eggplant (about 1 small eggplant)
- 2 cups yellow summer squash, diced (about 2 summer squash)
- 1 cup orange bell pepper, diced (about 1 large pepper)
- 2 cups zucchini, diced (about 2 zucchini)
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
- 1 tsp herbes de provence
- 1 tsp fleur de sel
- 8 cups of water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Ingredients for the homemade pesto:
The full recipe for my 5 minute simple basil pesto is found here
For the Rataouille Soup with homemade pesto I have halved the recipe as follows:
- 2 cups of fresh basil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- ⅓ of a cup of pine nuts
- ½ cup of grated parmesan
- ½ cup of olive oil
La Mise en Place:
First, chop all of your vegetables into small cubes. You will want little bite sized pieces for this soup.
Then, add the olive oil to your soup pot.
Add the garlic and onions together and let sweat over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add in the peppers and eggplant as well as the herbes de Provence and fleur de sel. Sautée for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Chef's tip : Make sure to let the eggplant cooks well - undercooked eggplant is not good.
Now, add in the tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash followed by 8 cups of water.
Stir, then let the soup come to a simmer before covering halfway and bringing the heat down to medium low.
Let the soup gently simmer for 1 hour - stirring every 10 minutes or so. Add an additional cup of water if you wish for the desired consistency. Your kitchen will smell incredible!
To make the homemade pesto:
Add the pine nuts and garlic to a food processor. Pulse a few times until they are finely chopped.
Add in the basil (make sure the basil leaves are dry!) as well as the parmesan and olive oil. Pulse a few times more until finely chopped and fully blended.
To serve the Ratatouille Soup with homemade pesto:
Grate some parmesan cheese into the bottom of each bowl.
Ladle the Ratatouille Soup over the cheese and grate some more cheese onto the top.
Finish with a spoonful of homemade pesto and serve!
This soup freezes so well! It tastes just as good defrosted as it does on the first day. I like to freeze in small containers so I can defrost one meal at a time. This soup is so wonderful to rediscover a month later and is one of my busy mom hacks for eating well.
Ratatouille is an iconic baked vegetable dish from Provence made with tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, onions, summer squash and peppers, seasoned with herbes de Provence. Ratatouille is often served as a side dish with meat.
Herbes de Provence is a signature spice blend from Provence that give a distinctive flavor to grilled meats, vegetables, soups and stocks. Similar in flavor profile to Italian seasoning however there is less oregano and added subtleties from the summer savory, rosemary, thyme and marjoram.
We make our own blend at home however this blend is available on amazon and the closest thing to real Herbes de Provence that we have found.
How to Store Ratatouille Soup:
This soup freezes so well! It tastes just as good defrosted as it does on the first day. I like to freeze in small containers so I can defrost one meal at a time. This soup is so wonderful to rediscover a month later and is one of my busy mom hacks for eating well.
Soup Sunday Challenge Soups
Here are the other Soup Sunday Challenge Recipes that you may also enjoy making:
One: Magical Leek Soup
Two: La Poule au Pot
Three: Italian Chicken Sausage, White Bean & Kale Soup
Four: French Onion Soup Gratinée
Five: Fancy Cream of Cauliflower Soup
Six: Vegetarian Minestrone with homemade pesto
Seven: La Soupe de Mamie
You will certainly also love my Potage aux Légumes recipe - a deliciously healthy blended vegetable soup, just like Grandma used to make. I always have a pot of it in my fridge!
Let me know if you make these recipes. I greatly appreciate every comment and star rating on a recipe. Both help others find my recipes too! I look forward to hearing from you.
Au plaisir,
Le Chef's Wife
ABOUT LE CHEF'S WIFE
Bonjour! I am Anina Belle. I translate the fancy cooking of my Michelin-star trained French Chef Husband, Le Chef, into easy to make dishes that busy people with no culinary training (like me!) can make at home. We have two young kids (5 and 2) and I have a full time job in hospitality in addition to this blog. I strongly believe that even busy people deserve to eat well at home.
Look inside our Kitchen with this recent Washington Post Article. We were recently featured on the TODAY SHOW for our recipes of French Onion Soup Gratinée and Moelleux au Chocolat. You can watch our full segment here:
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Ratatouille soup with homemade pesto
- Prep Time: 15mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: soup
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Ratatouille soup with homemade pesto is very healthy and delicious vegetarian soup that tastes of Provence with peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and onions.
Ingredients
Ingredients for Ratatouille Soup:
- 1 cup chopped white onion
- 2 cloves of chopped garlic
- 2 cups of roma tomatoes, cored & diced
- 2 cups of diced eggplant (about 1 small eggplant)
- 2 cups yellow summer squash, diced
- 1 cup orange bell pepper, diced (about 1 large pepper)
- 2 cups zucchini, diced
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
- 1 tsp herbes de provence
- 1 tsp fleur de sel
- 8 cups of water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Ingredients for the homemade pesto:
- The full recipe for my 5 minute simple basil pesto is found here
- For the Rataouille Soup with homemade pesto I have halved the recipe as follows:
- 2 cups of fresh basil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- ⅓ of a cup of pine nuts
- ½ cup of grated parmesan
- ½ cup of olive oil
Instructions
- First, chop all of your vegetables into small cubes. You will want little bite sized pieces for this soup.
- Then, add the olive oil to your soup pot.
- Add the garlic and onions together and let sweat over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add in the peppers and eggplant as well as the herbes de Provence and fleur de sel. Sautée for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Chef's tip : Make sure to let the eggplant cooks well - undercooked eggplant is not good.
- Now, add in the tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash followed by 8 cups of water.
- Stir, then let the soup come to a simmer before covering halfway and bringing the heat down to medium low.
- Let the soup gently simmer for 1 hour - stirring every 10 minutes or so. Add an additional cup of water if you wish for the desired consistency. Your kitchen will smell incredible!
- To make the homemade pesto:
- Add the pine nuts and garlic to a food processor. Pulse a few times until they are finely chopped.
- Add in the basil (make sure the basil leaves are dry!) as well as the parmesan and olive oil. Pulse a few times more until finely chopped and fully blended.
Notes
To serve the Ratatouille Soup with homemade pesto:
Grate some parmesan cheese into the bottom of each bowl.
Ladle the Ratatouille Soup over the cheese and grate some more cheese onto the top.
Finish with a spoonful of homemade pesto and serve!
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