There's nothing better than a comforting casserole and this simple and easy recipe combines a French classic dish with succulent chicken and creates a brand new easy one pot dinner experience.
Traditional Ratatouille is a vegetable stew that's not only colorful, but extremely comforting - not to mention healthy!
By adding seared chicken pieces, you turn this wonder dish into a full baked dinner the whole family will love. This is what makes it the best Ratatouille recipe around.
Classic ratatouille combines aubergine (eggplant), zucchini, bell peppers and tomato. With this recipe we decided to stray from the classic and switch aubergine (eggplant) with butternut squash - just because my family is not the biggest fans of it. It still tastes wonderful without it.
We also use canned tomato, which helps make everything saucier and even more delicious.
How To Make A Ratatouille Chicken Casserole One Pot Dinner:
The rest is incredibly simple:
- Season and sear the chicken.
- Chop the vegetables and add to a large casserole dish.
- Add all the rest of the ingredients and pop in the oven.
- One hour later - Voilà!
- Dinner Is Served.
Another thing we do a little different is adding a touch of curry powder. Even though curry is a very strong flavor - it doesn't overpower the dish, it only adds a subtle new depth of flavor.
The only thing better than a one pot meal to make your busy weekdays just a little easier, is a healthy one pot meal. This one ticks all the boxes and will definitely make it into your menu rotation.
Ratatouille Chicken Casserole - Pin It!
Ratatouille Chicken Casserole Recipe:
Ratatouille Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 cups butternut squash (chopped)
- 2 cups zucchini (chopped)
- 1 cup red onion (chopped)
- 1 cup red bell pepper (chopped)
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 lb skin-on chicken pieces (1kg)
- to taste salt and ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoon coriander
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
- Season the chicken WELL with salt, pepper, paprika, and coriander (This is separate/extra from the measured herbs and spices in the recipe card that are specifically to flavor the whole dish while baking).
- Sear the chicken (about 3-4 minutes per side), in a little bit of cooking oil until browned and crisp.
- Then add the chicken and all the rest of the ingredients to a large casserole dish and mix. Be sure to add enough salt and pepper.
- Bake in the oven until the vegetables are tender (approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour depending on the size of the vegetable pieces).
Tips and Tricks:
1. A good sear on the chicken is essential for good flavor - so don’t worry about letting it sit for a few minutes before turning! Don’t touch the pieces until the 3-4 minutes is over.Nutrition
Robin says
I doubled all the seasonings and herbs while searing cubed up chicken breasts. Added whatever vegetables were in the fridge and baked. Wonderful, aromatic and looks like hours have been spent prepping it.
Roche Woodworth says
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the feedback:)
Catherine says
Sounds like a great recipe but not clear about the seasoning. Is the celery seed, curry, thyme, oregano added to rest of ingredients after chicken is seared? Squash is a great idea but I would also add eggplant, which I love. Maybe 1and 1/2 cups each of squash and eggplant. What do you think? Thank you for your reply.
Shay says
Hi Catherine, sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Before searing the chicken I just added a good amount of salt, pepper, coriander and paprika to give the chicken good flavor - this is extra from the measured seasonings which gets mixed in with everything else before baking to flavor the whole dish. I will adjust my recipe card to make that step clearer. Also, eggplant is a great addition, we just decided to forego it for personal taste, but I would recommend adding it if you love it 🙂