Roasted Ratatouille Pasta Salad

This is the sunnier of pasta salads! Great for summer potluck and camping dinner, plus it’s easy to tweak with a little extra feta cheese. Everything goes on one sheet pan: eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, onion, garlic, a generous drizzle of olive oil and a scatter of thyme, and the oven does the rest. While the vegetables roast until lightly coloured, you cook the pasta, and by the time both are done, you’re essentially just tossing everything together. Plus, Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and another glug of olive oil will add extra flavour. It travels in the heat, tastes even better the next day, and the only decision left is whether to crumble feta on top.

What is Ratatouille?

Ratatouille is a classic Provençal dish from the south of France, a slow-cooked vegetable stew traditionally made with eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and herbs. The name comes from the French verb touiller, meaning to stir or toss, which is pretty much the whole technique. It’s peasant food at its finest; humble ingredients, big flavour, and endlessly adaptable. This pasta salad takes all those Mediterranean vegetables, roasts them on a sheet pan until caramelized and gorgeous, and tosses them with pasta for a dish that’s every bit as flavourful as the original, just considerably easier to make.

Why This is the Perfect Potluck & Camping Pasta Salad

The secret is simple: no mayo. Most pasta salads are one warm afternoon away from disaster, but this one is dressed in olive oil, which means it sits happily on a picnic table, travels in a cooler without drama, and tastes just as good three hours later as it did when you made it. It’s also entirely meat-free, which makes it one of those rare dishes that works for everyone at the table without any special accommodations. Make it the night before, keep it in the fridge, pull it out when you arrive, done.