A simple baked (or grilled!) side vegetable starring fresh summer produce and simple, budget-friendly ingredients.

If you need more vegetable ideas, check out our salads and side dishes!

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Where I live, summertime has the best food. Gardens crank out piles of fresh produce, and you can guarantee that your neighbor overplanted zucchini and will leave a bag of it on your porch.

This recipe was born out of desperation. Our CSA had filled our kitchen with vegetables, and while everyone in our family tries to eat at least one big salad every day, summer got the better of us. I needed a recipe that took care of a bunch of produce at once, was budget-friendly, and was simple to make.

Get the recipe below (I won’t make you scroll through paragraphs of backstory you don’t care about). But check below it for nutrition information, tips, and ways this recipe helps us save money and eat healthy!

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo #cheapskatecook and@cheapskatecook on Instagram.

(Check out 5 Ways to Save on Quality Fruits & Vegetables!)

Baked Summer Vegetable Medley

This recipe was originally based on a Baked Ratatouille from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I’m cooking through his 1,000 recipes as a personal and professional challenge. However, I didn’t have all of or even the right kind of ingredients. I also don’t line up my veggies like you’re supposed to.

So instead we have this Baked Summer Vegetable Medley, and it’s amazing. (Although, it proved incredibly difficult to photograph.)

Tip: I bake mine in a glass baking dish with a lid, because it makes clean up (and reheating leftovers) a snap!

Baked summer vegetable medley
Simple Baked Summer Vegetable Medley

Simple Baked Summer Vegetable Medley

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Inactive Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

A simple baked (or grilled!) side vegetable starring fresh summer produce and simple, budget-friendly ingredients.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything.

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 2 bell peppers, (red or yellow preferred)
  • 1 eggplant
  • 2 zucchini or summer squash
  • 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes, canned, (or 2 tomatoes)
  • 1 tsp dried herb, (oregano, rosemary, or thyme)
  • 3/4 tsp salt, or to taste
  • 1/4 tsp pepper, or to taste
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  2. Optional Step: Slice the eggplant into coins, discard the ends, and place the coins in a colander or on a clean towel. Sprinkle both sides with salt and let them sweat for 30 minutes. This step draws out extra moisture and cuts the bitterness in larger eggplants.
  3. Slice the onion, then peel and mince the garlic. Core, deseed, and thinly slice the bell peppers. Slice the zucchini into coins.
  4. Pile all of the vegetables into an 8x8-inch baking dish, tossing them with the salt and pepper and distributing the onion and garlic evenly.
  5. Pour the crushed tomatoes over top of everything. Drizzle evenly with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs.
  6. Bake for about 1 hour, until vegetables are tender.
  7. This tastes even better the next day, so feel free to prepare it ahead of time!

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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1 cup
Amount Per Serving Calories 176Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 0mgSodium 409mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 6gSugar 10gProtein 4g

Please note: The actual calories and nutrition of this dish will change depending on what ingredients you use. Nutrition information is not always accurate.

Did you make this recipe?

If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag your photo @cheapskatecook on Instagram.

Baked summer vegetable medley
The finished project tastes delicious but is difficult to photograph, haha.

This Baked Summer Vegetable Medley Is:

Simple

Delicious

Real food

No weird ingredients

Un-fussy

Works on the grill or in the oven!

Budget-friendly (especially if you use these tips)

Vegetarian

Vegan

Gluten-free

Dairy-free

Egg-free

Paleo

Whole30 compliant

Great for company

Makes great leftovers

Baked summer vegetable medley

What to do with Leftovers

Unless your kids are relentlessly picky about cooked vegetables like mine (“Is this a whole slice of onion?!?!”), you won’t have many leftovers.

But here are some ideas so it doesn’t go to waste!

Tip: I bake mine in a glass baking dish with a lid, because it makes clean up (and reheating leftovers) a snap!

How this Baked Vegetable Medley Helps Us Save Money & Eat Healthy

  1. Uses all those summer vegetables dying slowly in the crisper drawer
  2. Makes a simple vegetable side that isn’t salad
  3. Leftovers are easy to use
  4. All real food ingredients – none of it pricey
  5. Allergy-friendly (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, paleo)
  6. Adjust it to whatever vegetables you have on hand
Baked summer vegetable medley

Kid-Friendly Tips

If your kids know how to use a knife (which I think after a certain age, they should!), this is a very simple recipe – simply chop and pour.

Kids are more likely to try food that they helped prepare, so if you’re worried about them not liking cooked vegetables, this step may help!

Grill It!

Why heat up the whole house in the summertime? If you have a grill basket like this, you can totally make these vegetables on the grill.

Step-By-Step Photos:

Optional Step: Slice the eggplant into coins, discard the ends, and place the coins in a colander or on a clean towel. Sprinkle both sides with salt and let them sweat for 30 minutes. This step draws out extra moisture and cuts the bitterness in larger eggplants.

eggplant

Slice the onion, then peel and mince the garlic. Core, deseed, and thinly slice the bell peppers. Slice the zucchini into coins.

Baked summer vegetable medley

Pile all of the vegetables into an 8×8-inch baking dish, tossing them with the salt and pepper and distributing the onion and garlic evenly.

garlic

Pour the crushed tomatoes over top of everything. Drizzle evenly with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs.

crushed tomatoes
Baked summer vegetable medley

Bake for about 1 hour, until vegetables are tender.

Baked summer vegetable medley

This tastes even better the next day, so feel free to prepare it ahead of time!

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