Briam or Briami is a wonderful Mediterranean dish packed with veggies, olive oil, and flavor! This roasted vegetable bake is a traditional Greek dish and is usually served with feta cheese, crusty bread, and olives.
This recipe is vegan, low-carb, gluten-free, and absolutely delicious!
Briami is always on the rotation in our house. We love it when it’s served as a main or side. Packed with nothing but vegetables and flavor, the whole family loves this humble Greek dish.
I like to think of it as a Greek ratatouille, as the concept of roasted or baked vegetables is quite similar but with a Greek flavor.
Ingredients to Make Briami
To make Briam or Briami vegetable bake, you will need:
- All or some of the following vegetables: Zucchini, eggplant, potato, tomato, onion (red or yellow).
- Passata, canned diced tomatoes, or use fresh tomatoes and blitz them in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper.
- Olive oil, and fresh herbs (I used thyme, but you can also use rosemary).
How to Make Briam?
- Start by slicing the vegetables. You can either use a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife to slice into round shapes. I try to pick vegetables that are similar in thickness to make a pretty Briam and for the veggies to cook evenly.
- Slice the onion into half-moons as they’re easier to eat once roasted compared to whole rounds.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the sliced veggies and drizzle with olive oil, add garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Give everything a good mix so that the veggies are well seasoned.
- To an oven-proof dish (I use this baking dish – it’s my fav!) add the diced tomatoes or passata and 1/2 cup of water. Then arrange the seasoned vegetables in rows (see picture below). You can randomly lay out the veg slices if you don’t want to spend too much time arranging them.
- If there’s any olive oil left in the mixing bowl, pour that over the vegetables, I would also recommend taking a brush and brushing some sauce over the veggies. Tent foil to cover the baking dish, and place in a preheated oven.
- Bake at 390°F (200°C) for 30 minutes, check if the potatoes are tender, and remove the foil. Roast for 10-20 more minutes for the liquid to reduce and the vegetables get that golden brown color.
- You may want to place the dish under the broiler for 5 minutes to get the veggies to crisp up a bit.
- Serve with feta cheese, crusty bread, and olives.
Top Tips
- To jazz things up a little, add bell peppers and fresh parsley.
- Don’t skip covering the baking dish with a tent foil, as covering it will allow the hot steam to cook the vegetables well especially the potatoes.
- When roasting, as I check on it I spoon some sauce over the vegetables for them to cook better.
- Add your favorite fresh or dried herbs to the vegetables.
Making Ahead and Freezing
I like to make this dish ahead of time, then either store in the fridge covered tightly with foil or freeze it.
To reheat from frozen, thaw completely then place in the oven and add a splash of water. Bake until it’s fully reheated and bubbling.
I sometimes pre-portion leftovers and store them in the fridge in airtight containers.
What to Serve With Briam
You can enjoy Briam as a main dish or a side dish. If you’re roasting a whole chicken, fish, or some kind of meat, then Briam makes a great side dish. Serve it with rice on the side.
I personally like to serve Briam with a piece of crusty bread and crumbled feta (use vegan feta if following a vegan diet). You can also enjoy it with spanakopita or yogurt and olives.
For more Greek recipes, be sure to check out my Fasolakia Greek green beans with potatoes it’s so simple, healthy, and tastes amazing!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Briam Greek roasted vegetables
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large potato sliced into rounds
- 1 eggplant sliced into rounds
- 1 zucchini sliced into rounds
- 1 medium red onion sliced into half-moons
- 1 large tomato sliced into rounds
- ½ cup (120 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 14.5oz can (400 g) tomato sauce or passata
- 3 spigs thyme
Instructions
- Start by slicing the vegetables. You can either use a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife to slice into round shapes. I try to pick vegetables that are similar in thickness to make a pretty Briam and for the veggies to cook evenly.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the sliced veggies and drizzle with olive oil, add garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Give everything a toss so that the veggies are well seasoned.
- To a 9×13 inch oven-proof dish, add the tomato sauce and ½ cup of water. Then arrange the seasoned vegetables in rows. You can also randomly lay out the vegetables.
- If there's any olive oil left in the mixing bowl, pour that over the vegetables along with the thyme sprigs. Tent foil the baking dish, and place in a preheated oven.
- Bake at 390°F (200°C) for 30 minutes, check if the potatoes are tender and remove the foil. Roast for 20 more minutes for the liquid to reduce and the vegetables to start browning.
- You may want to place the dish under the broiler for 5 minutes to get the veggies to crisp up a bit. Allow to cool for 20 minutes, then serve with feta cheese, crusty bread, and olives.
Notes:
- To jazz things up a little, add bell peppers and fresh parsley.
- You can enjoy Briam as a main dish or a side dish. If you’re roasting a whole chicken, fish, or some kind of meat, then Briam makes a great side dish. Or enjoy it as a main dish with a piece of crusty bread, and crumbled feta. You can also serve it with yogurt, and olives.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container in the fridge. Or freeze, and completely thaw when you’re ready to reheat. To reheat in the oven, add a bit of water and reheat until it’s warmed up.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Diane says
Delicious and great to prepare in advance. Thanks.
Michelle says
We love this dish!! Delish and easy to assemble!! So beautiful too!!
Thom Spengler says
The cooking time might be better if you foil-cover (tightly, to retain steam) for an hour, then (carefully, it’s hot) remove the foil and allow the Briam to brown nicely… during this browning time as you check on it, you can spoon the sauce over the veggies periodically to improve appearance as well as flavor of the dish.
In the summertime you can get better flavors by making your own tomato sauce before you start anything else. Gather 2-3 lbs of tomatoes, mix different colors & cherry tomatoes add a nice touch of sweetness. Large tomatoes should have the core removed and be sliced in half ‘at the equator’ so they stand tall in the pan; throw cherry Tom’s in whole. Take a deep skillet, spray with oil, position tomatoes in the pan, cover and set to medium heat.
Once the sauce tomatoes are cooking away, start the Briam recipe. You’ll keep an eye out, and once the sauce tomatoes have collapsed into mush, you’ll easily be able to use a fork to fish out the large tomato skins; don’t worry about the thin skinned cherries. (my dogs ❤️ tomato skins) After you’ve pulled the skin, leave the lid off, so it can concentrate the flavors. Please know there is no critical timing at all on this, just let it reduce to a jammy consistency, ⅓ to ¼ of the original amount. Turn it off and use to replace the canned🥫tomatoes.
The flavor concentration you’ll get, simply with fresh tomatoes, will propel this already delicious recipe up to a whole new level! And the only additional work is cutting 4-6 tomatoes in half and throwing them in an unattended skillet.
Jeanine says
It is difficult for me to work in the kitchen for very long. Is it possible to slice and season the vegetables (steps 1 & 2) hours or a day before, and assemble and bake (steps 3-5) later?
Annie says
The flavor is good (I doubled the herb amounts and added a little rosemary), but at the times posted in the recipe, it was no where near done. I would guess the cook times need to double, at least.
I’m going to throw it back into the oven for a while and see how it ends up. I used zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant and red onion in mine, no potatoes. So if the potatoes take the longest to cook, I can’t imagine how much longer it should actually take.