Moussaka

  4.4 – 514 reviews  • Ground Beef

This moussaka is delicious! This traditional Greek meal consists of layers of sliced eggplant baked in a ground beef sauce and covered in a creamy white béchamel sauce.

Prep Time: 45 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins
Servings: 8
Yield: 1 9×13-inch moussaka

Ingredients

  1. 3 eggplants, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick slices
  2. salt to taste
  3. ¼ cup olive oil
  4. 1 tablespoon butter
  5. 1 pound lean ground beef
  6. 2 onions, chopped
  7. 1 clove garlic, minced
  8. ground black pepper to taste
  9. 2 tablespoons dried parsley
  10. ½ teaspoon fines herbs
  11. ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  12. ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, divided
  13. 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
  14. ½ cup red wine
  15. 1 egg, beaten
  16. 4 cups milk
  17. ½ cup butter
  18. 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  19. ground white pepper, to taste
  20. 1 ½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Lay eggplant slices on paper towels; sprinkle lightly with salt. Let sit for 30 minutes to draw out moisture, then pat dry with paper towels.
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  3. Warm olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Fry eggplant until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels; set aside.
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  5. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in ground beef, onions, and garlic; season with salt and black pepper. Cook and stir until beef is browned, 8 to 10 minutes.
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  7. Add parsley, fines herbs, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Pour in tomato sauce and wine; mix well. Simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool, then stir in beaten egg.
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  9. Scald milk in a saucepan over medium heat.
  10. At the same time, melt 1/2 cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
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  12. Whisk flour into butter until smooth. Lower heat; gradually pour in scalded milk, whisking constantly until it thickens. Season béchamel sauce with salt and white pepper.
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  14. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
  15. Arrange a single layer of eggplant in the prepared baking dish.
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  17. Cover eggplant with meat sauce, then sprinkle 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese on top. Cover with remaining eggplant and sprinkle another 1/2 cup cheese on top.
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  20. Pour béchamel sauce on top and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Cover with remaining cheese.
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  22. Bake in the preheated oven until bubbly and browned, about 1 hour.
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  24. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Nutrition Facts

Calories 567 kcal
Carbohydrate 29 g
Cholesterol 123 mg
Dietary Fiber 5 g
Protein 24 g
Saturated Fat 18 g
Sodium 1017 mg
Sugars 14 g
Fat 39 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Stephanie Frederick
The bechamel sauce never set, even when I cooked it extra 30 minutes. I am thinking there is an ingredient missing here, all other recipes I googled have you put the eggs in bechamel sauce to thicken it up. Will try again with 2 beaten eggs added to the bechamel sauce.
Richard King
We just got back from Greece and had a hankering for this dish. It is excellent, my boyfriend is a foodie, and he loved it.
Janet Landry
We loved it! Brought us back to the Greek Islands-don’t fry the eggplant-do as WSBLEND does and bake it. Followed everything else but didn’t use butter to brown the meat. Does take longer that what recipe states but totally worth it!
Kim Alexander
So good, but lots of pots and a ton of work….but worth it!
Vanessa Flores
Just made this tonight – adding egg to the bechamel after it cooled from the stove. I also doubled the recipe in everything but the eggplant. 3 eggplant was just enough for the 12″, 4″ deep dish that I use for big casseroles. My family and I REALLY enjoyed it!
Brandy Cunningham
So disappointed. A coworker recommended this recipe, and I made it according to the directions and it was a greasy watery mess. What a waste of food. I read some of the reviews and recommendations afterwards, and I think probably roasting the eggplant would have helped, and more guidance on the thickness of the bechamel.
Amber Spence
I have an old Betty Crocker International Cookbook recipe for moussaka that I sort of drew on to adjust this recipe. I used ground lamb and added 2/3 cup of grated parmesan and 1/3 cup of bread crumbs to the meat mixture as well as the beaten egg. As others have commented, the bechamel was very thin – not like I’m used to seeing – (ratio for bechamel has always been 1/2 cup butter to 1/2 cup flour), so I tempered an egg and added that to the sauce as well as 1/3 cup of parmesan and it thickened up nicely. I fried up the eggplant and some potato slices, lined the baking dish with the potatoes and then followed the layering of the recipe. It’s in the oven now, smells great and I’m sure will taste great – it’s a casserole and you really can’t ruin a casserole – Greek diners serve moussaka that is either good or meh so with good ingredients a homemade version is bound to be better.
Stephanie Kerr
This turned out great. My husband is from Greece, and I make Greek dishes as often as possible. I am confused as to why so many of the comments talk about adding an egg or eggs to the bechamel sauce. Classic bechamel sauce does not contain eggs. Adding cheese to bechamel sauce results in Mornay sauce. Eggs are not necessary in my opinion. Sauce turns out great without them. I am also wondering why the pictures and written instructions say to peel the eggplant. The video showing on the bottom right of my screen shows unpeeled eggplant. I don’t peel my eggplants, but I am sure peeling or not peeling makes very little difference to the results.
Steven Cervantes
I didn’t drain the ground beef :-(. I also didn’t bake the eggplant like others have suggested. I will next time.
Terri Turner
This is a great recipe, well organized in the steps. I followed a Greek recipe for the bechamel, because Mousaka usually has this kind of light, fluffy topping. That uses eggs, yolks go into the meat, and I whipped the whites and folded them into the bechamel before baking. The flavors are comparable to what I’ve had in Greek restaurants. Thanks.
Brian Lopez
I have made this recipe many many times, however I’ve made some minor changes. First of all I do not peel my eggplant. The eggplant peel is both delicious and nutritious. I roast the eggplant for about 15 minutes at 400° until it’s lightly browned. No need to add additional calories by frying it. Third fines herbs are very hard to find so I substitute tarragon, parsley and chives. This year I’m growing my own chervil. The rest of the recipe I follow as it is except I bake it in a deeper casserole dish that’s about the same size is a 9 x 13 pan. It makes it wonderful.
Brianna Taylor
I liked this recipe a lot I only made a few small changes. I had some other types of herbs that I love to put in moussaka so I added them as well. one is a blend called Tawook spices and I added a little bit of hot pepper. I used half ground turkey half ground lamb because I had it on hand . And I was out of milk so I used liquid coffee mate and a little sour cream to make the Basha Mel sauce.
Mr. Richard Christian
This is my ‘go to’ recipe. Love it and so do my Greek friends.
Janet Chan
Making it for the second time for Mother’s Day dinner. My niece enjoyed it so much the first time I made it that she requested it for today.
Michael Howe
Great!
Emily Montoya
My son made this recipe. He had difficulty with the Béchamel sauce but we found a work around. We really enjoyed this meal.
Amanda Peterson
I usually read reviews BEFORE cooking and didn’t – it would have been helpful for a couple of items, so I’ll restate them. I would add at least one more egg to the meat mixture, and I would add a bay leaf (removing it before baking, of course). Someone commented that you need to be sure to either cook out or drain the liquid from the meat – 100% yes! Those minor things aside, we really enjoyed this for dinner, and will make it again.
Alexandra Mccall
Delicious and very authentic, but agree does need 1/2 cup of butter!
Mary Rice
I loved the recipe but made it with phony ground beef as my fiancee is a vegetarian. You really could not tell the difference. I read other reviews and made some adjustments accordingly. I used small Italian aubergines, I also sliced two medium potatoes and baked them for 15 mins before putting the other ingredients in. I used fresh parmesan that I grated as I went along. I only made half the béchamel sauce but it was plenty. My fiancee who is very picky loved it! It is definitely a keeper and we were only using up the leftover fake beef from another dish I made last night but it too was plenty when tomatoe sauce was added. ,
Susan Davis
This was wonderful! As other reviewers mentioned, I salted and baked the eggplant and potatoes (added as per suggestions). Dabbed moisture off eggplant. Next time I’ll rinse to remove excess salt. I halved the recipe; for all the work involved, I should have made the 8 servings and froze the extra. I also added an egg yolk to my meat mixture then beaten egg whites. Really fluffed up well once baked. I made recipe in 3 phases as suggested, turned out to be a great idea since it wouldn’t have been ready for an early dinner. This recipe is a keeper!
Chelsea Cardenas
That is not how you make authentic mousaka. It should have potato’s, no cinnamon, or nutmeg, & the beef mixture is missing ingredients as is the “cream” part. Come on!

 

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