The best and most real moussaka you can find outside of Greece is this one! Even while it takes some time, it’s really not that difficult to make. Orexi kali! (Good food!)
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 medium eggplants, cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch slices
- salt to taste
- 4 cups milk
- 1 stick butter
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 large egg yolks, beaten
- 7 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 medium onions, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
- 1 ½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and place in a colander set in the sink or over a plate. Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour so the salt can draw out any bitterness.
- Meanwhile, make bechamel sauce. Heat milk in a saucepan almost to a boil. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Whisk in flour until a smooth paste forms. Lower heat and gradually pour in hot milk, whisking constantly until bechamel sauce thickens. Season with salt. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Rinse eggplant slices under cold running water. Squeeze out liquid and pat dry with paper towels. Whisk egg yolks into the cooled bechamel.
- Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet and cook eggplant slices in batches until each side is lightly browned, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on a large plate lined with paper towels.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with olive oil.
- Heat remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Cook grated onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high and add ground beef. Cook and stir until browned and crumbly, about 5 minutes. Season with allspice, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
- Stir in tomato sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook until all excess liquid has evaporated and mixture appears dry, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in parsley and remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, then stir in the egg white.
- Arrange a layer of eggplant in the prepared baking dish. Cover eggplant with all of the beef mixture and sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Cover with remaining eggplant and sprinkle another 1/3 of Parmesan cheese on top. Pour bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the top of the moussaka is set and golden, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from oven and let rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Pre-cooking the eggplant is essential, but instead of frying the slices, you can lightly brush olive oil on both sides, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake them in the oven at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), turning once halfway through.
- You can lighten the meat sauce by using 1/2 ground pork and 1/2 ground beef instead of all beef.
- Please note the different recipe name, differences in ingredient amounts, as well as the method of preparing the eggplant when using the magazine version of this recipe.
Reviews
Baked the eggplant for 10 min at 400, turned it and baked for another 5. Don’t slice too thin. Added some nutmeg to bechamel sauce. Very yummy!
This has replaced my go to Moussaka recipe it is easy and tastes great!
Definitely 5 star! I made it for a friend and I; she raved about it plus I thought it was very good. It has some good nutrition but over the top calories so it’s a special treat. We ARE plotting ways to camouflage the eggplant to serve it to our husbands (they think they don’t like eggplant).
This was mouthwatering. We made half the recipe to serve 4. Next time, we’ll use a bit more meat & seasoning to balance all the eggplant & bechamel sauce.
To save time and cookware: I used 2 packages bechamel sauce as I know I like it and it always works. I had one large eggplant so that’s all I used. It filled an 8×8” casserole. I grilled the oiled eggplant slices on the barbecue instead of draining them in a colander and frying, since I know they would be dry enough grilled. I browned the ground beef in the microwave in a plastic colander over a bowl, drained all fat from the bowl and then added tomato sauce and spices and cooked till dry. I used more than the specified amounts of the spices as I like my food spicy. Omitted the egg. Assembled and cooked in oven as directed. Mine was done in 30 minutes. This was very good but a bit too cheesy-the oils from the cheese made it look greasy. Loved the spices!,
If you have a few hours to put aside to make this dish. You will not be disappointed.
Fabulous! I like how the béchamel sets up nicely when it cooks. I also like that there are no potatoes – doesn’t need it (and keeps the carbs out). I used ground chicken because thats what I had on hand, and didn’t peel the eggplants – turned out great. Will definitely make again.
We loved it perfectly spiced. A lot of work but oh so worth it
Pretty good, not too overwhelmingly sweet from the spices. I used a little too much tomato sauce, and it turned out a bit watery and hard to serve neatly. I will make it again with the meat filling a little drier. Everyone at work was jealous when I heated up leftovers in the break room the next day!