Moussaka

Name: Moussaka
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 115 min
Yield: 6 trays
Cuisine: greek
Ingredients: 1 kg Eggplant; 500 g Lamb, mince; 1 piece Onion; 400 g Tomato; 0.5 tsp Cinnamon; 5 tbsp Olive oil; 50 g Butter; 50 g Wheat flour; 500 ml Milk; 1 large Egg; 40 g Melting cheese; 1.5 tsp Salt

μουσακάς

Layered eggplant, spiced lamb and a thick béchamel — a Sunday tray, not a microwave yoghurt topping.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: μουσακάς.

0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.

Start cooking

Prep: 35 min
Cook: 1 hr
Total: 1 hr 55 min
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: No chilli
Cost: Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Source photograph of Moussaka. Not official I Want Some Food pixel artwork. — Photo: Andy Li via Wikimedia Commons. CC0. Source

About

Moussaka is fried or roasted eggplant, a cinnamon-scented lamb (or beef) sauce, and a béchamel that sets. The imported shortcut with microwave eggplant and a yoghurt lid is a different casserole. This is the tray that cools 20 minutes before it slices.

Ingredients

Servings

Eggplant1 kg
Lamb, mince500 g
Onion1
Tomato400 g
Cinnamon2½ ml
Olive oil74 ml
Butter50 g
Wheat flour50 g
Milk500 ml
Egg1 large
Melting cheese (optional)40 g
Salt7.4 ml

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Slice eggplant, salt 20 minutes, pat dry. Roast at 210°C with oil until gold.
35 min
Step 2
Fry onion and lamb, add tomato, cinnamon and salt. Simmer until thick.
20 min
Step 3
Béchamel: butter, flour, milk, then an egg off the heat. Layer eggplant, meat, eggplant, sauce. Bake 35–40 minutes at 180°C. Rest 20.
45 min

Adapt this recipe

The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.

Substitutions

Lamb → Beef mince
Common. Less perfume.

Tips

Potato as a bottom layer is a house extra.
It slices when it is no longer lava.

History & culture

A 20th-century urban classic more than a village everyday. Still the plate people mean.

Nikolaos Tselementes popularised the béchamel version. Ottoman-era eggplant-and-mince dishes are older cousins.

Modern adaptation

Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Not copied from another recipe site. Official recipe photography is pending. Photograph: Andy Li via Wikimedia Commons (CC0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meat%20Moussaka%20-%20Kouzina%2C%20Brighton%202023-11-24.jpg