moussaka with potatoes

The very best traditional Greek Moussaka recipe. Imagine layers of juicy beef mince, sweet eggplants, and creamy béchamel sauce baked to perfection!

Traditional Greek Moussaka recipe (Moussaka with Béchamel)

eggplants

vegetable oil (for frying the eggplants)

beef or lamb mince (26 oz)

red onions (chopped)

garlic

tomatoes

tomato paste

sugar

red wine

sea salt and black pepper

bay leaf

cinnamon

olive oil

milk (31 fl.oz)

butter (4 oz)

flour (4 oz)

nutmeg

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (3.5 ounces)

salt

To prepare this Greek moussaka recipe, begin by preparing the eggplants. Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into slices, 1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.

Rinse the eggplants with plenty of water

and squeeze with your hands, to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely colored. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, in order to absorb the oil. (For a lighter version of the traditional Greek moussaka try drizzling the aubergines with some olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes instead of frying them). Set aside when done.

If you are adding potatoes to your moussaka, now its time to slice them into 0.5cm, half a finger width slices. Fry them or bake them in the same way as the eggplants. Season with some salt and set them aside when done.

Prepare the meat sauce

for the moussaka. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened and slightly colored. Stir in the mince breaking it up with a wooden spoon and sauté. When it starts to brown, add the the garlic and tomato puree and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the meat juices and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes or until most of the juices have evaporated. Set aside when done.

Prepare the béchamel sauce

for the moussaka. Use a large pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste. Add warmed milk in a steady stream; keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir. Its consistency should resemble a thick cream.

Remove the béchamel pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the most of the grated cheese. Reserve some cheese to sprinkle on top! Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette!  Season with salt to taste. Take one spoon full of béchamel and stir it in the meat sauce. Set the béchamel sauce aside.

Now its time to assemble the moussaka. For this moussaka recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 20x30cm / 8x12inch). Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and layer the potatoes first (if you&#8217;re using them), then half the eggplants. Pour in all of the meat sauce and spread it out evenly. Add a second layer of eggplants, top with all of the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.

Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese

. Preheat you oven at 180C/350F and bake your musaka for about 60 minutes or until its crust turns light golden brown. Even though it will be really hard to do so, you should wait for the moussaka to cool down and be just warm to the touch before cutting into pieces. This will prevent the béchamel sauce from pouring out when you&#8217;re cutting your pieces.

Serve the Moussaka with a refreshing Traditional Greek Salad  and enjoy over a glass of wine!

An excellent authentic Greek moussaka recipe! It&#039;s insanely delicious, easy to follow and always a HIT! Made up of thinly sliced potato layer at the bottom, followed by fried eggplant layer, fried zucchini layer, a flavorful,  rich and thick beef sauce layer, a nicely creamy and thick bechamel sauce layer and finished off with a thin layer of Parmesan cheese. Such a great recipe to impress your family and friends!

Authentic Greek Moussaka

700 g (1 ½ lbs) eggplants

500 g (1.1 lbs) zucchinis

700 g (1½ lbs) potatoes

olive oil (for browning zucchinis and eggplants)

salt and pepper

olive oil (plus extra for greasing)

onions

thyme (chopped)

500 g (1.1 lbs) beef (ground)

200 ml (¾ cup

beef stock

(33.8 fl oz/ about 4 cups) milk

g (3.5 oz) butter

+ 1 tablespoon) plain flour (all purpose flour)

125 g (1 1/3 cups

4.4 oz) Parmesan cheese (grated)

Begin by washing, drying and cutting zucchinis and eggplants into 1/2 cm thick slices. Line a large cutting board with paper towels. Arrange eggplant slices on the paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Cover with paper towels and let sit for 30 minutes. In the meantime heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the pan and brown zucchini slices on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside. After 30 minutes heat 1 tablespoon of the oil for frying eggplants in a large pan over high heat. Pat dry eggplant slices and arrange them in the pan. Drizzle the slices with another tablespoon olive oil and brown them. Repeat the process until you&#039;ve used up all the eggplant slices.

Next peel and mince onions and garlic. In a large pan or pot heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute onions and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add thyme and sugar and combine well. Then add ground beef and let cook until brown. Add tomato paste, followed by beef stock and pureed tomatoes and cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let cook about 15 minutes, uncovered or until the sauce has thickened (In the meantime peel, wash and thinly slice the potatoes with a box grater). Season the meat sauce with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

In a sauce pan or pot over medium heat melt the butter. Once the butter has melted add flour and whisk well. Slowly add milk while whisking (so that no clumps will appear) until you had used up the milk. Keep stirring constantly until the sauce starts to bubble and has thickened. Add two-thirds of the Parmesan cheese (from the 125 g/ 4.4 oz Parmesan cheese) and mix well until the cheese has melted. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks. Now take 3  tablespoons of bechamel sauce that you&#039;ve just made and add them to the meat sauce and stir well. Next preheat the oven the oven to 180 °C (356 °F) with both up and low heat.

Once you&#039;ve made the bechamel sauce, meat sauce, browned zucchinis and eggplants and thinly sliced the potatoes you&#039;re all set. So now grease a deep casserole dish (23 x 35 cm (9 x 13 inches)). Arrange the thin slices of potatoes at the bottom and sprinkle them with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Add the layer of eggplants followed by the zucchini layer. Season the zucchini layer with salt and pepper. Then spread the meat sauce over the zucchini layer followed by the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake for 40 minutes. Let moussaka rest for at least 30 minutes before serving. I normally let my moussaka rest inside the still warm oven with door closed. Enjoy!

potatoes (optional)

for the moussaka. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened and slightly colored. Stir in the mince breaking it up with a wooden spoon and sauté. When it starts to brown, add the the garlic and tomato paste and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. Pour in the red wine to deglaze the meat juices and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, the sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes or until most of the juices have evaporated. Set aside when done.

Now its time to assemble the moussaka. For this moussaka recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 20x30cm / 8x12inch and 8cm/3 inch deep). Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and layer the potatoes first (if you&#8217;re using them), then half the eggplants. Pour in all of the meat sauce and spread it out evenly. Add a second layer of eggplants, top with all of the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.

https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1621689141/nvgjg0gcuhlmmybstmna.mp4

The very best traditional Greek Moussaka recipe video! Imagine layers of juicy beef mince, sweet eggplants, and creamy béchamel sauce baked to perfection!

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Top 3 moussaka with potatoes recipes from across the web

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The most viewed moussaka with potatoes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine