Moussaka
Greece's great baked dish: layers of roasted aubergine and potato, a lamb and tomato sauce warmed with cinnamon and allspice, and a thick, golden béchamel enriched with egg yolks and kefalotyri cheese.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Roast the vegetables
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Brush the aubergine and potato slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and lay them on trays. Roast for 25-35 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden.
- 3 large aubergines
- 2 potatoes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: soft and golden, easily pierced with a fork
Make the meat sauce
While the vegetables roast, fry the onion in the oil over medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and lamb and cook, stirring, until browned. Pour in the wine, let it bubble until almost gone, then add the tomatoes, tomato purée, cinnamon, , oregano and salt.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 700g minced lamb
- 150ml red wine
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp ground
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: meat is browned with no pink left
Simmer
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Make the white sauce
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Assemble
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Bake and rest
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Roast the vegetables
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Brush the aubergine and potato slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and lay them on trays. Roast for 25-35 minutes, turning once, until soft and golden.
- 3 large aubergines
- 2 potatoes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: soft and golden, easily pierced with a fork
Make the meat sauce
While the vegetables roast, fry the onion in the oil over medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and lamb and cook, stirring, until browned. Pour in the wine, let it bubble until almost gone, then add the tomatoes, tomato purée, cinnamon, , oregano and salt.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 700g minced lamb
- 150ml red wine
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp ground
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: meat is browned with no pink left
Simmer
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Make the white sauce
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Assemble
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Bake and rest
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The Story Behind the Dish
Layered aubergine dishes were cooked across the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans for centuries, but moussaka as Greeks know it today was shaped in the 1920s by chef Nikolaos Tselementes. Trained in Europe, he crowned the dish with French-style béchamel.
His cookbook became so influential that "Tselementes" is still a Greek word for any cookbook.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It's the dish most people associate with Greek home cooking — a festive tray bake for name days and family gatherings.
💡 Fun Fact
Greek cooks often make moussaka the day before: it slices more cleanly and the spices taste even better once it has rested.
Greece
37.98°N, 23.73°E
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