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This pastitsio recipe is so delicious. It’s essentially a Greek version of lasagna. Layers of pasta with a spiced red wine meat sauce that is so warming and comforting. The thick layer of bechamel just is the icing on the cake. This dish is seriously the ultimate comfort food that you’re going to love.
Why You’ll Love Pastitsio
- Comforting: To me any dish with pasta, a warming meat sauce, and bechamel screams comfort food and this pastitsio recipe seriously is the most comforting dish
- Easy: This recipe is pretty easy to bring together and it’s incredibly impressive. The whole family will love it
- Versatile: Add in your fav veggies or swap the beef with your favorite ground meat or plant-based ground “meat”
Ingredients
Spices: One of the key things that sets pastitsio apart from regular Italian lasagna is the spices in the meat sauce. I use warming spices live cloves, cinnamon, and allspice which bring a unique, rich, and delicious flavor to this dish
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Bechamel: The bechamel sauce is what you use instead of cheese in this dish. I also use another warming spice, nutmeg, in the bechamel to give some added deliciousness. This creamy sauce layered with the pasta and sauce makes this delicious complete.
How to Make Pastitsio
Make the meat sauce
- Add olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until softened about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the ground beef, stirring occasionally to break up the meat, and cook for about 10-12 minutes until cooked through.
- Pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan. Cook it for a few minutes until most of the wine has evaporated.
- Stir in the garlic, spices (salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, dried basil, all-spice), and bay leaves until incorporated. Next stir in the diced or whole tomatoes (if using whole tomatoes crush them up a bit when added to the pot), sugar, tomato paste, and water and bring to a boil. Once simmering, turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer with the lid on until the sauce has cooked down and most of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.
Make the bechamel
- Whisk the 5 eggs together in a bowl and set aside.
- Make the bechamel by adding butter to a medium frying pan or pot over medium-low heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk constantly until a paste forms.
- Stir in the milk in 1/2 cup increments, whisking constantly after each addition to make sure the sauce doesn’t get lumpy. Continue whisking and add in salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Whisk in the shredded cheese until combined.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in whisked eggs, whisking quickly to combine and make sure the eggs don’t get lumpy. Put back on low heat for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and continue whisking – the sauce should be smooth and sort of consistency of a cheese sauce. Set aside.
Pasta
- When the meat sauce and bechamel are ready, cook the pasta to al dente and set aside.
Assemble and bake
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Place the pasta in a 9×13 baking dish, arranging the noodles facing the same way as best you can and making the layer as level as you can.
- Add the meat sauce as the next layer and smooth out the top of the surface.
- Pour the bechamel sauce over the meat sauce layer and gently smooth out the top of the surface.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. You can always broil on low toward the end of the baking time to help the crust turn golden.
- Let the pasta bake cool for at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes before cutting and serving.
Tips and Tricks
- You can find Greek pasta noodles called Pastitsio No 2 pasta in most European or Greek markets/stores
- Make this recipe alcohol-free by using non-alcoholic red wine or beef broth
Substitutions
- Pasta: Substitute pastitsio with bucatini, penne or ziti
- Meat: Make this recipe vegetarian by substituting beef with plant-based ground meat
Best served with
How to Store Leftovers
Store leftovers in a sealed container in your fridge for up to four days. This dish is so yummy leftover!
Common Questions
Where do I find Pastitsio noodles?
You can find these in most European supermarkets. However, if you can’t, you can substitute it easily with similar shaped noodles like penne.
Can I make pastitsio vegan?
The meat sauce is easy to make with a plant-based ground meat substitute, however, the bechamel is a little trickier. I suggest making this dish as is to get the creamiest, and best consistency with the bechamel.
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Servings: -12 pieces
Watch the Video
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”ubHBr97k” upload-date=”2023-12-15T00:00:00.000Z” name=”Traditional Greek Pastitsio Recipe (Greek Lasagna)” description=”This delicious dish has a meat sauce made with warming spices, layers of pasta, and creamy bechamel.”]
Ingredients
Meatsauce
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- 2 white onions, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 800-900 g lean ground beef
- ¾ cup red wine
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- ¾ tsp all spice
- 3 bay leaves
- 28 oz canned tomatoes diced or whole
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup water
Bechamel
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 7 ½ tbsp all purpose flour
- 5 cups whole milk (room temperature)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 2 ½ cups grated parmesan or kefalograviera cheese
- 5 eggs, beaten
Pasta
- 400-425 g Greek pasta noodles called Pastitsio No 2 pasta (also known as Greek bucatini)
Instructions
Start CookingMake the meatsauce
- Add olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the ground beef, stirring occasionally to break up the meat and cook for about 10-12 minutes until cooked through.
- Pour in the red wine to deglaze the pan. Cook it for a few minutes until most of the wine has evaporated.
- Stir in the garlic, spices (salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, dried basil, all spice) and bay leaves until incorporated. Next stir in the diced or whole tomatoes (if using whole tomatoes crush them up a bit when added to the pot), sugar, tomato paste and water and bring to a boil. Once simmering, turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer with the lid on until the sauce has cooked down and most of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.
Make the bechamel
- Whisk the 5 eggs together in a bowl and set aside.
- Make the bechamel by adding butter to a medium frying pan or pot over medium-low heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk constantly until a paste forms.
- Stir in the milk in 1/2 cup increments, whisking constantly after each addition to make sure the sauce doesn’t get lumpy. Continue whisking and add in salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk in the shredded cheese until combined.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in whisked eggs, whisking quickly to combine and make sure the eggs don’t get lumpy. Put back on low heat for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, continue whisking – the sauce should be smooth and sort of consistency of a cheese sauce. Set aside.
Pasta
- When the meatsauce and bechamel are ready, cook the pasta to al dente and set aside.
Assemble and bake
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Place the pasta in a 9×13 baking dish, arranging the noodles facing the same way as best you can and making the layer as level as you can.
- Add the meat sauce as the next layer and smooth out the top of the surface.
- Pour the bechamel sauce over the meat sauce layer and gently smooth out the top of the surface.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. You can always broil on low towards the end of the baking time to help the crust turn golden.
- Let the pasta bake cool for at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
- Serve with our Maroulosalata aka my Mamas Salad or Simple Homemade Greek Salad
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- You can find Greek pasta noodles called Pastitsio No 2 pasta (also known as Greek bucatini) in most European or Greek markets/stores.
- For the meat sauce, if you don’t want to use red wine, you can try substituting with alcohol-free red wine or beef broth.
24 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
Fantastic recipe instantly transports you back to Greece.
Thank you so much, David!
Made this for Christmas dinner. Delicious! I mean, who wants turkey or ham again? Not me. This just might be the new tradition. Thanks for the recipe!
This makes me so happy, thank you so much!
What a great recipe! I made this dish for my wife and in-laws and it was a hit. I did make some additions with a bit of cocoa powder, cayenne, and smoked paprika, and could only find ziti pasta as the closest equivalent, but overall stayed quite faithful to this recipe as written. I have saved this in with the rest of my regular rotation of dishes. Thanks for sharing!
oh this makes me so thrilled, thanks Ryan!
I don’t know if you’re just an idiot or if you wrote the wrong measurements. I will say everything tasted great but all the measurements in this recipe did not work out whatsoever. the amount of bechamel was way too much for a normal 9 by 12 pan. either you knew this and published the recipe anyways or you’re an idiot
I have never heard of such a thing as ‘too much bechamel’… This recipe is perfect. Perhaps you are the idiot.
Can I make this ahead and bake from the refrigerator?
YES! I would just let it reach room temp first.
This was great, my husband remembers this dish fondly from his time at Princeton however, he remembers a bit of a binder with the pasta and sure enough, this pasta went all over when trying to serve. I thought maybe cooling it down overnight would firm it all up, much like a regular lasagna but it doesn’t. Should there be something to keep the noodles to hold together better?
Hey Robin!
It should have firmed up, your bechamel may not have thickened up enough, also did you cook it for the cook time instructed?
So happy I found this recipe! I made it and served for a dinner party. Everyone raved – it is delicious.
you are so sweet, thank you so much Lily!!!
So grateful I found this recipe. It was delicious and easy to follow. great for a cozy winter evening meal.
thank you so much for the love, sweetie!!!
Coming from a Greek: This was the best pastitsio recipe I’ve ever had. Seriously amazing. Thank you!
oh hunnie that made me sooo happy, thank you so much sweetie!
Do you salt the water?
To cook the pasta? Yes!