No.68 The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026

Moussaka

Made famous by Diane Kochilas

Photo: Key West Wedding Photography, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From The Glorious Foods of Greece, 2001.

Greece's best-known dish, baked in every taverna. Diane Kochilas, Greece's leading cookbook writer, gives the classic layering of eggplant, spiced meat and béchamel.

Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in The Glorious Foods of Greece.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggplants (about 3 lb, 1.4 kg), sliced lengthwise 1/3 inch thick
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick (optional)
• Olive oil and fine salt
• For the meat sauce: 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 large onion chopped, 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 lb (900 g) ground lamb or beef
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) red wine
• One 14-oz (400 g) can crushed tomatoes and 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon), 1/4 tsp ground allspice, 1 bay leaf
• Salt, pepper and 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• For the béchamel: 6 tbsp (85 g) butter, 2/3 cup (85 g) flour, 4 cups (960 ml) warm whole milk
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg, 3 large egg yolks
• 1 cup (100 g) grated kefalotyri or Parmigiano

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 425F (220C). Brush the eggplant and potato slices with oil, sprinkle with salt and roast on sheet pans 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until golden and soft. Lower the oven to 350F (175C).
2. For the sauce, cook the onion in the oil until soft, 6 minutes, then the garlic 1 minute. Add the meat and brown it, breaking it up, 10 minutes.
3. Add the wine and boil 2 minutes, then the tomatoes, paste, spices, salt and pepper. Simmer 30 minutes, until thick and not watery. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay, stir in the parsley.
4. For the béchamel, melt the butter, whisk in the flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in the warm milk gradually and cook, whisking, until thick, 5 to 8 minutes. Off the heat, season with salt and nutmeg, whisk in the yolks one at a time, then half the cheese.
5. Oil a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Layer the potatoes in the bottom, then half the eggplant, all the meat sauce and the rest of the eggplant.
6. Pour over the béchamel and smooth it. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
7. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is deep golden and puffed. Rest at least 30 minutes, ideally longer, before cutting.

Chef's tips

• Roasting the eggplant instead of frying keeps it from soaking up oil.
• Moussaka is even better reheated the next day.

This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in The Glorious Foods of Greece by Diane Kochilas: get the book, No. 80 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.

← No. 67Chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives→ No. 69Persian rice with tahdig