My very best Greek Pastitsio recipe (Pastichio)! This is my authentic “Greek Lasagna” recipe for you to make this traditional delight just like my grandma used to make it! So go ahead, read on to discover all my tips and tricks, my video showing you how to make it and of course the recipe!
What is Greek Pastitsio / Pastichio?
The simplest way to describe what is Pastitsio is a Greek version of Lasagna! The traditional pastitsio / Pasticcio recipe has a deep layer of tubular pasta, a delicious, aromatic beef ragu and is topped off with a thick and velvety béchamel sauce.
Pastitsio recipe – Greek Lasagna with Béchamel sauce in a pan
How to make traditional Greek Pastitsio?
This easy to follow Greek pastitsio recipe can be summarised in three simple steps:
Prepare the Pastitsio pasta
Prepare the meat sauce
Prepare the béchamel sauce
In the sections below I’ll take you through each one of these in more detail so you can easily make the very best pastitsio on your first try! Truth is that the whole process will require dirtying some pans, but the end result is well worth it!
Greek Pastitsio ready to bake
Greek Pastitsio recipe – Prepare the pasta
The authentic Greek Pastitsio recipe is made with bucatini pasta, a thick pasta like spaghetti with a hole running through the center. This pasta is what is used to make Pastitsio in almost every Greek household or restaurant.
However sourcing bucatini pasta abroad can be a bit tricky, so a more convenient alternative that you can readily find at your local supermarket is penne pasta and ziti.
There are two little tips that make all the difference when preparing the pastitsio pasta. Firstly, boil the pasta for the pastitsio 2-3 minutes less than the package instructions. Your pasta will also cook when the dish is baked in the oven, so if you cook them fully on their own they will turn out mushy!
Secondly mix the boiled pasta with crumbled feta cheese and a the whites from two eggs. The feta cheese will give your pasta a delicious tang while the egg whites will help the pasta stay together when your pastitsio is cut!
Pasta for Greek Pastitsio
Greek Pastitsio recipe – Prepare the meat sauce
Greek pastitsio (pastichio/pasticcio/Pastizio) owes its distinctive and rich flavour to the two aromatic spices used in the meat sauce. These are nothing else than cinnamon and clove! Once put in the oven, the intense aromas of those spices bring back so many childhood memories!
To prepare the pastitsio meat sauce start by heating up a large pan on medium/high heat, add the olive oil, the chopped onions and sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the beef, tomato paste, garlic and break it up to small chunks using a wooden spoon.
Let it simmer until its nicely browned and cooked through. Then proceed to deglaze the pan with the wine, add the tomatoes and spices and season with some salt and pepper. Let it simmer for a while until the sauce has reduced and has barely any liquid left in it. Finally taste it and add some more salt & pepper to taste if needed!
Greek Pastitsio Meat Sauce
Greek Pastitsio recipe – Prepare the Béchamel sauce
The perfect béchamel sauce for your pastitsio should be smooth, thick and creamy. To achieve the perfect texture the key is to add the lukewarm milk a little bit at a time whilst constantly stirring with a whisk. Whisk the sauce constantly, allow the flour to absorb the milk and add some more until the milk is used up. That way your sauce will turn out incredibly smooth and creamy!
Secondly be careful to set your stove to medium to low heat so that your bechamel sauce doesn’t burn and doesn’t stick on the bottom of the pan!
Finally, once you add the grated cheese to your béchamel it will thicken up a little bit. So keep that in mind to achieve the right texture. At that point give your bechamel a taste and add some salt. It will lift the flavour and make your bechamel taste simply divine!
Greek Pastitsio Bechamel Sauce
Can this Greek Pastitsio recipe be made in advance?
Making Greek Pastitsio can be a bit time consuming, so sometimes you will need to prepare it in advance. If you like to prepare pastitsio in advance, you can prepare all its components above and assemble it the previous night. Let it cool down completely, cover it with some cling film and put it in the fridge. The next day put it straight in the oven and bake it! Just remember to let it cool down before cutting it up.
Alternatively you can prepare the whole pastitsio and bake the day before, let it cool down, wrap in cling film and store in the fridge. When its time to serve, pop it in the oven for 20 minutes at 150C/300F to reheat it, cut it up and serve immediately.
Can you freeze baked Pastitsio / Pasticcio?
This pastitsio recipe can also be cooked in advance and frozen in individual portions. Truth is that sometimes you will end up with leftovers, as this recipe makes for a generous baking tray! Let your pastitsio cool down completely, cut it up in pieces and place it in sealed plastic containers and then in the freezer.
To serve it, thaw in the fridge the night before, heat your oven to 150C/300F and warm it up for 20-30 minutes until warm throughout. It will taste as good as fresh!
The Best Greek Pastitsio recipe (Pastichio)! An authentic Greek Lasagna recipe to recreate this traditional delight just like my grandma used to make it.
Ingredients
Scale
Base Ingredients
450g/ 15oz. bucatini pasta, penne or ziti
110g/ 4oz. feta cheese
2 egg whites
For the meat sauce
900g/ 30oz. lean ground beef
2 medium sized red onions (finely chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
400g/ 14oz. canned chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
150ml/ 5 fl.oz. red wine
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole clove
1/4 of a cup olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
For the bechamel
120g/ 4.3 oz. plain flour
120g/ 4.3 oz. butter
1000ml/ 34 oz. milk
2 egg yolks
50g/ 1.7oz. Kefalotyri or Parmigiano-Reggiano
a pinch of nutmeg
salt to taste
50g/ 1.7oz. Kefalotyri or Parmigiano-Reggiano to sprinkle
To prepare this traditional pastitsio recipe (pastichio), start with the meat sauce. Place a large pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil, the chopped onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste and the beef. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon and brown for 4-5 minutes. Pour in the red wine and wait to evaporate. Add the canned tomatoes, the sugar, cinnamon, clove, the bay leaf and season. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes, until most of the juices have evaporated. (After the meat is cooked, discard the bay leaf, the clove and the cinnamon)
Prepare the bechamel sauce for the pastitsio. Melt the butter in a large pan over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste. Add warmed milk in small batches, whisking continuously in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat whilst continuing to stir. Remove the pan from the stove and add the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the grated cheese (50g/ 1.7oz.). Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette! Season with salt to taste.
Cook the pasta for the pastitsio 2-3 minutes less than the package instructions, so that they don’t get mushy after turning out of the oven later. Drain the pasta and stir in the egg whites and the feta cheese (smashed with a fork) and mix gently with a spatula.
For this pastitsio recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 25*35 cm / 10*14 inch. Butter the bottom and sides of a pan and assemble the pastitsio. Layer the pasta, top with the meat sauce and even out. Top the pastitsio with the bechamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
Sprinkle the pastichio with grated cheese and bake in preheated oven at 180C (350F) Fan for about 40 minutes, until crust turns a light golden brown. Let the pastitsio cool down for a while before serving.
I have just made my first Pastitsio and it looks great!! All the ingredients taste beautiful, so I can’t wait to taste it
My partner on the other hand looked over my shoulder the whole time because this is not how his mummy who is Greek makes it and the ingredients are all wrong……..gggrrrr
Just made it and was very tasty. Lots of pots and dishes, but worth it. Easy to make and to follow the recipe. The prescribed dish size is to small so I made a small one one the side to freeze. Thank you.
I’m confused about whether there are supposed to be egg yolks in both the pasta base AND the bechamel sauce. Instructions 2 and 3 (the pasta prep and the bechamel sauce) both call for eggs, but the list of ingredients only mentions 2 egg yolks once. ?? thanks~
Two eggs total, separated. Two whites for the pasta layer, two yolks for the bechamel. I separated two eggs into 2 separate bowls, one for whites one for yolks, mixed the feta into the whites smooshing with a fork, then folded the yolks in the bechamel.
Is there a recipe for just plain meat-less Paslitsio / I was served it at a restaurant in Crete / fluffy plain clean and easy on the digestion “Restaurant was in Marathi ” .. My swimming hole .
Hi Kate, I’m afraid you need chopped tomatoes or whole tinned plump tomatoes for the recipe. Tomato paste is super concentrated and used to add flavour due to its high levels of umami so wouldn’t advise just using that.
If you have too much left over then I would suggest portioning it out into ziplock bags and storing it in the freezer. When you want to use it, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheat in a pan and it should be good to go!
Made this recipe and it came out fantastic. Used a deep 9 X 13 inch baking pan and filled it to the brim. Have you ever tried it with ground lamb or half lamb and half beef? That’s next for me.
I love this recipe — I cut mine into 9 pieces and they are still very large. I like lamb, so I do a 50/50 lamb/beef combo. It freezes incredibly well and It tastes even better reheated. I make a pan, refrigerate it, then cut it up and freeze portions in small meal-prep containers for later and to bring to my 97-year-old grandma — she loves it as much as I do.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this recipe, I have just made it and I’m in heaven it was on point and just reminded me of my years living in Cyprus. I will forever use this recipe going forward. Tasted exactly how I remember it. Thank you so much x
I made this and loved it. thank you so much. I had intended to lay the noodles in neat little rows but after i mixed them with the egg whites and feta, all i could dowas pour the noodles in the dish and press down as much as possible. Was I supposed to lay the noodles in rows?
I made this and loved it. thank you so much. I had intended to lay the noodles in neat little rows but after i mixed them with the egg whites and feta, all i could dowas pour the noodles in the dish and press down as much as possible. Was I supposed to lay the noodles in rows?
I have the same problems as Annemarie. I use maccaroni noodles, but I cannot bring them to ly in rows. They are all mixed up. How do you resolve this problem? Let the noodles cool down and them spend lots of time lying them in rows?
Don’t worry unless you want picture perfect!
My mother often used spaghetti, if all she had.
Just lay whatever you are using as evenly as you can, and proceed accordingly!
Will still taste the same and be delicious
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(1,220 votes, average: 4.70 out of 5)
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My thea doesn’t use can of tomatoes and I’m not fond of them either. What can I use instead?
you can use pasatta or just fresh tomatoes that have been squashed in a blender!
Morning do you use whole milk for bechamel sauce or heavy cream as one person wrote? Thanks so much
Can I leave out the wine or what can I use as a substitute in the meat sauce?
Yeap, you can leave it out or use some extra beef stock (usual cubes diluted in some hot water)
Can ground chicken substitute the ground beef
I just made it with minced Turkey and it turned out great.
Ground turkey works perfectly and less greasy and healthy.
Do I need to cover the casserole with foil while it bakes for the first 30 minutes or so?
In my research (yiayias on YouTube), you don’t have to use foil.
hi everybody mine is in the oven right now and i just realize i forgot the cheese on top,time to grate some cheese,cant wait
panic over didn’t bother no need,it was delicious!!
I have just made my first Pastitsio and it looks great!! All the ingredients taste beautiful, so I can’t wait to taste it
My partner on the other hand looked over my shoulder the whole time because this is not how his mummy who is Greek makes it and the ingredients are all wrong……..gggrrrr
This is not authentic Greek pasticio
Wonderful recipe easy to follow and delicious with a nice greek salad?
Lovely…..best recipe by far x
I’ve made this 3 times so far and my Greek boyfriend now says I’m a keeper hahaha this recipe pleases the pickiest eaters I know. 5 stars!
Laughed at koukla!! Your heart was in the prep
Can I make this ahead of time?
Just made it and was very tasty. Lots of pots and dishes, but worth it. Easy to make and to follow the recipe. The prescribed dish size is to small so I made a small one one the side to freeze. Thank you.
I’m confused about whether there are supposed to be egg yolks in both the pasta base AND the bechamel sauce. Instructions 2 and 3 (the pasta prep and the bechamel sauce) both call for eggs, but the list of ingredients only mentions 2 egg yolks once. ?? thanks~
4 eggs needed total, 2 full for base and 2 yolk only for bechamel.
Only 2 eggs. 2 whites for the pasta and 2 yolks for the sauce
Two eggs total, separated. Two whites for the pasta layer, two yolks for the bechamel. I separated two eggs into 2 separate bowls, one for whites one for yolks, mixed the feta into the whites smooshing with a fork, then folded the yolks in the bechamel.
what kind of grated cheese do you top this with?
I use kefalotyri. Excuse my spelling.
Can you freeze once it is assembled then bake after defrosted or can you bake and then freeze?
I’ve assembled it and frozen.
No deterioration in flavour.
Excellent recipe.
My Family thought that it was even better than my mom’s recipe and my Greek Mom’s a excellent cook.
Try it and enjoy.
Absolutely fantastic. Delicious authentic flavours. Easy to make. Look forward to inviting friends over to share and enjoy it too.
Excellent recipe .Good work
My yaya made it with vernors in place of red wine, it was delicious! I am going to try this recipe!
Is there a recipe for just plain meat-less Paslitsio / I was served it at a restaurant in Crete / fluffy plain clean and easy on the digestion “Restaurant was in Marathi ” .. My swimming hole .
I used impossible burger and it came out great
What other cheese can you use on top please?
Try cheddar or Parmesan 🙂
Thank you.????
Should I double the recipe for a baking dish measuring 24cm x 38cm?
Dree, no that dish is more like a 9x 13 in inches. You’ll have a little leftover for another very small dish.
Can I use tomato paste instead, and if so, how much?
Hi Kate, I’m afraid you need chopped tomatoes or whole tinned plump tomatoes for the recipe. Tomato paste is super concentrated and used to add flavour due to its high levels of umami so wouldn’t advise just using that.
I have egg issues. Could I leave out or??
Yes of course! It will need a little more time to thicken but it will work just fine!
Yes you can!
This recipe looks great. Can you prep a day in advance?
Of course! It actually tastes nicer the next day as the béchamel has had time to set fully and its easier to cut!
Could I use Greek sausage (removed from casing) instead of ground beef?
Yes you can! It would add a lot more flavour compared to beef so adjust the salt down when cooking so its not too salty!
Can I refrigerate the white sauce if I have too much left over?
Hi Monica
If you have too much left over then I would suggest portioning it out into ziplock bags and storing it in the freezer. When you want to use it, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheat in a pan and it should be good to go!
How many does this recipe feed?
easily 8 people 🙂
Made this recipe today for our Greek Easter dinner. It was perfect and delicious!
I made it with milk and the bechamel didn’t fully thicken. I’m going to use heavy crème next time. Thank you. It smells amazing.
Made this recipe and it came out fantastic. Used a deep 9 X 13 inch baking pan and filled it to the brim. Have you ever tried it with ground lamb or half lamb and half beef? That’s next for me.
Made this for dinner tonight, absolutely delicious, every family member asked for more!! Thank you for the recipe.
Delicious! Loved the easy to follow step-by-step instructions, as well as the video.
Can I make this dish uncooked and then cook it the next day or do does it need to be cooked the day before and then heated up?
It says a serving is a square. But how big a square?? What gram weight please?
I love this recipe — I cut mine into 9 pieces and they are still very large. I like lamb, so I do a 50/50 lamb/beef combo. It freezes incredibly well and It tastes even better reheated. I make a pan, refrigerate it, then cut it up and freeze portions in small meal-prep containers for later and to bring to my 97-year-old grandma — she loves it as much as I do.
Would Lactaid Milk work? Whole or Skim?
Lisa, I used 2% lactaid milk and it worked just fine.
Lacking a cinnamon stick & whole clove, how much ground of each would one use to replace them?
I use about a tsp of cinnamon. My personal preference is that the cinnamon should be the star of the show, and I omit the cloves altogether.
Can I use myzithra cheese instead of the kefalotyri? I have a HUGE block of myzithra I need to use up.
Hey, I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this recipe, I have just made it and I’m in heaven it was on point and just reminded me of my years living in Cyprus. I will forever use this recipe going forward. Tasted exactly how I remember it. Thank you so much x
I made this and loved it. thank you so much. I had intended to lay the noodles in neat little rows but after i mixed them with the egg whites and feta, all i could dowas pour the noodles in the dish and press down as much as possible. Was I supposed to lay the noodles in rows?
I made this and loved it. thank you so much. I had intended to lay the noodles in neat little rows but after i mixed them with the egg whites and feta, all i could dowas pour the noodles in the dish and press down as much as possible. Was I supposed to lay the noodles in rows?
I have the same problems as Annemarie. I use maccaroni noodles, but I cannot bring them to ly in rows. They are all mixed up. How do you resolve this problem? Let the noodles cool down and them spend lots of time lying them in rows?
Don’t worry unless you want picture perfect!
My mother often used spaghetti, if all she had.
Just lay whatever you are using as evenly as you can, and proceed accordingly!
Will still taste the same and be delicious
How do you place the noodles so they align so perfectly when you cut a piece?
I’m so excited to try! My only thing is I’d love to see the prep time adjusted, it took me almost an hour to prep- 20 doesn’t seem right!
There is too much milk in the recipe. It keeps the bechamel from thickening.