This Greek Pasta Bake called Pastitsio is made with a flavorful cinnamon-infused meat sauce with layers of pasta, topped with a rich, creamy layer of Greek béchamel sauce. The ultimate Greek comfort food!
A friend introduced Pastitsio to me a couple of years ago, and I was instantly smitten. Deep, rich and hearty, this baked pasta dish has roots in Greece and the Middle East. It is perfect for special occasions or entertaining where you can share and not be tempted to devour the entire thing because, believe me, you will want to! The last time I made this, I immediately packaged up half of it to give to friends. Or freeze half to save for later!
What is Pastitsio?
Pastitsio is a beloved traditional Greek dish often described as a Greek lasagna. Ground lamb (or beef) is cooked with onion, garlic and spices then simmered with tomato sauce and infused with warming cinnamon until it becomes a deep, rich, Greek-style “bolognese” – the flavorful base of the dish. It is layered with pasta and topped with a nutmeg-infused béchamel before going into the oven to bake. When it comes out, it is bubbly, golden and heavenly.
Why You’ll Love PastitSio!
- An authentic dish for entertaining: This impressive Greek dish will please a crowd.
- Freezer-friendly! The perfect comforting meal to save for busy weeknights.
- Full of warm and comforting flavor: Made with warming spices and hearty ingredients. Ultimate Greek comfort food!
If you are a fan of our Rustic Eggplant Moussaka here on the blog, you will love this Greek pasta bake with similar flavors.
Ingredients
- Ground lamb: Or sub half ground beef or ground turkey. I prefer to use sustainably raised, locally grown American lamb, which is hormone-free. In years past we’ve bought ½ or ¼ of a lamb locally and kept it frozen, which is always an option too.
- Penne pasta: An easy type to find, or use bucatini pasta, ziti, or similar.
- Olive oil: Used in both the bolognese and the béchamel (or you can sub butter for this). I prefer using olive oil with already rich lamb.
- Onion: Use a large onion, diced.
- Garlic cloves: Or sub with 2 tablespoons granulated garlic.
- Spices: Kosher salt, ground cinnamon (don’t skimp), ground cumin, dried oregano (or fresh chopped), black pepper, ground nutmeg, white pepper.
- Red wine: Use a dry red wine.
- Crushed tomatoes: Regular, canned crushed tomatoes.
- Tomato paste: Essential for thickening the sauce.
- All-purpose flour: Can sub with gluten-free flour.
- Whole milk: Be sure to use full-fat milk here.
- Parmesan: Use freshly grated (plus more for sprinkling on top), or use Kasseri, Kefalotyri cheese (Greek cheese), or Romano cheese.
- Plain Greek yogurt: Must be full-fat Greek yogurt for best results.
- Extra large eggs: Beaten.
- Fresh thyme: For garnish.
How to Make Pastitsio
There are several different components to Pastitsio that can be performed simultaneously on the stovetop if you are a good multitasker. Alternatively, you can always make this in stages– making the bolognese on the first day, the bechamel on the second day, and assembling/ baking on the third/serving day.
Step 1: Start the lamb bolognese: Heat oil in a large pot, large skillet, or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, ground meat and salt to the pan, breaking up the meat with a metal spatula or wooden spoon. Cook 10-12 minutes, stirring often until onions are tender and meat is browned. Drain any fat. Splash with the red wine and cook until evaporated about 2 minutes, then add garlic and cinnamon, cumin, oregano, and pepper to the lamb mixture. Sauté for 2 minutes until garlic is fragrant. Stir in crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer on low heat, covered, for 20 minutes. Taste, add more salt if you like.
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Step 2: While this is simmering, boil the pasta water and make the creamy béchamel sauce: Heat the oil (or melt unsalted butter) in a medium pot, over medium-low heat. Whisk the flour into the oil into a smooth paste and cook for 60 seconds. Whisk in 1 cup milk until smooth and thickened, then immediately, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk and whisk until smooth and thickened again. Add 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper and parmesan, and stir until cheese melts and sauce is smooth. Set aside and let cool for 10 minutes.
Step 3: Cook the pasta and drain.
Once the creamy bechamel sauce has cooled 10 minutes (warm is ok, just not hot), stir in the yogurt and beaten egg.
Step 4: Assemble: Add the cooked pasta to the Bolognese sauce and mix. Pour into a large greased casserole dish (9×13) or 12-inch oven-proof skillet. Top with the béchamel sauce covering it evenly.
Sprinkle with ½ cup more parmesan cheese (the cheese will melt to golden perfection!) and scatter with fresh thyme leaves.
Step 5: Bake 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Your home will smell incredible!
Garnish with fresh thyme or fresh parsley.
What to serve with Pastitsio?
Serve with a simple green salad, lemony kale slaw, romaine caesar, or our Classic Greek Salad.
FAQs
We use penne because it is widely available, however it is also common to use bucatini. Anything tubular and similar works well here, such as ziti.
Yes, or you can do half ground lamb and half ground beef.
Yes! Simply use a gluten-free penne and gluten-free flour blend. You may want to undercook the pasta slightly so that it is less likely to break apart in the dish. Gluten-free pastas tend to be a bit less sturdy.
Make Ahead & Storage
- Meal prep: Make the lamb bolognese sauce ahead of time.
- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
- Freezer: Cool completely, then store for up to 2 months. You can wrap individual portions in plastic wrap if desired. Thaw in fridge before reheating.
More cozy Lamb Recipes
- Grilled Lamb Burger with Harissa Aioli
- Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Herb Salad and Yogurt Sauce
- Thai Larb Salad
One of my favorite baked pasta recipes ever! I hope you give this Greek Pastitsio recipe a try! Let me know what you think in the comments. 🙂
xoxo
Print
Pastitsio Recipe (Greek Pasta Bake)
- Prep Time: 50
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 10
- Category: Main
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Greek
Description
Pastitsio! A delicious Greek inspired, baked pasta dish made with penne pasta, lamb bolognese and a béchamel sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
Bechamel:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
- 2 extra large eggs, beaten
parmesan for sprinkling
Garnish : 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
Instructions
Start the lamb bolognese: heat oil in a large heavy bottom pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, ground meat and salt, breaking up the meat with a metal spatula. Cook 10-12 minutes, stirring often until onions are tender and meat is browned. Drain any fat. Splash with the red wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes, then add garlic and cinnamon, cumin, oregano and pepper. Sauté for 2 minutes until garlic is fragrant. Stir in crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer on low heat, covered, for 20 minutes. Taste, add more salt if you like.
Preheat oven to 400 F
While this is simmering, boil the pasta water and make the béchamel sauce: Heat the oil in a medium pot, over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the oil into a smooth paste and cook for 60 seconds. Whisk in 1 cup milk until smooth and thickened, then immediately, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk and whisk until smooth and thickened again. Add salt, nutmeg, white pepper and parmesan, and stir until cheese melts and sauce is smooth. Set aside and let cool for 10 minutes.
Cook the pasta and drain.
Once the béchamel has cooled 10 minutes (warm is ok, just not hot), stir in the yogurt and beaten egg.
Assemble: Add the cooked pasta to the Bolognese sauce and mix. Pour into a large greased baking dish (9×13) or 12-inch oven-proof skillet. Top with the béchamel sauce covering it evenly. Sprinkle with ½ cup more parmesan and scatter with fresh thyme leaves. Bake 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
Enjoy!
Notes
Feel free to make the Bolognese ahead.
This will keep 4-5 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 433
- Sugar: 6.9 g
- Sodium: 466.8 mg
- Fat: 30.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 10.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.6 g
- Fiber: 1.9 g
- Protein: 26.7 g
- Cholesterol: 113.8 mg
Bravo to you for this recipe. Follows sound process for creating layers of flavor. Takes talent to explain basically everything in two plain language paragraphs. Super straightforward to implement. Weeknight results (2 hours start to finish, served at 7pm) were very highly rated by family at the dinner table!
But don’t put a full 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg in the bechamel. It will ruin the dish (imo). Instead, buy whole nutmeg and a microplane and just shave the stuff into the white sauce; add, taste, and you’ll see it’s glorious! Bet it would be maybe 1/8 tsp of fresh stuff (which is much less potent than pre-ground nutmeg). The rest of the proportions were right on, including cinnamon :).
In all, super grateful for this recipe. What a lucky thing to be given step-by-step directions to bring sheer joy to the people I love.
Thanks so much for this wonderful feed back Alex! Happy you all enjoyed. Totally agree, fresh nutmeg is a whole different thing.:)
Just curious what do you do if you don’t have the wine?
Hi Carrie- you can just leave it out- or add a splash of water or broth. 🙂
Living in Greece and tasted many recipes of Pastitio.
This is very good and tasteful and very greek.
Dont change anything in the recipe if you really want to eat greek!!
Thanks so much for this Elisabeth!
World this recipe still work if I left out the yogurt? I’m dairy free.
Hi Allison, What about using a vegan yogurt?
Great recipe. When I looked at the recipe, I thought that it was so similar to mousaka, but it is different and very good. I made it for Valentine’s Day and it was great. The leftovers were possibly even better. My husband loved it too.
Nice to hear this Peggy!
Absolutely delicious. I will definitely serve it to guests.
I suggest that you cool it for 5 minutes before serving, so the top sets up a little, and you don’t burn your mouth gobbling it down.
Glad you enjoyed Molly!
Just wondering if this is ok to freeze? Thanks
I think it should freeze beautifully!
I try not to use processed white flours, preferring the added fiber & nutrients from whole wheat. Can the bechamel sauce be made with whole wheat flour? If so, would an adjustment in amount be needed?
Yes it is fine to use whole wheat for bechamel. Same amount of flour.
lol this person either has three arms or has never actually followed the steps in the recipe. At the end of the day, this dish is hard to mess up & is very yummy.
Sorry this took longer than planned. I usually am cook several things at the same time here- but in any case, I adjusted the cooking time higher.
First time making pastitsio. My husband and I both think this recipe is delicious. He said I should put it in my new “rotation” personal recipe book. Since it’s just the two of us I halved everything and it filled an 8×8 glass baking dish. Thank you Sylvia! K
Great to hear and glad you enjoyed it!
White pepper would have made the dish impeccable. I had to substitute. We tend to not like cumin, so I used smoked paprika. This recipe is a keeper!!!
Great Kelly!
I want to try this as it sounds delicious. What do think about adding eggplant (fried) and how would you incorporate it?
Interesting Sue, I can’t quite picture that here- but you never know- it could be great! I would fold in the crispy eggplant right before baking the pastitsio, so it doesn’t get too soggy.
Was just given a large amount of eggplant and was thinkin thge same way. Think you would prepare the eggplant as usual with a brushing of olive oil and bake. Then use it in place of the pasta.
Sounds a lot like Eggplant Mousakka!
Do i use 1lb of beef mince or 2lb?
Thanks
Hi Lindsay- you’ll need 2 lbs of ground meat total. You could use 1lb ground lamb plus 1 lb ground beef if you like.
Arghh, i already made it, and it smells very cinnamonny! Is there anything that i can add to counteract this as i have less mince? Thanks
Oh shoot. The pasta may soak some of the cinnamon up?
The cinnamon is just the recipe. However, if you not like cinnamon try using Greek Seasoning, instead. It won’t be the recipe but you might enjoy it with the change.
Oops, forgot to add, change the parmesan to mozzarella or goat cheese.
This was delicious!!! The only thing I changed was that I used “pasta” made from chickpeas but it held well. Would definitely make again
Oh perfect Marie!
Excellent
Thanks Nicole!
This was the most delicious meal I have made in quite some time….! Followed the ingredients and directions as written and it turned out wonderfully. Thank you for putting together a great dish!!!
Thanks Tracy- I love this one too!
You should include a RECIPE_BOX application with your site, so the User can save your recipes in an organized fashion. I have been a programmer for almost 50 years and I highly recommend this addition. Saving now and printing later is “the way to go.” Look at the New York Times Recipes, Taste of Home, Closet Cooking, for example.
Hi Helen, we are getting a brand new site made this year and it will include that feature. 😉
Could I substitute cooked rice for the pasta? Any adjustments?
Hi Barbee- I love your idea of using cooked rice. Brilliant! I wouldn’t make any other adjustments. The only question is how much rice to use. Not sure if the 3/4 lb measurement for pasta will translate well to the rice. You may have to eyeball it a bit. 🙂 Please let me know how this turns out…curious!
Gorgeous! Easy recipe to follow and this will be a regular meal now. Thank you!
Great to hear Joanne!
I happened to have ground pork, used that. Made the bechamel sauce with 2% milk and olive oil and a little bit of butter. The other thing I used was chickpea penne. Delicious!
Perfect!
I followed this recipe precisely and found that the bechamel sauce collapsed on the meat and noodles. I suspect that the recommended heat was too high and the dish was over cooked. In the future, I will follow my tried and true recipe for pastitsio substituting round lamb for ground beef and bake it at 375 instead of 400.
What is the best way to make this ahead? Freeze after Bechamel sauce has cooled?
I would almost bake this, then freeze, then thaw and reheat. But honestly, I’m not an expert in the freezing department- you probably know more than me. 🙂
Thanks 🙂 Making three of these for a charity/neighborhood food event.
OMG followed this recipe for dinner and it was amazing!!! Soo delicious, We love lamb and of course any kind of pasta and this was hands down the best combination of two, I’ve ever cooked. The bechamel sauce is heaven! Love all your recipes. Sissy
Yesterday, I made this recipe as written, although halved since there are just two of us. I used ground beef since I didn’t have ground lamb on hand and sour cream in place of greek yogurt for the same reason. I would add a little acid when serving next time, maybe greek olives or a squeeze of lemon.
Delicious!
Could you sub lentils for the meat to make it veg?
I don’t see why not? Just make sure it’s seasoned generously. 🙂