Juicy, creamy and absolutely delicious! One of the most popular and beloved traditional Greek dishes, now done vegetarian! Although vegetarian moussaka is not a popular dish in Greece (as we all know Greeks love their meat!), after a lot of requests from my vegetarian friends, I was more than excited to come up with a vegetarian moussaka with mushrooms recipe that could happily replace my lamb/ beef moussaka on my family table!
This easy to follow veggie moussaka recipe never fails to impress and is always a crowd pleaser. Each stage will require dirtying some pans, but I think you will agree that the end result is well worth it! So go ahead, indulge yourself to this little sin..
Vegetarian Moussaka recipe – The secret is in the sauce
To prepare a traditional Greek Moussaka recipe, luscious layers of mince beef (or lamb) are cooked in a tomato based sauce, layered with sweet eggplants and creamy béchamel sauce and baked together until golden.
For this veggie moussaka recipe mince beef/lamb is replaced with a delicious juicy mushroom based sauce, keeping of course, all the fragrant spices of the traditional Greek moussaka which give its unique taste and flavour.
To prepare the sauce chopped mushrooms are sautéed in olive oil, flavoured with onions and garlic and then simmered in white wine and tomato sauce. Simply irresistible! Just remember to let the sauce simmer for a while to allow the flavours to mingle for that little bit of extra deliciousness!
Vegetarian Moussaka recipe – Prepare the vegetables
As in the classic moussaka, the base for this vegetarian moussaka is nothing else than fried eggplants.
Some moussaka recipes also use sliced potatoes. So if you like potatoes, try adding a layer of sliced potatoes as the first layer to this amazing dish, for some extra “comfort” during the winter months!
For a lighter and healthier alternative to your vegetarian moussaka, try drizzling the aubergines (and potatoes) with some olive oil and bake them for ~20 minutes instead of frying them.
Tip: Some eggplants may be bitter, so it is very important to remove the bitterness by soaking in water, rinsing, seasoning with salt and letting them stand for half an hour in a colander.
Veggie Moussaka recipe – Prepare the Béchamel sauce
Preparing the béchamel sauce is probably the trickiest part for this vegetarian moussaka recipe. To achieve the perfect texture for your béchamel sauce, make sure the milk is lukewarm and add it in the pan with the flour/butter mix just a little bit at a time whilst constantly stirring.
Tip: My personal trick is to use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment to save some of the effort while stirring, and it always works at treat 🙂
The perfect béchamel sauce for your vegetarian moussaka should be smooth and creamy. First of all, the key is to whisk the sauce constantly while pouring just a little milk at a time, allowing plenty of time for the flour to absorb the milk, so that sauce doesn’t turn lumpy.
Secondly, cook the sauce over medium-low heat in order to prevent it from burning and sticking on the bottom of the pan. But be careful to cook it enough, until you can’t taste the flour and it has a thick consistency.
If you are feeling a little lazy or don’t have too much time, you can skip the whole béchamel and try topping with good quality grated cheese instead!
So go ahead, give this delicious vegetarian Moussaka recipe a try and amaze your friends and family with this extra tasty hearty dish!
Best Greek vegetarian moussaka recipe with layers of aubergine, comforting potatoes, béchamel and a delicious mushroom sauce! The ultimate veggie moussaka!
Ingredients
Scale
Base ingredients
6–7 large eggplants
vegetable oil (for frying the eggplants)
For the mushroom sauce
600–700g mushrooms, chopped (25 oz.)
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1–2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 of a cup white wine
1/4 of a cup olive oil
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
one cinnamon stick
salt and freshly ground pepper
chopped parsley (optional)
For the béchamel sauce
875ml milk (3 and 1/2 cups)
100g butter (3.5 ounces)
100g flour (3.5 ounces)
a pinch of nutmeg
2 egg yolks
100g Parmigiano-Reggiano or Kefalotyri (3.5 ounces)
To prepare this vegetarian moussaka recipe, begin by preparing your eggplants. Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into slices, aprrox.1 cm thick. Season with salt and place in a colander for about half an hour.
Rinse the eggplants with plenty of water and squeeze with your hands, to get rid of the excessive water. Pat them dry and fry in plenty of oil, until nicely colored. Place the fried eggplants on some paper, in order to absorb the oil. For a healthier version of this vegetarian moussaka recipe try drizzling the eggplants with some olive oil and bake them for 15 minutes at 200C instead of frying them.
Now it’s time to prepare a delicious mushroom based sauce for your vegetarian moussaka. Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped mushrooms and sauté, until most of the juices have evaporated. Add the chopped onions and garlic and sauté. Pour in the wine and wait to evaporate. Add the tinned tomatoes, mushing them with a wooden spoon, the sugar, cinnamon and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes until most of the juices have evaporated and the sauce thickens.
Lastly prepare the béchamel sauce for the vegetarian moussaka. Use a deep pan to melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste and add warmed milk in a steady stream. Keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir. Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the grated cheese. Whisk really quickly, season with salt to taste and set aside while you assemble the dish.
For this vegetarian moussaka recipe you will need a large baking dish, approx. 20*30 cm. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan and sprinkle with some breadcrumbs (this will help absorb the extra juices). Layer the eggplants. Pour in the mushroom sauce and even out. Add a second layer of eggplants, top with the béchamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula.
Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake the vegetarian moussaka in preheated oven at 180-200C for about 25-30 minutes, until crust turns light golden brown. Even though it will be really hard.. you should wait for the moussaka to cool down for a while before cutting into pieces.
Serve this delicious vegetarian moussaka with a refreshing Greek salad aside. Enjoy!
Eli is SO right. I been referring to your site for so long… Can’t even remember! I’m located in Montreal, Canada and I always manage to figure out the equivalent of pounding etc! It always worked out perfectly!!! And it really does feel like home when I taste;)) Cooking ain’t mad science, try trusting your gut instinct and most importantly, enjoy the food while you’re making it! Thanks again Eli for giving us easy access to your ‘ wisdom knowledge ‘;)) Καλό Πάσχα !! -x-
Totally Agree! Strees free cooking recipes why I come to this site always to perfection doesn’t need to be in a Greek Kitchen; my mother’s measuring cup was a drinking large glass and her cooking was phenomenal
Keep doing what your doing & your English is wonderful no need to apologize!!! Moonsoon maybe you should look for other sites or make your own! NO need to be rude!!!
I just finished making and eating this. So incredibly good! Thank you so much for your precise instructions. First time I ever used my whisk attachment and it worked great. I halved the recipe since we are only 2 in my family.
Eli love your recipes which are explained so well and easy to follow. You cook with your heart and soul. Takes me back to Greek sunshine with your delicious food! Thanks so much! Linda
Dear Eli, I made your tsoureki recipe this Greek Easter and it turned out GREAT! And, it was the first time I have EVER made tsoureki! Now, I’m off to try the vegetarian mousaka! Thank you very much for an inspiring site!
Hi, I usually don’t post, but I am with all the other non-Chefs/cooks whose English is imperfect when I say to Monsoon Eddy that if he/she wants a website to perfect, it ought to be his/her own. There is no excuse for flaming someone as nice and courteous, as good a writer, & chef/cook as Eli. Please go away until you learn to play nicely with others. — cjc
This sounds lovely! My question is can it be prepped in stages. Day 1 prepare eggplant
Day 2 cook the mushrooms. Day 3 bring it all together and cook. My life is hectic right now and doing it all in one day wouldn’t happen.
Thank You ever so much!!!
I made this a couple of months ago and it was amazing. The star of the show was the Bechemel sauce…amazing. My question: can I freeze and then reheat or does this result in kind of a mushy moussaka?
Of course you can freeze and reheat – I do it all the time! Make sure you seal it up well in some Tupperware containers and let it thaw overnight in the fridge for when you want to eat it.
Over the past 8 years you have made My Greek Dish the number one destination for anyone searching for authentic Greek recipes! For that I cannot thank you enough!
It all started with an idea… To collate and publish all those recipes that I loved when I was young, the ones I made with so much love for my children and grand children!
So go ahead, explore my delicious collections and don’t forget to leave me a comment, connect with me on Facebook or Instagram and sign up to my mailing list so you never miss out on my latest creations!
(634 votes, average: 4.69 out of 5)
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Eli is SO right. I been referring to your site for so long… Can’t even remember! I’m located in Montreal, Canada and I always manage to figure out the equivalent of pounding etc! It always worked out perfectly!!! And it really does feel like home when I taste;)) Cooking ain’t mad science, try trusting your gut instinct and most importantly, enjoy the food while you’re making it! Thanks again Eli for giving us easy access to your ‘ wisdom knowledge ‘;)) Καλό Πάσχα !! -x-
Thank you Foteini! Καλο πασχα και σε εσενα!
Totally Agree! Strees free cooking recipes why I come to this site always to perfection doesn’t need to be in a Greek Kitchen; my mother’s measuring cup was a drinking large glass and her cooking was phenomenal
Keep doing what your doing & your English is wonderful no need to apologize!!! Moonsoon maybe you should look for other sites or make your own! NO need to be rude!!!
I just finished making and eating this. So incredibly good! Thank you so much for your precise instructions. First time I ever used my whisk attachment and it worked great. I halved the recipe since we are only 2 in my family.
Excellent great recipe,many thanks,keep them coming
Hi Eli, Is there any substitute for white wine?
Eli love your recipes which are explained so well and easy to follow. You cook with your heart and soul. Takes me back to Greek sunshine with your delicious food! Thanks so much! Linda
I love Greek food and enjoy your wonderful recipes. Friends and family always complement your Briam recipe. Thankyou Keep up the good work.
Can I use Chinese eggplant in this recipe? Can it be frozen? Too many from the garden and looking for recipes that I can make and freeze.
Hi Eli, i’m interested in Greek food, and working on a project about it. Please contact me Rahmah , my watsapp 0173748046. Thanks.
Dear Eli, I made your tsoureki recipe this Greek Easter and it turned out GREAT! And, it was the first time I have EVER made tsoureki! Now, I’m off to try the vegetarian mousaka! Thank you very much for an inspiring site!
Despina from Agrinio
Hi, I usually don’t post, but I am with all the other non-Chefs/cooks whose English is imperfect when I say to Monsoon Eddy that if he/she wants a website to perfect, it ought to be his/her own. There is no excuse for flaming someone as nice and courteous, as good a writer, & chef/cook as Eli. Please go away until you learn to play nicely with others. — cjc
Can I prepare the vegetables and sauce the day before and put it together the next day. I have limited time on the actual day I want to use the dish.
Of course you can!
Ignore last message. I have just read the pre amble! Sorry, I just skipped to the recipe section.
This sounds lovely! My question is can it be prepped in stages. Day 1 prepare eggplant
Day 2 cook the mushrooms. Day 3 bring it all together and cook. My life is hectic right now and doing it all in one day wouldn’t happen.
Thank You ever so much!!!
I made this a couple of months ago and it was amazing. The star of the show was the Bechemel sauce…amazing. My question: can I freeze and then reheat or does this result in kind of a mushy moussaka?
Of course you can freeze and reheat – I do it all the time! Make sure you seal it up well in some Tupperware containers and let it thaw overnight in the fridge for when you want to eat it.