Pasta Casserole (Pastitsio)

This recipe for pastitsio has been improved on over the generations. The reason why this is cooked on the stove top & only browned in the oven is that in Greek villages there was a shared village oven. So dishes like these were popular as they could be browned after the bread had been baked.
Ingredients
Meat sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 750 g minced meat
- 400–450 g canned chopped tomatoes
- ⅓ cup tomato paste
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon beef stock powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 egg, beaten lightly
Greek-style bechamel sauce
- 100 g butter
- ½ cup plain flour
- 3½ cups milk
- 1 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- 2 egg yolks
Pasta mix
- 250 g macaroni pasta (or Greek pastitsio noodles)
- 2 eggs, beaten lightly
- ¾ cup grated fresh Parmesan or Feta cheese
Assembly
- 2 tablespoons stale breadcrumbs
Steps
Meat sauce
- Heat olive oil in pan. Sauté chopped onions until translucent.
- Add minced meat. Cook until well browned.
- Add chopped canned tomatoes with liquid.
- Add tomato paste, water, wine, beef stock powder and cinnamon powder. Simmer uncovered until thick.
- Transfer to mixing bowl. Cool.
- Stir in egg.
Greek-style Bechamel sauce
- Melt butter in pan.
- Add flour. Stir over heat until bubbling.
- Remove from heat. Gradually add milk. Mixture thickens, then thins again.
- Return to heat. Cook until sauce bubbles and thickens.
- Stir in Parmesan cheese until melted and smooth.
- Transfer to mixing bowl. Cool slightly.
- Mix in egg yolks.
Pasta mix
- Boil pasta per packet directions until tender.
- Drain. Transfer to mixing bowl.
- Mix hot pasta with Parmesan cheese and eggs.
Assembly
- Grease baking dish.
- Press pasta mix into base of pan.
- Top with meat sauce.
- Pour Bechamel over meat sauce. Smooth top.
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs over top.
- Bake in preheated oven at 180°C (350°F), 1 hour, until golden brown.
- Rest at least 10 minutes before serving.
Notes from the original
- To avoid a large clean up at the end, just reuse the same saucepan.
- Leftovers freeze well, so it is a great freezer cooking dish.
- It is a good idea to start your meat sauce first as this needs to cool before you can begin construction.
- If desired, try adding a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg to the bechamel sauce.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Pasta Casserole (Pastitsio)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-09-01, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Pastitsio.jpg by Robert Kindermann, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






