Vegan Moussaka

Serves 10

40 mins prep

80 mins cook

120 mins total

This authentic Vegan Moussaka is the best I’ve ever had. Layers of eggplant, creamy cashew béchamel, and meaty lentil ragu come together in this plant-based version inspired by my Greek mom’s traditional recipe.

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Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)

Prep the eggplant:

Slice the eggplant into thick pieces, about ½ inch. Place them on a paper towel and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Allow them to sit for about 10 minutes while preparing other parts of the recipe. This will help bring out some of the water.
After about 10 minutes, take eggplant pieces and wipe off any excess water with a paper towel. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and brush with oil or broth.
Put eggplant in the oven and broil. Start with 5 minutes on each side, keep checking and leave until golden brown. Mine was 8 minutes on the first side, and 5 on the second.

Make béchamel:

Make béchamel sauce by placing all ingredients into a blender and blending until nice and smooth.

Make “meat” sauce:

Sauté onion and garlic with the rest of the salt (1 teaspoon) and oil or splash of broth until brown.
You can choose to chop the cooked chickpeas and walnuts now instead of chopping the whole mixture after. Simple pulse in a food processor.
Add chickpeas, lentils and walnuts, sauté 1-2 minutes.
Add broth, fresh chopped tomatoes and parsley.
Cook partially covered for 20 minutes until the liquid is almost gone and beans are al dente. Then add the tomato sauce, wine and pepper. Stir and cook partially covered for another 5 minutes until most of the liquid is gone. Add more broth if needed.
Allow it to cool a bit, then if you haven't pulsed the chickpeas and walnuts already, put the whole mixture into a food processor and pulse to make it a chunky ground meat like texture. This is optional, if you prefer to leave it whole, that’s fine too. Just take note that if you don’t pulse the mixture a bit the texture will not be as meaty.

Put the moussaka together:

Brush bottom of a 9 x 12 dish with a drizzle of oil or broth.
Put ¼ cup breadcrumbs on the bottom to coat it and help prevent burning.
Line the dish with half of the eggplant pieces.
Sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan.
Top with the “meat” mixture.
Sprinkle ¼ cup breadcrumbs on top.
Sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan.
Place half of the eggplant pieces on top.
Sprinkle with ¼ of the parmesan.
Pour the béchamel over it.
Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle the top with the last ¼ of the parmesan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top is brown. Make sure not to overbake or it will dry out. Allow it to cool so it can thicken and settle.
Devour your hard work!