Meaty Vegan Moussaka (TVP Ground Beef)
This vegan moussaka is the best you will ever have! It features layers of roasted eggplant slices, a hearty tomato-based ragu sauce with vegan ground meat, and a creamy white bechamel, and is baked to perfection.
Servings 4 servings
Calories 448kcal
Equipment
- Non-stick frying pan (10.5 inch / 26 cm)
- Baking tray with grill rack
Ingredients
Vegan mince
- 1 + ½ cup TVP (Soy) -> What is TVP?
- 4 cup Veggie broth
- 1 Onion (medium)
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 + ½ cup Chopped tomatoes
- ½ cup Sieved tomato puree aka Tomato sauce
- 6 tsp Tomato paste
- 2 tsp Dried parsley
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Vegan Bechamel
- 2 Tbsp Vegan butter
- 2 Tbsp Rice flour or all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp Corn starch don't need this if you use all-purpose flour
- 2 cup Dairy-free milk
- ⅛ tsp Nutmeg
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp Pepper
Roasting eggplants
- 2 Eggplant (medium)
- 3 Tbsp Olive oil
Optional topping
- Shredded vegan cheese
Instructions
Initial preparations
- Soak TVP in hot veggie broth for 30 minutes. If they softened, drain the water and squeeze any additional moisture out with your hands. Now, they are ready to be used as "raw ground beef".
- Wash and slice eggplant into 1-inch (1-1,5 cm) thick. Salt them and let them sit at least for 20 minutes. (You can do overnight and don't worry if you turn brown. The slices will be brown after roasting and baking.)
Roasting eggplant slice
- We recommend roasting them in a baking tray with a grill rack*. Preheat the oven to 390 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and roast them for 15 minutes. When they are ready, leave them to cool on the rack.
Making vegan ground beef ragu
- Peel and chop the onion and cook it lightly in olive oil until it turns glossy. Add peeled and chopped garlic, and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the pre-soaked and squeezed TVP and stir it a couple of times.
- Finally, add chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and seasoning (parsley, salt, and pepper) and cook for 5 minutes.
Making vegan bechamel sauce
- Heat frying pan on medium/low heat, and melt vegan butter.
- Take the heat to low and add rice flour. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes until the "batter" is boiling up.
- In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup of milk and corn starch. Add it to the pan and stir until combined.
- Add the next 1/2 cup of milk and stir until combined. You need to go in small batches to make sure you get a smooth sauce. Go until you run out of milk. (Troubleshooting tips in the Notes section below.)
- When the sauce has thickened, add salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Stir to combine.
Layering and baking moussaka
- To ensure that the eggplant slices do not stick to the bottom, we grease the bottom of our 9 x 7 x 3 inch (23 x 18 x 8 cm) oven-safe glass dish with vegan butter.
- The first layer is roasted eggplant slices (not overlapping). Then cover it with whole tomato ragu. Then add the remaining roasted eggplant slices. Top it with vegan white sauce generously. Optionally, add grated vegan cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 390 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and bake it for 15 minutes.
Video
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id="YQgmcNpy" upload-date="Tue Jul 21 2020 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)" name="Vegan Moussaka with 3 Vegan Mince Alternatives" description="What do you need to make the BEST ever Vegan Moussaka? I would say layers of roasted eggplant slices, a hearty tomato-based mince ragú sauce, and a creamy white bechamel baked together. We made this recipe with THREE different ground beef alternatives. All came out scrumptious."]
Notes
Other vegan ground beef alternatives
If you prefer to make lentil ragú, visit our vegan lentil lasagna recipe. Or if you choose to make walnut and cauliflower mince, visit our vegan spaghetti bolognese recipe. In both cases, we recommend substituting parsley for basil and oregano as Moussaka is by no means an Italian recipe. :-)Troubleshooting tips to make a vegan bechamel
- Not thick enough? -> Add more flour but make sure you first dissolve it in a bit of milk. Like 1 Tbsp flour or starch - 2 Tbsp milk. Alternatively, you can take it off the heat, wait for it to cool a bit and add flour or starch directly in the sauce and stir vigorously with a whisk to avoid any lumps. Note: The sauce will thicken a bit more when it is cooling down.
- Too thick? -> Add more milk, like 1/4 cup at a time.
- Can you use any other flour or starch? -> Yes, you can make this vegan bechamel sauce with any type of flour or starch, but the thickening power of each and every one of them is different. The measurements I gave in the recipe card may not be the same if you use wheat flour, or almond flour or tapioca starch, etc.
- Why flour AND starch? -> If you only use starch, then the sauce will end up more like a pudding than a sauce. If you use only one type of flour, like rice or oat or almond, the sauce will not thicken properly. I also have this experience with rice flour, that you thicken a soup or something with it, but after reheating the dish the next day, all the thickening has gone. That is why I recommend combining flour and starch or use a store-bought gluten-free flour blend which contains usually both.