I’m just going to start this one out by saying that this recipe does take time. While it’s fairly easy to make, there are layering components that each take some time to put together. That being said, this dish is a great one. It tastes like all the time and effort that’s been put into it. So, what is Pastitsio anyway? It’s a Greek style of lasagna basically. The main difference between lasagna and Pastitsio is that Pastitsio is made with a different style of noodle and also with a béchamel sauce rather than ricotta. It’s layered a bit differently than lasagna too.

Now, I’ve never made a béchamel sauce, and even with this being my first time doing so I found it to be pretty easy to do and is very similar to any sort of roux based sauce. The béchamel gave this dish life. There’s so much flavor packed into the sauce that the béchamel is needed to sort of cut through that intense flavor.

To lighten this Pastitsio up, I started with the sauce, which is the first thing you make. I used an extra lean ground beef. Other than that, I also used an unsweetened almond milk for the sauce. But, you could get away with any lightened up milk that you enjoy. A fat free half and half or even a reduced fat milk in general would work here. Really, those are the only changes that I made.

A for the pasta, you can really use any sort of noodle. But if you really want to be authentic, you’ll want to get your hands on some bucatini noodles. They’re basically thicker spaghetti noodles that are hollow on the inside, which is great for soaking up sauces!

Step-by-Step Photos: