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Low-Carb Keto Eggplant Moussaka Recipe – layers of eggplant with meaty sauce in between. Topped with cheesy topping.
Flavorful and delicious, easy to make, Greek cuisine inspired low-carb meal.
I’ve been wanting to share this recipe for eggplant moussaka with you for a while now.
I don’t make it often, but it is totally worth it.
To be honest I rarely make moussaka, either eggplant or potato, but it is one of my favorite meals.
Luckily there is a local restaurant that offers it and I get it there.
Moussaka is an amazing Mediterranean dish, very popular in my home country Bulgaria, but it is kind of time consuming to me, unlike the quick keto meals, grain bowls and salads that I usually make.
Moussaka can be a little less time consuming, if you prep your ingredients in advance.
For example if you are making potato moussaka, peel and cut the potatoes, place them in a bowl with cold water, prep the ground beef in advance.
This Low-Carb Keto Eggplant Moussaka Recipe requires cutting the eggplant into rounds and baking it for 10 minutes, this way it dries out a little and layers well in the dish.
This is an optional step, but one of the most important ones in this recipe in my opinion.
There are two kinds of people – people who love or don’t like eggplant.
I rarely cook with it, too.
The very few recipes I’ve shared with you using eggplant are this Grilled Eggplant Salad, Grilled Eggplant Soba Noodles and Grilled Eggplant Caprese Sandwich.
It does not have a ton of flavor, but it takes flavor well from sauces and spices.
It also absorbs a ton of grease, which makes it unpleasant on some dishes.
But as with so many other veggies, it tastes great if cooked right.
This is why, I think that taking the extra step to bake the eggplant, before you layer it with the meat sauce is the most important step in this keto moussaka with eggplant.
This way you can taste and see the eggplant, otherwise it will soften, become soggy and get lost in the dish.
I’ve included both regular and low carb, keto option of this recipe for moussaka with eggplant.
Make sure you look through the notes.
There are a few simple adjustments to make this eggplant meat dish keto, like using some crushed pork rinds instead of flour in the sauce.
For the moussaka meat sauce, you can use either ground beef, or a 50/50 mixture of ground pork and ground beef.
This time I used a mix of pork and beef.
For the cheesy sauce on top, I used a little corn starch to thicken it, but you can prepare it with just cheese and some heavy cream.
This Greek eggplant moussaka is the perfect, cozy, homemade family meal.
Low-Carb Keto Eggplant Moussaka Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants, sliced into 1/2 cm rounds
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 lb lean ground beef or meatloaf mix
- 1 onion, small, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup vegetable or beef stock, could substitute with dry white wine
- 3 tbsp parsley, chopped, fresh
- 3 tbsp breadcrumbs, crushed pork rinds for keto
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Topping:
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp cornstarch, see notes for keto, do not use
- 1 1/2 cups milk, see notes for keto, use 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Spread the eggplant rounds over one or two roasting pans. Brush with olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, until softened and slightly dried. Let them cool.
- In the mean time, prepare the meat sauce. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet, add the meat and cook until the meat is no longer pink and gets crumby. Add the onion and garlic. Cook on medium for 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce and stock (or wine). Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the sauce cool for 10 minutes. Mix in the breadcrumbs (pork rinds for keto) and egg whites. Add parsley.
- Grease a 9×13 -inch baking dish (or any dish closer to these dimensions). Layer 1/2 of the eggplant rounds. Add the meat sauce. Top with the remaining eggplant rounds.
For the topping (non keto):
- Combine butter, milk and cornstarch in a pan. Bring to a boil, whisk constantly until the mixture thickens. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 of the cheese. Add ground nutmeg, 1/8 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp salt. Pour over the dish, top with the rest of the cheese and bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 F until golden.
For the topping (keto):
- Heat heavy cream, then add butter and 1 cup of the cheese, stir until melted. Add salt, pepper to taste and nutmeg. Pour on top of the dish, sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 40-50 min at 350 F until golden.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What is the carb count on the keto version plz .. ??
Hi Sarah, it is 5 net carbs per serving.
This recipe is fantastic, doing strict keto and added xanathan gum in place or corn starch. Skipped the bread crumbs altogether ( didn’t want to add pork rinds. I will make this again and again.