A traditional Greek comfort food gets a fun and healthy makeover in this Tex-Mex Moussaka. Layered with flavor-packed meat and veggie sauce, corn tortilla, and Greek yogurt sauce, this casserole is sure to become your go-to, quick and easy meal that you can whip up even on your busiest days.
This recipe was totally inspired my random but awesome purchase of eggplants at the store. I mean it was 2 for $1, and it didn’t matter the size, so of course I tried to find the biggest one. But then I got home and just stared at the eggplants not knowing what to do with them. So I googled “eggplant recipes” and a classic Greek dish, moussaka totally caught my eye.
Now this dish really deviates from the traditional version because:
- I am too lazy to slice the eggplants really thin and fry them and
- I wanted to make this baby-friendly. However, it has all the flavors and components of moussaka so that’s what I’m calling it ;).
So instead, I diced the eggplants and threw the cubes in with the rest of the ingredients to make this a one pot meal. Once you finish cooking the beef and veggie mixture, you can honestly stop right there and serve with various whole grains or pasta.
But go a step further and you can enjoy this scrumptious, hearty bake! It will make this dish more finger friendly as well. I’m calling this Tex-Mex moussaka because I used corn tortilla (I seriously racked my brain over what to call this dish), but you can also use flour tortilla or lasagna noodles.
And instead of the classic béchamel sauce, I spread a layer of creamy sauce that contains one of my son’s favorite food, whole fat Greek yogurt.
Healthy Moussaka for Babies and Toddlers
You can serve this to your baby as soon as they’re ready for solids, usually around 6 months. If you’re unsure if your baby is developmentally ready, grab this FREE handout.
You can slice into strips. And if your baby is starting to develop their pincer grasp, try cutting into smaller pieces to help encourage them to practice this new skill. But do offer alongside larger pieces so that they won’t get too frustrated, like you see here.
To switch things up, I suggest serving the leftovers in a bowl (removed the tortilla to make it easier to scoop). Its thick consistency makes it perfectly scoopable with both hands or spoon. Even if your baby wants to have nothing do with the spoon, that’s ok! Keep offering and modeling.
For toddlers, you can also serve as strips or keep the pieces large to encourage them to learn to take bites.
Baby-Friendly Recipes with Ground Beef
- Korean ground beef and broccoli quinoa
- Homemade hamburger helper
- Veggie loaded meat sauce
- One Pot Cabbage Lasagna
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Tex-Mex Moussaka
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or lamb
- 1 pound eggplant peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 medium yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or can use 1-2 fresh garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 14 ounce can no salt added tomato sauce
- 10-12 corn tortillas
Topping
- 3/4 cup whole fat Greek yogurt
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large pan, cook meat over med-high heat until browned and cooked through, breaking up large chunks. Add in all the vegetables and seasonings cook until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce. Bring pan to boil, then simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes.
- In a bowl, combine the yogurt, egg, and cheese together.
- In a greased 13×9 inch baking dish, arrange 5-6 tortillas. Layer with half of the meat and veggie mixture. Add another layer of tortilla and pour the remaining sauce on top. Spread the Greek yogurt mixture evenly on top.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Made this today. My whole family truly enjoyed it! My 9 month old baby loves it a lot! Thanks
So glad to hear!! Thanks for sharing with me 😉
Soooo yummy!! People would actually think I know how to cook! 🤣🤣thank you!!