Egyptian Macarona Bechamel Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Egyptian Macarona Bechamel is a delicious pasta bake! It starts with ground beef simmered in tomato puree and spices. Then, we layer it with pasta and a homemade bechamel sauce and bake until bubbly and golden. It’s the perfect comfort food!

baking dish topped with béchamel sauce and mozzarella cheese

Step aside lasagna – we’ve got lasagna 2.0 right here!

Macarona Bechamel is the more flavor, and, dare I say, better version of your typical lasagna bake that comes to us from Egypt.

Like lasagna, this dish has a pasta layer and meat sauce, and instead of ricotta, we’re making a creamy béchamel sauce. If you’re familiar with Greek Pastistio (another favorite of ours), it’s very similar, except the meat sauce is seasoned a tad bit differently.

It starts with a ground beef mixture that we season with spices, like ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Then we’ll layer the meat mixture over al dente cooked penne pasta. Top it all off with a creamy, nutmeg-scented bechamel sauce. And just for good measure, add a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese before we let it bubble away in the oven. You’re left with the most delicious layer of pasta, meat, and cheese you’ve ever had.

This casserole is loaded with so much flavor. It’s a nice alternative to your beef tenderloin or turkey for the holidays and will indeed be a repeat request from the fam for lasagna night!

sliced Macarona Bechamel showing layers of pasta, meat sauce, béchamel sauce, and mozzarella cheese on top

Ingredients for macarona bechamel
Making Egyptian Macarona Bechamel Pasta Bake
Egyptian Macarona Bechamel Recipe

Ingredients for macarona bechamel

Ground Beef: I like to use 90-95% lean ground beef for this recipe so that it isn’t too greasy. With the bechamel sauce containing butter, it’s really easy for this recipe to become super heavy.
Onions: we’ll chop the onions and then saute them in olive oil before we add the ground beef and prepare the meat sauce.
Garlic: I use a ton of garlic to flavor the meat sauce. Feel free to use as much or as little of the garlic cloves as you’d like.
Olive Oil: we’ll use a glug of olive oil to saute the onions and garlic before adding the ground beef. Since we’re using leaner ground beef, olive oil is a critical ingredient to help saute the onions without causing them to brown.
Tomato Paste: add the tomato paste in with the ground beef to help the flavor bloom in the olive oil before adding the tomato sauce to the recipe.
Tomato sauce: I like to use Italian-style passata for this recipe. It’s a pureed tomato mixture without chunks of tomato. If you use tomato sauce, be sure to use one that doesn’t contain any salt; otherwise, your meat mixture may become too salty.
Seasonings: You’ll need your typical kosher salt and pepper for the seasonings. Instead of using black pepper, I prefer white pepper for this recipe, so you can’t see the speckles in the bechamel sauce. You’ll also need ground cinnamon, allspice, and some nutmeg for both the ground beef mixture and the bechamel sauce. We’ll use a couple of cubes of beef bouillon to give this plenty of flavor.
Penne Pasta: Use good quality Italian penne pasta. Boil the pasta in salted water and be sure to cook it a couple of minutes less than what is directed on the package so that the pasta doesn’t lose its texture when it bakes in the oven.
Butter: I always use lightly salted butter in my recipes; however, if you are making this for the first time, I suggest using unsalted butter to make sure between the salt and the bouillon, the bechamel doesn’t get too salty!
Flour: we’ll need six tablespoons all purpose flour for this recipe. Using butter and flour in equal parts, recreate the roux that we’ll use as a base for our homemade bechamel sauce.
Milk and half and half: I like to use whole milk for bechamel sauce. I also use one cup of half and half to ensure that the bechamel sauce is silky smooth and delicious!
Bay Leaves: we’ll add the bay leaf to the butter as it melts in the pan. The bay leaf flavor will infuse into the butter and give the bechamel a delicious, deep flavor.
Mozzarella Cheese: the cheese in the bechamel sauce helps give it that delicious texture and a bubbly finish. It also helps thicken the bechamel sauce just enough so it isn’t runny.

prepared béchamel sauce with whisk in saute pan

Making Egyptian Macarona Bechamel Pasta Bake

Start with the prep. You’ll want to start preheating the oven if you are making this the same day. You’ll also want to spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
Tips for cooking the pasta. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water. Be sure to season the water with plenty of kosher salt so that the pasta isn’t bland. You’ll also want to cook the pasta a little less than what is listed on the package. This is so the pasta doesn’t become overcooked when the dish bakes in the oven.
Saute the aromatics. The best thing about this meat sauce is that you can make it 1-3 days ahead of time and it actually tastes better as it sits! Start by adding a glug of olive oil to a saute pan. Add the onions and a pinch of salt to help soften the onions. Add the garlic and saute it for a few seconds before adding the ground beef.
Make the meat sauce. Cook and crumble the meat until it’s no longer pink. Then, add the tomato paste and let it bloom in the hot oil. Pour in the tomato passata (or tomato sauce) along with the crumbled beef bouillon, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Add a splash of water and let the meat sauce simmer until it thickens for a few minutes. At this point, you can transfer it to an airtight container and pop it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble the macarona bechamel.
Infuse the bachamel sauce. Add the bay leaf and the butter to the saucepan and let the butter melt slowly over medium heat. This will allow the bay leaf flavor to infuse into the sauce. Then add the flour and whisk until the flour starts to bubble and cook in the butter. Sprinkle the crumbled bouillon cube into the flour.
Making bechamel. Stir as you slowly add the milk and half and half into the roux. It will look lumpy at first, and that’s okay. As you continue to whisk and slowly pour in the milk the lumps will smooth out. Once all the milk has been added, sprinkle with nutmeg, white pepper, and kosher salt. Continue to whisk until all the lumps have been worked out of the sauce. Keep a close eye on the sauce and continue to whisk it so the flour doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Once bubbling and thick, remove it from the stove and stir in half of the shredded mozzarella cheese.
Layer the macarona bechamel. Combine a 1/4 of the bacheml with the prepared pasta. Pop that into the bottom of the casserole dish. Then, layer the meat sauce over the pasta. Follow that up with the bechamel sauce and, finally, the last half of the cheese.
Bake the dish. Place a piece of foil sprayed with cooking spray over the dish and let it bake until the ingredients warm and cook through. Remove the foil and let it cook for a little longer.I like to broil it right at the end so that it gets nice and bubbly on top. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving the dish.

Macarona Bechamel before baking with meat sauce then topped with béchamel

FAQs about this recipe

Does Bechamel taste like Alfredo?

No, bechamel is a flour and butter-based sauce, and real alfredo sauce is made with eggs, parmesan, and heavy cream. Though both sauces appear white in color, they are quite different in terms of flavor.

What is the difference between béchamel and roux?

A roux is a flour and butter base that is the foundation of many recipes, including bechamel sauce. A roux can be made white, blonde, and even dark brown in nature. A white roux is the base of a bechamel sauce. Other uses for roux? Homemade gumbo.