Pastitsio with soy mince and a soy milk béchamel. 37 g protein at 591 kcal per slice, and one tray makes 6.
By Frixos Dimitriadis · Published November 3, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026
6 servings · Prep 30 min · Cook 60 min · Total 90 min · Per serving: 591 kcal, 36.9 g protein, 83.9 g carbs, 13.4 g fat
Pastitsio is the dish people miss most during the fast: layers of pasta, a cinnamon-spiced mince sauce and a thick béchamel on top. This version keeps all three layers and removes every animal product.
Each slice carries 36.9 g of protein for 591 calories, with 13.4 g of fat and 11.1 g of fibre. One tray makes six slices.
Soy mince is dried, textured soy protein. Once soaked it looks and behaves like mince, and dry it is roughly half protein by weight, so 200 g brings around 100 g of protein to the tray.
It soaks in hot water for ten minutes and goes into the sauce with that water, so nothing is lost. Cinnamon and cloves give it the classic pastitsio flavour, and simmering it for 15 minutes with the tomato lets it take on the sauce.
A traditional béchamel uses butter, cow's milk, eggs and cheese. This one uses olive oil, flour, soy milk and nutritional yeast, with nutmeg for the familiar taste.
The method is the same: cook the flour in the oil for a minute, then add the soy milk slowly while you whisk. The nutritional yeast gives the cheesy note, and it bakes to a golden top like the original.
Some pasta sold for pastitsio contains egg. For a fasting tray, choose one made only from durum wheat. It is the one ingredient that can quietly break the fast.
Classic pastitsio uses beef mince for the sauce and a béchamel made with butter, whole milk, eggs and grated cheese, usually kefalotyri. That is a lot of saturated fat in every slice, and none of it is allowed during the fast.
Here, every one of those ingredients has a fasting swap. Soy mince replaces the beef, olive oil replaces the butter, soy milk replaces the cow's milk, and nutritional yeast stands in for the cheese. Most of the 13.4 g of fat in each slice comes from olive oil, and the soy mince helps take the fibre up to 11.1 g.
The structure stays the same: pasta, a spiced mince sauce and a thick béchamel on top. Cut into it and it looks like the pastitsio you grew up with.
Soy is one of the few plant proteins that contains all the essential amino acids in useful amounts, which is why it is the go-to protein for so many people who do not eat meat. Dry soy mince is roughly half protein by weight and brings a good amount of fibre too.
It has very little flavour of its own, and that is its strength here. It takes on whatever you cook it with, so the onion, garlic, tomato, cinnamon and cloves do the work. Do not cut the 15-minute simmer short: that is when it stops tasting like soy and starts tasting like pastitsio. It is also cheaper than beef mince and keeps for months in the cupboard.
You will find it in most supermarkets, usually in the health-food aisle as «κιμάς σόγιας». Weigh it before soaking: the 200 g in the recipe is the dry weight.
About 240 of the 591 calories in each slice come from the pasta, around 115 from the soy mince and about 80 from the olive oil. The soy milk and flour in the béchamel add roughly 100 more, and the tomato, onion and nutritional yeast make up the rest.
The soy mince alone brings around 17 g of each slice's protein, the pasta about 8 g, and the soy milk béchamel most of the rest.
That makes it easy to adjust. If you are cutting, use 300 g of pasta instead of 400 g: each slice drops by about 60 calories and keeps nearly all of its protein.
Make it the day before if you can. Assemble the tray, keep it covered in the fridge and add 10 minutes to the baking time. Pastitsio also cuts more neatly once it has cooled, so leftovers come out of the tray in clean squares.
Whisk the béchamel constantly as the soy milk goes in and keep the heat at medium. Soy milk catches on the bottom of the pan more easily than cow's milk, and a scorched béchamel is hard to rescue. Use a sharp knife and wipe it between cuts.
Six slices keep for four days in the fridge and freeze well one by one, so one tray covers several lunches. Cutting? Cut the tray into eight pieces: about 443 calories and 28 g of protein each. After a hard session, four pieces give about 887 calories and 55 g of protein each.
For variety through the week, add the octopus stifado, the shrimp giouvetsi and a protein rizogalo. All four are in the DietSync app, ready to log.
Give it the full 15 minutes out of the oven. The béchamel sets and the slices hold together.
Pour the soy milk into the flour and oil a little at a time, whisking all the way. That is the difference between a smooth béchamel and a lumpy one.
Two minutes less than the packet says. It finishes cooking in the oven and stays firm instead of going soft.
Keeps 4 days in the fridge, covered. Freezes well in single slices for up to 2 months. Reheat covered in the oven at 160°C for 20 minutes, or in the microwave.
Yes: no meat, no dairy and no eggs. The béchamel is soy milk, olive oil and flour, and nutritional yeast gives it the cheesy note. Check your pasta, though: some pastitsio pasta contains egg, so pick one made only from durum wheat.
The soy mince does most of the work. The soy milk béchamel, the pasta and the nutritional yeast add the rest.
Dried, textured soy protein that looks like mince once soaked. Most supermarkets stock it in the health-food aisle as «κιμάς σόγιας». The 200 g in the recipe is the dry weight, so weigh it before soaking.
Yes. Assemble it the day before, keep it covered in the fridge and add 10 minutes to the baking time. It also cuts more neatly the next day.