Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie)
Tubular pasta in a rich meat-and-tomato sauce, bound with egg and cheese and baked inside a pastry case until golden, then cut into slabs.
Maltese · advanced · serves 8
prep 45 min · cook 90 min
~564 cal · 34g protein · 43g carbs · 28g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 13g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Timpana is one of Malta's most recognised dishes, a baked pasta pie almost certainly Sicilian in origin (where it is the timballo or timpano), reflecting the two islands' closeness and shared history. It is celebration and Sunday food: pasta in a hearty meat sauce, bound with beaten egg and grated cheese, encased in pastry and baked until the crust is golden and the filling set enough to cut into neat squares.
The sauce is a slow-cooked ragu of minced beef, often with pork or bacon for moisture and, in the most traditional versions, a little chicken liver for depth, built on onion, garlic, tomato and and warmed with nutmeg. Macaroni or penne is cooked just short of done, mixed with the sauce, egg and cheese, and packed into a pastry-lined dish before a pastry lid goes on top.
Puff or shortcrust pastry both appear, and the pie is often sold by the slice in Maltese pastizzerias. Baked tall and rested before cutting, timpana is rich, filling and unmistakably festive.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
400 g macaroni or penne
500 g puff pastry sheets
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400 g minced beef
150 g pancetta or bacon, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
400 g chopped tomatoes
1 cup beef
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 bay leaf
4 eggs, beaten (plus 1 for glazing)
1 cup grated cheese (parmesan or cheddar)
to taste salt and pepper
Instructions
1
Soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil, then add the beef and pancetta and cook until well browned.
2
Stir in the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, stock, nutmeg and bay, season, and simmer gently for about 30-45 minutes until rich and thick. Cool slightly and remove the bay.
3
Meanwhile boil the pasta a couple of minutes short of al dente and drain.
4
Mix the pasta with the meat sauce, the beaten eggs and the grated cheese; it should be moist but not soupy.
✎ Chef’s note
Chilling the filling first makes it easier to pack into the pastry.
5
Line a greased deep dish with pastry, fill with the pasta mixture and press level, then cover with a pastry lid, sealing and trimming the edges and cutting a couple of slits on top.
6
Brush with beaten egg and bake at 180C (360F) for about 50-60 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden and set.
7
Rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into squares so the filling holds together.
Maltese celebration dish.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Valletta. Valletta's honey-stone streets hide slow Sunday cooking: rabbit stewed long in wine and garlic, the island's signature dish. Maltese food sits between Sicily and North Africa, with pastizzi pastries, broad beans, capers, and sun-dried tomato.
🗺️
Malta. Pastizzi come with two fillings and no others: ricotta or mushy peas, folded into a diamond of flaky pastry and sold cheap and hot from small shops all day. Gbejniet are the tiny sheep's-milk cheeselets, eaten fresh, dried or rolled in cracked pepper, and they turn up in salads and baked pasta because the rocky island supports goats and sheep more easily than cattle.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Malta
Stuffat tal-Fenek (Rabbit Stew)Malta’s national dish: slow-braised rabbit in red wine, tomato, and bay, the centerpiece of a village fenkata feast.
PastizziDiamond-shaped flaky pastries filled with ricotta or mushy peas, Malta's favorite savory bite.
FtiraA crusty ring of Maltese bread filled with tuna, tomato, capers, and olives, the island's sun-soaked sandwich.
Browse all Malta recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
Make it a Malta meal
ImqaretDessert
FtiraLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie)?
Tubular pasta in a rich meat-and-tomato sauce, bound with egg and cheese and baked inside a pastry case until golden, then cut into slabs.
Where does Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie) come from?
Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie) is a Maltese dish from Valletta, Malta.
Can Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Timpana (Baked Macaroni Pie) take to make?
About 135 minutes total (45 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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