My freezer is lookin’ a little bare these days, so it’s time to start making some stuff that I can freeze portions of for nights when I just want to pop something in the microwave. These Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups are the perfect “homemade microwave dinner.” I can freeze two roll-ups in individual containers and have a super hearty and delicious meal ready after only a couple minutes in the microwave (AND I can pair it with some Freezer Garlic Bread!).
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What’s in Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups?
This recipe is a spin-off of my old (and wildly popular) Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups. This time, though, I packed it full of more vegetables and nixed the egg. Why did I do away with the egg? Because once the egg is removed, there are no more “raw” ingredients that need to be cooked for safety.
This means I can just roll the filling up in the lasagna noodles, pour sauce over top, and pop them in the freezer. No need to bake first. Of course, I did bake these Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups as if I was serving the whole pan for dinner so I could photograph them for the blog, but you wouldn’t have to if you didn’t want to. And to my delight, the filling was plenty firm after cooking, even without the egg.
How to Freeze Lasagna Roll Ups
I like to divide mine into single portions of two roll ups each before freezing. That way I can take out one serving at a time to reheat whenever I want. You can freeze the entire casserole whole, if you prefer, but that can make reheating a bit more complicated. To reheat a previously frozen whole dish of lasagna roll ups, let it thaw in the refrigerator over night first, then bake as directed in the recipe below.
Anyway, are you ready to see how to make these tasty little roll ups?
Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lasagna noodles ($2.15)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.70)
- 8 oz. button mushrooms ($1.78)
- 1 zucchini ($0.84)
- 2 carrots ($0.22)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- Salt and Pepper to taste ($0.10)
- 15 oz. ricotta cheese ($1.94)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella ($1.33)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.36)
- 1 24oz. jar pasta sauce ($1.98)
Instructions
- Boil a large pot of water. Once the water is boiling, add the lasagna noodles and boil just until tender. Drain the pasta in a colander and set aside.
- While the lasagna noodles are boiling, prepare the vegetable mix. Mince the garlic and dice the onion. Add the cooking oil to a large skillet, along with the garlic and onion, and sauté over medium heat until the onions are transparent.
- While the onions are cooking, rinse and thinly slice the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and continue to sauté. While the mushrooms are cooking, grate the zucchini and carrots on a large holed cheese grater. Add the zucchini and carrots to the skillet, along with the oregano, about 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Continue to sauté until most of the moisture has evaporated (juice should no longer pool on the bottom of the skillet). Remove the skillet from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
- Next, prepare the cheese mix. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir until they are evenly combined. Add the slightly cooled sautéed vegetables and stir to combine again. Taste and adjust the salt or pepper if needed.
- Carefully lay out a few lasagna noodles at a time on a flat surface. Add approximately 1/3 cup of the vegetable and cheese mixture to each noodle, then spread the mixture from end to end, leaving about a 1/2 inch bare at each end of the noodle. Once covered in the filling, roll the noodles up. You should get approximately finished 12 roll ups (you may have extra noodles).
- To bake the roll ups, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9×9 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Spread about 1/4 of the pasta sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish, then arrange the roll ups on top. Pour the remaining sauce over top. Bake for 40 minutes, or until heated through.
- To freeze the roll ups, Place two roll ups each in a freezer and microwave safe container, then pour sauce over top. Freeze for up to three months. Reheat in the microwave when ready to eat.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
How to Make Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups – Step by Step Photos
First, boil one pound of lasagna noodles according to the package directions. I didn’t use the entire pound of pasta, but it’s nice to have some extra because a few will undoubtably tear. Be careful while stirring them in the pot to help prevent tearing. Only boil until they are just tender. Over boiling will make them delicate and more likely to tear.
While the pasta is boiling, prepare the vegetable mix. I used 2 cloves garlic, 1 onion, 8oz. mushrooms, 1 zucchini, and two carrots. You can use different vegetables if you’d like.
Mince the garlic and dice the onion. Add both to a large skillet with 1 Tbsp canola oil and sauté over medium heat. While the onion and garlic are sautéing, rinse the mushrooms then slice them thinly. Add the sliced mushrooms to the skillet and continue to sauté until they are limp.
While the mushrooms are sautéing, grate the zucchini using a large holed cheese grater. Peel the carrots, then grate them in the same manner.
Add the zucchini and carrot to the skillet, along with 1 tsp dried oregano, about 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Continue to sauté until most of the moisture has evaporated away (about five minutes). There should no longer be juice pooling on the bottom of the skillet. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow it to cool a little (you don’t want it so hot that it melts the cheese).
To a large bowl add 15oz. ricotta, 1 cup shredded mozzarella, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, and another 1/4 tsp salt. Stir until evenly combined.
When the vegetables have cooled a little, add them to the cheese mixture.
Stir the vegetables and cheese together, then taste to see if it needs more salt or pepper. This is another advantage of not having the egg! You can safely taste the mixture to see if the seasoning is adequate before cooking it. Woot.
Carefully lay out a few of the cooked and drained lasagna noodles on a flat surface. Place about 1/3 cup of the vegetable and cheese mixture onto each noodle, then spread it from end to end (I like to leave about a 1/2 inch bare at each end). Then just roll ’em on up!
Once you have them all rolled up, you can either bake it like a casserole, or freeze individual portions. If you want to freeze them, just pop a couple of the Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups into a freezer and microwave safe container, pour sauce over top, and they’re ready to freeze.
To bake the Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups as a casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9×9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray. Add about 1/4 of the pasta sauce to the bottom of the dish, then arrange the roll ups on top.
Pour the remaining sauce over top.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until it’s heated through. I like my noodles a little crispy on the edges and I like it when the sauce gets nice and thick, so I did not cover the casserole dish. If you want the noodles to stay soft and moist from edge to edge, you can cover the dish with foil.
These little Garden Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups are a lot more filling than they appear! Super good and gives me that pasta fix while sneaking in the vegetables.
This is a simple, inexpensive recipe that is also DELICIOUS. I didn’t change a thing. It was an IMMEDIATE hit with the family. Beth, thanks for sharing it with us!
I made these in stuffed shell form with broccoli instead of mushrooms because my husband is a hater, topped them with your slow cooker marinara, and oh mannnnn! The whole family loved them! Stashed half the batch in the freezer and they will get eaten quickly!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have been getting my kids more involved in helping cook meals and this was fun for them! My 8 year old loves helping me plan our weekly menu and we both love your website, everything we have made so far has been wonderful.
Do you have any recommendations of what could be substituted for mushrooms? Um not a fan, but like the idea of using more veggies!
You could do some very finely chopped broccoli. :)
I made this last night I added ground beef because my husband is a meat lover, it came out DELICIOUS. Thank you for the easy, inexpensive recipes Beth ๐
Made these for the first time this evening. I had 3 meat eaters to impress, and not a single one of them noticed that the meal was meat-free. These were INCREDIBLE!!! You are the only one I trust to make a new recipe from and know it will turn out just fine. Thanks again!
I love it when that happens! So many people claim they need meat at every meal, but I think they just haven’t had the right vegetarian dishes yet. ;)
This looks delicious. I have always read your blog and recently downloaded your app. This will be the first dish I am making off here and can’t wait to try it. Do you think I can sub cottage cheese for the ricotta?
Yes, although the filling will be a bit more loose.
I love this recipe and have made it many times since it was first added. A serving variation: instead of using lasagna noodles you can use jumbo shells and make stuffed shells. We prefer the filling to pasta ratio of the shells and it allows for more flexibility in serving size. I usually bake one meals worth and freeze the rest in single servings (3-4 shells).
i love all of your recipes and follow you on instagram for weekly meal prep inspiration! i am planning to make these this week and your lasagna noodles look fabulous. i love the extra ridges to catch the sauce—can you please share what brand these are?
thanks!
Unfortunately I don’t remember! I usually just buy whatever is least expensive, so I’m sure it wasn’t anything fancy.
I need to take a meal to a sick friend but have to make this the day before. Can I put it all together or do I need to leave the sauce off until right before itโs baked?
I would leave the sauce off until right before it’s baked!
Turned this into a meaty rollup – added italian sausage and it was delicious! Will be making more to freeze soon! Thanks for the recipe! :)
This recipe looks fantastic!! I’m a lasagna newbie and want to make this for an upcoming weeknight dinner party. Would it be possible to assemble this one day ahead of time and keep in the fridge until it’s time for dinner? Thanks!
I haven’t tried that, but I feel like it would work just fine. :)
These were fantastic. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!!
This is so far my favorite lasagna recipe. This is amazing! I am not a huge veggie fan, but I’ve been trying to incorporate more of them into my meals. I can barely tell there are veggies in here, it’s so so delicious! I’ve made this 3 times now and am excited to make it again. I even got one of my friends, who absolutely refuses to eat veggies (he will do carrots, and sometimes onions) to eat this, and he said it was okay (which is very high praise from him).
Planning on making it again this week, but I was wondering if you ever do calorie information or basic nutritional breakdowns? I know I could do it myself, but I was wondering if you had an easy basis to go off of. I’ve started a new eating healthy program.
Thanks!
In general I just don’t trust nutrition calculators, so I don’t include the information on the blog. I think it’s best to let readers pick the calculator that they trust or find most accurate, and just plug in the info themselves.
I just got these ones out of the oven and O-M-G they are absolutely delicious. I made them as part of my week meal prep but I don’t think they’ll make it to Monday, haha.
I did my own pasta sauce and added some more Grana Padano cheese (didn’t have Parm) on top of the sauce before baking. But other than that I did not change a bit of the recipe and I followed your suggestion of covering them up with foil because I like soft pasta.
Love your site and all the recipes I’ve tried so far. Thank you so much, Beth.
These were FANTASTIC! Husband and I ate them for dinner twice and I brought 2 for lunch. I used broccoli because I forgot to buy mushrooms, and that worked out just fine! Next time I will chop the onions and the mushrooms the night before. Great recipe!!!!!