I love lasagna in all its forms, especially these cute little Lasagna Roll Ups that are perfectly portioned for meal prep. Stash a few portions of these in your freezer for a rainy day and you will THANK yourself later. Promise. Lasagna roll ups are flexible and you can fill them with whatever you like, sausage, beef, or even make them vegetarian as I have here with a light spinach-ricotta filling. No matter the flavor, they’re delicious and fun to eat!
What Are Lasagna Roll Ups?
Lasagna roll ups have all the same components of lasagna, but they are combined in different form. Instead of layering the ingredients into a casserole dish, the filling is spread onto each lasagna noodle and then rolled into a perfect little portion. Sauce is poured over the top and then they’re baked to perfection!
Ingredients for Lasagna Roll Ups
As with traditional lasagna, the filling for these lasagna roll ups is quite flexible. Here is what you’ll need to make the vegetarian spinach and ricotta-filled version below:
- Lasagna Noodles: Each lasagna noodle makes one bundle. I like to get the flutter edge noodles instead of flat noodles because they make the prettiest roll ups.
- Cheese: We use a mix of ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese to create the most flavorful filling for the roll ups.
- Egg: Egg helps bind the cheese filling and keeps the filling moist and rich. I have, on occasion, forgotten the egg and the lasagna roll ups still turned out quite delicious, just not as moist.
- Frozen Spinach: I chose to make a vegetarian version of lasagna roll ups to save on money, using an inexpensive block of frozen cut spinach, but you can swap for Italian sausage or ground beef if you want a meat version. Sautéed mushrooms also work well.
- Pasta Sauce: To make this recipe extra easy, I used a simple jar of pasta sauce to drench the lasagna roll ups. If you prefer to make your own, you can use our Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce, or our quick Weeknight Pasta Sauce and have meat in addition to the spinach.
What to Serve with Lasagna Roll Ups
Some homemade garlic bread and a nice side salad would be perfect to pair with this meal and will add some color and freshness to the plate. But the roll ups are pretty filling on their own, so you won’t need to add much to make it a meal!
Meal Prep It!
These lasagna roll ups will stay good in the refrigerator for about five days, so make sure to portion them out into air-tight containers after cooking for quick grab-and-reheat meals for the rest of the week. After the portions are chilled in the refrigerator you can transfer some to the freezer for longer storage (up to three months).
To reheat the frozen lasagna roll ups, either let them thaw in the refrigerator over night before reheating in the microwave, or go straight from the freezer to the microwave, making sure to use the defrost function first.
Lasagna Roll Ups
Servings 8 (2 rolls each)Ingredients
- 12 oz. lasagna noodles ($2.19)
- 15 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese ($3.39)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided ($2.33)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.38)
- 1 large egg ($0.09)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed ($1.20)
- 1 24oz. jar pasta sauce ($1.99)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add 1 tsp salt to season the water, then add the lasagna noodles. Boil the noodles just until al dente (they become too delicate to roll if they are too soft). Drain the noodles in a colander.
- While the noodles are boiling, drain the thawed spinach, squeezing out as much of the excess water as possible. Add the spinach to a bowl with the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, salt, and pepper. Stir until everything is evenly combined.
- Once the lasagna noodles have cooled enough to touch with your hands, lay a few noodles out onto a clean surface. Spread about ¼ cup of the spinach and cheese filling onto each noodle, spreading it from edge to edge. It's okay if the filling is thin or doesn't create a solid layer. Roll the noodles up, then place in a large casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles until you've used all of the filling. You should get about 16 roll ups and you may have a few noodles left over (those will be back up in case any tear).
- Once all of the noodles are filled, rolled, and placed in the casserole dish, pour the jar of pasta sauce over top. Top the lasagna roll ups with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake the lasagna roll ups for 30 minutes in the preheated 400ºF oven. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Nutrition
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How to Make Lasagna Roll Ups – Step by Step Photos
Thaw one 10oz. package of frozen chopped spinach (either use the defrost function on a microwave or transfer it to the refrigerator the day before to thaw). Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Once the spinach is fully thawed, squeeze out as much water as possible from the spinach. You should have about one cup tightly packed spinach after squeezing.
Add the spinach to a large bowl with one large egg, 15oz. ricotta cheese, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. Stir everything together until evenly combined.
Boil 12oz. lasagna noodles until al dente, then drain in a colander. Do not let the noodles overcook or they’ll be too delicate to work with. You’ll only need 12 noodles, but you’ll likely have a few more if you boil an entire 12oz. box. It’s always good to have a few back up in case they tear as you’re filling and rolling.
Lay a few of the lasagna noodles out onto a clean surface and spread a thin layer of the cheese filling onto each noodle from edge to edge. The filling does not need to be thick or in a solid layer because it adds up when the noodles are rolled. I used heaping ¼ cup of filling per noodle.
As you fill and roll the noodles, place them in a large casserole dish. Pour one 24oz. jar of marinara sauce over the lasagna roll ups.
Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella over the lasagna roll ups.
Cover the baking dish and bake the roll ups for about 30 minutes in the preheated 400ºF oven, or until the sauce and cheese are bubbling up around the edges.
Serve and enjoy! (Garnish with parsley for a little extra color, if desired.)
My whole family from picky hubby thru 3 year old loved this tonight. Not too complicated to prepare. I added beef and garlic salt to the filling.
What a quick and easy idea to make lasagna. So much easier than the way my mother makes it. Love it!
This was delicious!! Easy to make as well. No more traditional lasagna for us.
I live in a remote community and I fly to a grocery store every 3 months or so. I am always looking for good recipes that I can freeze and eat months later when my family runs out of fresh produce. This recipe is amazing! I usually quadruple the recipe and freeze it all. It is absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing!
I’ve made these and put them in the freezer without the sauce. Then I can pull out the amount that I need.
I am going to make this for dinner tonight and I am just wondering what I could substitute for the egg?
Any ideas?
You can leave it out, but the filling will be more “loose” and not quite as solid. I can’t think of any appropriate substitutes for it here.
Gotcha! Thanks!
ground flax seed if memory serves me
mix with water to create egg substitute….it’s late or I’d google it for you :)
flax meal, my bad…
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=7157
I didn’t have any eggs on hand so I left it out, but I also added 8oz of softened cream cheese to hold it together better and because, well we just LOVE cheese.
This is a great recipe! The only change I made to this was I was too tired to make the marinara (I am a teacher), and so I just put a can of the $1 can of spaghetti sauce, a can of petite diced tomatoes and I added extra oregano, basil, garlic, 2 bay leaves, and for the “kick” that marinara has, like a dash or two of red pepper flakes! It turned it really really great however next time I will definitely put onions in it as well. This is a versatile recipe and so easy to make compared to lasagna…I will never be making lasagna ever again and maybe next time, I will have put italian sausage in the marinara sauce. :) Thanks!
OMGosh it was so good a little hard to handle the hot noodles but overall a hit at our house. Yummm Thank You for the great idea I even made an extra pan for my daughter so she didn’t have to cook after work.
Sara
Huge hit at our house! I put some roasted garlic, sweet chicken sausage and mushrooms in the sauce and melted some mozzarella on top. Will become a regular in our dinner rotation!
Made this with italian sausage and spinach it was great. I think I am in love with your site we were in a rut and now have a bunch of new ideas.
I used to make this all the time. Thanks for reminding me its been ages since I’ve made these. I used to place them standing up in a smaller deep casserole dish and poor the sauce around. This way the filling doesn’t run out when baking :)
I’d had this recipe bookmarked for a while, I knew I wanted to make it when I needed to impress someone lol. I made it a few days ago and it was a hit! I’m actually surprised at how great it tasted! Making this again very soon!
I literally just made this for dinner. The only thing I changed was the marinara sauce. I’m not much for marinara so I used meat sauce and I LOVED IT! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I’ve made this twice now. The first time I made it I only got 7 rolls, but I put the filling on kinda thick because when I tried putting on a thin layer there were small bare spots that bugged me. I used a whole 24 oz. jar of sauce and folks still wanted more! This time I used manicotti. And boy was stuffing a pain. I realized too late that we were out of eggs but it still turned out well. There was a little extra spinach since I shopped at a different store and all they had were 12 oz. bags. I also added a clove of minced garlic and 1/4 tsp. onion powder. This will definitely become part of the regular rotation.
Thank you. I have made recipes from your site all week and my husband asked what he had done to deserve such amazing dinners! Easy to make and delist, this is his favorite so far!