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!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
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.)
Well oops. I bought Oven Ready Lasagna at the store instead of normal. I’ve heard if you boil that, it’ll fall apart. Is there any way I can soften these enough to roll them up? I really wanna make these tonight, so hoping I don’t have to run to the store again!
Hmm, I’m really not sure. I’ve never used that product before. :(
I tried boiling them, but it didn’t work too well. I ended up just using the noodles and then putting layers of the ricotta and spinach filling in between, like normal lasagna. It still tasted great – next time I’ll make sure to pay attention to what kind of noodles I buy. The filling recipe you had still tasted amazing though!
I used some, but I only put them in the water until they were soft enough to roll, but not cooked since they’ll cook in the sauce. They didn’t fall apart and worked fine. There were extras and the kids were eating them by dunking them in leftover sauce.
Awesome recipe. Made this recipe for a couple of different occasions and everyone loved it, and were asking for the recipe. A keeper, for sure!!! Thanks for sharing.
How would you advise freezing these in individual (two roll) portions? Should I freeze before or after baking? Include sauce or leave separate?
I baked mine first, then divided it up into two roll portions (with sauce), chilled in the fridge first, then transferred to the freezer. That way I knew they were fully cooked and I could just pop them in the microwave, straight from the freezer, until they were heated through. :)
HOLY COW! These are so delicious! I will be making these for my family SOON! :) Thanks!
This was amazing! Tried tonight and I was able to get 16 rolls in a 9X13 casserole dish. My family really loved it. I will be doing this again!
Trying these tonight :) added a little marinera sauce to the filling as well as a little bit of sun dried tomato olive oil for a little extra flavour.
really good & super easy. I made my own homemade sauce instead of the marinara & topped this with some extra mozzarella before serving. Really light & satisfying dish.
Made these again, but added mushrooms and changed the marinara to sun dried tomato alfredo sauce and it was amaaaaaaazing!
I’d love to make these and bring them to a friend as a “new home gift”. Would I be able to assemble this at home and then bring it over for them to bake? Or would I need to bake them at my house? I’m afraid they wouldn’t be as fresh if i chose the latter.
I think it would work just fine to assemble at home and bake at the friend’s house. :)
I made these tonight. They were fabulous. I really want to try more vegetarian meals. Thanks so much for this gem.
Can you use cottage cheese and ricotta mixture? What do you think the appropriate ratio would be? Thank you so much!
You could do half and half, but the mixture will be quite a bit more loose, so you may need to add an egg.
Made these last night and they were soooo good! I also got 14 rolls out of the filling and aso added some mushrooms. My boyfriend ate 4 rolls! Definitely a winner that leaves me enough leftovers for a couple days of lunch <3
I just bought all the ingredients to try this out tonight! Looks soooo good!
Hi Beth I’ve tried a few of your recipes and have been a total success! I’m going to try the roll up but I have a question. if i add meat how much should i add!?
You can add anywhere from 1/2 lb. (if you want to go light) to one pound of meat. You definitely need to brown the meat in a skillet before adding it to the rolls, though. (Or you could do precooked chicken, like from a rotisserie chicken or something.)
My best friend’s mom used to make these for me on my brithday every year, so when I saw this recipe I was so excited to try them out! They were delicious! They came out even better than the ones my friend’s mom always made. This will definitely become a staple in my house because my husband just about swallowed 5 of them whole! Thank you for the recipe.