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.)
wow, it looks delicious and can’t wait to try this recipe. Can you please tell me why you use frozen spinach instead of normal spinach? Is it important to use frozen spinach?
Hello! I used frozen spinach because years ago when this blog post was written, fresh spinach was very expensive compared to frozen spinach, so I went with the more affordable option. :) Luckily, these days fresh spinach is much more affordable! To use fresh spinach, just chop it up and sauté it in a skillet to remove some of the moisture before adding it to the filling for the roll ups.
Also the shelf life of frozen spinach is very long. Dry noodles last forever. Use bechamel instead of ricotta and this dish becomes a pantry meal which is important as pandemic shopping trips become further apart.
I made this with a 1/2 recipe of the slow cooker marinara, which was perfect. My only suggestion would be to add a measurement for the salt. I wasn’t able to salt “to taste” since the cheese mixture had raw egg. I added a small amount, but it definitely needed more.
This recipe also works well for stuffed jumbo shells (like your pesto stuffed shells recipe).
I see a reference to nutritional information to this recipe, but I cant find it anywhere. Is the info gone or is there a different link somewhere else? Thanks! Really yummy recipe!
We only recently brought on a Registered Dietician to our team. She’s working hard behind the scenes to update the entire recipe database, over 1500+ recipes, with nutritional information. She’s working her way from the newest recipes back and it takes some time to update them all. Stay tuned!
Can you subsitute cottage cheese for the ricotta cheese?
Yes you could swap cottage cheese for the ricotta.
Idk but i never managed to cook lasagna in my whole life, no matter how many recipes, video , tutorials I try to follow. I feel there is always something more that needs to be done. anyway, i am going to try your recipe. Now, that i have so much free time at my hand due to this pandemic. wish me luck.
I love ricotta but my wife does not. I substituted cream cheese – delish! Think I might up the cheese and double the spinach. Also thinking about adding garlic. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you so much for giving too many ideas as I would use these ideas as a New Year present. Your idea of Dinner is very good. Now, I have decided to give a treat to my family and also I will be able to spend some memorable time with them. Last time, I gifted a beautiful jar with 31 envelope messages from KindNotes. This time, your blog helped me a lot. Again, thanks for sharing these brilliant ideas.
This is Delicious and yummy I haven seen here and prepared at my home and it was so good. thanks for this new recipe.
This will be a staple in our house! We only did 12 rolls and used home made marinara. Very filling and flavorful!
Happy to hear it! Thanks for sharing!
what an amazing recipe that you have shared with us. Is it important to use frozen spinach? can we use normal spinach?
I used frozen spinach mainly for the cost savings, but you can definitely use fresh spinach. You will want to sauté the spinach first to remove most of its moisture, though.
Do you cook frozen roll ups frozen or defrosted? What temp?
I’ve never actually cooked the frozen roll ups in the oven. I always divide them into single servings before freezing, and then just reheat them in the microwave. You can use the defrost setting on your microwave until it’s no longer frozen solid, then go full power to heat through.
Hi Beth
I really enjoyed reading your recipe, it was explained clearly. The photos made it even clearer. Because of this I really wanted to try to make it myself.
I have already made the lasagna roll ups for my family, but I do have a small remark. Namely ricotta has a very special taste that not everyone can appreciate and you did not mention this in the recipe. I like the taste of ricotta very much and therefore have I made it with the ricotta and spinach. My brother and dad doesn’t really like ricotta, so I replaced the ricotta with meat, as you suggested. That was of course delicious too.
Let’s say that I am not really an experienced cook, but thanks to the clear explanation I managed without problems. My family was very enthusiastic and I will definitely make this delicious lasagna roll ups again.
Greetings Luca
Thanks, Luca! I’m glad you enjoyed them. :)
This was so good my 15-month-old and 4-year-old devoured it in minutes. Thank you!
Can you prep these and refrigerate for a day before cooking…or would I have to prepare and bake on same day???
You can prep these the day before. :)
Great recipe, thank you! I tripled the recipe which yielded 3 trays, 15 rolls in each for a total of 45 rolls!
Delicious! I made these tonight and they were excellent. Thank you for the recipe. Also for next time, if I wanted to freeze them and have them in the freezer for my lazy cooking days when would I freeze it? Before baking? After baking?
Edit to my original comment because I missed the egg in the ingredient list. Freeze after baking. :)
Isn’t there raw egg in the filling?
Oh, oops. I thought I double checked the ingredient list to see if there was egg, but somehow I missed it! :P Thanks for catching that. Freeze after baking.