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Spinach lasagna rolls are a great vegetarian dinner that’s sure to please the whole family.
This recipe has been retested and updated since first posting February 2011.
One meal my husband really enjoys is lasagna. He nearly always orders it when we dine out at Italian restaurants, and I know he wishes we would make it at home more often.
Truth be told I don’t always love lasagna at home because it tends to fall apart while you’re eating it, ruining those beautiful layers you worked so hard to make.
These spinach lasagna rolls solve that problem, with easy-to-serve bundles filled with classic ingredients. They’re much more enticing for kids too, especially when covered in a blanket of sauce and cheese!
ingredients for lasagna rolls
Full list of ingredients including quantities is located in the recipe card.
You’ll need:
- Lasagna noodles – Standard lasagna noodles work well here. Most are about 3 inches wide. Keep in mind that if you use wider noodles, you may need a larger baking dish, or fewer noodles to fill the pan.
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Spinach – I prefer using fresh spinach, but frozen works as well! Make sure it is completely thawed and well drained.
- Ricotta cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- Italian seasoning
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Egg
- Marinara sauce – Use your favorite jarred sauce or homemade spaghetti sauce.
how to make this recipe
Preheat the oven to 375ยฐF and set aside an 11×7-inch (2 quart) casserole dish.
Cook the lasagna noodles in a pot of salted water according to package directions. Drain and spread onto a sheet pan to prevent the noodles from sticking together.
While the pasta is cooking, set a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, until soft.
Toss in the garlic and cook another minute, then stir in the chopped spinach and cook until wilted and vibrant in color. Set aside to cool.
If you are using kale, chard, or other greens in place of the spinach, the cooking time may increase. It should take 5-10 minutes depending on the greens used.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the ricotta, half of the mozzarella, parmesan, egg, Italian seasoning, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Stir in the cooked greens mixture until uniformly mixed.
Spread about 1/2 cup marinara sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish.
Assemble the rolls: Lay one lasagna noodle on your work surface and spread 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture onto it, starting at one end and spreading into an even layer. Leave a bit of uncovered pasta at the end. Starting from the filled end, roll up the noodle, tucking the clean end underneath. Place into the dish.
Repeat with remaining noodles and filling, arranging the rolls into rows. Pour the rest of the marinara sauce over the top, then sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella.
Cover with foil and bake for 25-35 minutes, until the cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving, and garnish with fresh basil or parsley if you like!
recipe suggestions
While I kept this a vegetarian filling using spinach and ricotta, you could easily use a meat sauce or whatever youโre used to putting in lasagna.
Because lasagna rolls are a great way to use up those leftover noodles, you might as well toss in any other thing lingering in your fridge or pantry. An errant zucchini. Some leftover pepperoni. Whatever strikes your fancy!
Spinach lasagna rolls are made even better with the use of DIY ricotta. You can make the cheese the day before to save time, if you want. It’s definitely worth the extra effort.
Add a pile of garlic rolls and watch these lasagna roll ups disappear from the table!
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Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Ingredients
- 10 lasagna noodles
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 cup diced onion
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- 1 bunch fresh spinach, chopped, or 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 large egg, beaten
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cup marinara sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ยฐF.
- Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain and lay noodles on a baking sheet in order to keep them from sticking together.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium. Add onions and cook until softened, 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Add the greens and cook until wilted, 5-10 minutes, depending on variety of green used. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, half the mozzarella, egg, salt, and pepper. Stir in the greens mixture.
- Spread 1/2 cup marinara sauce in the bottom of an 11×7-inch casserole pan.
- Assemble the rolls by spreading about 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture, leaving an inch at the end. Roll up pasta, ending with the uncovered edge.
- Place each roll in the casserole pan with the seam on the bottom. Continue until all noodles are rolled.
- Pour remaining pasta sauce over rolls, then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.
Updated February 17, 2016.
About Megan
I learned how to cook by exploring seasonal ingredients, and you can too! Meal time shouldn’t be stressful or complicated, and with fresh ingredients and easy methods, Iโm here to help you enjoy the time spent in the kitchen.ย Read moreโฆ
My first grade teacher had it out for me as well! (actually, i would get bored and cause trouble so I have a list of teachers that probably hate me – at one point I had to read as Brutus and Cassius at the same time… )
Thank God Im passed that… >.>
Lasagna rolls. Mmm, I’ve always wanted to try making these myself.
Screw directions! Lasagna rolls make SO much sense it’s not even funny. I absolutely hate how lasagna falls apart on me.
Also, my 7th grade math teacher had it out for me–he was constantly rude to me because my shoes squeaked on the laminate floor. He even called my parents about it.
Oh, do these look incredible!!! Gorgeous photos! LOL at your memories of first grade…Mrs. F sounds like she would have been better off in another profession…yikes.
You weren’t the only one who hated Mrs F! They would not let us move you to the other class. We were instead supposed to work out our “issues”. But it shows you that perseverance rules… you are still best friends with K (and A too) and you have certainly amounted to a lot by thinking outside the box instead of simply following rules!
Pass the lasagna rolls! These are perfect!
Yes, BB is right – lasagna rolls make a LOT of sense! <3
It was my 3rd grade teacher. It pissed her off that I got out of her class one day a week for GT, and she made sure I knew it. She also took away a novel I was reading that my mother gave to me, because she said it was inappropriate. It was To Kill A Mockingbird.
Seems like we all have that one teacher.
I love lasagna, but truly dislike how the edges can get crunchy. I know some people really dig that crunchy pasta, but I am not one of them. This seems like a perfect solution to THAT problem too.
Ingredients on Yummly, directions supposedly on this website. Found pictures and great discussions on how you all hated your primary teachers but no directions for lasagna rolls. Have noticed that directions in general are hard to find on this site, but comments are interesting.
BTY, I loved my kdg and grade one teachers, grade 2 was Miss Madden who lived up to her name, but she was never cruel just stern faced, now grade 3 was Mrs. Scholls who accused me of cheating on a spelling test because I looked at my hand. Loved/liked all the rest of my teachers except Mr. Hall in 10th grade. Now all that happened between 1938 and 1951.
Now, where are the directions for that recipe?
@Carol Are you looking at the post on mobile or tablet? Click the Read More button and you should be able to see the directions at the bottom of the post.
Thanks for this awesome & creative recipe! You totally nailed the “problems” with standard, run-of-the-mill lasagna, too. ๐ I’ll definitely be trying these soon (with white sauce since I’m allergic to tomatoes, and definitely with all sorts of good garden greens in it too!).
LOL Barrister – I too made the mistake of getting a very squeaky pair of shoes in high school. Fortunately none of my teachers had it out for me, but some of the students definitely did. Especially one day when I was the first to turn in my physics test and *squeak squeak squeaked* back to my desk, to the exasperation of everyone else still trying to work. :-/
Thanks for this awesome & creative recipe! You totally nailed the “problems” with standard, run-of-the-mill lasagna, too. ๐ I’ll definitely be trying these soon (with white sauce since I’m allergic to tomatoes, and definitely with all sorts of good garden greens in it too!).
LOL Barrister – I too made the mistake of getting a very squeaky pair of shoes in high school. Fortunately none of my teachers had it out for me, but some of the students definitely did. Especially one day when I was the first to turn in my physics test and *squeak squeak squeaked* back to my desk, to the exasperation of everyone else still trying to work. :-/
make it so recipes can be printed out…………………….. otherwise it is a waste of my time and I usually can’t find the recipe again, so……………….
make it so recipes can be printed out…………………….. otherwise it is a waste of my time and I usually can’t find the recipe again, so……………….
@Liz There is a Print button right below the image in the recipe card.
I too hate the way lasagna falls apart so I avoid making it. I have made a deconstructed lasagna and that is awesome (I make my own sauce). These roll ups look great!! Can’t wait to try it! BTW, my 3rd grade teacher prevented my “boyfriend” and me from ever being in a class together again (written in school records). We stayed friends and he always dated my friends. Then we began dating in 11th grade…we are currently happily married for 43 years. Last laugh for us ๐
I too hate the way lasagna falls apart so I avoid making it. I have made a deconstructed lasagna and that is awesome (I make my own sauce). These roll ups look great!! Can’t wait to try it! BTW, my 3rd grade teacher prevented my “boyfriend” and me from ever being in a class together again (written in school records). We stayed friends and he always dated my friends. Then we began dating in 11th grade…we are currently happily married for 43 years. Last laugh for us ๐
This was a great and delicious recipe. I had to split my lasagna noodles since my full noodles didn’t fit into the pot. But it worked out well to make mini lasagna rolls. I’ve used frozen spinach instead of fresh. It came out real good.
This was a great and delicious recipe. I had to split my lasagna noodles since my full noodles didn’t fit into the pot. But it worked out well to make mini lasagna rolls. I’ve used frozen spinach instead of fresh. It came out real good.
I just made this recipe tonight and it was AWESOME! I added chopped fresh baby Bella mushrooms and used Colby Jack cheese with the mozzarella and my daughter even loved it, and shes not really a lasagna fan.
Just a hint, if you let lasagna set for 10 minutes or so out of the oven it shouldn’t fall apart. ๐
And yes, oh yes I had that teacher. 4th grade, Mrs. Johnson aka Woodpecker. She would furiously rap on my desk with her fingernail. Lol I puked on her shoes while she was accusing me of playing sick!