Roll up style lasagna bakes faster than a classic layered lasagna and still manages to come out melty, bubbly, and topped with a golden brown finish! Serve these lasagna roll ups with a side salad or a basket of bread for a complete easy weeknight meal, and everyone leaves the table full and satisfied!
Serving individual rolls takes the hassle out of trying to cut and serve square pieces, that have just come out of the oven and are slip-sliding all over the place. It’s also a great way to make sure everyone has equal-sized individual portions.
Any lasagna is good lasagna, let’s get real. Whether it’s a traditional oven-baked lasagna, easy ravioli lasagna, crockpot lasagna, white lasagna, veggie lasagna, or rolled lasagna. I love it all! Perfectly cooked noodles that give just the right amount of bite, a flavorful meat sauce, melty gooey cheese, it’s always mouthwatering comfort food.
Making rolled up lasagna is my choice for family dinners but also when I need a simple lasagna recipe that makes entertaining easy. People are always looking for ways to make life just a little simpler, especially when serving a crowd, which is why these lasagna roll ups are so popular!
A fun twist on these lasagna roll ups, is my alfredo chicken lasagna roll ups recipe! So make sure to check it out.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s an easy-to-serve version of a traditional lasagna recipe.
- Flavorful, cheesy, and tasty. There’s no skimping on any of it!
- Makes great leftovers the next few days. Lunch and dinner have never been easier. Just reheat!
- It’s a great freezer meal for when you want to bring a dish to a sick neighbor, a new mom, or someone who could use some extra help.
- A family-friendly dinner idea that your kids will love and it’s easily adaptable to your personal tastes and preferences.
Ingredients Used
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Uncooked lasagna noodles – Don’t buy the oven-ready pack, because you want to be able to boil them first so they can be nicely rolled up.
- Salt & pepper – Salt will be used for both adding to the water when cooking the pasta as well used along with pepper for seasoning the meat.
- Olive oil – Used to cook the ground beef, especially useful if you’re using lean or extra lean meat which produces less of its own juices and fat.
- Ground beef – I like to use 90% lean ground beef because too much fat creates extra grease, and extra grease can cause the lasagna rolls to become too runny.
- Garlic & onion – Adding this pair of aromatics is kind of the law around here when cooking any kind of lasagna. It adds a ton of flavor to the sauce which is what we want.
- Marinara – A delicious thinner version of tomato sauce that doesn’t usually come with added sugar, which is great. In a pinch, you can use whatever pasta or tomato sauce you have on hand.
- Cheeses – Ricotta cheese, which is a very mild soft cheese, doesn’t have a ton of flavor but adds great texture and creaminess to the layers. Parmesan cheese is sharp and is always best if you can shred your own. The same goes for the melty mozzarella. Pre shredded stuff doesn’t taste as good, and won’t melt as easily because of the anti-clumping agents used.
- Egg – Used for binding the cheeses together so they’re not runny and falling all out the sides of the lasagna rolls.
- Italian seasoning – A blend of dried herbs such as oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary. If you don’t have a ready-made blend, by all means, use some or all of the mentioned herbs instead or make my homemade Italian seasoning instead.
- Fresh parsley – Sprinkled on as a garnish, gives the dish a pop of green as well as a vibrant fresh herb finish.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make It
- Cook the noodles according to the package instructions to al dente with 1 teaspoon of salt. Drain the hot water and replace it with a bit of room temp water. This will help the noodles not stick together.
Tip!
Using salt in the water helps it to boil faster and gives the pasta extra flavor, so don’t skip it!
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C and grab a dutch oven or large pot and heat the oil on the stovetop.
- Cook the ground beef breaking it apart with a wooden spoon until it’s no longer pink. Drain fat if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the onion, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until it’s translucent, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, followed by the marinara sauce.
- Bring everything to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta with the egg, parmesan cheese, 1 ½ cups of mozzarella, and Italian seasoning. Give it a stir until the mixture is well combined and smooth. Set aside.
How to Assemble Lasagna Roll Ups
- Spread ½ cup of the meat sauce at the bottom of the casserole dish, which helps keep the noodles from sticking to the bottom of the dish. Set it aside.
- Arrange the noodles in a single layer across a baking sheet.
- Spread about ¼ a cup of the ricotta mixture over each noodle, in an even layer, followed by 1 heaping tablespoon of the meat sauce.
- Start from one end of each noodle, and roll it up and transfer it to the prepared 9×13 casserole dish and place them seam side down. Do this with each noodle. Arrange them so that they are side by side in the dish, making sure they all fit without overlapping.
- Cover with the remaining meat sauce, and top with remaining shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Loosely tent with foil and make sure that the foil is not touching the cheese, and bake for 30 minutes. A trick to help the foil not stick to the cheesy topping is to stick a few toothpicks into the top of a few lasagna noodles. That way the foil will rest on the toothpicks and not fall onto the cheese as it bakes.
- Uncover, and place under the broiler until the cheese starts to brown. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and serve!
Tips & Tricks
- Salt the pasta water so it comes to a boil faster and adds that extra bit of flavor.
- Cook more noodles than you need. Not many, just a few, that way if any of them break during cooking, you’ll have extra.
- Don’t forget to add water back to the pot after draining, so the pasta noodles don’t coagulate and stick together.
- Make sure you break up your ground beef as much as possible. Having larger chunks of meat in certain spots will make for uneven rolls, and it’s just more pleasing to eat when they aren’t there.
- Use a nonstick dish if you can, but you’ll still need to add the sauce to the bottom for added moisture.
- Use freshly grated cheese, the pre-shredded stuff is just not the same.
What to Serve With Lasagna Rolls
A salad is always a welcome side dish for lasagna night. Simple salads like daikon radish slaw, simple tossed green salad, or a Caesar pasta salad.
You could swap the salad idea for cooked veggies like this asparagus tart, blanched green beens, roasted brussel sprouts or crispy air fryer cauliflower.
Bread. Complete your menu with a basket of Olive Garden copycat breadsticks or easy garlic bread for everyone to share!
FAQs
Yes, you can. Simply omit the meat from the sauce altogether, or replace it with hearty finely diced vegetables like mushrooms, broccoli, bell peppers, etc. Add them to the sauce and have them simmer along in place of the beef.
Making it the day before is a great way to have a quick, ready-to-heat meal as soon as you get home in the evening! Assemble it, bake it, and allow it to cool completely, cover it tightly and keep it in the fridge. Then, when you’re ready to eat it the next day, uncover, and bake until it’s warmed through.
This dish is great for freezing. Assemble them up to the point of baking (but don’t bake). Cover them with foil and freeze the entire dish for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to bake, you can thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as directed, or bake from frozen and add on extra bake time.
If you love this recipe, don’t forget to share it with others so they can keep coming back to it as much as you and I do!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef 90% lean
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ yellow onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 24 ounce jar marinara
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cook the noodles according to the package instructions to al dente with 1 teaspoon of salt, drain and keep in a pot with room temp water. This will help the noodles not stick together.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C.
- In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil and cook the ground beef breaking it apart with a wooden spoon until it’s no longer pink. Drain fat if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the onion, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until it’s translucent, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the marinara sauce to the meat, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta with the egg, parmesan cheese, 1 ½ cups of mozzarella and Italian seasoning. Give it a stir until the mixture is well combined and smooth. Set aside.
- To assemble: Spread ½ cup of the meat sauce at the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Arrange the noodles in a single layer over a baking sheet.
- Spread evenly about ¼ a cup of the ricotta mixture over each noodle, followed by 1 heaping tablespoon of the meat sauce.
- Roll each noodle up, and arrange in the casserole dish.
- Cover with the remaining meat sauce, and top with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (if needed for photography, you can add a little more).
- Loosely tent with foil and make sure that the foil is not touching the cheese, and bake for 30 minutes.
- Uncover, and place under the broiler until the cheese starts to brown. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes:
- Salt the pasta water so it comes to a boil faster and adds that extra bit of flavor.
- Cook more noodles than you need. Not many, just a few, that way if any of them break during cooking, you’ll have extra.
- Don’t forget to add water back to the pot after draining, so the pasta noodles don’t coagulate and stick together.
- Make sure you break up your ground beef as much as possible. Having larger chunks of meat in certain spots will make for uneven rolls, and it’s just more pleasing to eat when they aren’t there.
- Use a nonstick dish if you can, but you’ll still need to add the sauce to the bottom for added moisture.
- Use freshly grated cheese, the pre-shredded stuff is just not the same.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Shani says
When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it! Lasagna always seemed intimidating to me but I’m glad I decided to attempt these lasagna roll-ups. Super easy to follow and extremely delicious. I paired it with a side of cheesy garlic bread for lunch. Can’t wait to make this again 🙂