All hail the no-fuss, easily individualized serving, three cheese lasagna roll-ups. Lasagna on a weeknight is now a legit option.
Raise your hand if you feel like making lasagna is the biggest pain in the ass thing to do. [raising hand the highest over here!]
Now, don’t get me wrong: I LOVE lasagna.
But suffering through slathering cheese and sauce across slippery layers of lasagna noodles that decided they wanted to be cantankerous and stick together like a bowl of sushi rice is just not my kind of fun.
Sometimes I suffer through the process. Case in point: our favorite spinach lasagna.
But most of the time, when we want a delicious Italian pasta dish, we opt for my one-pot creamy sausage pasta, baked ziti, or skillet lasagna instead. That is, however, until these three cheese lasagna roll-ups entered our life.
All hail the no-fuss, easily individualized serving, three cheese lasagna roll-ups!
You’ll boil and drain the noodles, lay them out on a work surface like little soldiers, spread on an almost sinful amount of cheese, roll ’em up, and drop them onto a thick layer of delicious tomato sauce.
More sauce, bake, cheese, bake, and done.
Lasagna in 45 minutes! Weeknight lasagna! This is definitely my kind of fun!
The rolled up form cuts the baking time in half as compared to regular lasagna and there’s no sloppy first piece that never wants to wiggle its way out of the pan.
The leftovers, which are easy to portion out for lunches, made me giddy thinking about all morning and were perhaps even better than the original meal after there was time for the flavors to meld overnight. I suspect assembling these roll-ups in advance would allow for the same effect and will most certainly make cooking on a busy weeknight or for company WAY less stressful.
These three cheese lasagna roll-ups WILL be making repeat appearances on our menu – maybe with spinach, kale, or sautéed mushrooms in the future – because we completely adored them.
As in, we mmm’d our way through dinner, elbowing each other on the couch with excitement, not wanting them to end, and struggling against the impulse to take seconds. Yep, that good.
Three Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups
- Prep Time: 20min
- Cook Time: 30min
- Yield: 6-8 generous servings
Notes
Don’t be tempted to toss the noodles with oil to prevent sticking – you’ll never be able to spread the cheese over them. The parchment paper will absorb some of the water from the noodles and prevent them from sticking to the counter top.
Ingredients
12 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions, drained
2 ½ – 3 cups your favorite marinara sauce (we had leftovers of this amazing sauce to use up but jarred sauce is fine too)
16 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
8 oz whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided (about 2 cups total)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp Italian seasoning
¾ tsp Kosher salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp chopped basil or parsley for serving
Instructions
-
01
Preheat oven to 375° F. Spread half of the sauce evenly over the bottom of a square baking dish (I used a 10×10-inch dish but 8×8-inch would work fine as well.)
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02
While the noodles boil, mix the ricotta, Pecorino Romano/Parmesan, one cup of the shredded mozzarella, egg yolk, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl.
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03
After the noodles have drained, immediately lay them out in rows on a parchment-paper lined surface perpendicular to the edge of the work surface. The faster you do this, the less chance you’ll have of them sticking together.*
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04
Using a large cookie scoop, scoop out a leveled amount of the cheese mixture and spread it out over the first noodle (an offset spatula works great here), leaving about ¼-inch empty at short edge furthest from you. Roll the noodle from the short edge nearest you to the empty edge and press the noodle together lightly to help it seal together. Place the roll-up in the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles and filling. Top with remaining sauce and cover tightly with foil.
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05
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil, add the cheese, and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is melty. Sprinkle with extra grated cheese and basil/parsley before serving.
Smells Like Home original recipe
This looks so tasty!! Definitely love an easy pasta recipe like this 🙂
oooooooh these rollups look SO delicious, I can’t believe how simple they are, too!