Vegan Spinach Lasagna Rolls
4.69 from 22 votes

These vegan lasagna rolls are a perfect way to enjoy all of the comfort food goodness of lasagna in an adorable, easier-to-serve package. The pasta dish’s spinach and homemade vegan ricotta filling is easy to prepare, and the marinara sauce can be scratch made or store bought—you choose! A great vegan meal prep dinner, these lasagna rolls freeze wonderfully too.

Two plant-based lasagna rolls are on a serving plate, and one of the rolls has just been sliced into.

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I’m always in the mood for a vegan pasta dinner. If it gives me an excuse to make a recipe with vegan ricotta cheese, so much the better.

These vegan spinach lasagna rolls fit the bill on both counts. They’re one of my favorite make-ahead, freezer-friendly, cozy meals.

The lasagna rolls have all of the goodness of regular lasagna. This includes red sauce, a vegan “ricotta” filling, and tender lasagna sheets.

The advantage of rolls, rather than a traditional casserole, is that they’re easier to portion and serve than regular lasagna is. And they cook in less time.

I can’t think of a better, stress-free approach to comfort food. In addition to being one of my favorite easy vegan dinners, these rolls are also a favorite option for entertaining friends.

It’s always time for pasta

For years, I struggled with homemade pasta.

Pasta is one of my favorite foods, and has been my go-to order in restaurants for a long time.

When I tried to make it at home, however, I ran into trouble. There seemed to be such an art to getting pasta cooked perfectly al dente and timing the pasta with other ingredients.

They say that practice makes perfect, and I had no problem whatsoever honing my skills in the pasta department.

Nowadays, I’ve amassed a small collection of vegan pasta recipes that I truly love.

This includes my vegan mushroom pasta, chickpea pesto pasta, and my cabbage and onion pasta.

And it certainly includes these rolls.

A zoomed in photograph of the top of a baked pasta dish with marinara sauce.

Why lasagna rolls?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a traditional lasagna. So, why lasagna rolls?

In addition to being pretty to look at (and pretty when you slice them), vegan lasagna rolls have a few advantages over a regular, layered lasagna.

For one thing, they’re a lot easier to portion and serve! I never manage to slice lasagna evenly, and I always make a huge mess of things when I’m trying to get that first slice out of the pan.

With the lasagna rolls, you simply scoop two or three out of a dish and onto a plate. No slicing required, and no splatters or mess as half of a piece of lasagna topples off your spatula.

The vegan spinach lasagna rolls also cook more quickly than regular lasagna. I usually leave lasagna in the oven for 45-60 minutes. These are ready in 30-35.

In addition, there’s no resting time for the lasagna rolls. When I make regular lasagna, I always give it about half an hour to sit after it comes out of the oven, so that it’s not too sloppy when I slice into it.

No such wait time here: you can plate and enjoy the rolls right away.

The Vegan Week

Embrace the joy of eating homemade food every day with the hearty and wholesome recipes in The Vegan Week.

Whether you have three, two, or even just one hour of time to spare, The Vegan Week will show you how to batch cook varied, colorful, and comforting dishes over the weekend.

Meal prep & storage

Another advantage of lasagna rolls is that they’re a great make-ahead or meal prep option.

Meal prep is always most efficient when your recipe in question can be easily divided, portioned, and packed away. That’s definitely true of lasagna rolls.

The rolls will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days, once prepared. They can be frozen for up to eight weeks and defrosted in the fridge whenever you need a cozy meal.

For more on storage containers, freezing, defrosting, and reheating, you can read some of my tips for vegan meal prep.

What about preparing the lasagna rolls in stages?

Here are some options for staggering the cooking process:

  • Prepare the tofu and cashew ricotta up to three days in advance
  • Assemble the rolls, cover, and store in the fridge over night before baking the following day
  • Prepare and bake the rolls one or two days before serving. The rolls keep for up to five days, covered, in the fridge.

Speaking of, let’s go through the steps in preparing these rolls.

A few lasagna sheets are laid out on a work surface. Each is covered with plant-based ricotta, spinach, and marinara sauce.

Vegan spinach lasagna rolls, step by step

Many of the same tips that apply to making regular lasagna apply to the lasagna rolls. (I like all of the noodle-cooking tips here, as well as the recommendation to have extra sauce handy.)

And, like regular lasagna, making the rolls is a bit of a process. But it’s a fun process. Here are the major steps:

Make your vegan “ricotta”

I’ve been making tofu “ricotta” for a long time. It shows up in the shells in Power Plates and in this summery lasagna.

Ever since making this eggplant baked rigatoni, though, I’ve gotten in the habit of putting cashews in my ricotta, along with the tofu. I love the richness and creaminess that the cashews contribute. I think they give the “ricotta” a much more authentic texture.

This 10 minute vegan ricotta cheese has consequently become my go-to ricotta recipe. It’s so easy to prepare, and you can do so quickly as you assemble the lasagna rolls.

Once the ricotta is ready, you’ll cook, drain, wring out (to remove excess moisture) and add some frozen spinach.

Boil your noodles

Use lasagna noodles that are about 10-inches long for this recipe. I’m usually a fan of the De Cecco no. 1 lasagna noodles for regular lasagna, but the wide, short shape doesn’t work for rolling.

In this recipe, I used Barilla’s wavy lasagna noodles. They’re just the right size.

Be sure to boil your lasagna noodles in salted water, without adding any oil to the pot. And it’s helpful to give them a cold rinse as soon as they finish cooking.

Prepare your lasagna sheets

Once the lasagna noodles are cooked, you’ll cover them with ricotta and marinara on a work surface. I like using a baking sheet or a big, rectangular sheet of either parchment paper or aluminum foil for this part.

Spread each noodle with 1/4 cup of the spinach and ricotta mixture, followed by a heaping tablespoon of marinara. A small, offset spatula is useful for spreading the toppings around.

Roll & arrange

Once the lasagna noodles have been covered with the ricotta and sauce, you’ll roll them up. Have the noodles arranged so that the short edge is facing you, and roll from the bottom up.

Right before you start assembling and rolling, you’ll place some marinara sauce into the bottom of your 9 x 13″ rectangle pan. Once you’ve got some rolls assembled, you can arrange them in the rectangular baker. You should have about 12-16 rolls in total.

Bake

The vegan spinach lasagna rolls don’t need too much oven time. Thirty or thirty-five minutes in total is just fine.

I recommend baking them with a foil covered for the first fifteen minutes, then removing the foil so that the sauce on top can thicken up a bit as they finish cooking.

Pasta sheets with plant-based filling are being rolled up from bottom to top.

Time-saving tip: use store-bought marinara

I love using a homemade vegan “ricotta” in this recipe. It’s a little less expensive than purchasing two or three containers of store-bought vegan ricotta (which is the amount you’d need). And I think the flavor is even better.

Marinara, on the other hand? These days, I leave it to the pros. Rao’s and Michael’s of Brooklyn are my two favorites.

It’s not that I don’t love making a good, old-fashioned, long-simmered marinara at home. I do. But no matter how much labor and love I pour into my batches, professionally made marinara is usually better than mine.

In this recipe, and others, using a store-bought sauce is the single shortcut that makes the entire dish feel faster, and more doable. That counts for a lot these days.

An overhead photo of two vegan lasagna rolls, sprinkled with fresh herbs.

Can I make the lasagna rolls gluten-free?

Yes you can, and very easily. Simply use your favorite, gluten-free noodle in place of regular lasagna noodles. I like the brown rice lasagna noodles from the Tinkyada brand.

Still more comforting pastas

I’ve always loved cozy pasta dishes, but I’ve come to appreciate them more than ever this year. If you love this kind of comfort food as much as I do, a few other options:

Two long, flat noodles have been filled with plant-based ricotta and spinach, topped with sauce, and rolled up.
Two plant-based lasagna rolls are on a serving plate, and one of the rolls has just been sliced into.
4.69 from 22 votes

Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups with Spinach & Ricotta

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the filling:

  • 1 batch vegan ricotta cheese
  • 10 ounces frozen, chopped spinach, cooked according to package instructions and firmly pressed in a colander to remove as much moisture as possible 

For the rolls:

  • 16 lasagna noodles (you may only need 12, but it's better to cook extra in case some break or tear)
  • 2 1/2 cups 20-minute marinara sauce (or a store-bought marinara of choice; 24 ounces)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly oil a large (9" x 13" x 2.5") rectangle pan.
  • Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the lasagna sheets. Cook according to package instructions (probably 10-12 minutes), or until tender. 
  • Prepare the vegan ricotta.
  • Transfer the ricotta to a mixing bowl and add the chopped spinach. Mix well. 
  • Place about 3/4 cup of the marinara sauce into the prepared baking dish, then spread it evenly around the bottom of the dish. 
  • When the pasta is ready, line a work surface with parchment, foil, or a baking sheet. Spread a cooked lasagna noodle over the surface. Top with 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture and spread the mixture evenly over the noodle. Add a tablespoon of the marinara sauce and cover the top of the ricotta lightly. Starting at the short, bottom end of the noodle, roll the lasagna noodle up. Place the lasagna roll into the baker. Repeat with your remaining noodles, arranging the rolls in your baking dish in rows. When the baking dish is full, top the rolls with remaining marinara sauce, enough to cover them generously. 
  • Cover the baking dish with foil and transfer it to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, covered. Remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce is darkened, concentrated, and bubbling at the edges. Serve!

Video

https://youtu.be/-zHhJMf3qH0
Two vegan spinach lasagna rolls sit on a dinner plate, ready to be eaten, with a fork nearby. One roll has been sliced into, revealing a creamy ricotta spinach interior.

This year at Thanksgiving, I focused on recipes that were simple to make and designed to serve one or two people.

Theoretically, this isn’t a two-person meal. In fact, it’s a perfect dish for company. But I think it’s still a nice option for this year, because it’s so easy to store/freeze leftovers of the vegan spinach lasagna rolls.

Which means that you can enjoy some on Christmas (or any special occasion), then savor them all over again the next time you want an easy, from-the-freezer dinner.

Enjoy them, friends. Another holiday treat later this week!

xo

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Categories: Recipes, Casseroles, Pasta
Method: Oven
Ingredients: Cashew Nuts, Tofu
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: Meal Prep

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Recipe Rating




    14 Comments
  1. 5 stars
    Wow another amazing recipe, thank you so much! It was very delicious especially with your homemade ricotta:)

  2. This lasagna roll recipe was to die for! My family is not crazy about all the whole food plant based recipes I try, but they absolutely loved these and want them again! Thank you!!!!

  3. If frozen, do you let thaw in the refrigerator, prior to baking or do you bake from a frozen state?

    I have a tray frozen ready to bake up this weekend!

    Thank you Donalda

    • I cook fully before freezing. When it’s time to reheat, I defrost in the fridge overnight, then transfer to the oven 🙂

  4. Look so forward to trying this recipe. What is the best method to reheat after baked and frozen?

    • I use microwave, but you could also reheat in the oven (350F) for 15 minutes or till warmed through. Hope you enjoy!

  5. 5 stars
    You are the Best thankYou for teaching me about how to cook this amazing recipes .
    My Family loved

  6. 5 stars
    I made this tonight and it was delicious! Great comfort food. I love the ricotta paired with the marinara. So good. I will definitely make this again. Thank you!!!

  7. 5 stars
    I made this tonight. It was absolutely delicious and comforting. I will make this again for sure! I don’t have a good store bought marinara sauce I can rely on so I also made that from scratch. Because of that, it took me 2 hours from start to finish. Totally worth it. Thanks!

  8. 5 stars
    I made this dish today and it came together easily and so delicious. I used Michael’s of Brooklyn Homestyle Gravy which is my favorite jarred sauce. I’ll be making these again and again!