These Freezer Friendly Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups are one of my favorite foods. Pasta, hearty homemade sauce, mountains of cheese… really, what’s not to love about it? These make a great freezer meal for a hectic week coming up or for baby’s arrival to give the new mom a break from cooking.
I like to keep a batch of these on hand as they fill that need of “yummy, comfort and homemade” all at the same time. Let’s face it, we don’t always have time to pull off all three of those at once, but this one does!
While this one is heating up, you can make a very fast batch of Instant Pot Kings Hawaiian Rolls or Easy Homemade Breadsticks.
Why This Recipe Works
Freezer friendly – Obviously, given the title of the recipe, but this is one of the biggest reasons to love this recipe. Make this ahead of time for yourself or a friend in need to pull out during those busy, crazy days.
Fast and Easy to Prep – There are just a couple steps here to prep and they roll up in minutes. This is a recipe that you could make a couple of batches of and have it on hand for nights you just don’t want to cook but really want a homemade meal.
🌯 Ingredients
These lovely lasagna roll-ups are ideal for a quick and easy lunch or if you’re serving dinner to guests. Once you taste them, I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to add them to your monthly rotation.
Cheese: Part of what makes these lasagna roll-ups so amazing is all that yummy gooey cheese. We use a combination of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.
Lasagna Noodles: Naturally, lasagna noodles are the main ingredient. They are what make this comfort food.
Sauce: Using a homemade sauce makes this dish a real showstopper. The sauce is made from olive oil, onions, bell peppers, garlic, Italian seasoning, fire-roasted tomatoes, water, salt, and pepper.
🍽️ Instructions
These are really simple to make and if you turn some music on and get busy, it goes by really fast!
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Step One: Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan on medium high heat. Add finely chopped onion and green bell peppers and sauté for about five minutes.
Step Two: Add minced garlic and sauté for another two minutes.
Step Three: Add in rest of the ingredients, reduce the heat to low, cover and let it simmer for another 15 minutes. Stir it periodically.
Step Four: Remove from the heat and let it cool before adding it to the spinach lasagna rolls.
Making the Lasagna Rolls
Step One: Cook the lasagna noodles in lightly salted water. Drain, let cool and then place them on a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil on the counter.
Step Two: In a large bowl, add the drained and thawed spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, parsley flakes, salt and pepper and add in ½ cup of mozzarella cheese. Mix thoroughly.
Step Three: Spoon ⅓ cup of the mixture onto the center of each lasagna noodle, and use the back of a spoon to spread mixture over the entire noodle. Do this for all the noodles before moving to the next step. If, at the end of this step, you have leftover mixture, add it to the noodles that are looking a little bare.
Step Four: Typically, you’re supposed to roll the noodles, as the name implies. But, I find that it can get a bit messy and it leads to each roll being a different size. It’s easiest just to fold the noodles into thirds rather than rolling. Fold one end of the noodle towards the center. Then grab the other end and repeat.
Step Five: Pour approximately ½ cup – one cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of your baking dish and spread it across so it’s evenly covered. This is just to prevent the lasagna noodles from sticking to the dish.
Step Six: Transfer the rolls-ups to the baking dish and cover with the remaining pasta sauce. Then, sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over top.
Step Seven: Loosely cover with foil and bake at 350 F for 40 minutes.
💡 Recipe Tips
I’ve been making spinach lasagna rolls for years. But, I made a tiny change this time that made all the difference…adding some sauce to the inside of the rolls so that each bite has a perfect blend of flavorful sauce, creamy spinach mixture, and a gooey topping of cheese.
The delicious sauce use in this recipe is so yummy and easy to make. Use it in other pasta dishes as well. It’s thick and hearty thanks to the minced vegetables that are diced super fine. This sauce is so good that I can seriously just serve it with some bread to soak it up and be a happy camper.
📌 Freezer Friendly
These roll ups are freezer friendly! Here are two ways to accomplish that:
Step One: Let the cooked lasagna rollups cool completely. Place them on a cookie sheet or baking dish so they’re not touching. Flash freeze for a couple of hours. Once they’re frozen enough to not stick together, transfer them to freezer bags. When you want an easy dinner, just grab one or two and reheat.
Note: I make large batches and freeze these all the time. For best results, wrap the individual servings in Press-N-Seal before adding them to the Ziploc bag. It is easy to grab one, unwrap and reheat.
Step Two: Prepare the Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups as the directions stated. Freeze them BEFORE you cook them using a freezer safe dish such as a foil pan. When I do this, I usually double or triple wrap them to prevent freezer burn. Take them out the night before you want to cook and place them in the refrigerator. Cook as directed. There are times it may take 10-15 minutes longer if they did not defrost completely in the refrigerator.
🏷️ Freezer Labels
I am notorious for forgetting what I put in freezer bags. Inevitably, I will grab one and it won’t be easy to figure out what is inside. That’s never happened to you, right? Haha! To solve that problem, I created some editable freezer labels. Sign up below, and I will email them to you!
🍱 Meal Prep Ideas
Yes, this is freezer friendly but you can also make it meal prep friendly!
Make the sauce on Sunday, when you have time, and store it in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Make the sauce and simply freeze it in a freezer friendly Ziploc bag or container. Pull out when you want to make the rest of this recipe.
FAQ
Absolutely. We are little cost conscious and always look for a more economical option, which is the frozen version. Feel free to use fresh.
Of course. You can substitute 1:1 or you can even split up the cottage cheese and ricotta half and half. This recipe is great with flexibility.
Sure thing. Just like you would leftovers. Look at freezing them even in individual roll ups. I would make a little extra sauce for them as well.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 8 Lasagna Noodles
- 10 oz Frozen Chopped Spinach thawed and drained
- 15 oz Ricotta Cheese
- 1 Egg
- 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese divided
- ½ cup Parmesan Cheese shredded
- 3 tbsp Parsley chopped, divided
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Sauce
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Onion large, diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 28 oz Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
- 1 cup Water
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large pot, cook lasagna noodles according to package. Drain, lay each noodle flat over parchment paper.
Prepare the Sauce
- Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add onion and green bell pepper. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Sauce for five minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté for an additional two minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Mix in water. Reduce to medium low heat. Cover. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Make the Lasagna Rolls to Cook Right Now
- While the sauce cooks, prepare filling in a large bowl. Add spinach, ricotta cheese, one cup mozzarella, egg, two tbsp parsley and salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Spread 1 ½ cup of sauce over the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
- Evenly distribute filling over each lasagna noodle. Spoon a thin line of sauce over the center of the filling, leaving room at the ends. Roll lasagna noodles and place into baking dish.
- Spoon remaining sauce over center of lasagna roll ups. Sprinkle with remaining cheese over the center of each roll.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with remaining one tbsp parsley on top.
To Make Freezer Friendly Version
- Let the cooked lasagna rollups cool completely. Place them on a cookie sheet or baking dish so they’re not touching. Flash freeze for a couple of hours. Once they’re frozen enough to not stick together, transfer them to freezer bags. When you want an easy dinner, just grab one or two and reheat.
- Prepare the Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups as the directions above stated. Freeze them BEFORE you cook them using a freezer safe dish such as a foil pan. When I do this, I usually double or triple wrap them to prevent freezer burn. Take them out the night before you want to cook and place them in the refrigerator. Cook as directed. There are times it may take 10-15 minutes longer if they did not defrost completely in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
Bindi U says
Yum! making this again
Amber says
The steps mention an egg, but I don’t see this in the ingredients. Is it one egg?
Thanks!
Ginny says
Amber! Thank you so much! I appreciate readers just like you! Yes!! One egg! I fixed it and somehow it got missed through the editing. I appreciate you pointing it out so other readers don’t have the issue! Cheers! Ginny
Amanda says
Hi
Do you freeze before or after they have been cooked?
Cheers
Amanda
Janet says
What size jar of pasta?
Jillian says
Thanks for this recipe! I am a college student and I am trying to learn to cook. Delicious recipe, my boyfriend even liked it and he hates vegetables! I am excited to look through your blog for more recipes.
Jazmin Rode says
I’m so happy to hear that you guys enjoyed it, Jillian!
brooke says
How do you freeze them and how do you thaw them? Can you thaw them individually?
Anonymous says
What step do I stop at if I am planning on freezing them?
Jazmin Rode says
When I freeze them, I just complete the entire recipe as usual. I wait for them to cool, wrap them up and then place it in the freezer. I do it this way because we prefer to heat them up in the microwave for a quick lunch or dinner once frozen. We do add a tiny bit more sauce or splash a bit of water on the rolls before heating up since the sauce does dry up a tad.
I’m not sure if there’s a better way to go about it, since this is the way I’ve always done it.
Linda Loosli says
You make this look so easy to make! Great pictures! Thanks for stopping by Friday with Friends! Hugs! Linda
Linda Bouffard says
This is interesting and it looks delicious. Great work. I’ll link up with you also. Linda
Katie Nathey says
These look delish! Pinned 🙂
Alli Smith says
Your spinach lasagna rolls look scrumptious. Looking forward to your linky party!
Jazmin Rode says
You’re too kind, Alli!
Kalyn Brooke | Creative Savings says
How fun! Now just to decide which post to share….:)
Jazmin Rode says
Thanks for being so supportive Kalyn! I hope to see you there. 🙂
T.D. says
Setting an alarm now, I wanna snag an early spot on your fantabulous Link Party!! And for real, you are such a master chef. When I come to visit (yep this is gonna be a thing), I’m really looking forward to your home cooking.
Jazmin Rode says
Thanks, Trisha! I look forward to seeing your amazing posts! Also, OF COURSE it’s going to be thing. You are welcome any time and we can hit up HomeGoods like nobody’s business and pop some tags at Goodwill. 😉
Brynne Delerson says
These look delicious! Can’t wait to try them out!
Also, I’m really excited for your link party!!!
Jazmin Rode says
Thanks, Brynne. I’m excited for the link party too!
Kalea Lately says
I’ve only made lasagna rolls one time and oh my gosh – THE MESS!! Your filling doesn’t look as runny as mine though haha. I’ll throw them into my menu next week, they look yummy. I’m so stoked for your link party!
Jazmin Rode says
The mess is definitely no fun. Luckily these aren’t all that messy because the filling is a nice consistency. Send me a pic of yours when you make them! You can TOTALLY master these lasagna rolls. #yougotthis.