Flavorful vegetarian Zucchini Lasagna Roll-Ups with Spinach, Ricotta and Basil, baked in flavorful tomato sauce. Low-carb and gluten-free, these can easily be made vegan ( see recipe notes)! With a Video
In the midst of the chaos when the wind is howling I hear the ancient song of the ones who went before and know that peace will come. ~ Anonymous~
Zucchini is prolific this time of year but by now, many of us are completely zucchini’d out. This recipe for Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups with Spinach and Basil will hopefully change that! Think of this like lasagna or cannelloni but without the pasta, a low-carb vegetarian alternative that highlights summer produce. Fragrant summer basil permeates the dish and gives it such delicious flavor. If you are looking for more of a Zucchini Lasagna go here:Zucchini Lasagna!
Zucchini Lasagna Roll-Ups | video
How to make Zucchini Roll-Ups
Long thin slices of zucchini are either grilled (or roasted) then spread with a flavorful ricotta-spinach-basil mixture. (Feel free to use vegan tofu ricotta.) They are rolled up and bathed in tomato sauce and baked until warm and delicious. Keep them lean or add melty mozzarella. Smoked mozzarella boosts the yumminess factor, so if you can find it, use it! (Hint: Trader Joes has some – and while you are at it, feel free to use their organic marinara sauce to save time.) You can also make homemade Marinara Sauce!
And keep in mind, you can always use vegan cheese.
The key to making the Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups as easy as possible is selecting zucchini that is uniform in size, relatively straight, as in not curved, 7-8 inches long and at least 2-3 inches wide. This will make the rolling easier and help the filling stay in. Any narrower will be challenging . . . not impossible mind you, just not as easy. Today I used narrower curved zucchini and it wasn’t quite as easy as it normally is, but still doable.
Use a mandolin or cu the zucchini into ¼ inch slices. Lightly brush or spray with olive oil, and either grill or roast until tender enough to roll. Grilling seems to add more flavor.
After grilling, cover with foil for a bit so it steams through and becomes more tender.
Saute shallot and garlic for the filling and wilt the spinach.
Stir the ricotta filling up with an egg and add fresh basil. To the filling, you could add pine nuts, sautéed mushrooms, fresh corn, etc.
You can also substitute this vegan Tofu Ricotta!
Spread the spinach spinach and ricotta filling over the grilled zucchini and start rolling with the narrower end or more unsightly end.
Place rolls over a generous layer of marinara, and spoon a little marinara over top.
This Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce would be tasty here!
At this point you could add melty cheese, like mozzarella or in this case, smoked mozzarella, or leave it off for a lighter, yet still flavorful version.
Or use a vegan cheese! This brand Daiya makes a mozzarella cheese that actually melts it is becoming more and more available!
Bake for 20 minutes.
And voila, when it comes out, it will make you very happy.
Feel free to make it ahead, refrigerate and bake. Or bake and refrigerate.
Garnish with more basil and serve with a salad.
More Healthy Zucchini Recipes
Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups with Spinach and Basil
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main, vegetarian, low-carb
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
A simple recipe for Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups (aka, Zucchini Rollatini) with Spinach and Basil, a flavorful vegetarian entree that highlights the best of summer ingredients. Low-carb and Vegan Adaptable! | www.feastingathome.com
Ingredients
- 3 large zucchini (7– 8 inches long, 2–3 inches wide, straight as possible.)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1 shallot, diced
- 3 ounces spinach (a big, giant handful)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese ( or sub vegan ricotta)
- 2 ounces grated mozzarella cheese ( 1/2 cup), smoked mozzarella is really good here
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup basil, chopped, or ribbons
- pinch of chili flakes, optional
- l-2 teaspoons lemon zest, optional
- 2 cups marinara sauce ( store-bought-Trader Joe’s Organic Marinara is good- or homemade)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 F, and set grill to high heat (if grilling)
Trim both ends of zucchini and thinly slice into ¼ inch wide, vertical slices. Aim for twelve. Very lightly brush with olive oil, and either place on a parchment lined sheet pan and roast, or grill each side (turning the grill down to medium). Grill or roast until tender and pliable. Test one by trying to roll it up. If grilling, it helps to cover the zucchini after grilling with foil, so it steams slightly.
While the zucchini is roasting or grilling, make the filling. Saute the garlic and shallot in olive oil over medium heat, careful not to burn. Once golden, add the spinach, stir, lower heat, cover for a moment, and let it wilt. Add this to a bowl with the ricotta, mozzerella, egg, salt and pepper and the basil. Stir and some chili flakes and lemon zest if you like.
Place one cup marinara in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Spread each zucchini slice with the ricotta mixture, and gently roll up, placeing them seam side down in the baking dish over the marina. Top with a dollop of marinara and more mozzarella (optional) and cover with foil and bake at 400 F for 15- 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 5-10 more minutes, or until cheese is melty and golden.
Before serving, sprinkle with fresh basil ribbons.
Notes
The grill gives the zucchini great flavor!
Feel free to add your creative embellishments to the filling- toasted pine nuts, goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms, etc.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: - with ricotta and mozzarella
- Calories: 440
- Sugar: 13.5 g
- Sodium: 995 mg
- Fat: 24.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.6 g
- Fiber: 4.1 g
- Protein: 24 g
- Cholesterol: 88.8 mg
Just made this recipe and a vegan version: it was both delicious! The sautéed spinach and shallots made a huge difference and added a nice texture to the lasagna!
Awesome Nina! Love that you made it vegan!
I made this recipe for the first time and my family loved it. My daughter took the recipe back to university with her. It was fun to roll up the zuchinni and it was surprisingly easy. Will make this again.
Awesome Bonnie- glad you liked it!
I used two courgettes and layered it all like a lasagne, coked for much longer and served with salads and Mayo. So tasty
Thanks Zoe! Glad you enjoyed this.
Fabulous amazing delicious My vegan guests loved it I’ll make it over and over and not get tired of it. I partnered it with vegan ricotta which is another amazing recipe
I would rate is as a big 10
Awesome Carmelita!! thanks so much!
How much would you say is considered 1 serving?
Two rolls. 🙂
Great dish to make make for company. It looks beautiful plated and is definitely a crowd pleaser! The only change I made, is to use one more zucchini strip crosswise. It helps keep the filling in and it look neater. Recipe is a winner!
Great dish to make make for company. It looks beautiful plated and is definitely a crowd pleaser! The only change I made, is to use one more zucchini strip crosswise. It helps keep the filling in and it look neater. Recipe is a winner!
Thanks so much Matty!
I’m Italian and love fresh pasta noodles. However, this recipe is a great low carb recipes and the zucchini as an enhanced ingredient.
I will make the zucchini corn bread recipe this fall!
awesome!
This is delicious! Love your recipes. They are always so good. Thank you so much for sharing them!!
Hello! I am thinking about making this with leftover tofu ricotta but I was wondering if I need to mix it with an egg and mozzarella or if you suggest something else? I am trying to make the dish vegan! Thank you!
Hi Jessica, skip the egg and add vegan cheese?
This is the most consistently good blog on the net. Amazing talent!
I agree!! I have 20 tabs of FAH’s recipes open. I want to make them all!
Haha! thanks Taya!
I made this recipe for the 2nd time last night. It is a keeper!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this wonderful recipe for the second time last night having put this one in my repeating menu. Thank you so much.
Hi Sylvia,
Just wanted to leave a quick note. I discovered your blog a few months back and have loved every recipe I’ve made. Thank you for always having great vegan/vegetarian recipes or substitutions. Thank you for sharing your talents with the world!
Best,
Heather
thanks Heather- really appreciate this!
My goodness I loved this recipe! I didn’t have any ricotta and used cottage cheese instead and used immersion blender to make smooth (threw in the egg and mozzarella at same time). I’m only mentioning what I did for informational purposes in case someone else doesn’t have ricotta on hand. The flavors of this dish are restaurant quality for sure.
The marinara must be a good one to bring out all the flavors which result in a fabulous dish.
Next time I will use the slices and layer the casserole. Rolling up those zucchini slices makes for a cute and impressive presentation, but takes too much work and time for me.
Thank you for the recipe Sylvia and beautiful photos. So glad I found your blog!
Made this last night. It was really terrific. My husband said “it’s a keeper.” The only thing is that my zucchini were quite small (only about 1 inch in diameter and maybe 5 inches long). I ended up not rolling them but just laid them flat in the pan and put the ricotta mixture on top and then the spinach (and i sauteed mushrooms) mixture on top of that and then smothered with the great roasted tomato sauce recipe and grated mozzarella. It was really spectacular. I think next time I may do more zucchini and more of the mixtures and do layers of zucchini, rather than rolling them. (Although your photos of the rolled zucchini look amazing!). Thanks for sharing!
Perfect, so it was like lasagna- love that, so much easier with small zucchini. 🙂
You have changed my life and made cooking fun! After being married for 37 years, it took Covid and your cooking & eating style (introduction to you through good friends who have ALWAYS loved cooking) to inspire, energize, and excite me to cook!!! Since my husband I eat so differently, I never enjoyed cooking. He loves meat (too much, in my humble opinion) and although I’m not a professed vegetarian, I do not need to eat meat even once a week, just every now and then. After reading your blog, with recommendations of ideas from you to try from my friend, and then finally seeing your beautiful pictures, I began trying some of your recipes. Now, I AM HOOKED! Beside some eating the wholesome goodness, my favorite part of all is the chopping and prep. with each meal. I love the way you put flavors together with all the seasonings and spices. You have made me into the cook I need to be for my husband. Thank you, Sylvia and Feasting at home!
Awww, you are so sweet Lydia and this makes me so happy. I’m glad you are enjoying cooking again!!! xoxo
This dish was DELICIOUS!
I used four “oven ready” lasagne sheets instead of zucchini – Orti D’Italia marinara sauce, mixed spinach with arugula, added pine nuts and sauteed crimini mushrooms in the filling. Added a little more lemon zest and salt as well.
SO Good. Thank you 🙏
I’ve made this recipe twice now. Second time making it, I sat and waited, mouth watering to eat it. It is so delicious!! I added fresh Summer sweet corn to the ricotta filling as a suggested option. The sweet corn, with the lemon zest and pop of a few chili flakes is Just heaven! I will make this for years to come. It’s a fav!
Awesome Mila, thanks so much and glad you like it! 🙌
Great recipe, the optional lemon zest is so good in this dish. Tasted amazing and beautiful presentation, will be making again soon!
Awsome Megan!
Can this be made ahead of time and frozen?
Hey Chad, truthfully I’m not sure? haven’t tried freezing and not sure how the zucchini would hold up- my fear is it would get too watery? If you do freeze it, will you let me know so I can add to recipe notes?
Fantastic. Will absolutely make again. Getting overwhelmed with the amount of zucchini and squash we’re growing and this is a great addition to our go to Zuke/squash recipes. Used this as more of a guideline (as I tend to do with recipes): salted the zucchini instead of grilling or roasting, and used goat cheese. Made this dish for a particular diner and it was a hit!
Wow! Just wow! I had some friends over for dinner last night and all their plates were almost licked clean. I made 16 zucchini rolls instead of 12 so that we had 4 each.
In addition I made some small fennel sausage meatballs to go with the dish, as there was plenty of delicious sauce to go around.
We loved this one! Super quick and delicious! Great for leftovers! Paired with the everyday kale salad as well!
Thanks Jen, we love this one too! Great idea to pair with the EVERYDAY KALE SLAW!
Absolutely delicious! My whole family loved it. What store bought marinara sauce do you recommend using?
I really like Trader Joes Organic Marinara!