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Delicious lasagna rolls made using zucchini instead of pasta. A healthy, gluten free alternative with all the flavor of the traditional version!
Every once in a while I like to spend a little more time and effort making dinner. During the week I’m all about easy, fast recipes, because let’s be honest who wants to come home after a long day at work and have to spend a lot of time trying to get dinner on the table. Not me and I work from home!
The weekend however, especially Sunday, is a great time to try out a new recipe or cooking technique that you wouldn’t normally. This doesn’t mean spending hours in the kitchen, trust me I’d rather spend my afternoon out on a hike or bike ride, but it does mean spending more than 30 minutes.
These Zucchini Lasagna Rolls were not only a new recipe, but a new technique that I tried last weekend and I absolutely loved how they turned out!
I decided to use zucchini instead of pasta to make these lasagna rolls for a couple reasons. The biggest being that my garden is producing an insane amount of zucchini right now and I need to find ways to use it.
You might be thinking that using zucchini as a pasta replacement sounds like a lot of effort or maybe isn’t going to taste very good, but I actually found it to be a great healthy substitute.
It actually took less time for me to cut the zucchini into planks and grill it (you could roast it as well) until it was soft and pliable, than it would have taken to cook the pasta. As far as flavor, no it is not pasta so don’t go into it thinking that it is.
However, zucchini has a very mild neutral flavor and when it’s rolled up with ricotta and Italian sausage, topped with marinara sauce and melted mozzarella, you hardly even notice you’re eating a vegetable!
I kept the filling for these lasagna rolls on the lighter side by using part skim ricotta and low fat cottage cheese instead of whole milk ricotta. I stuck the ricotta and cottage cheese along with my seasonings, some parmesan cheese, and fresh herbs in the blender and blended it until smooth.
Along with filling the zucchini lasagna rolls with the ricotta mixture I also added a some pieces of crumbled Italian turkey sausage. If you want to keep it vegetarian, just omit it.
Once the zucchini planks were filled and rolled I topped them with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese then baked them just until the cheese was melted and they were warmed through. It was the perfect lightened up, vegetable packed lasagna, and a great way to use my garden fresh zucchini.
Zucchini Lasagna Rolls
Ingredients
Ricotta Filling
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 4 ounces low fat cottage cheese
- 3 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- Black pepper to taste
Other Ingredients:
- 2 large zucchini, cut lengthwise into 8 (1/4 inch thick) slices
- 1 link mild Italian turkey sausage, cooked and crumbled
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Ricotta Filling
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
Grilled Zucchini
- Heat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat. While the grill is heating, slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick planks.
- Spray with cooking spray or brush with oil both sides of the zucchini planks, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the zucchini on the hot grill and cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until the zucchini is soft and pliable. Remove from the grill and cool until they can be handled.
Assembling the Zucchini Lasagna Rolls
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Spray a 10.5 x 7 inch casserole dish or similar size with cooking spray. Spread a 1/4 cup of the marinara sauce evenly over the bottom of the dish.
- Blot any excess liquid off of the cooled planks of zucchini with paper towels. Spoon about a tablespoon of the ricotta filling onto one side of the zucchini and spread it into an even layer. Sprinkle a few of the cooked sausage crumbles on top of the filling.
- Roll up the zucchini and place them seam side down in the casserole dish. Top the zucchini rolls with the remaining marinara sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes
- If your cottage cheese and ricotta are on the watery side, I suggest draining the excess liquid from them prior to blending the filling.
- Refrigerating the ricotta filling for 30-60 minutes helps it firm up.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Italian Recipes:
Vegetarian Lasagna Soup
Turkey and Spinach Spaghetti Squash Lasagna
Hi! Should I measure the cheese in weighted ounces, or in fluid ounces?
Hi Sarah, I would use weighted ounces to measure the cheese.
Do you have any of the nutritional information available for this recipe? We tried it for dinner last night and couldn’t stop raving about! Now I’d like to include it in my daily tracking app to monitor my lifestyle changes/results. Thanks!
Hi Theresa, thanks for trying the zucchini lasagna rolls and I’m so happy to hear you liked them! I’m sorry to say at this time I don’t calculate the nutritional information for my recipes, but I’ve heard that MyFitnessPal has a great calculator for figuring that out.
I really love zucchini in lasagna and love the idea of these noodle-less rolls! These look so beautiful, love all that melty cheese on top. Awesome sounding recipe!
Thanks Alex! The zucchini was a great substitute for the pasta and all the cheese on top of course made it that much more delicious!
I absolutely luv what you’ve done with the zucchini for these lasagna rolls. It looks so elegant and I really like substituting the squash for the noodles – I don’t feel so sluggishly full after a meal and a good way to use up that summer harvest and get more veggies in a dish. Luv it! ;)
Thanks Cristina! The zucchini definitely doesn’t give you that sluggish feeling the way pasta sometimes can.
Dear Danae, I love your healthy gf alternative. This sounds so good…light and delicious. Pinning for later. xo, Catherine
Thanks Catherine! :-)
This is such a clever twist on a classic dish! Love it! :)
Thanks Rachel! :-)
What a fabulous way to cook up and eat zucchini. I have a lot of it on hand at the moment and always am looking for new and creative recipes to use it up on. So thanks Danae!
Thanks Thalia! I think there are a lot of us with surplus zucchini right now, so the more recipes the better!
I have yet to try zucchini lasagna rolls but I need to. It such a great alternative to regular lasagna.
They are a great alternative Julia, especially if you are looking for something lighter or have a ton of excess zucchini like I do!
Oh my gosh! If I made these they would look like one giant mess. It’s beautiful friend!
Thanks Beth! They would be beautiful if you made them, you are so talented!
This looks beautiful! Thanks for the recipe. From a pasta lover, thanks for pointing out that the zucchini will not turn out the same as pasta. But zucchini is great in its own way! (Ironic because I just posted my own lasagna recipe) :)
There really is no substitute for pasta, but like you said it’s great in it’s own way. Thank you!
Look delicious, what machine can use to make the noodles and the lasagna. Please, I need buy onr
Hi Minerva. For this recipe I actually just cut the zucchini into planks with my knife. For spiralizing zucchini and other vegetables I use the KitchenAid Spiralizer attachment. If you don’t have a KitchenAid stand mixer or are looking for something less expensive I used to use the Paderno Spiralizer.