I make these lasagna roll ups more often than full lasagna now. Th it mostly comes down to time. A full tray of lasagna feels like a weekend project, but I can pull these off on a normal weeknight. It’s the same beef, ricotta, sauce, and cheese, just rolled into separate pieces instead of layered into a pan. They bake quicker too, since there’s no deep tray of layers to heat all the way through.

A close-up of a serving of cheesy Lasagna Roll Ups topped with marinara sauce and melted cheese, garnished with herbs, on a white plate. Another delicious lasagna roll ups recipe is visible in the background.

They also hold up better afterward. Each roll keeps its shape, so they reheat well the next day, and nobody’s piece falls apart on the way to the plate.

Ingredient Notes

Assorted lasagna ingredients on a countertop, perfect for creating classic lasagna or trying a delicious Lasagna Roll Ups recipe with noodles, ground beef, tomato sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic, onion, egg, and seasonings.

Check your ricotta before you mix it. If there’s water pooled on top when you peel back the lid, drain it in a strainer for a few minutes. Whatever water you leave in there ends up in your pan.
Buy a block of mozzarella and shred it yourself. The pre-shredded bags are coated in starch to keep the shreds loose, and that coating turns greasy when it melts and browns in blotchy spots. A block melts smoother and the top browns nice and even.
If you can’t find one big jar of marinara, just grab two smaller ones, or use about four and a half cups of homemade marinara sauce. Use the whole amount. There’s no need to hold any back, unless you want a little extra to spoon onto the plate when you serve.
If you’d like to substitute chicken for the protein, it’s my chicken lasagna roll ups you want.
I put these out with a pile of garlic bread to mop up the sauce left on the plate.

Don’t Miss This Step

Don’t overdo the filling. When you spread it thin it looks like nowhere near enough, so you’ll want to pile on more. Don’t. A thick blob in the middle squishes out the sides, and the roll pops open the second you start rolling. A thin layer right to the edges rolls up clean and stays shut.

Six lasagna noodles are lined up on a baking sheet, each topped with ricotta cheese and tomato sauce, showing the step-by-step process of making this tasty Lasagna Roll Ups recipe. — Most of the work is a short assembly line you set up once, with the noodles cooling flat, the meat sauce in one bowl, and the cheese filling in another. Once that is laid out, the rolling goes fast.

That ricotta filling is the same one I stuff into shells, so if rolling noodles feels fiddly, the shells get you to the same place with less of it.

Three Lasagna Roll Ups sit on a parchment-lined baking sheet. One roll-up is spilling out with ricotta cheese and tomato meat sauce, while the others remain neatly rolled—an irresistible lasagna roll ups recipe in the making.

Make-Ahead Guidelines

You can put the whole dish together a day ahead and just not bake it yet. Cover it well, stick it in the fridge, and it’ll keep for up to 24 hours. When you’re ready, bake it straight from the fridge. Cold like that, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Don’t watch just watch the clock though, pull it once it’s done. Once the sauce is bubbling around the edges of the dish, it’s hot all the way through.

A baked Lasagna Roll Ups dish in a white casserole, with a serving spoon lifting one cheesy piece. The lasagna is topped with melted cheese and herbs, surrounded by fresh parsley, grated cheese, a glass of water, and a serving plate.

You can freeze it unbaked too. Cover it well and it’s good for up to 3 months. When you want to cook it, you’ve got two choices. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and bake it like the make-ahead one above, or bake it straight from frozen. Frozen, it needs a good bit longer, more like 30 to 45 extra minutes, and keep the foil on for most of that so the middle heats through before the top burns. Already baked it? Those leftovers freeze for up to 3 months too. Just thaw them overnight in the fridge before you reheat.

And if you want these flavors without the rolling at all, baked ziti layers the same meat sauce and cheese and bakes in one dish.

Storage

These are best hot, right after the rest. Cold from the fridge the next day, the exposed noodle edges firm up and dry a little, so spoon a little extra sauce over each roll before you reheat. The sauce steams them back to soft instead of letting the edges turn leathery.

A close-up of a cheesy slice of lasagna being lifted from a baking dish, showing layers of pasta, meat sauce, and melted cheese—perfect inspiration for your next Lasagna Roll Ups recipe. More lasagna sits temptingly in the dish below.

Recipe Test Notes – Updated May 2026

I originally I reworked this from an older version. The main fix was swapping the part-skim cheeses for whole milk ricotta and whole milk mozzarella. The part-skim made the filling thinner and wetter, and that’s what kept flooding the pan. Whole milk firmed it right up. I also added a splash of Worcestershire to the meat for more flavor without more liquid to cook off.

Lasagna Roll Ups

5 from 6 votes

These lasagna roll ups are perfectly portioned for easy freezing and reheating and are sure to become a family favorite.

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 15

Servings roll ups

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Ingredients

12 lasagna noodles
1 pound ground beef (80/20 ground chuck used)
¾ cup sweet yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced (3 to 4 large cloves)
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend (divided into 1 teaspoon in the sauce and 1 teaspoon in the cheese mixture)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
40 ounces marinara sauce (Rao’s brand used)
15 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup parmesan cheese, grated (divided into ½ cup in the cheese mixture and ¼ cup for the top)
8 ounces block whole milk mozzarella cheese shredded (divided into ½ cup in the cheese mixture and 2 cups for the top) (yields approximately 2½ total cups)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, plus additional for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Rinse under cool water and drain.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, onions, and garlic. Cook for 5-7 minutes or just until the onions are translucent and the ground beef is no longer pink. Drain off all excess fat from the skillet.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and marinara sauce. Cook for 5-10 minutes or just until the sauce thickens slightly and no longer looks watery. Remove from the heat.
Spoon 1 cup of the sauce into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and spread evenly. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, egg, ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, ½ cup mozzarella cheese, parsley, and the remaining 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning until all the ingredients are well combined and the cheese mixture is smooth. Set aside.
Lay out 6 of the drained lasagna noodles onto the prepared baking sheet (working in batches).
Spoon approximately 3 tablespoons of the cheese mixture onto each of the lasagna noodles. You should have only used half of the cheese mixture at this point.
Spread the cheese mixture evenly down the length of each of the laid out lasagna noodles.
Top each of the lasagna noodles with 2 tablespoons of the sauce and carefully spread over the cheese layer.
Carefully roll each of the filled lasagna noodles and place seam side down into the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles, cheese mixture, and sauce.
Top the lasagna rolls with the remaining sauce, being sure to spread evenly over the noodles.
Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses evenly over the sauce.
Lightly spray the underside of a piece of aluminum foil with non-stick spray then tightly cover the baking dish, making sure the sprayed side faces the cheese. This will help ensure that the cheese does not stick to the foil while baking and will make for easy removal.
Bake for 30 minutes, remove the foil and finish baking for an additional 10-15 minutes. During the last 2-4 minutes, broil the cheese just until bubbly and lightly golden on top. Remove the lasagna rolls from the oven and allow them to rest for 5-8 minutes before garnishing with chopped fresh parsley and serving.