These Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups take everything you love about lasagna - creamy ricotta, tomato sauce, and melty vegan cheese - and wrap it up in a crispy golden coating.
The lasagna sheets are filled, rolled, briefly frozen to help them hold their shape, then breaded and fried until crunchy on the outside with a warm, cheesy center. Serve them with marinara for dipping and you’ve basically turned lasagna into finger food. I’m very much on board.
They’re fun enough for a party or appetizer, but pair them with a salad or roasted vegetables and they work just as well for dinner.
Jump to:
- ❤️ Why You’ll Love These Lasagna Roll Ups
- 🍝 The Trick to Lasagna Rolls That Hold Together
- 🌱 Ingredients & Notes
- 🧑🍳 How to Make Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups
- 🔥 Frying vs Baking vs Air Frying
- 🍽️ Serving Ideas
- 💡 Tips for the Best Lasagna Roll Ups
- 🔄 Easy Filling Variations
- ❓ Frequently Asked Questions
- ❄️ Storage & Reheating
- 🔜 More Vegan Comfort Food Recipes
- 📖 Recipe Card
❤️ Why You’ll Love These Lasagna Roll Ups
- Crispy outside, creamy inside. The seasoned breadcrumb coating gives you plenty of crunch around the soft lasagna filling.
- They’re surprisingly simple to assemble. If you can roll a lasagna sheet, you can make these.
- Perfect for dipping. Warm marinara, pesto, or your favorite tomato sauce works brilliantly alongside.
- Easy to customize. Add spinach, roasted vegetables, pesto, or your favorite vegan cheese to change up the filling.
- You can prep them ahead. Assemble the rolls in advance and chill or freeze them before coating and cooking.
🍝 The Trick to Lasagna Rolls That Hold Together
The short freeze is probably the most important step in this recipe.
Freshly rolled lasagna sheets are soft, and the ricotta, tomato sauce, and cheese make the center quite slippery. Giving the assembled rolls about 45 minutes in the freezer firms everything up enough that they’re much easier to coat without unraveling.
You’re not trying to freeze them completely solid - just firm them up.
It also helps to avoid overfilling the pasta. Leave a small border around the edges when you spread on the ricotta and tomato sauce, then roll fairly tightly without squeezing the filling out.
🌱 Ingredients & Notes
You only need a handful of familiar ingredients to turn regular lasagna sheets into crispy little parcels.
Lasagna sheets - Cook them until flexible but still with a little bite. Overcooked sheets are much more likely to tear when you roll them.
Vegan ricotta - This makes up the creamy base of the filling. Store-bought works perfectly, or use your favorite homemade vegan ricotta.
Tomato sauce - A smooth marinara or tomato pasta sauce works best here. Avoid anything excessively chunky, as it can make the rolls harder to keep together.
Vegan cheese - Use a shredded mozzarella-style cheese that melts well. You only need a little in each roll.
Plant milk and flour - These form the wet and dry layers that help the breadcrumbs stick. Choose an unsweetened, neutral-flavored plant milk.
Breadcrumbs - These give the lasagna rolls their crunchy exterior. I like seasoning them with Italian herbs, nutritional yeast, and paprika so the coating has plenty of flavor on its own.
Oil for frying - Use a neutral oil suitable for frying.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredient quantities and measurements.
🧑🍳 How to Make Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups
1. Cook the lasagna sheets
Boil the pasta until just tender and flexible. Drain and rinse briefly with cold water, then lay the sheets flat so they don’t stick together.
2. Fill and roll
Spread each sheet with a thin layer of vegan ricotta, followed by tomato sauce and shredded vegan cheese.
Leave a little space around the edges, then roll each sheet up tightly.
3. Freeze briefly
Arrange the rolls on a tray without letting them touch and freeze for about 45 minutes.
This firms the filling and makes the rolls much easier to bread.
4. Set up the coating
Add the plant milk, flour, and seasoned breadcrumbs to three separate shallow bowls.
Mix the Italian seasoning, nutritional yeast, and paprika into the breadcrumbs.
5. Bread the rolls
Dip each chilled roll into:
plant milk → flour → plant milk → breadcrumbs
Press the breadcrumbs on gently so the entire surface is coated.
6. Fry until golden
Cook the rolls in hot oil, turning as needed, until crisp and golden on all sides.
Transfer them to a paper-towel-lined plate or wire rack to drain briefly, then serve while they’re still hot and crunchy.
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🔥 Frying vs Baking vs Air Frying
Frying gives these lasagna rolls the deepest golden color and crispiest coating, so that’s my preferred method.
You can also bake or air fry them if you’d rather use less oil. Spray the breaded rolls lightly with cooking oil before cooking and turn them partway through so the coating browns more evenly.
One important note: if you haven’t tested the exact baking and air-frying times yet, I’d leave precise timings out of the post and recipe card until you have. “200°C / 390°F until golden, turning halfway” is useful as a general alternative, but exact tested timings would make that advice much stronger.
🍽️ Serving Ideas
These are best served hot and freshly cooked, while the breadcrumb coating is at its crispiest.
Try them with:
- Warm marinara or tomato sauce for dipping
- Vegan pesto
- Fresh basil or parsley
- Grated vegan parmesan
- A simple green salad
- Roasted vegetables
For a party or appetizer, you can also cut larger rolls in half and serve them with a small bowl of sauce for dipping.
💡 Tips for the Best Lasagna Roll Ups
- Don’t overcook the pasta. The sheets should be flexible enough to roll without becoming overly soft or fragile.
- Keep the filling fairly thin. Too much ricotta or sauce makes the rolls harder to close and more likely to leak while frying.
- Don’t skip the freezer. Those 45 minutes make the breading process considerably easier.
- Press the breadcrumbs on firmly. Pay particular attention to the ends and seam of each roll.
- Fry in batches. Crowding the pan lowers the oil temperature and can leave the coating greasy rather than crisp.
- Serve them straight away. Like most fried food, these are at their best when freshly cooked.
🔄 Easy Filling Variations
Once you’ve got the basic technique down, there are plenty of ways to change up the filling.
Try adding:
- Sautéed spinach
- Finely chopped roasted mushrooms
- Roasted peppers
- Vegan pesto
- Chopped fresh basil
- A little vegan parmesan
- Vegan mince or crumbled sausage
Just keep any additions relatively dry. Excess moisture can make the rolls harder to seal and can soften the crispy coating from the inside.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can assemble the filled rolls ahead of time and keep them chilled until you’re ready to coat and cook them. You can also use the short freezing step as part of your prep and bread them closer to serving time.
Yes. Use gluten-free lasagna sheets, gluten-free flour, and gluten-free breadcrumbs. Just be careful when handling gluten-free pasta sheets, as some varieties can be more fragile once cooked.
Yes. Lightly spray the breaded rolls with oil and bake at 200°C / 390°F until golden and crisp, turning partway through. The texture won’t be exactly the same as fried, but you’ll still get a crunchy breadcrumb coating.
Yes. Spray the coated rolls lightly with oil and air fry at 200°C / 390°F, turning halfway through, until crisp and golden. Cook them in a single layer with a little space between each roll so the hot air can circulate properly.
Marinara is the obvious choice and reinforces those classic lasagna flavors. Vegan pesto, garlic sauce, or even a creamy tomato dip also work really well.
❄️ Storage & Reheating
Store leftover cooked lasagna roll ups in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
The coating will soften during storage, so I recommend reheating them in the oven or air fryer rather than the microwave.
How to Reheat
Place the rolls in a preheated oven or air fryer and heat until piping hot and crisp again.
Avoid microwaving where possible it heats the filling quickly but tends to make the breadcrumb coating soft.
🔜 More Vegan Comfort Food Recipes
If you loved these crispy lasagna rolls, you might also like:
Did you make this recipe? If so, will you do me a huge favor and leave a review and star rating & let me know how you liked this recipe? THANK YOU! ❤️
Here's a handy recipe card that you can print out and keep in your kitchen for easy reference:
📖 Recipe Card
Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
For the Lasagna Rolls:
- 8 lasagna sheets
- 3.5 oz vegan ricotta cheese 100g
- ⅓ cup tomato sauce or marinara 80 ml
- 8 tablespoons shredded vegan cheese
For the Coating:
- 1 cup plant milk 240 ml, unsweetened
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 120g
- 2 cups breadcrumbs 110g
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika powder
- neutral oil for frying, e.g. canola oil
To Serve, Optional
- marinara sauce warm
- fresh basil or parsley
- vegan parmesan grated
Instructions
Prepare the Lasagna Rolls
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the lasagna sheets until just tender and flexible, taking care not to overcook them.
- Drain and briefly rinse the pasta with cold water. Lay the sheets flat on a clean work surface so they don’t stick together.
- Spread each lasagna sheet with a thin layer of vegan ricotta, followed by tomato sauce and about 1 tablespoon shredded vegan cheese. Leave a small border around the edges.
- Roll each lasagna sheet up fairly tightly without squeezing the filling out.
- Arrange the rolls on a tray in a single layer and freeze for 45 minutes, until firm but not completely frozen.
Prepare the Coating
- Add the plant milk, flour, and breadcrumbs to three separate shallow bowls.
- Stir the Italian seasoning, nutritional yeast, and paprika into the breadcrumbs.
- Dip each chilled lasagna roll into the plant milk, then flour, then plant milk again, and finally the seasoned breadcrumbs. Press the breadcrumbs gently onto the surface so the roll is evenly coated.
Fry the Lasagna Rolls
- Add enough neutral oil to a large skillet to generously cover the base and heat over medium to medium-high heat.
- Working in batches, fry the lasagna rolls until golden and crisp on all sides, turning carefully as needed.
- Transfer to a wire rack or paper-towel-lined plate to drain briefly.
- Serve hot with marinara sauce, fresh herbs, and vegan parmesan if desired.
Notes
- Don’t overcook the pasta: The lasagna sheets should be flexible enough to roll but still hold their shape. Very soft pasta is more likely to tear.
- Don’t overfill: Keep the layers of ricotta, tomato sauce, and cheese relatively thin so the rolls are easy to close and less likely to leak during cooking.
- Freezing: The 45-minute freeze firms up the filling and helps the rolls hold together while you coat and fry them. They don’t need to be frozen completely solid.
- Gluten-free: Use gluten-free lasagna sheets, gluten-free all-purpose flour, and gluten-free breadcrumbs.
- Baking option: Lightly spray the breaded rolls with oil and bake at 390°F (200°C) until golden and crisp, turning halfway through.
- Air fryer option: Spray lightly with oil and air fry at 390°F (200°C) in a single layer until crisp and golden, turning halfway through.
- Storage: Store leftover cooked rolls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- Reheating: Reheat in the oven or air fryer until piping hot and crisp. Microwaving works for reheating but will soften the breadcrumb coating.
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