Easy, Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups is the best recipe for veggie rolls stuffed with ricotta, cream cheese, and meat. This dish is low carb and keto-friendly and smothered in marinara and gooey melted cheese. You can serve this cheesy meal with zucchini noodles if you prefer.
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Who says lasagna is off-limits if you want to ditch the carbs? This recipe replaces standard lasagna pasta noodles with zucchini. It is a great way to sneak in a nutritious green vegetable. This dish is also perfect for meal prep, weeknight dinners, and freezer meals.
If you need a good zucchini breakfast dish to pair, check out my Keto Low Carb Zucchini Bread.
Table of Contents
How to Slice Strips for Zucchini Roll Ups
Use a mandolin. It's truly the easiest and safest way to slice into zucchini. Be careful with your mandolin. Always use the guide that comes with it to avoid slicing your fingers or hand.
Place the zucchini horizontal on the mandolin to slice.
How Do You Make Ricotta for Zucchini Roll Ups
For the filling for the rolls I use ricotta, cream cheese, basil, an egg, and Italian Seasoning.
How to Make Zucchini Roll Ups
- Slice the zucchini using a mandolin.
- Allow the zucchini to rest and drain excess water.
- Brown ground beef in a skillet with onions and garlic.
- Line a baking dish with Rao's Marinara.
- Combine ricotta cheese, an egg, cream cheese, basil, Parmesan, Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper in a bowl with the cooked ground beef.
- Spoon the mixture onto the zucchini slices and roll.
- Place the roll ups in the baking dish.
- Cover with additional Rao's Marinara and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake.
Carbs in Zucchini
1 cup of zucchini has 4 total carbs, and 3 net carbs. The carbs are relatively low.
Why Is My Lasagna Watery?
You will need to allow the zucchini to release excess moisture before cooking. I salt the zucchini and allow it to rest on paper towels for 30 minutes. You can read more about How Do You Make Sure Lasagna is Not Watery here.
Freezer Tips
You can freeze the lasagna for up to 3 months. Thaw completely, before reheating.
Be sure to check out my zucchini recipes like Keto Low Carb Zucchini Noodle Shrimp Alfredo, Keto Low Carb Mediterranean Shrimp Zucchini, Zucchini Noodle Pasta Salad, and Keto Low Carb Taco Zucchini Boats.
More Keto Low-Carb Recipes
Keto Low-Carb Cheeseburger Casserole
Keto Low-Carb Philly Cheesesteak Casserole
Spinach and Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken
Keto Low-Carb Bacon, Egg, Cheese Breakfast Casserole
Easy, Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds zucchini (about 3-4 zucchini)
- 1 pound ground beef I use organic, grass-fed.
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning 1 teaspoon for the ground beef and 1 teaspoon for the ricotta mixture
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan Reggiano cheese
- 3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 1 ½ cups Rao's Marinara sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Remove Excess Water From the Zucchini
- Place the zucchini strips on paper towels or cheese cloth. Sprinkle kosher salt throughout. Allow the zucchini to stand for 30 minutes and sweat out excess moisture. After 30 minutes, squeeze the zucchini to remove excess water.
Ground Beef
- Place a skillet on medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions and ground beef to the skillet.
- Season the beef with 1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Break down the ground beef into small chunks. I like to use this meat chopper.
- When the ground beef is no longer pink, add the garlic and stir.
- Remove the skillet from heat and drain any excess fat.
- Add 1 cup of marinara sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Spread throughout.
Lasagna Filling
- Place the beaten egg, ricotta cheese, cream cheese, parmesan reggiano, basil, 1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Add in the ground beef mixture and stir.
- Spread the ricotta and ground beef mixture onto each of the zucchini slices. Place the mixture at the bottom of each zucchini strip. Focusing on the bottom will make them easier to roll. Then roll them up and place them in the baking dish.
- Spread the remaining ½ cup of marinara over the roll-ups and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cheese bubbles.
Video
Notes
- Makes 26-30 total zucchini rolls.
- If you find the zucchini is hard to roll you can pan sear them for a few minutes or grill them first, to get them to soften up. I found it was easy to roll them without first cooking them.
- While rolling the zucchini, some of the filling may ooze the sides, I pushed this back inside and continued to mold the roll-up. You can secure the roll ups with toothpicks if you wish.
- Zucchini is a vegetable filled with lots of water. It's impossible to remove all of the water from the veggie. Allowing it to sweat out moisture using salt, and sitting for 30 minutes will help a ton.
- You can substitute or omit the ricotta cheese with anything you choose if you wish.
Nutrition (displayed with net carbs)
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Trista says
I love making this recipe on Sundays and having it for lunch all week long. I don't have a mandolin slicer so my zucchini slices aren't always sliced well enough to roll up, so when that happens I lay them flat like regular lasagna noodles. If I have the time, I will let the zucchini slices sit out longer than the 30 minutes. Using kosher salt like Brandi suggests to dry the zucchini out works like a charm!
staysnatched says
So glad the salt trick works!
Trish says
This one was a big hit for a family gathering this weekend. The salt trick works like a charm! I do it all the time for eggplant but hadn’t thought to try it for zucchini before. Get a mandolin! They’re inexpensive and so handy. The leftovers were just as delicious as the freshly made dish.
staysnatched says
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Tgold says
Can this be prepared a day earlier and baked the next day?
staysnatched says
I have never tried that. If you try it let me know.
Gail Neff says
Well, I need to buy some cloth....I used way too many paper towels to make this recipe and zucchini noodles were all over the kitchen! I was surprised how long it took me to make this...too long. My family loved it, however.
staysnatched says
It sounds like you need more practice. That will cut down on the time once you have the process down.
Sharan A says
This is one of my favourite recipes. It's so versatile. I've made is with ground beef, chicken, turkey, and even pork. I've also changed up the seasoning, while sticking to Brandi's steps, and made a Mexican flavoured lasagna which was equally as delicious!
staysnatched says
That sounds so good!
Nek C says
Another great recipe! I’m not a fan of regular lasagna, but THIS was delicious and fun to make. We would use this recipe again in the future, especially for gathering.
staysnatched says
I'm glad to hear you will make it again.