These Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls are the perfect fall and winter season comfort food. This lasagna recipe starts with a tasty spinach, ricotta, Parmesan and herb filling that’s stuffed into tenderly cooked lasagna noodles. The lasagna rolls are slathered with a brown butter Parmesan butternut squash sauce that is sweetened with the perfect hint of brown sugar, cinnamon, sage, and nutmeg. Lastly, top it off with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, fresh herbs, and toasted walnuts and bake at 350F for delicious fall dinner perfection.
You’ll definitely be asking for seconds!
Reasons to LOVE Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls
There are so many reasons to love this butternut squash lasagna roll recipe, but here are just a few:
- Veggie-loaded – between the full bag of spinach and entire pound of butternut squash, this recipe is loaded with veggies. Plus, with no meat, it’s perfect for Meatless Mondays.
- Comfort food – this recipe is sinfully good and the ultimate cozy comfort food during the changing seasons. Plus, we cut back on the cheese (compared to other lasagna recipes) and opted for lower-fat ricotta to cut fat content and empty calories without skimping on the flavor.
- Brown butter – perfectly browned butter is a game changer. It adds a nutty depth to the butternut squash sauce that cannot be matched by any other mix-in, seasoning, or herb. It’s sort of the MVP of this dish. (If you’re a fan of browned butter and butternut squash combos, we highly recommend trying butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter.)
- Perfect dish for fall/winter/holidays – butternut squash is living it’s best life during the fall, making it a delicious and peak-season fresh and nutritious vegetable to incorporate during the fall and winter. Plus, this scrumptious dish is perfect for bringing to Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, Christmas, random potlucks, you name it. There’s never not a good time for butternut squash lasagna.
- Customizable produce and seasonings– one of the best thins about this dish is all the ways you can switch it up! Swap in acorn squash for butternut squash. Toss in your favorite protein, like chicken sausage, crumbled bacon, shredded rotisserie chicken, or ground beef. Garnish with dried cranberries, figs, or apricots to lean into the sweetness of butternut squash. Or change up the seasonings. Make it more savory by removing the the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and adding in Italian seasonings, like oregano, fennel seeds, or more basil. Sprinkle in some paprika for a little smokiness or onion powder and mustard powder for a little more depth. Replace vegetable broth with low-fat or 2% milk to make an even creamier sauce.
- Make it traditional – don’t feel like lasagna rolls? Make it traditional by layering noodles, spinach filling, noodles, and butternut squash sauce. Maybe even sprinkle in a little extra mozzarella. Then rinse and repeat.
- Make it gluten-free – opt for lasagna noodles that are made from brown rice, chickpeas, or other gluten free noodles to make this recipe easily gluten-free.
- Make it vegan/plant-based – this recipe is also super easy to make vegan/plant-based, now that plant-based options are more readily available. Omit the egg and Swap out animal-based cheeses with plant-based cheeses. Plant-based mozzarella is available in a lot of stores (Great Value, Follow Your Heart, So Delicious, Miyokos are just a few options). Kate Hill makes a mean almond-milk ricotta that is to die for or make your own with Minimalist Baker’s almond ricotta. And nutritional yeast is an old stand in for Parmesan and you can also try cashew-based parm from brands like Follow Your Heart, Go Veggie, and Good Plant.
Tips for Making the PERFECT Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Don’t overcook the noodles. Follow the instructions on the lasagna package for cooking. Usually you’ll just boil the lasagna until just tender (about 10 minutes). After you drain the noodles, rinse them with cool water to stop the noodles from cooking further. Between the wet filling and sauce, plus extra time in the oven, you can easily overcook your lasagna. Keeping the noodles tender after boiling cuts down on the chance of having water-logged noodles. Ick!
Use fresh butternut squash (it’s worth the extra labor). Butternut squash is in-season during fall and winter, so it is extra delicious, fresh, and nutrient loaded. Pick out a butternut squash and take the few minutes of extra time to prepare it so that you can enjoy the extra tasty benefits of fresh produce. We only use pre-packaged refrigerated or frozen squash as a last resort (aka, when it’s out of season or we’re out of options). The frozen variety just doesn’t have the same buttery texture and sweet flavor of fresh squash (in fact, it is very squashy tasting. Gross.).
Brown butter in light pan and on medium heat. The most common mistakes when browning butter are using a dark pan (like the non-sticks) and cooking it on too high of heat. Patience, my pretties. Use a light colored pan so that you can see the color changes in the butter as it browns. It’ll go through yellow, golden, then finally a dark honey color. And brown your butter over medium heat, rather than higher heats. Slow and steady wins the…er…browned butter flavor race?
Let the butter come to room temperature before browning. Clearly, perfectly browned butter is a big deal in this recipe. Another quick tip is to let your 2 tablespoons of butter warm to room temperature before browning. This will help reduce splatter and burning in the browning process. Check out some more wonderful brown butter tips from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Read the recipe first, then prep materials. I put this last tip in here because this recipe has quite a few more steps than my typical recipes, so I highly recommend reading through the sequence first before getting started. And also prep as much of the ingredients before you heat your pans, crank up the oven, or bring the water to a boil. That will help cut down on wasted time and energy (literally) and let everything come together at the right time.
Let us know what you think about this recipe for Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls by dropping a comment and/or rating below!
Can’t get enough butternut squash? Try out these other recipes:
- Fall Minestrone Soup
- Apple Pecan Butternut Squash Boats
- Maple Balsamic Butternut Squash Pasta
- Butternut Squash and Black Bean Burgers
- Butternut Squash Risotto
- Roasted Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Ingredients
Spinach Lasagna Rolls
- 12 lasagna noodles (whole wheat, brown rice, or regular)
- 15 oz part skim or fat free ricotta (or almond milk ricotta)
- 10 oz fresh spinach, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
- â…” c part-skim mozzarella cheese
Brown Butter Parmesan Butternut Squash Sauce
- 1 lb butternut squash, cubed
- ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
- ½ red onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¾ c low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (add more if desired)
- 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
- 1 tsp rubbed sage
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ¼ c walnuts, chopped, toasted
Instructions
Brown Butter Parmesan Butternut Squash Sauce
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Fresh butternut squash: Peel the squash and cut into halves. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Cut into half rings and then cube. Toss the squash cubes with ½ tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper. Spread the squash out on a baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a fork goes through the squash cleanly. Remove from the oven and set aside. Frozen butternut squash: Thaw the squash. Toss thawed squash with ½ tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper. Spread the squash out on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until a fork goes through the squash cleanly. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Lightly mist a medium frying pan with cooking spray. Bring to medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic to the warm pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the onions become fragrant. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.
- In the same frying pan, add butter. Bring the pan to medium heat and cook the butter, stirring frequently, for 5 to 8 minutes. The butter should turn a golden brown color and give off a slightly nutty flavor when it is done browning. Remove from heat and stir in coconut sugar or brown sugar.
- Transfer the butternut squash, onion, garlic, and brown butter-sugar mixture to a food processor or blender. Add vegetable broth, Parmesan cheese, sage, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend for 2 to 3 minutes, or until smooth, pausing every 30 to 45 seconds to scrape the sides. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Thin to desired consistency with additional broth or water, if desired. This sauce is a little thicker in consistency.
- Spread roughly half of the sauce into the bottom of a large 9"x13" baking dish or large casserole dish. Reserve remaining half for topping the lasagna.
Spinach Lasagna Rolls
- While the squash cooks, bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles to the pot and cook according to package directions (most recommend about 10 minutes). Drain and remove the noodles carefully.
- Once the squash is baked, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
- While the noodles cook, make the spinach filling. Coarsely chop the spinach and pat dry with a paper towel to remove moisture. Mince the garlic cloves and add to a large mixing bowl, along with the dried spinach. Add the ricotta, Parmesan, egg, basil, parsley, salt and pepper and mix well to fully incorporate. Cover and refrigerate until the noodles are cooked.
- Working with one noodle at a time, spoon in 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling onto the lasagna noodle. Roll up the noodles and place seam side down in the sauce-coated baking dish. Repeat until either all of the noodles are used or you run out of filling (we usually run out of noodles first).
- Ladle the remaining butternut squash sauce over the lasagna and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover the baking dish with foil. Bake the lasagna rolls for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered another 7 to 10 minutes.
- As the lasagna finishes in the oven, add the chopped walnuts to a dry pan and toast over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and top with fresh parsley, basil, sage and toasted walnuts. Enjoy!
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