These soft pillows a.k.a chicken lasagna roll-ups made with healthy white sauce, artichoke hearts and spinach filling, wrapped in brown rice pasta. Topped with cheese and tomato sauce, then baked. These were delicious and so much fun to make! Easy and fun for kids to roll too.
Love hearty pasta dishes? You might also like penne with olives, tomato and goat cheese!
I’m not going to pretend it’s your next 30-minute dinner idea but lasagna roll ups are quite easy. That’s why if 12 roll ups is too much, just freeze the leftovers and save time. Plus, most lasagna pasta comes in a package of 12. If I use only 8, I always don’t know what to do with the remaining 4. Might as well cook them all if you already made a big mess in the kitchen.:)
My family already love my Instant Pot lasagna, so I’m not surprised they love this too. Then again, my kids love healthy pasta dishes with lots of cheese – like my healthy mac n’ cheese, chicken parmesan pasta, and one-pot chili mac (with beer!). I recently made them Instant Pot chicken alfredo too and they loved the creamy sauce.
And if you would like to skip pasta but enjoy the taste of lasagna, try my zucchini lasagna!
How to Make Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups
- Cook pasta as per package instructions, drain and lay flat on parchment paper.
- Preheat large skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add garlic and onions, saute until translucent. Add flour and stir it vigorously with onions and garlic. Add milk and stir until combined. Let cook 2 minutes.
- Add artichoke hearts, chicken and pepper; stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium and cook for 20 minutes, uncovered. Turn off heat, add spinach and stir to combine.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray, add 1 cup of tomato sauce and spread it evenly with spatula.
- Fill each pasta sheet with 1/4 – 1/3 cup of chicken artichoke mixture and 2 tbsp cheese. Repeat with remaining pasta and filling. Roll each chicken lasagna roll and place tightly in a baking dish: 6 rolls in 1 row, 2 rows.
- Top with remaining 1 cup of tomato sauce and 1 cup of cheese, distributing evenly among all rolls. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm.
As for the artichokes, I used Kirkland marinated in oil artichoke hearts, in a jar. I drained them and squeezed out the oil really well with my hands. You can also use frozen ones. Just thaw them on a counter overnight or defrost in a microwave and make sure to squeeze out the water really well. I have never seen artichokes packed in water. Hey, those work if you can find them. Also make sure to try my chicken with artichokes.
Need even more dinner ideas? Check out these 65 clean eating chicken recipes!
More Wholesome Healthy Pasta Dishes
- Kale turkey pasta bake
- Healthy Tuscan chicken pasta
- Wholewheat spaghetti with chicken
- Pasta with zucchini and tomatoes
- Crockpot chicken spaghetti
- Pesto broccoli pasta
You might also enjoy this spinach artichoke quinoa casserole!
Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna pasta sheets 1 box, whole wheat or brown rice
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 – 3 medium onions finely chopped
- 3 tbsp flour whole wheat
- 2 cups any milk I used unsweetened almond
- 2 cups marinated artichoke hearts well drained and finely chopped
- 1 lb boneless & skinless chicken breasts diced
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 2 cups spinach coarsely chopped
- 2 cups tomato sauce divided*
- 2 + 1/2 cups any shredded cheese divided (I used Mexican blend)
- Cooking spray I use Misto
Instructions
- Cook pasta as per package instructions, drain and lay flat on parchment paper.
- Preheat large skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add garlic and onions, saute until translucent. Add flour and stir it vigorously with onions and garlic. Add milk and stir until combined. Let cook 2 minutes.
- Add artichoke hearts, chicken and pepper; stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium and cook for 20 minutes, uncovered. Turn off heat, add spinach and stir to combine.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray, add 1 cup of tomato sauce and spread it evenly with spatula.
- Fill each pasta sheet with 1/4 – 1/3 cup of chicken artichoke mixture and 2 tbsp cheese. Repeat with remaining pasta and filling. Roll each chicken lasagna roll and place tightly in a baking dish: 6 rolls in 1 row, 2 rows.
- Top with remaining 1 cup of tomato sauce and 1 cup of cheese, distributing evenly among all rolls. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Freeze leftovers for up to 3 months.
- Freezer meal: Assemble, tightly wrap with plastic and then foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as per instructions + 15 minutes.
- *If using low sodium tomato sauce, add salt to taste.
Can’t wait to try these!!!
This was a fabulous dish!!! Very tasty creamy filling with low calories. Can’t believe how filling only roll up was. . . that is all I could eat.
I can eat 2.5 roll ups at a time.:) You eat so little.:)
I made with whole wheat noodle and added red peppers from my garden for a little kick. Very tasty.
You must live in Florida if you have a garden this time of the year.:) Glad you liked the roll ups.
My family LOVED this dish! Will be making again!
Awesome! Tx for coming back and reporting.:)
Hi Olena! I was excited to try this recipe. I love lasagna, so a healthier alternative sounded great. unfortunately, at the grocery store the checker forgot to put the lasagna noodles in my bag. I did have all the other ingredients though, and spiral noodles at home. I ended up making a pasta sauce over noodles and it turned out very good. I added cayenne pepper because I love a little spice. I’ll probably make it again, and I am going to try the actual lasagna next week so I guess I got two recipes in one :).
Oh gosh… I would be so upset.:( That’s a very good idea to make a filling as a sauce. Ha, I’m gonna make it a recipe. Thanks.:)
Hi Olena! I’m new to your blog, but so glad I found it….100% with you on your outlook about food in general……can’t wait to make these in the near future……those rolls look scrumptious!:)
Hi Lana. Nice to hear I’m not alone.:) There roll ups remind me Russian Ukrainian food a lot – we like to stuff food with food. Enjoy.:)
Made this this past weekend, Olena! Another delicious recipe 🙂 I used almond milk instead of skim milk, since I try to stay away from dairy as much as possible, for health reasons. But I did use the cheese 🙂 I used the WW mexican mix, which tastes great.
Also, I rinsed the marinated artichokes under the water and let them drain in a sieve while I was preparing the rest of the stuff. It became completely oil-free.
There IS whole wheat lasagna. I bought it from Food Emporium here in NYC. It’s from Ronzoni. Maybe you can google it and buy it on line. It’s called Ronzoni Healthy Harvest all Natural (100% whole grain).
Thanks Afi. I’ll Google to see what it looks like and keep my eyes open for it!
I’ve never seen that brand of brown rice pasta, I’m intrigued. Tomorrow I’m definitely going on a “pasta hunt”, if I fail I’ll resort to the good ol’ internet.
BTW, love these lasagna rolls, it looks like something between a Cannelloni and a regular lasagna. Very innovative idea Olena, good job!
Thanks, Mike! I knew we would understand each other as soon as I landed on your blog through Sonia.:) I’m sure you can find similar pasta. Brown rice pasta is not a rare find anymore, thank goodness. I have never seen whole wheat lasagna pasta though.
Looks delicious! Another great way to enjoy Lasagna!
Thank you. Yep.:)
Looks great, Olena! I like this idea as an alternative to “traditional” lasagna. This way, you actually use all the noodles and don’t waste any. Can’t wait to see your September income report!
Thanks, Carrie. I always throw out left over lasagna noodles. I know. I’ll post my income report tomorrow. It’s been great!