Recipe for Fancy Rolled Lasagna Roses

A playful twist on a classic recipe, this is sure to become everyone’s favorite lasagna recipe!

Did you know that Italians don’t typically use ricotta cheese when making lasagna?

Instead, they use a smooth creamy bechamel sauce.

For this recipe, I’ll skip on the pricey ricotta and parmesan cheeses, and show you how to make a lovely bechamel-inspired sauce at home! All with staple ingredients you probably already have in your home!

You can use store bought noodles for this recipe, but I used homemade noodles for this recipe.

Homemade noodles are so easy to make, and I’ll show you how to make some EASY ones with no special equipment! They’re nutrient dense with protein-rich eggs, and I have both a regular version as well as a gluten-free version!

(All the other ingredients in this recipe are naturally gluten free, so you don’t have to worry about that!)

Let’s get right to it so you can enjoy EATING this beautiful recipe!

This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Ingredients:

You will need:

• Lasagna noodles, OR eggs and flour for the noodles
• Cream cheese
• Sour cream
• Ground beef
• Red pasta sauce
• Italian seasoning
• Salt
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Olive oil
• Parsley
• Sugar

Step 1: Make your cream sauce

Making the cream sauce is super easy!

In a small saucepan, combine 16 oz of cream cheese (two 8 oz packs), 3/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 tsp salt (I use Himalayan), and 3 TBSP of sugar.

Cook on LOW heat until everything is evenly melted together and smooth, then turn off and remove from the heat.

Step 2: Make your red sauce

Next, brown 1 lb of ground beef in a separate pan.

Use a little olive oil so that the beef doesn’t stick to the pan.

Season with 1 TBSP Italian seasoning, 1 tsp of onion powder, and 1 tsp of garlic powder.

Lastly, add 1 jar of red pasta sauce (I used a 26 oz box of sauce), heat to combine all the flavors, then turn off the stove and remove from the heat.

Step 3: Assemble your roses

Cook your lasagna noodles.

Again, you can use fresh or right from the box!

If you use fresh, I have great recipes you can use — it really is so easy!

Grab a 9×9 square baking pan (or something of a similar size), and put a layer of your red sauce on the bottom.

Now we’ll make the roses!

To make your lasagna, you need 2 of your big noodles for each rose.

Place a noodle on your cooking surface.

Spoon a thin layer of your cream sauce onto the noodle.

Then, spoon a thin layer of your red sauce onto the noodle.

Place another noodle on top, creating a little lasagna sandwich.

Don’t overfill your lasagna — it’ll all just fall out and make a mess! You’ll be topping your lasagna with the extras so you won’t be missing out on any of the goodness!

Carefully roll your lasagna sandwich up.

For short roses, you can cut your rolled lasagna in half at this point, or leave them as big, tall roses.

Place each rose on top of the pasta sauce in your pan, the swirly side facing up.

If you end up with an odd number of noodles, your last rose can just be rolled the same way as the others, without the second noodle sandwiching it.

Top your lasagna roses with your leftover red sauce, nice big spoonfull dollops of cream sauce, drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, and sprinkle with parsley.

Bake in a hot oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.

You can also make this recipe a day in advance — just cover and refrigerate for up to one day before baking in your oven. Make sure you let your refrigerated roses come closer to room temperature before putting it in the oven — otherwise you risk cracking your baking dish going from cold to hot so quickly!

Above: Fresh lasagna roses out of the oven!

Above: Gluten free variety of lasagna noodles out of the oven!

Above: Lasagna roses, in all their lasagna glory.