High Protein Butternut Squash Lasagna Roll Ups
Your next favorite high-protein comfort meal is here: Butternut Squash Lasagna Roll Ups. With 46 grams of protein per serving there’s no compromise on taste or nutrition. The butternut squash and a cottage cheese-based sauce are used in place of your traditional red sauce. The sweetness from the pureed squash balances with the tanginess of the cottage cheese, making for a delicious meal. Ground sausage lends savory flavors and helps boost that protein count.
High-Protein Butternut Squash Lasagna Rollups ingredient notes:
Butternut squash: One of the main ingredients is butternut squash. It gets pureed or mashed to a smooth consistency, acting as part of the sauce that holds the lasagna together.
Ground chicken sausage: I love using ground sausage in a lasagna, the natural savory saltiness melts perfectly with the other components. Since the squash is a bit sweeter and there’s less acidity without a tomato sauce, the sausage flavor shines through. If you can’t find pre-ground sausage, you can remove it from the casings, use thinly sliced links, or swap for regular ground chicken or ground turkey.
Cottage cheese: Cottage cheese gets blended into a creamy sauce-like consistency alongside the dried herbs and spices. This is the second source of protein in the dish, giving a nice boost to the sauce. I promise you can’t taste it especially with all the spiced and herbs used, but you can swap for regular ricotta or part-skim ricotta.
Ground sage and nutmeg: Two unexpected spices make an appearance in this dish. Both the ground sage and nutmeg lift up the sweetness of the squash and add that signature crisp flavor of seasonal cooking.
High-Protein Butternut Squash Lasagna Rollups
4
servings25
minutes50
minutesYour next favorite high-protein comfort meal is here: Butternut Squash Lasagna Rollups. With 46 grams of protein per serving there’s no compromise on taste or nutrition. The butternut squash and a cottage cheese-based sauce are used in place of your traditional red sauce. The sweetness from the pureed squash balances with the tanginess of the cottage cheese, making for a delicious meal. Ground sausage lends savory flavors and helps boost that protein count.
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Ingredients
1 large butternut squash, halved and seeds discarded
9 ounces gluten-free lasagna noodles (12 sheets needed)
1 teaspoon olive oil, additional for greasing
1 pound ground Italian chicken sausage (spicy or sweet, or pork sausage)
16 ounces cottage cheese (4% milkfat recommended)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 ounces baby spinach, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
- Prepare the butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Drizzle with olive oil and season each side with a generous rich salt and black pepper. Bake until the squash is very soft, 25 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the squash. Using a large spoon, scoop the squash out from the outer skin and add to a large bowl. Mash with a fork until no large pieces remain or blend in a food processor or blender until smooth.
- While the squash cooks, prepare the lasagna noodles according to package instructions to cook al dente (Take care when handling since they can break easily). Drain and add back to the pot. Drizzle with olive oil while hot to prevent sticking.
- While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground chicken sausage and cook until browned all over, breaking up into small crumbles as it cooks, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside.
- Once the squash is done, lower the oven temperature to 400ºF and grease a 9×13 baking dish with olive oil.
- Add the cottage cheese, basil, garlic powder, oregano, salt, black pepper, sage, and nutmeg to a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth, about 60 seconds. Divide evenly between two bowls, about 1 cup in each bowl.
- Add the cooked and cooled chicken sausage, one cup of the cottage cheese mixture, the spinach, parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of the butternut squash to a large bowl. Mix to combine.
- One or two at a time, place a lasagna sheet on the baking dish and add 3 to 4 tablespoons of the sausage mixture to one end. Carefully roll tightly from the filled end and push to one end of the baking dish. Continue this process until you have 12 roll ups arranged in two rows of 6.
- Top the lasagna rolls with the remaining cottage cheese mixture spread evenly across the top. Drop spoonfuls of the remaining butternut squash on top, then sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 7 minutes. Increase the oven to high broil and broil until bubbling and brown on top, 3 to 4 minutes.
- To serve, divide evenly among 6 plates (2 roll-ups per serving).
Notes
- Store It: Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Reheat It: From refrigerated, microwave until warm, about 2 minutes or heat in a saucepan over medium heat until warm, about 10 minutes. From frozen, thaw in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight, then heat as instructed
- Lasagna option: You can also make this as a lasagna with no roll-ups! Just layer your cooked lasagna noodles flat with the sausage mixture in-between each layer, then pour the remaining sauce on top on the end and top with remaining squash and cheese. Bake for the same amount of time.
- Sauce yield: If you prefer a very saucy lasagna, I recommend adding an additional cup of cottage cheese to the mixture. Up the butternut squash to 2 1/2 cups if you’d like to have more on top.
- Swap the cottage cheese for part-skin ricotta cheese or dairy-free ricotta.
- Mashed Butternut Squash Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
2. Slice the ends off the squash, then slice down the middle. Scoop out the seeds and discard.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and season each side with a generous rich salt and black pepper.
4. Bake until the squash is very soft, 25 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the squash.
5. Using a large spoon, scoop the squash out from the outer skin and add to a large bowl. Mash with a fork until no large pieces remain. Alternatively, blend in a food processor or blender until smooth.
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This was SO good.
So good!
Delicious and so easy! I used ground chicken instead of sausage with some added herbs and garlic for extra flavour.
can this be dairy free at all? wanted to try for a potluck but have a lot of coworkers with restrictions.
thanks!
Anyone try with pumpkin instead of butternut squash?
Since grocery store pureed pumpkin looks closer to a butternut squash than the ones we carve, I would have to imagine it would taste the same!
This was so tedious to make not gonna lie, but it turned out really really good
I agree with one of the other comments about it being tedious, it took awhile to put everything together but it was delicious!! Will definitely keep on rotation for weekend dinners since I don’t think this would work for us during the week.
I made it and really liked it. It does take some prep work, but the end product was delicious.
SUCH a hit with us and our toddler- and great for leftovers.
I got cubed butternut squash from the store and steamed it in the microwave for 5 min, very easy, but I also want to try it with pumpkin puree next time. I also blended the cottage cheese in a tabletop blender (I have a Beast blender but I assume any nutribullet-style blender would work) which made for much less clean-up. I would also use more baby spinach in the future since you couldn’t taste it at all- definitely a “use what is leftover in the fridge” kind of measurement.
Everyone asked for seconds! This was such a hit with our family of 5. I used fresh butternut squash, so it definitely was time consuming, but so tasty!! I also didn’t have lasagna noodles, so I made it more like a baked ziti with rotini pasta- it worked great! Absolutely loved these flavors.
This was great! I think next time I’ll make the butternut squash in the morning or the day before to speed up the process. Adding to my make-again list!