Chicken Pesto Lasagna Roll-Ups
by Chungah
Comfort food in easy single serving form with a cheesy, creamy pesto filling!
So I have some fun news to share with you all! Here goes:
My Roasted Shrimp Enchiladas with Jalapeño Cream Sauce was featured on Huffington Post! Now you should know, as embarrassing as this is, that I didn’t really know what Huffington Post was. I know that some of my favorite food bloggers would tweet to @HuffPostFood, thanking them for the feature, but that was all I knew.
Then a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Joe, asking for permission to use my photo. Underneath his name, it said “AOL Huffington Post Media Group.” I thought, “I wonder if that’s the Huffington Post peoples. Hm. That’s nice of them to be so proper and ask for permission.”
So then the next day or so, I “broke the news” to Jason.
Me: Hey honey? So there’s this thing called the Huffington Post, right?
Jason: Yeah?…
Me: I’m not really sure what it is but they want to feature my shrimp enchiladas.
Jason: WHAT? THEY’RE FEATURING YOU?!!!! HUFFINGPOST IS FEATURING YOU?!!!!!!
Me: (thinking to myself) I know he loves me and all but he’s taking the sarcasm a bit too far.
Then moments later he explained just how big of a news this is. Here is the link if you want to check it out!
So what I have for you today are these chicken pesto lasagna roll-ups. I’m a huge lasagna fan but I love it so much more rolled up. It’s easier to serve and it really helps with portion control. Now this recipe does take a bit of work, especially if you’re making homemade pesto and marinara, which I highly recommend, but it’s all worth it in the end. The homemade pesto is such a fun twist and blends incredibly well with the béchamel and homemade marinara. Combine that with melted ricotta and ooey gooey mozzarella goodness and I call that pasta heaven. Just be sure to double the batch and triple the marinara sauce. You’ll want to take these to work and have plenty of marinara sauce with every bite!
So here’s how you make this:
Let’s first start by cooking up 12 lasagna noodles in boiling salted water.
While that’s happening, we’ll make the béchamel by melting some butter…
whisking in the flour…
and then gradually whisking in the milk until it gets nice and thick, about 3-4 minutes. We’ll spread about 1/2 cup of this sauce in the bottom of the baking dish.
Next, we’ll make the ricotta mixture by combing the shredded chicken breast, ricotta, pesto, 1 cup mozzarella, and of course, more salt and pepper.
Once the filling is made, go ahead and lay each of the noodles flat on a dry work surface. We’ll spread about 1/3 cup of the ricotta mixture on top of each noodle before rolling them up and placing them seam side down in the baking dish.
Go ahead and top with the remaining béchamel, 1 cup marinara and a good sprinkle of mozzarella.
We’ll pop this into the oven until it gets nice and heated through and the cheese is starting to brown, about 25-30 minutes.
Serve immediately with a glass of wine.
Chicken Pesto Lasagna Roll-Ups
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups shredded chicken breast
- 2 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
- 1 cup basil pesto
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 2 cups marinara sauce, divided
- Grated Parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook lasagna according to package instructions; drain well.
- To make the béchamel, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in the flour until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 3-4 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread 1/2 cup béchamel in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- In a large bowl, combine the chicken, ricotta, pesto, 1 cup mozzarella, salt and pepper, to taste. Lay the noodles flat and spread 1/3 cup ricotta mixture evenly along each noodle. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish; repeat with remaining noodles and filling. Top with remaining béchamel and 1 cup marinara and sprinkle with mozzarella.
- Place into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until lasagna rolls are heated through and the cheese is beginning to brown.
- Serve immediately on a bed of marinara and garnished with Parmesan, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I love this recipe! It’s one of my go to dishes!
Very good
I made this but left out the marinara sauce to keep it a white lasagna.
We enjoyed it. Anyone else skip tomato sauce topping?
Thank you for your awesome recipe!
I made this and took this for a luncheon.
Everyone raved about it so I wanted you to know that it was easy to make and very very tasty!
My husband loved it and so did I! Can’t wait to make it again.
I’m not a fan of pesto so I just used more marinara sauce and we absolutely loved it! Was well worth the time and effort on a weeknight. She’s 100% correct – making your own marinara is the icing on the cake. Love the portion control – one roll was more than enough. I served it with a toasted rustic Italian bread. Will definitely be making again and again…Thanks for sharing!
Not a fan of pesto. What could I substitute?
I don’t like pesto either so am planning on just increasing the marinara sauce.
I love this recipe!! We make at least once a month!! Could you substitute the chicken for shrimp?
OMG, really good, like Italian restaurant Quality Good. Easy enough for weeknight dinner, but would definitely impress company. I may try sometime with sausage and/or veal mixture. Loved it!
Thank you, Peggy!
Restaurant quality delicious! Loved It!
This recipe has become our Christmas meal tradition. It was such a hit last year, they requested it this year. I used chicken and ground beef and add extra marinara and bechemel to taste…..as well as mozzarella……it’s something we all agree on during the Holodays!!
Thank You!!
can i substitute cottage cheese for ricotta?
Yes.
Does this freeze well?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Article specifies that it freezes great!
Absolutely delicious! I’ve made this twice already!
OMG, this was absolutely amazing. I’m on a diet so I could only have one but I could have so eaten another. Menfolk approved!
Out of curiosity, did anyone find the filling mixture to be way more than enough for 12 rolls? I cut the ricotta to 1.5 containers (versus 2 containers called for in the recipe) and still had leftover filling to roll up 6 more lasagna noodles. I guess that’s a good thing – I just need to whip up more bechamel sauce.
Would it be just as good if I substituted the chicken with ground beef?
Yes, absolutely.
This may be stupid to ask. But could I easily make a half batch of this? The full recipe is way to much for my fiance and I. Leftovers aren’t our favorite thing. Lol but anyway thank you in advance let me know
Yes, these can definitely be halved!
Can you use almond milk?
Amy, you can certainly use almond milk but please remember that by using a substitution, I cannot speak for how much this will change in the overall taste or texture of the dish. I recommend using the specified ingredients listed in the recipe whenever possible for optimal results.
This sounds totally delish! I keep imagining how good it would be as an alfredo! would you still recommend the bechemel with alfredo?!
I’ve honestly never tried the alfredo route but i actually don’t think the bechamel would go very well with the alfredo.