These Zucchini rolls are like lasagna roll ups, filled with delicious herbed sun-dried tomato tofu ricotta, nestled in a pan with bubbly tomato ragu and creamy vegan ricotta filling. They looks so pretty! And No watery mess!

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 35 minutes
  • Total time: 65 minutes
  • Yield: 8
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

For the Filling

  • 10 ounces firm or extra firm tofu
  • 3 ounces vegan cream cheese (Or more tofu)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Italian herb blend
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil (or use 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped finely)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomato (chop them into really small pieces)
  • 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup vegan parmesan

For the Zucchini

  • 2 or 3 zucchini (depending on the number of slices you like and the baking dish you are planning to use)

For the Sauce

  • 14 ounces pasta sauce (or marinara sauce, of choice)
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 3/4 cup of veggie grounds (or vegan ground beef or cooked lentils)

For the Topping

  • 1/4 cup vegan mozzarella (or vegan parmesan)
  • fresh herbs (like basil or parsley)
  • crushed red pepper flakes

Method

Make the filling.

  1. Crumble up the tofu and add it to a medium bowl, then add the vegan cream cheese and olive oil and press with a fork. Mix and mash until the mixture is somewhat smooth, then mix in all of the spices, herbs, and sun dried tomato.
  2. Add the vegan cheeses, and press and mix again to make a homogenous mixture.

Prepare the zucchini and sauce.

  1. Slice the zucchini into thin slices using a vegetable peeler. It's okay if some of the slices are not even and are shorter or missing some edges. I usually use two slices per roll, because not all slices are equally sized, which is fine. If one of the zucchini slices is fatter than the other, then you want to slice the edges a little bit, so that most of the rollups have a similar width throughout.
  2. Before you start to fill up the zucchini, add the pasta sauce to an 8 x 11 “ inch baking dish, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients and mix well and even it out.
  3. Then, make your rolling station. Take one or two zucchini strips at a time and use a spoon to spread some of the filling onto the zucchini. Leave at least an inch on both ends, so that it's easy to roll. While you're rolling, the filling might shift a little bit, which is why you want to keep an inch towards the other end, as well. Roll up the filled zucchini, then place snugly in the pasta sauce.
  4. Repeat for all the zucchini strips and fill up your baking dish. You want to keep each roll up pretty close to the others,. Leave a few millimeters between each zucchini roll.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated 400° F (205° C) oven.
  6. Remove the baking dish from the oven, and sprinkle the vegan cheese on top. Cover the baking dish with parchment paper, and put it back to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.
  7. Remove the parchment from the top, and bake 5 minutes to brown some of the cheese, you can also broil for 2-3 minutes.
  8. Remove the baking dish from the oven, let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then garnish with some fresh herbs, like basil, and pepper flakes, if you like, and then serve.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.