Vegan Zucchini Involtini

This Vegan Zucchini Involtini is the ultimate summer recipe! Thin slices of zucchini are filled with tofu ricotta and then baked in a vegan sausage marinara sauce. The whole thing is topped with vegan mozzarella and baked until hot and bubbly. This is a tasty Italian recipe that packs veggies & protein in a low-carb dish.

Step One: Prep the Zucchini

When it comes to prepping the zucchini, you will want to use a mandoline. This will ensure all of your slices are uniform and super thin.

I don’t know about you, but when I slice zucchini on a mandoline I’m only able to get about 3/4 of the way down before my fingers start getting a little too close to the blade. Have no fear, we’re not going to waste those end bits. We’ll set them aside to use in the marinara!

Use a mandoline to slice the zucchini/squash into 1/8″ ribbons. You should have between 40-50 slices – reserve the excess pieces you don’t slice. Place the slices on a cutting board and sprinkle with salt. Let them sit while you prepare the sauce.

Step Two: Make the Sauce

Start by chopping your veggies. You will need to cut up some yellow onion, garlic and those leftover zucchini pieces.

Heat some oil in an oven-safe stock pot over medium heat. Add the vegan sausage and crumble. Once mostly cooked through, add the leftover zucchini cubes, onion, garlic and dry seasonings. Mix to combine and cook for a couple minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and a little water. Simmer while you prepare the zucchini.

Step Three: Roll Up the Zucchini

I made me vegan ricotta from scratch – you can get my recipe here. But, you can also buy it pre-made if you want to cut down on prep time.

Use a paper towel to remove the excess salt/liquid from the zucchini slices. To assemble, lay two slices of zucchini next to each other (overlapping slightly). Spoon about 1-1.5 teaspoons of ricotta on one end of the zucchini. Roll it up and repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings as needed. Give it a stir. Remove the sauce from the heat and place the zucchini roll ups on top of the sauce, seam-side down. Top with the vegan mozzarella and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Turn the oven to broil for the last couple minutes for a crispy top.

Step Four: Serve

Pull the stock pot out of the oven and let everything rest for about 5 minutes. This will just firm everything up and make it easier to serve.

Add some of the sauce & zucchini to each plate and top with grated vegan parmesan and fresh basil.

These little zucchini roll-ups pack so much flavor and nutrition into each bite. I was eating leftovers for a couple days…and I wasn’t mad about that for one second!

Tips & Tricks

If you have the time to let the sauce simmer longer, then I would do it! The longer it cooks the better the flavor is!

If you don’t have a mandoline, you can use a very sharp knife. Just be careful and try to get the slices as thin as possible.

You can omit the vegan sausage if it’s not your thing. Check out my Lentil Bolognese recipe.