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Lasagna Fritta {Copycat Olive Garden Recipe}

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This Lasagna Fritta an Olive Garden Copycat recipe, is a breaded, deep-fried, traditional Italian dish. Layers of lasagna noodles, meat, cheese, and hearty tomato sauce come together in this comforting dinner.

lasagna fritta olive garden copycat recipe

If you love copycat recipes, Olive Garden lasagna fritta is going to be right up your alley. 

This easy lasagna fritta recipe is one of my favorites. 

What makes it especially delightful is the blend of red and white sauce, under and over the pasta, along with the texture of the fried lasagna. It is the best of flavors combined on one plate without me having to pick and choose.

Initially, I thought it was hard to get this olive garden copycat recipe perfect but it turns out it’s pretty simple!

If it’s love at first bite, you have to try my other Olive Garden knock-offs: Slow Cooker Chicken Gnocchi Soup, Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Simple Weeknight Chicken Scampi.

lasagna fritta olive garden copycat recipe

What is Lasagna Fritta?

f you haven’t been to Olive Garden lately, you may be entirely in the dark as to the origins of this over-the-top, cheesy decadence.

Found on their appetizer section, it’s a rolled pasta dish filled with traditional lasagna filling and fried instead of oven baked. The pasta is then served over a bed of alfredo sauce and topped with a drizzle of classic marinara. 

It’s savory, crispy with fried pasta and filling. The flavors blend so well together and aren’t lost in  the layers of melted cheese you find in traditional lasagna. Needless to say, it made an impression.

ingredients for lasagna fritta olive garden copycat recipe

What you need to make this recipe

This recipe requires a few ingredients and some prep work but is absolutely worth every ounce of delicious effort.

Gather lasagna noodles, milk, parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, pepper, butter, your favorite marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, egg, bread crumbs, and ground sausage as shown in this recipe.

How to make Lasagna Fritta

Ok, this recipe is a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it gets easier! Here are our step-by-step photos and handy how-to make guide for this copy-cat Olive Garden recipe.

  • ingredients for filling of lasagna fritta going into pot.

Start by prepping the cheese sauce, boiling the milk, and whisking in the parmesan, ricotta, white pepper, and butter. I also opted to add a heavy dose of Italian seasoning at this point.

Prep your pasta by boiling the noodles according to the package.  After the pasta reaches al dente, drain it and hang it over a sanitized wire hanger so that the noodles don’t become stuck to one another in the pot.

Next, spread the milk and cheese mixture into each noodle. If using, now is when you sprinkle the cooked sausage over the center.

Roll up each pasta in thirds, like a piece of paper going into an envelope. Make sure you give yourself time to freeze the pasta at this point. Par-freezing the pasta for 1 hour helps the pasta firm up and retain its shape when you place it in the fryer. 

It’s a vital part of making sure this recipe works. Don’t skip it.

Once the pasta has been in the freezer for 1 hour, prep your oil for frying in a deep fryer or Dutch oven with a heavy bottom and high sides. As a rule of thumb, for frying, make sure you have at least 2″ above the oil of high walls to protect from oil splashing out minimizing the thread to burns and fire.

Dip the par frozen pasta in the egg wash and bread crumbs to get a nice coating and fry until crispy.

frying lasagna fritta olive garden copycat recipe

Remove the pasta from the fryer with a long-handled wire spoon. Set on a wire rack over a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain any excess oil while you assemble the platter as fancy as you like.

The final steps are lining the bottom of a plate with marinara and stacking the lasagna fritta on top like tilting dominoes. Finally, spoon heated marinara over the top and garnish.

For presentation, one big dish is beautiful when serving this. However, smaller serving plates for individual portions is pleasing as well.

This dish was originally discovered as an appetizer and is impressive at big parties for just that. But when it’s a regular weeknight, I serve this lasagna fritta with a salad as the main course and finish dinner with this million dollar pound cake.

lasagna fritta olive garden copycat recipe

Can I freeze my lasagna fritta?

Yes, you can freeze leftovers or uncooked, after the rolled-up stage where we initially put it in the freezer for one hour. Place the entree in an airtight container for up to 2 months. 

How do I reheat?

Thaw completely in the fridge before reheating in the oven or air fryer.

Lasagna Fritta Variations

Create a meatless version of this fried lasagna by replacing the meat with any of the available plant-based substitutes available in your grocery store or nixing it all together.

Want to spice things up? Feel free to grab spicy Italian sausage for a nice kick. 

Play with your fixings, the possibilities are endless:

  •      butternut squash
  •      mushrooms
  •      olives
  •      ground beef
  •      different cheese additions

If you’re also itching for some more easy Italian-inspired recipes, look no further. These recipes will warm you up inside and out!

Weeknight Fettuccini with Sausage and Kale

Skinny Stuffed Shells

Pesto Artichoke Lasagna Rolls

If you’ve tried my Lasagna Fritta recipe or any other recipe on passthesushi.com please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know where you found it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also follow along for more good eats and travel tips on Instagram @passthesushi & @girlcarnivore, Twitter& Facebook.

platter of fried lasagne fritta, with alfredo on a black plate, lasagna roll ups and topped with marinara and parmesan.

Lasagna Fritta

Lasagna fritta is my favorite Olive Garden Copycat recipe. Meaty lasagna noodles are breaded and deep-fried, making a perfect crispy meal or appetizer!
4.76 from 77 votes
Print Pin Rate
Dinner
American
Author: Kita Roberts
1 hour 28 minutes
Serves: 1 fritta

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Lasagna:

  • ⅔ cup milk
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 6 oz ricotta
  • ¼ tsp white pepper
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 7 lasagna noodles
  • marinara sauce
  • alfredo sauce

For the Breading:

  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups Italian Bread

Instructions

Preparation:

  • Boil and stir together butter, white pepper, milk, parmesan, and ricotta cheese.
  • Boil Lasagna noodles as directed.
  • When the noodles are finished, spread a thin layer of cheese & milk mix along noodle and fold into 2 inch pieces.
  • Let set in the freezer for 1 hour, placing something heavy on top to keep it together.
  • When you take them out of the freezer, cut the pieces in half long-ways.
  • Dip each piece in the milk/egg mixture, then the bread crumbs.
  • Fry at 350° for 4 minutes
  • Spread Alfredo on the bottom of the serving plate, placing each piece in the sauce.
  • Drizzle marinara sauce on top.

Video

Notes

I added a handful of Italian seasoning to the ricotta mixture when it was being boiled.
I also browned some fresh ground sausage and added it as a layer inside the roll-ups as well to my marinara sauce. Simply sprinkle the cooked ground sausage over the cheese layer before you roll the pasta up.
The original reference recipe calls for feta instead of ricotta, but I don’t really think feta would give the flavor I was going for, so I substituted the ricotta.
Adapted from Tastebook

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 554mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g

Nutritional informations provided as a courtesy and is only an approximatation. Values will changes based on ingredients used.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Suzanne says

    Looks very good Kita, deep fryer would be dangerous at my house. I bet you are having fun with it can’t wait to see what else you come up with.

    Reply

  6. Jeff Rasmussen says

    Deep-fried pickles. Oh please make deep-fried pickles! Trust me, nothing beats them, especially served with an aioli dip on the side. Oooh! And Mars Bars!

    Just whatever you do, do not deep-fry chocolate cake.

    I can’t wait to see what you bust out! Good luck!

    Reply

  16. The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time says

    I am SO jealous of your deep fryer. My thighs aren’t, but I am. In answer to your question about the beer, I don’t know. the carbonation works to tenderize the beef so you’d want to go with a soda of some kind if not beer. Coke? Ginger ale? They’d make for a sweeter gravy though. Would you be able to handle one of those very tasteless light beers? That would have the same result without the heavier taste.

    Reply

  25. lisaiscooking says

    Just the other day, I was thinking that I needed a fryer. Then, I thought, really, a fryer? Now, I realize I was right. I need this appliance! And, I want to try fried lasanga.

    Reply

  26. Kate@Diethood.com says

    You fried lasagna – that’s brilliant!! I hid my deep fryer a while ago because that thing is so tempting…and so delicious! Everything that you make in it comes out ten times better! 🙂

    Reply

  34. Leisa Plett says

    I made this in the middle of the night, Lasagna Fritta is my favorite item on Olive Garden’s menu. I’m always afraid they’ll take it off the menu. But now you have empowered me with a copycat recipe. I think I finished making this a little after 2 am. I cut the recipe down and made 3 noodles, I ate half of it right away and the other half the next day. My husband was a little upset I didn’t share, but I didn’t care, it was calling my name from the fridge. Great recipe!!!! I’m going to make it again this weekend, I’ll make a whole batch and share this time, maybe.

    Reply

  35. Angie Daniels says

    I’m at the point where it’s chillin’ in the freezer. I spread the milk and cheese mixture on each noodle, folded them up and they look flat. I seem to remember the ones from Olive Garden being fuller. Did I make a mistake somewhere?

    Reply

    • Kita says

      This can depend on how tightly you roll and how much filling. You can always double down and use more filling less noodle. How did they turn out? I am totally craving this recipe right now!

      Reply

  36. Karla says

    You need to provide more instruction on step 1. I’m boiling away and this is FAR too thin to spread on noodles at its current consistency. Am I supposed to chill it until it thickens? Should the recipe call for less milk?

    Reply

  37. Afton says

    5 stars
    This recipe is better than Olive Garden. It’s my family and friend’s favorite dish and they all agree this one is better than OG.

    Reply

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