Air Fryer Five Cheese Lasagna Fritta is a copycat version of Olive Garden’s lasagna fritta that is very tasty! You can also fry them in a pan if you do not have access to an air fryer.

Air fryer five cheese lasagna fritta is fried lasagna with creamy ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago cheese spread in between rolled lasagna noodles that are then dipped in batter and fried golden crispy.

Serve with marinara and/or Alfredo sauce.

I thought it was going to be difficult to make a copycat version of Olive Garden’s lasagna frittas, but it was actually pretty simple!

What are lasagna frittas?

In case you’ve never had them, lasagna frittas are fried lasagna. They are filled with cheese, rolled up, battered, and fried until they are golden and crispy.

It’s so delicious!

This version of lasagna fritta is a tad larger than the appetizer version Olive Garden serves.

The noodles you buy from the grocery store are just a wee bit bigger, but I guess that means more lasagna fritta, right? Yum!

I decided to do this air fryer style because we don’t need to add more grease on top of a carb-loaded appetizer.

Although, frying them in oil is still super, super tasty which is why I give BOTH recipes here!

Ingredients for Air Fryer Five Cheese Lasagna Fritta

Lasagna Noodles
Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Romano Cheese
Asiago Cheese
Italian Seasoning
4 Large Eggs (for the filling and the batter)
Finely Grated Parmesan
Italian Breadcrumbs
Olive Oil Spray (other oils work too) – for the air fryer cooking version
Canola/Vegetable Oil – for the pan fried version

Ingredients for Alfredo Sauce

Butter
Grated Parmesan
Heavy Cream
Garlic Salt
Parsley, for topping

Optional – Try the sauce with extra cheese leftover from the lasagna frittas!

1/2 cup Grated Romano
1/2 cup Grated Asiago

How to use an air fryer:

It’s actually very simple! Once you have it assembled, there is no preheating required at all!

I always spray my basket with olive oil to avoid any sticking. Place the food on the tray, set the temperature, and time and that’s it.

The fabulous thing is that the air fryer is very versatile. You can bake a cake in it, fry fish, get french fries nice and crispy, cook bacon, the ideas are limitless!

Check out my Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan too!

Can you use Pam nonstick spray in an air fryer?

It’s best not to. It’s been found that air fryer baskets do not tolerate aerosol spray. It causes the coating to peel off the baskets.

To get around it, use a non-aerosol spray bottle of olive oil, or you can rub coconut oil directly on the basket.

What fries the breadcrumbs in an air fryer?

If you leave the breadcrumbs without ANY type of grease or fat it will leave them very dry.

The nice thing with an air fryer is that you can cut out the majority of the oil and fat and have a slightly healthier version of cooking than if you deep-fried the food.

There are two ways to fry breadcrumbs:

Spray the breadcrumb coating that is already on your food with cooking spray.
Heat a small amount of olive oil with your breadcrumbs prior to coating your food with it. Microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until crispy.

How to Make Air Fryer Five Cheese Lasagna Fritta:

It all begins by boiling your noodles according to the box directions until al dente. They need to be soft to handle and roll-up.

If you are unable to find lasagna without ribbons, it’s best to cut the ribbon edges off. They do not roll well or stay together with the bumpy ribbon edge.

The cheesy mixture needs to be spread evenly on each noodle before you roll them up. These are of course larger than Olive Garden’s lasagna frittas, but you can, of course, cut the noodle down to try to aim for their size of the appetizer.

Air Fryer Method

For the air fryer cooking method, it is best to still freeze them. They tend to be messy once you begin dipping them in egg wash and breadcrumbs.

Once they are frozen (in about an hour) you can immediately start dipping them in the egg wash, and then dip in the breadcrumb/parmesan coating.

How long and what temperature do you cook lasagna frittas in the air fryer?

You still need to add some form of oil/butter to the breadcrumbs, as previously mentioned. I sprayed the outside coating of mine with olive oil as well as the air fryer tray.

Then cooked them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for a total of about 16 minutes, flipping halfway.

You can open the air fryer tray and peek in on them to see if they are golden brown.

Pan Frying Method

For the pan-fried cooking method, you will also need to freeze them. Freezing them for an hour before they are battered with breadcrumbs keeps the cheesy inside within your lasagna noodle.

If they get wet in egg mixture the cheese will begin to seep out as you handle them. It’s also important to freeze them before pan-frying because the cheese will immediately come out in the oil as well.

After they are frozen, it is time to batter them. First, dip them in the egg wash, and then dip in the breadcrumb/Parmesan cheese coating.

For pan-frying, I put enough oil in the pan to cover the tops of them like a deep-fry and heated it over medium-high heat. They stayed at the bottom of the pan and browned against the heating element.

I flipped them halfway (2 minutes on each side) for even cooking.

Final Touches for Both Cooking Methods

I put a layer of marinara sauce down on my serving platter first.

Then I placed the lasagna frittas on top of the sauce and drizzled my cheesy homemade Alfredo sauce over top.

There was extra Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago cheese from the lasagna frittas. I put the cheese (about a cup and a half) into the alfredo sauce.

It turned out fantastic and I might need to do that every time now!

Other tasty air fryer recipes:

Enjoy!