diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.cpp
index ba9d6bc36b..a88fb66361 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.cpp
@@ -1196,7 +1196,18 @@ void Net::Impl::forward(std::vector<std::vector<Mat>>& outputBlobs,
     FPDenormalsIgnoreHintScope fp_denormals_ignore_scope;
 
     if (mainGraph)
-        CV_Error(Error::StsNotImplemented, "The new dnn engine doesn't support inference until a specified layer. If you want to run the whole model, please don't set the outputName argument in the forward() call. If you want to run the model until a specified layer, please use the old dnn engine");
+    {
+        // In the new engine every requested name maps to a single graph output tensor,
+        // so each nested list holds exactly one blob.
+        std::vector<std::string> names(outBlobNames.begin(), outBlobNames.end());
+        std::vector<Mat> flat;
+        forwardWithMultipleOutputs(flat, names);
+        CV_Assert(flat.size() == outBlobNames.size());
+        outputBlobs.resize(outBlobNames.size());
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < outBlobNames.size(); i++)
+            outputBlobs[i].assign(1, flat[i]);
+        return;
+    }
 
     std::vector<LayerPin> pins;
     for (int i = 0; i < outBlobNames.size(); i++)