Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Ravioli tossed in a brown butter sage sauce with wilted spinach, Parmesan cheese and crispy sage leaves is a quick and easy weeknight meal.

Store-bought fresh ravioli are my weeknight hack. After a long busy day I often don’t have time or energy to spend hours cooking a meal. This ravioli tossed in a nutty brown butter sage sauce with wilted spinach takes no time to prepare with just a few ingredients. Garnished with Parmesan cheese and optional crispy fried sage leaves, this ravioli dish looks and tastes just like a pasta dish in a fancy Italian restaurant!

Butter is the main ingredient in this recipe. The easy to make brown butter sage sauce is simple yet delicious and packs a ton of flavour.

Any variety of stuffed ravioli or tortellini will do for this recipe, but a classic cheese, cheese and spinach or butternut squash stuffed one is recommended so that the nutty taste of the browned sage butter can shine. Look for good quality fresh ravioli or tortellini in the deli section of your grocery store.

Ingredients needed

You will not believe how few ingredients are needed to make this Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce! Only 8 ingredients including the salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese garnish.

1. Butter
2. Fresh Sage
3. Nutmeg
4. Salt
5. Pepper
6. Spinach
7. Ravioli
8. Parmesan Cheese

Crispy fried sage leaves

This recipe includes an option for crispy fried sage leaves. They’re quick and easy to make and taste a bit like kale chips. Here’s how to make fried sage leaves:

• Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet over medium high heat until shimmering
• Drop whole sage leaves in the hot oil arranging them in one layer
• Fry sage leaves until golden and crisp but do not over brown
• Gently remove sage leaves to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt and let cool

How to make brown butter sauce

Brown butter sauce is delicious and toasty with a nutty-sweet flavour and it’s easy to make! When cooking butter it goes through stages from light to golden nutty brown. The milk solids cook the quickest and separate from the butter fat. Those solids turn toasty and granular and drop to the bottom of the pan. Leave the brown granular solids in the sauce as they add an extra nuttiness and texture. Use a stainless steel or light colour skillet to ensure you can see when the butter has browned. Watch the butter closely and stir it constantly ensuring it doesn’t burn.

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to make the sage brown butter sauce:

• Add cubed butter to a large skillet, and melt butter over medium heat
• Keep over medium heat for 2 - 3 minutes while stirring often until butter starts to bubble and foam
• Add minced sage, nutmeg, salt and pepper and continue cooking while stirring often for 2 – 3 more minutes
• The butter will foam, turn golden, give off a nutty aroma with brown flecks forming; remove from heat

How to assemble Ravioli with brown butter sage sauce

• Add 2 tablespoons of starchy pasta water and spinach to the brown butter sauce and wilt the spinach
• Drain the ravioli (be sure and undercook the ravioli as it will continue to cook in the sauce)
• Add ravioli to the skillet and toss to combine with the brown butter sauce and wilted spinach
• Serve the ravioli with Parmesan cheese shavings and optional crispy fried sage leaves

Sage

This ravioli recipe incorporates sage, one of my favourite herbs which grow in my garden. Sage has a bitter pine like taste and adds a lot of flavour to many dishes. Sage plants are a perennial which means they grow back year after year. They go dormant for the winter then start to sprout in April or May. Sage will survive heat and drought, and continue to grow until the end of October or November.

Can I make ravioli with brown butter sage sauce ahead of time?

Because this recipe comes together quickly and easily, I suggest making it just before serving. If really pressed for time and need to make it ahead, be sure and reserve some extra starchy pasta water and use it to thin out the sauce when you reheat it.

This impressive and comforting ravioli meal is fast, easy and quick enough to make on a weeknight. It’s proof that simple cooking is the best cooking!

Give this ravioli with brown butter sage sauce a try and comment below on how you like it.

Recipe