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.
- Butter
- Fresh Sage
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Pepper
- Spinach
- Ravioli
- 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.
Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce
Ravioli tossed in a nutty brown butter sage sauce with wilted spinach, Parmesan cheese and crispy sage is a quick and easy weeknight meal.
Ingredients
Crispy fried sage leaves
- 18-20 fresh sage leaves
- 2 tablespoons oil or more to cover the bottom of the pan
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Brown butter sauce and ravioli
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup fresh chopped sage
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 150 g bunched spinach or baby spinach about 6 cups
- 600 g packaged fresh cheese filled ravioli or other type as desired
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
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To make the crispy fried sage leaves, coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add sage leaves in a single layer. Fry for 30 seconds to one minute just until lightly golden and crispy – watch them closely. Immediately remove sage leaves to a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
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In a large pot cook the ravioli in lightly salted water for one minute less than the package directs. Reserve about ½ cup of the starchy pasta water, then drain the ravioli.
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Meanwhile, add the butter to a stainless steel or light coloured 12” skillet and melt it over medium heat. Keep over medium heat for about 2 - 3 minutes while stirring often until the butter starts to bubble and foam.
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Add minced sage, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until the butter turns golden, brown flecks form, there is a nutty aroma, and the sage pieces crisp up, about another 2 - 3 minutes. Do not over-brown, remove from heat immediately.
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To the browned butter add about 2 tablespoons of the reserved starchy pasta water and return the skillet to medium heat. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add drained ravioli and stir gently to combine, adding more of the starchy pasta water if needed to loosen the ravioli.
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Transfer to serving bowls and garnish each serving with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and crispy fried sage leaves.
Janis Maine says
Thanks Rita,
I made these and they were a huge hit.
I will make them again as we near Christmas.
Rita Jakobschuk says
Janis,
So glad you enjoyed this sage ravioli recipe and that you’ll be making it again! It’s quite a quick and easy recipe and the sage really makes it special! My garden sage bush is still yielding some green leaves so I must pluck them and make this recipe again too!
Rita