What do you do for self care? I think most people avoid cooking themselves a good meal as part of their self care routine because it sounds like a lot of work, but recipes like these Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce are an incredibly fast and easy way to do something special for yourself. It’s an elegant restaurant-quality meal, without the huge bill at the end. ;) So turn off that phone, light a candle, pour yourself a glass of white wine, sit down to this fancy-pants ravioli, and just enjoy the moment. 💆♀️
And since this makes two servings, it also makes a great date night meal. ;)
What’s Up with Brown Butter?
It’s pretty much the best thing ever in the entire universe. Brown butter is what happens when you cook butter long enough to make the butter solids get all toasty and delicious, but not so long that they burn. You can use brown butter in baked goods, sauces, and just about anything to give your recipe a nutty-sweet flavor. For more information about this liquid gold, check out my tutorial on How to Make Brown Butter.
Brown Butter Sage Sauce is Magic
Okay, so now you know how incredible brown butter is, let me just sing the praises of this super simple brown butter sage sauce. This incredibly simple yet elegant sauce is rich, nutty, herbaceous, and not too heavy. It’s the perfect way to lightly dress the ravioli in flavor and moisture and it perfectly balances the subtle sweetness of the ravioli filling. Once you make this brown butter sage sauce you’ll start to think of all the other foods you could drizzle it over. Pour it over baked sweet potatoes, gnocchi, wild rice pilaf, or pork chops.
Ravioli Alternatives
I used an awesome butternut squash ravioli (from Aldi) for this recipe, but you could use any regular cheese ravioli, or even something like gnocchi. Squash or pumpkin flavors go especially well with the brown butter and walnuts, but if you can’t get your hands on that, regular cheese flavors are also great.
Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce
Servings 2Ingredients
- 9 oz. ravioli* ($2.89)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped ($0.57)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.52)
- 1/2 tsp dried sage ($0.05)
- 1/4 lb. fresh spinach ($0.60)
- salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan ($0.11)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil for the ravioli. Once boiling, add the ravioli and cook until tender (check package for specific cooking times, as this can vary with the ravioli size or whether it is fresh or dried). Once cooked, reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the ravioli in a colander.
- While the ravioli is cooking, prepare the rest of the dish. Mince the garlic and chop the walnuts before you begin the sage brown butter sauce, since the sauce cooks very quickly.
- Add the butter to a large skillet and melt it over medium-low heat, stirring continuously. Once the butter begins to sizzle and becomes foamy (about 2-3 minutes), add the minced garlic and chopped walnuts. Continue to stir and cook over medium-low heat until the sediment in the skillet turns deep golden brown (about 3-5 minutes). Once it becomes browned, remove it from the heat, and stir in the dried sage.
- Add the spinach and the 1/4 cup reserved ravioli cooking water to the skillet. Return the skillet to low heat, and stir until the spinach is wilted (about 2 minutes). Taste the spinach and add salt to taste. Finally, add the cooked and drained ravioli to the skillet with the spinach and sage brown butter sauce, then toss to coat.
- Serve the ravioli with a light dusting of grated Parmesan and freshly cracked pepper over top.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce – Step by Step Photos
This is the ravioli I used, which is a seasonal product from Aldi. As mentioned above, you can use regular cheese ravioli, or even gnocchi for this dish. 9 oz. is kind of a weird package size, but you could use anywhere from 8-10 oz. of ravioli or gnocchi for this amount of sage brown butter sauce. Start boiling a pot of water for the ravioli first. Once boiling, add the ravioli and cook according to the package directions (only about 3 minutes for this fresh ravioli). Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the ravioli in a colander.
While waiting for the water to boil and the ravioli to cook, you can prepare the rest of the dish. Prep the ingredients for the sage brown butter sauce before you begin melting the butter because the sauce cooks quickly, so you don’t want to be double-tasking. Mince a clove of garlic, and chop 1/4 cup walnuts.
First add 4 Tbsp butter to a large skillet and melt it over medium-low heat. Wait for the butter to begin sizzling and for it to get a bit foamy on top (about 2-3 minutes), then add the chopped walnuts and minced garlic.
Continue to stir and cook the butter, walnuts, and garlic over medium-low until the sediment turns a deep golden brown like in the photo above (about 3-5 minutes). Remove the skillet from the heat (it will continue browning with the residual heat of the skillet, so it’s important to take it off the burner to slow this down).
Finally, stir in 1/2 tsp dried sage.
I should have gotten two separate photos here, so sorry. First add the 1/4 lb. spinach and the reserved 1/4 cup cooking water to the skillet, return the skillet to low heat, and stir until the spinach is wilted (about 2 minutes). Taste the spinach and add a pinch or two of salt, if needed. Finally, add the ravioli and toss to coat in the sage brown butter sauce.
Sprinkle a little bit of grated Parmesan and freshly cracked pepper over top just before serving.
This was sooo good! It was easy to put together and seemed like a fancy restaurant meal. I used kale instead of spinach, and left out the sage (I didn’t have any and the pumpkin ravioli I used had sage in it.). I will for sure buy more pumpkin ravioli when Aldi has it again, just to make this dish.
I had a box of butternut squash ravioli from the farmer’s market in the freezer and wanted to make a nice Christmas Eve dinner. I remembered your recipe, then realized I really didn’t have the ingredients to make YOUR recipe but I made something like it. I sauteed 1/2 of a thinly sliced onion in the butter, used frozen spinach, and pine nuts instead of walnuts. I served with a dollop of ricotta on top as I used all the parm in tomorrow’s potatoes au gratin. We forced my fiancee’s dad, who hates all of my “hippie food,” to try one then he tried to steal the bowl he loved it so much! What a great jumping off recipe! Thanks, Beth!
That sounds amazing!!
Fantastic recipe! I bought the sweet potato ravioli at Aldi today and thought a sage browned butter sauce sounded fabulous and so after a quick google search I found your recipe and you too used an Aldi ravioli! ❤️ Aldi
I’m going to follow you as I feel that it was destiny I found you 😊 Yummy!
This has to be one of my favorite recipes so far. Quick to make, easy to assemble and delicious. I stock up on the ravioli every time I do to Aldi or other grocery stores. Thank you!
I’m planning on making this recipe this week – seems so seasonally appropriate, but we are big eaters at our house and will need a side dish. Any recommendations for a veggie based side? Usually I’d serve a salad with pasta but that doesn’t seem like it would go well.
I think a salad would go great! Better than a cooked vegetable in this case, IMHO.
Just to be clear – the spinach and reserved 1/4 cup of water gets added TO the brown butter sauce to cook, right? I don’t know why that step is baffling me 🤔🤣
Correct. :) I’m sorry I didn’t have a separate photo for that before adding the ravioli! I definitely should have. I hope to make a video soon, so maybe that will help.
Was confused at that step as well and messed it up
I made this tonight and substituted five cheese tortellini by Kirkland Brand at Costco. I used one pack which is about 20oz and I simply doubled the recipe for the rest of the ingredients. It came out great 👍 This will be added to my recipe box.
I messed up the recipe and it was still amazing (I was making garlic bread at the same time and I used the 4 tbsp in that and 2 tbsp in this by accident. When the spinach watered it down because I didn’t use enough butter, because I messed up, I just added a little more butter at the end losing some the brown butter flavor, but it was still so good). I can only imagine how great it will be when I make it correctly!
Could you sub a different kind of nut in for the walnuts? It seems I have every kind of nut in my pantry *except* walnuts, but the weather outside is just screaming for this dish to be made.
I’m sure you can substitute whatever kind of nuts you have on hand. In keeping with the fall flavor profile, pecans, chestnuts and hazelnuts would probably all taste great.
Yep, you can use just about any nut. What kind do you have on hand?
I currently have pecans, slivered almonds, and cashews, and then harder ones like whole almonds, peanuts, and pistachios. I also have sunflower and pumpkin seeds. We make granola and trail mix for snacks around here, so we have a lot of nuts, and used the last of our walnuts making your pumpkin granola!
I would do pecans or the pumpkin seeds. :)
Mmm … pistachios would be amazing in this!
Giving this a try tonight, by the way. All you had to say was “brown butter,” and I saved it. :-)
Use fresh sage instead of dried – so amazing.
I was thinking this too! I usually hate having to buy fresh herbs, but fresh sage is so good that I always feel like it’s worth it.
made this two nights ago—except i used arugula instead of spinach and brazil nuts instead of walnuts. i eyeballed it (plus didn’t have the recipe on hand) so i didn’t add enough butter in the beginning (and / or the brazil nuts soaked it up) so had to add more after putting arugula in the pan so it wasn’t exactly brown butter… however it was still so delicious. highly recommend, i would imagine it’d taste better when done correctly! thanks so much Beth
I had some Three Bridges Wild Mushroom ravioli that I had bought on sale, and a box of baby spinach that was a few days away from expiring, and this was an amazing use! It was delicious, and I’ll definitely make this again!
Hi – it might actually be easier for me to get fresh sage instead of dried. Would it be interchangeable?
Yes, fresh sage would be amazing in this.
Awesome! How many leaves would you recommend in lieu of the 1/2 teaspoon?
Hmm, it’s hard to say since the leaves can vary quite a bit in size. The recipe is pretty flexible, though, so I would just chop up a couple leaves and go with about 1/2 tsp chopped, then add more later if you want more sage flavor.
I made this last night and it was excellent! It took far less time than you’d expect for such a sophisticated dish!
I never thought of browned butter and spinach. I really like the butternut squash ravioli from Trader Joe’s. I usually just put butter, Parmesan cheese, and grate fresh nutmeg. The best part is that it is not a seasonal item but they sell it year round! So good!
Good to know that they have that year round! Thank you!