Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage
This easy Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage turns store-bought cheese ravioli into a cozy, restaurant-worthy dinner in just 15 minutes.
Jump to:
- 🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- ⭐️ Why this recipe works
- 🧐 What is browned butter?
- 🌿 Ingredients you need
- 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
- 🧐 Recipe FAQs
- 🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
- Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage
- 👩🏻🍳 Variations of this recipe
- ⭐️ We want to know what you think!
- 😍 Other ravioli recipes we love!
This easy Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage is a 15-minute pasta dinner that tastes like something from your favorite Italian restaurant.
Tender cheese ravioli are tossed with nutty browned butter, crispy fresh sage and Parmesan cheese for an elegant meal that’s easy enough for busy weeknights but special enough for company.
🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- What It Is: Tender cheese ravioli tossed with nutty brown butter, crispy sage, shallots and Parmesan for an easy 15-minute dinner.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Servings: 4 servings
- Calories: 660
- Cooking Method: Stovetop
- Good For: 🍝 Busy weeknight dinners 🍂 Cozy fall meals 💕 Date night at home 🎉 Casual dinner parties 🌿 Using up fresh garden sage 🥂 Easy entertaining 🧀 Meatless Monday ⏰ Last-minute dinners
⭐️ Why this recipe works
- ⏰ Ready in just 15 minutes—perfect for busy weeknights.
- 🧈 Brown butter adds rich, nutty flavor with very little effort.
- 🌿 Fresh sage turns deliciously crisp as it cooks in the butter.
- 🧅 Shallots add a touch of savory sweetness without overpowering the sauce.
- 🧀 Parmesan makes everything extra savory and satisfying.
- 🍝 Store-bought ravioli keeps it wonderfully easy while still feeling special.
- ✨ Only six simple ingredients create a restaurant-worthy pasta dinner.
Being the get-in-and-out-of-the-kitchen fan that I am, I bring you one of my most favorite, easiest recipes ever, the silky, flavorful dish full of happiness that is ravioli with browned butter and sage.
🧐 What is browned butter?
There’s something about the words “brown butter” that makes any recipe sound irresistible. Browned butter is exactly what it sounds like: regular butter that is gently cooked until its milk solids turn golden brown. Brown butter is a classic ingredient in Italian-inspired pasta dishes because its rich, toasted flavor pairs beautifully with delicate cheeses and fresh herbs like sage.
This gives it a rich, nutty, almost caramel-like flavor that makes even a simple pasta sauce taste extra special. Watch it closely—it can go from beautifully browned to burned very quickly!
So this sauce calls not only for this fabulous butter, but also for a generous amount of the acres and acres of sage currently growing in my mama’s back yard. Sage is an aromatic herb with soft, silvery-green leaves and a warm, earthy, slightly peppery flavor.
Put that together with some cheesy ravioli and get ready for there to be MULTIPLE requests for seconds!
🌿 Ingredients you need
💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
Looking for ingredient swaps? Here are some easy substitutions if you’re out of butter, Parmesan, shallots or fresh sage. 👇🏻
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Start by boiling up your favorite cheese ravioli, and this is definitely a recipe where you want to splurge on the best ravioli you can find.
STEP 2: While the ravioli is cooking, melt some butter in your favorite skillet and add some chopped shallots, stirring them around until they soften.
Then toss in those fresh sage leaves and cook them until they just start getting soft. All of this is going to take about 5 minutes, and by now the butter will be getting just a little brown.
Kate’s Tip: Use a light-colored skillet if you have one—it makes it much easier to see when the butter turns perfectly golden instead of accidentally burning.
STEP 3: Add a little salt and pepper and add the ravioli to the sauce skillet. Toss gently. Last but not least, toss very gently with some grated Parmesan cheese, and there you are!
STEP 4: Divide it among plates and garnish with some sage leaves and grated parmesan if you want to be extra fancy.
The entire process took you about 15 minutes, and you are in ravioli heaven!
🧐 Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Fresh or frozen cheese ravioli will both work. Simply cook the ravioli according to the package directions before gently tossing it with the brown butter sauce.
The butter will foam first, and then you’ll see little golden-brown specks forming on the bottom of the skillet. It should smell rich and nutty. Keep a close eye on it—brown butter can go from perfectly toasted to burned in a hurry!
Fresh sage is best because the leaves become deliciously crisp in the butter. If necessary, you can substitute about 2 teaspoons of dried rubbed sage, but the flavor and texture will be a little different.
Cheese ravioli is a classic choice, but butternut squash, mushroom or spinach ravioli would also be scrumptious with brown butter and sage.
I wish I could say yes, but this ravioli is best made and served right away while the sauce is silky and the sage leaves are crisp. You can slice the shallots and grate the Parmesan ahead of time to make this already speedy supper even speedier.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat them gently in a skillet over low heat with a small pat of butter. The sage won’t be quite as crispy, but the ravioli will still taste wonderful.
Pop your question in the Comments section below and I will answer pronto!
🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
We love to add some extra veggies to this pasta deliciousness. A plate of zucchini carpaccio, a bowl of green bean tomato salad or some roasted green beans with walnuts are all scrumptious.
And for dessert, let’s have some brownie cookies!
Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage
This easy Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage turns store-bought cheese ravioli into a cozy, restaurant-worthy dinner in just 15 minutes. Nutty brown butter, crispy sage, tender shallots and plenty of Parmesan make this simple pasta recipe perfect for busy weeknights.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 package cheese ravioli
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 medium shallots, sliced thinly
- 20 fresh sage leaves
- Salt and fresh ground pepper
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook ravioli according to package directions.
- Heat butter in a skillet over medium low heat until it foams. Add shallots and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the sage and cook until leaves turn slightly crisp, another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add cooked ravioli to the skillet and toss gently. Add 1/3 cup parmesan and toss gently again. Divide among dishes and top with remaining parmesan and another grinding of fresh pepper.
👩🏻🍳 Variations of this recipe
- 🎃 Try a different ravioli: Use butternut squash, pumpkin, mushroom or spinach ravioli instead of cheese.
- 🍋 Brighten it up: Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice or a little lemon zest before serving.
- 🥜 Add some crunch: Sprinkle with toasted walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or pine nuts.
- 🥓 Make it meaty: Add crispy bacon, pancetta or prosciutto.
- 🍄 Add vegetables: Stir in sautéed mushrooms, spinach or roasted butternut squash.
- 🌶️ Spice it up: Add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the brown butter.
- 🍝 Switch the pasta: Make the same recipe with tortellini or gnocchi.
- 🧀 Change the cheese: Try Pecorino Romano, Asiago or shaved Parmesan.
- 🌿 Mix up the herbs: Add a little fresh thyme or rosemary along with the sage.
⭐️ We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below.
😍 Other ravioli recipes we love!
Get some gorgeous tomatoes and chop them up into little chunks and put them in a big bowl. Drizzle in some good extra virgin olive oil; about 2 tablespoons by eye, a nice pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper and then lots of chopped basil. Stir it up and let all the yummy-ness sit and get cozy in the bowl while you boil water and then cook up some angel hair pasta. Once the pasta is done, drain it and dump it into the bowl with the tomatoes and toss everything together and eat huge amounts of it for days!
I can always count on you to come through for me with some fantastic recipe ideas – this is of course delectable!
So glad I found this. I picked up some pumpkin ravioli the other day. This sauce will go great with it!
Thanks for stopping by! Your pictures and blog look great! I am now following you.
Oh man, this looks sooo good!
My mouth is watering! Yummy!
This looks great, love brown butter. I just picked some Pineapple Sage from my garden today and was thinking Pork but this looks better :)
Fantastic recipe!!!
Yum! I have to admit I have never made a brown butter sauce. I now definitely have to make one. I love sage. We have been on a big sage kick this year. It pairs beautifully with cheese. Thanks for the recipe.
This photo made me stop in my tracks. I think I'm in love. ;) I've always wanted to try brown butter, but haven't…until now that is. I'll be having this for supper.
this looks fantastic. I have to warn though, that butter burns very quickly (I say that from experience!)- I love your new layout too (slightly belated)!
brown butter is what drew me in. i have a recipe for brown butter ice cream on my blog, it tastes amazing!
I've been wanting to make ravioli for a while now, I'm sure I'll be coming back to this recipe once I'm ready. Thanks :)
Delicious!!…Of course, being the meat eater that I am, I would add a small ham steak on the side too! ^_^
I adore pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli with brown butter and sage!
This looks so yummy and easy to make. Looks fantastic!
Browned butter gives me butterflies. It does. It really truly does. I made a sauce similar to this not so long ago and added some almonds to it for crunch. It was fantastic. As I'm sure was this. Gorgeous!