Butternut Squash Ravioli Pasta

Why This Recipe Works

Decadent Dinner: Butternut squash ravioli pasta is decadent and absolutely delicious. This pasta dish is for when you want a comforting, flavorful dish that is sure to impress. This dish might have a lot of steps, but each step is simple and straightforward! It is worth putting the time and effort into this dish with a homemade butternut squash filling, fresh pasta made from scratch, and a brown butter sage sauce that is too good to be true!

Fall Forward: This butternut squash ravioli recipe is perfect for fall. Squash is in season and I can’t get enough of it. If you are butternut squash crazy like me, you have to try making this homemade ravioli. With any other butternut squash you have on hand, try making butternut squash soup or butternut squash pasta sauce!

Ingredients

For the Filling

• Butternut Squash: Fresh butternut squash works best here so that it can get roasted and slightly caramelized in the oven!
• Oil: To coat the squash before roasting.
• Salt & Pepper: Season the filling to taste with salt and pepper!
• Garlic Cloves: You will roast the garlic along with the butternut squash for loads of aroma and flavor!
• Thyme: Fresh thyme leaves are best, but dry will work in a pinch.

For the Pasta

• Flour: Pasta dough is best when it is made with 00 pasta flour. However, you can use all-purpose flour if you can’t find double zero flour!
• Eggs: Pasta is simple to make at home with just flour and eggs. That’s it!
• Salt: For a little extra flavor, I like adding salt to the pasta dough.

For the Butter Sauce

• Oil & Bacon: This is optional to add some extra flavor and texture. You can use bacon or pancetta, whichever you have on hand!
• Butter: It wouldn’t be butter sauce without the butter! If you use salted butter, be careful when adding extra salt.
• Nutmeg: Just a little bit of nutmeg adds a hint of warming spice.
• Fresh Sage: Fresh sage leaves will release a lovely flavor in the butter sauce!
• Salt: To taste.
• Parmesan: For serving!

Here’s How to Make It

Step by Step Instructions

• Prep Filling: First, make the filling. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Toss the squash together with the oil and lots of salt and pepper on a large baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes. Toss the squash around so it cooks evenly and add the garlic cloves, still in their skins. Roast for a further 15 minutes. (photos 1-2)
• Blend: Using a stick blender or in a food processor or bullet blender, blitz the squash together with the roasted garlic cloves, squeezed out of their skins and the thyme leaves until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside to cool. (photo 3)
• Make the Pasta: To make the pasta, blitz the flour and eggs together in a food processor until you have small crumbs. Gather about 1/2 tsp of these together and squeeze them into a ball. If they hold together, but the pasta is still slightly tacky, it is ready. If it is a little dry, add a splash of water and blitz again. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more flour. (photo 4)
• Knead the Dough: Turn the pasta crumbs out onto a clean work surface and gather them into a ball. Knead for about 5 minutes until the dough puts up too much resistance to continue. Cover with food wrap and set aside to rest for 30 minutes. (photo 5)

• Make the Ravioli: To make the ravioli, divide the dough into two. Roll each out as thin as you can, using extra flour to stop the long sheets of dough from sticking to each themselves. If you have a pasta machine, gradually roll the dough until it is on the thinnest setting, switching to a thinner setting each time you pass the dough through the rollers. (photos 6-7)
• Add Filling: Place 1 tbsp of filling on the dough and brush around it with water. Fold the pasta over and press to form a ravioli shape. Use either a pasta cutting wheel or a small round pastry cutter or a ravioli stamp to cut out the ravioli. Set aside on a baking tray dusted with flour while you repeat until you’ve run out of filling. You should get 24 medium-sized ravioli. (photos 8-12)
• Crisp the Bacon: If adding bacon to the butter sauce, heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the bacon and cool until crisp. Set the pieces aside to drain on a plate lined with paper towels. (photos 12-14)
• Cook the Pasta: Cook the pasta for 4-5 minutes in a pan of boiling, salted water until it is just tender. Drain and set aside while you make the butter sauce, reserving a cupful of the pasta cooking water. (not pictured)

• Start the Sauce: Heat the butter in a large non-stick frying pan, skillet, or shallow casserole dish. Once it is frothing, stir only occasionally until the butter has started to turn a little nutty and brown. (photo 15)
• Continue the Sauce: Stir in the nutmeg, then add the sage leaves. Once they have turned dark green and started to crisp, add the cooked ravioli along with a little of the pasta cooking water and the bacon pieces, if using. (photo 16)
• Simmer: Reduce the heat to low, and stir the ravioli in the pan until the butter has formed a thin, slightly emulsified sauce that coats the pasta, adding more pasta water if needed. (photos 17-18)
• Serve: Season the butter sauce with a little more salt, if needed, before serving in warm bowls topped with parmesan. Enjoy!

Expert Tips

• Careful blending the hot filling! If you put the hot roasted butternut squash in the blender, let it cool a little bit before blending for your safety. Once it is cooled to warm, blend and hold a towel over the top of the blender to prevent any messes!
• Don’t let pasta dough dry out! After you knead the pasta dough, be sure to cover it in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. It can dry out pretty quickly!
• Use the scraps! After you cut out the ravioli pieces, if there are scraps of pasta dough, you can roll them out again to get even more ravioli pieces out of it.
• If you have leftover butternut squash filling, turn it into a pasta sauce for later, or make a few small servings of soup!