Around here, ravioli isn’t just loved—it’s expected. Every holiday, our family rolls out hundreds by hand, usually sticking with my reader-favorite meat ravioli or a classic ricotta cheese filling. But for the vegetarians and veggie lovers at the table, this roasted butternut squash ravioli filling (and its savory mushroom cousin) always hits the mark.
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This and a big spoonful of a gorgeous browned butter pasta sauce with a bit of fried sage takes everything to holiday-level, right?
Roasting is the difference
Roasting cubes of butternut squash results in a far more intense and richer flavored ravioli from the caramelization. Simply baking cut halves of squash ends up steaming them.
Butternut squash: a hard nut to crack
Literally. There are two ways to go about prepping it for roasting.
- Whole. Buying a whole butternut squash is a little bit more time consuming in that it needs to be peeled and cubed. I share more details in the recipe card below.
- Pre-diced. My preferred method. It saves me time and a lot of mess (I’m not a fan of scooping out the seeds).
Ingredient notes
- Ravioli dough. Whip up a batch of this homemade ravioli dough recipe. It’s so easy and I hold your hand the whole way through for guaranteed success!
- Ricotta. I’m a big fan of how creamy whole milk ricotta is but part-skim works great too.
Mixing butternut squash ravioli filling (food processor method)
A couple tips
Don’t overcook the butternut squash when roasting. You don’t want any crunchy bits in your creamy filling!
Any winter squash like acorn, butternut, buttercup, delicata works. You also can use kabocha (which is much sweeter than butternut squash) so you’ll want to balance the flavors with savory ingredients like garlic and herbs.
Treat butternut squash ravioli delicately
Since this a no-egg butternut squash ravioli filling, you don’t have to worry about cooking it for a certain amount of time because the filling is cooked. The goal here is to cook the pasta. A few pointers:
- After adding it to the water, the ravioli will temporarily float to the top then fall down. Once the water boils again and the ravioli float to the top again a second time, cook it for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the ravioli carefully with a chinese spider or large slotted spoon to a warmed bowl as they are delicate.
Pro tip
Don’t pour ravioli into a strainer as you risk breaking the ravioli.
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More sauce ideas for butternut squash rav
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Butternut Squash Ricotta Ravioli Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 lb butternut squash, cubed; I buy at Trader Joe's or Costco
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 sage leaves
- 1 container of ricotta cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- lemon juice
For the browned butter sage sauce
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 3 sage leaves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- toasted pine nuts, for garnish
- freshly grated parmesan cheese
For the pasta -Store bought / OPTION #1
- 1 package of wonton wrappers
For the pasta – Homemade ravioli dough / OPTION #2
- 4 cups "00" flour
- 1¼ cups warm water, or more to use as needed
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks, reserve whites for another use like meat ravioli
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
For the butternut squash filling
- Preheat oven to 400˚.
- On a sheet pan, toss butternut squash topped with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven until golden, about 30 minutes.2 lb butternut squash
- Saute chopped onion in olive oil with the cloves of garlic and three sage leaves in a skillet.1 onion, 3 sage leaves, 3 cloves garlic
- Puree squash, onions, sage and garlic in food processor until smooth.
- Mix in ricotta and seasonings. Taste and correct seasoning to your taste. You want it to have a lot of flavor.1 container of ricotta cheese, ½ cup parmesan cheese, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, lemon juice
For the ravioli – if using homemade ravioli dough. If using wonton wrappers, skip to step 3 below.
- Start with ¼ of a recipe of homemade ravioli dough using a pasta machine or Kitchenaid mixer pasta roller attachment. Start at setting #1. Fold each end to the middle and repeat this setting). Continue rolling ravioli up to setting #6. Go as thin as you dare but you should be able to see the outline of your hand through the dough when held up to the light.
- Lay the sheet of pasta dough on a floured board. Use a ruler or ravioli stamp to "mark" one side of the length of the dough. This will help you know where to place the filling.
- Using a clean tablespoon, fill each ravioli with the cheese filling (up to a tablespoon of filling – use your judgement here to at least ½" of a rim).
- Use a pastry brush to brush water around the outside edge of each ravioli.
- Fold the unfilled side of ravioli dough over the filled side.
- Use two fingers to pat firmly yet gently around the filling. Packing and sealing the filling tightly helps prevent air pockets which helps avoid the ravioli from bursting. Press out the air pockets at the same time.
- Cut the ravioli using a ravioli stamp or a pastry wheel, pressing down to seal it.
Cook the ravioli
- Remove ravioli to a floured baking sheet or clean surface. Cover with a dish towel and refrigerate if cooking later in the day. In lightly boiling. heavily salted water (kosher salt), cook the ravioli for 3-5 minutes until the ravioli floats.
For the browned butter sage sauce
- Brown the butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes until amber brown in color. Be sure to watch it closely at the 5 minute mark as it'll burn quickly if you're not careful!1 stick unsalted butter
- Add sage leaves during the last two minutes to flavor the sauce.3 sage leaves
- Season with salt and pepper. Spoon over hot ravioli and sprinkle with pine nuts and parmesan, as desired.½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
There is a “I don’t like squash crowd” ??? Nonsense.
Haha! I happen to be married to a card carrying member of that crowd but thank goodness my kids are on team squash!