Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sauce and pecans - everything is made from scratch! Great recipe during the holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas) with lots of seasonal ingredients: pumpkin, pecans, nutmeg.
Pumpkin ravioli was the first recipe idea that came to my mind after I found an unopened can of organic pumpkin sitting in my pantry, leftover, forgotten and unused from this past Thanksgiving / Christmas season. I've already posted two ravioli recipes on this site, and both of them involved cheese and greens. I thought it would be a nice departure to make ravioli without any cheese in the filling - somewhat different from the norm. The use of the brown butter and toasted pecans as a ravioli sauce is also not as common as the white cream sauce or the red tomato based sauce that usually accompany ravioli.
To make ravioli filling, I just used organic pumpkin puree straight from the can, with only a couple of spices added, and the filling was more runny than what I was used to. I used my ravioli mold again and was pleasantly surprised how well the mold worked (once again!) even with a more watery and runny ravioli filling, such as pumpkin puree. Thanks to the mold, I was able to make perfect shapes, and none of ravioli burst or opened up during boiling/cooking. It's key, though, not to overfill the holes in the ravioli mold with too much pumpkin filling - put just enough filling so that it's at the same level as the top of the mold.
Brown butter with balsamic vinegar and a small amount of brown sugar not surprisingly turned out to be an amazing sauce for ravioli filled with pumpkin-nutmeg-brown-sugar filling, and toasted pecans scattered on top made this dish absolutely perfect. I beg you - please make this! It's so good! I've had these ravioli as a stand-alone dinner entry, I've also had it with seared salmon, which was an amazing combination.
Now, if I only knew what to do with the 2nd unopened can of organic pumpkin still in my pantry....
How to make Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sauce and pecans
Below are step-by-step photos illustrating some steps in making this pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sauce from scratch. For the complete recipe, scroll down below the photos.
If you're more of a visual person and would like photos that walk you through on how to use this ravioli mold, I have 2 more very good homemade ravioli recipes with lots of step-by-step photos on how to use ravioli mold:
Ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese filling, in tomato cream sauce
Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sauce and pecans
Ingredients
Ingredients for ravioli dough from scratch (makes 12 ravioli using mold, double this amount if you want to make 24 ravioli)
Ingredients for pumpkin ravioli filling (makes 24 ravioli):
- 8 oz pumpkin mashed, canned, organic
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- salt and pepper
Ingredients for brown butter sauce:
- 4 oz butter
- 2 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup pecans , toasted, chopped
Instructions
How to make ravioli dough:
- Mix flour with salt.
- Stir water with egg until well mixed.
- In a bowl, combine flour and egg-water mixture together and mix until well incorporated. Knead the dough until well-textured and firm. The dough should not be too wet or too sticky. It should only stick to itself, but not to your hands. It should not be too dry, either. Make the dough into a ball or disk, wrap with plastic wrap. Let the dough stand for 1 hour at room temperature before using. This allows gluten to work.
- This recipe uses ravioli mold to make ravioli (you'll see the pic of the mold if you scroll above). This amount of dough is enough to make dough for 12 raviolis, using the mold (ravioli mold makes 12 ravioli). If you need to make 24 ravioli, make a second batch of this dough.
How to make pumpkin ravioli filling and assemble:
- If your pumpkin puree or mashed pumpkin is too watery, drain the pumpkin using a paper towel and a mesh strainer to get rid of any unnecessary liquid.
- Mix pumpkin puree with brown sugar and nutmeg. Season filling with salt and pepper.
- Unwrap a batch of ravioli dough from plastic, divide in 2 equal parts. Flour working area. Roll out each part of pasta dough very thinly, on a floured surface, using a roller. Make sure to flour the upper portion of pasta dough and the roller to avoid sticking. Lift the rolled dough several times during rolling to make sure it doesn’t stick to the counter, and flour working surface with more flour, if necessary.
- Flour the ravioli mold. After you have rolled the 2 portions of dough very thinly, place first layer of dough on the ravioli mold, so that it covers all 12 holes.
- Place a small portion of ravioli filling into each indentation, making sure not to overfill. The filling should be at the same level or lower as the flat part of the mold. Place second layer of pasta dough on top of filled ravioli.
- Using a roller pin, roll across the mold and along the edges to separate ravioli. As you roll the pin, it also removes all air from ravioli, which is very important for ravioli success. By now you should have extra dough hanging off the outside 4 edges of ravioli mold – carefully separate it. Continue rolling the pin along the inside edges of 12 raviolis to separate them from one another: you could also use your fingers to press across the edges to separate ravioli.
- Flip ravioli mold to release ravioli. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Boil ravioli for 5 minutes, drain and set aside – to be used with sauce below.
- Or, alternatively, if you’re not using ravioli right away, place them on a plate or baking sheet in the freezer to freeze. After they are frozen, place them in a plastic bag and keep frozen until needed.
How to make brown butter sauce:
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Toast pecans for 10 minutes until slightly browned, let them cool off and then chop them finely.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook until butter just begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Do not overcook or butter will burn. Remove from heat. Mix in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Add ravioli to the hot butter sauce, spoon sauce over to coat ravioli. Transfer to plates. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Want Thanksgiving recipe inspiration?
Check out this delicious Thanksgiving Side Dish - Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Cinnamon Butternut Squash, Pecans, and Cranberries
Hi Julia, I made the ravioli pasta myself for the first time ever. However I did not get it rolled thin enough and the pasta seemed tough when eating it. I believe my three star rating is all in my execution of the recipe.
The brown butter sauce had separated when it was time to serve. Also it was not specified whether to use salted or unsalted butter. I used unsalted and it definitely needed more salt... I love the idea of the recipe and will give it another go. I know I can do better!
Tammy, thank you for trying this recipe! Here are some trouble-shooting tips:
1) The tough texture could be the result of over-packing the flour. See my tips for properly measuring the flour below.
2) To prevent the brown butter sauce from separating, cook it on medium heat at all times (not on high heat).
How to properly measure the flour:
- When you measure flour using cups, make sure not to pack flour too dense in a measuring cup, otherwise you will end up with much more flour than you need, and, therefore, the tough texture results. You can sift the flour first. The trick that works for me is that I use 1/4 measuring cup to carefully scoop all flour I need into the measuring cups, then, I fluff it up and aerate it as I add it into a larger cup, without over-packing it.
Julia, any suggestions for a sauce that does not contain dairy?
Mike, for this recipe, just use olive oil instead of butter. Obviously, don't cook the olive oil - it will not brown. Just combine together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and gently reheat.
Sorry to butt in, have you tried Ghee? a lot of people with dairy allergy find this agrees with them. I make a small pot and leave it out of the fridge for weeks, it never goes off, and it has a lovely nutty flavour. Make it yourself though as it's prohibitively expensive.
Peter, thank you for your tip - very helpful! ❤️
I do need to make the ravioli ahead and freeze them. Would you happen to have instructions on the defrosting process?
You think this would work with sweet potatoes
Michelle, this would work great with sweet potatoes! Enjoy!
I used prepackaged butternut squash for this recipe and it was wonderful! My family loved it.
Tammy, I am glad store-bought butternut squash ravioli worked great with this sauce - it's a great shortcut! 🙂
I just made this tonight and it was PHENOMENAL. First time making homemade pasta or ravioli ever and it was a hit and east to follow along. I used a small round cookie cutter around the balls of pumpkin since I didn’t have a ravioli mold and it worked perfectly, just pinched the edges after
Taryn, I am glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for sharing that you used a round cookie cutter to make ravioli - so resourceful, I love it! 🙂 And helpful to me and other readers.
This recipe was a total disaster…,followed the recipe exactly. Added the vinegar to the butter which exploded…my entire kitchen was in butter splatters. Never again.