This brown butter sauce with sage and walnuts is such a quick sauce to make and is incredibly delicious. I mean how could brown butter be bad? The salty, nutty butter with the fragrant sage and toasted walnuts is such a good combo. It’s a great sauce for fresh pastas, because of how simple it is. I love how it lets the fresh pasta shine. And, once I’ve taken the time to make a bunch of fresh pasta, I don’t particularly want to then spend a ton of time making a sauce. I want something quick. I want to eat that pasta asap.
I made this brown butter sauce to pair with my homemade fresh ricotta agnolotti. You could use any fresh pasta like ravioli, fresh tagliatelle, tortellini or potato gnocchi. Use a dried pasta if you like, I would recommend a long noodle like spaghetti. And, I would also say it’s pretty excellent spooned over a bowl of creamy polenta. The choice is yours. Ok, onto the recipe below.
I mean how could brown butter be bad? The salty, nutty butter with the fragrant sage and toasted walnuts is such a good combo.
Why You’ll Love This Brown Butter Sauce
If you want something quick and delicious, this brown butter sauce with sage and walnuts is it! With nutty browned butter, fragrant sage, and those toasted, crunchy walnuts, it’s a simple sauce that’s super flavorful. It pairs perfectly with my Squash Agnolotti or Ricotta Agnolotti.
Perfect for pairing with fresh pasta, gnocchi, ravioli, or tortellini, it comes together in just 10 minutes—and it is so good, every time.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- 4 tbsp butter – You can used salted or unsalted butter. Check the seasoning and add more salt if you need to. I used salted butter here, it’s what I have and what I like. But use the best quality butter you have and salt as needed.
- 1/4 C walnuts – You can use, whole or chopped walnuts here. Either works great.
- Handful sage leaves – The fresh sage adds so much great flavor to the sauce. Feel free to add as much or as little as you like for this recipe.
- Pasta of your choice – agnolotti, gnocchi, ravioli, or any shape you like
- Salt and Pepper
- Parmesan – Freshly grated Parmesan finishes off the sauce so well. The salty, nutty flavor pairs so well with the browned butter.
How to Make Brown Butter Sage and Walnut Sauce
- Cook Your Pasta
Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water. Reserve 1/2 C of the pasta cooking water for finishing the sauce. - Make The Brown Butter Sauce
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter starts to take on a slightly golden color, add in the walnuts and sage leaves. Season with salt. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the butter turns golden brown and smells nutty, about 3–4 minutes. - Toss With Pasta
Toss the sauce with your pasta and a few spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water to create a silky emulsified sauce that coats the pasta. Check the seasoning of the sauce and salt as needed. (You may need more or less salt depending on if you used salted or unsalted butter.) - Plate and Eat!
Plate the pasta and make sure to spoon over lots of the brown butter sauce with the toasted walnuts and fried sage leaves. Top with freshly grated Parmesan and black pepper.
Note: If the sauce is nicely browned and you want to halt the cooking so it doesn’t burn while waiting for you pasta to cook, turn off the heat and add in a few spoonfuls of pasta water. The water will stop the butter from burning and ruining the sauce.
Some Other Delicious Pasta Sauces To Try:
Genovese sauce is a traditional beef and onion ragù from Naples. Slowly simmered with white wine, this sauce develops a rich, deep flavor perfect for pairing with pasta or fresh potato gnocchi.
One of the simplest and most satisfying pasta dishes: Caramelized Onion Pasta. Fried, caramelized onions get tossed with spaghetti and topped with lots of Parmesan cheese.
Classic Italian Amatriciana sauce get’s an American twist with my Bacon Amatriciana. Made with smoky bacon and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
The Best Short Rib Ragu, a twist on the classic Italian meat sauce, Ragu Bolognese. Slowly cooked and served over fresh homemade pasta.
Brown Butter Sauce with Sage and Walnuts Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp butter salted or unsalted
- 1/4 C walnuts
- handful sage leaves
- 3/4 pound pasta agnolotti, gnocchi, ravioli (or 1/2 lb dried pasta)
- Parmesan freshly grated
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water. Reserve 1/2 C of the pasta cooking water for finishing the sauce.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter starts to take on a slightly golden color, add in the walnuts and sage leaves. Season with salt. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the butter turns golden brown and smells nutty, about 3–4 minutes.
- Toss the sauce with your pasta and a few spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water to create a silky emulsified sauce that coats the pasta. Check the seasoning of the sauce and salt as needed. (You may need more or less salt depending on if you used salted or unsalted butter.)
- Plate the pasta and make sure to spoon over lots of the brown butter sauce with the toasted walnuts and fried sage leaves. Top with freshly grated Parmesan and black pepper.
Notes
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Hi, I'm Rachel — the cook, photographer, and recipe developer behind Most Hungry.
This is my go-to spot for bold, approachable recipes rooted in Italian and Italian-American cooking, from hand-rolled fresh pasta to fall-off-the-bone ribs. Great food should be fun, doable, and absolutely delicious. Learn more about me →
4 thoughts on Brown Butter Sauce with Sage and Walnuts
I made this with butternut squash ravioli, and it was AWESOME! I’ve done it before, but the addition of the crushed walnut pieces really elevated it in both texture and taste!
Hi Emily! So glad you liked it. This is one of my faves. The walnuts really are so good in it!
How much pasta?
Hi David! This recipe was for 2 servings of pasta – 1/2 lb dried pasta or 3/4 lb stuffed pasta.
I like to be pretty generous with the servings so I would say about 4oz (1/4 lb) of dried pasta per person, or 6-7oz (~1/3 lb) for stuffed pasta like agnolotti or ravioli.