Brussels Sprouts and Ravioli in Maple Butter Sauce turns two grocery-store staples into a skillet dinner that tastes like it took a lot more effort than it did. Crisp bacon, browned Brussels sprouts, and pillowy ravioli all get tossed together in a butter sauce that goes nutty and fragrant with maple syrup, toasted pecans, and pine nuts. A scatter of cranberries on top does the rest.
🍁 Brussels Sprouts and Ravioli Summary
Complete recipe and measurements follow below
- 🥓 Crisp bacon, then sauté shallots and sliced Brussels sprouts in the same pan
- 🧈 Brown butter with pecans, pine nuts, cranberries, and maple syrup until fragrant
- 🍝 Boil any ravioli you have on hand, cheese, meat, or even lobster
- 🥘 Toss everything together in the skillet so the ravioli soaks up the sauce
- ⏱️ On the table in about 30 minutes, start to finish
- ❄️ Great for meal prep; the components hold in the fridge until you're ready to cook
Love more ravioli with a fall flavor and brown butter? Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce
Jump to:
- 🍁 Brussels Sprouts and Ravioli Summary
- Getting the Brussels Sprouts Right
- Two Ways to Build This Dinner
- ✅ Quick chooser
- Main Ingredients
- How to make ravioli Brussels sprouts dinner
- Brussels Sprouts and Ravioli with Maple Butter Sauce
- Tips and tricks for success
- Storage and leftovers
- Delicious Brussels sprouts recipes
- Reviews
Getting the Brussels Sprouts Right
A cast iron or stainless steel skillet holds heat better than nonstick, which matters here since you want real browning on the sprouts, not a gray steam. Watch for light color, not deep char. Once one side of the sprout turns golden and the leaves start to soften, pull them off the heat. Sprouts left too long in the pan shrink down and lose the bite that makes this dish interesting.
Two Ways to Build This Dinner
Here's the quick version: cook your components separately, then bring them together in one pan at the end. You can go straight through in one session on a weeknight, or split the prep across two days if you're cooking for a holiday crowd.
🍳 Same-Day Method
Best for: weeknight dinners, single-pan cleanup.
Texture tip: don't crowd the sprouts in the pan or they'll steam instead of brown. Work in batches if your skillet is on the smaller side.
📦 Make-Ahead Method
Best for: holiday dinners, feeding a crowd without a chaotic kitchen
- Cook the ravioli and Brussels sprouts up to a day ahead, then refrigerate separately.
- Crisp the bacon ahead too, and store it in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Everything else is added the day of.
Make-ahead note: the sauce itself doesn't hold well overnight since brown butter can turn grainy when chilled and reheated, so save that step for right before serving.
✅ Quick chooser
- Cooking for two on a Tuesday? Go same-day.
- Hosting for the holidays? Prep ahead and finish the sauce fresh.
Main Ingredients
Exact measurements listed in the full recipe below.
- Ravioli. First things first, we will be using square, round or any other shape ravioli here. You can choose cheese ravioli or ravioli filled with meat, chicken or even lobster.
- Brussels Sprouts. Slice the spruts thinly into bite sizes so that they are enjoyable to eat.
- Bacon. Chop bacon into small chunks before cooking it to make it easy an painless to cook the bacon! After bacon is cooked, simply pat it dry with paper towel to remove all grease and wipe the pan of any bacon grease as well.
- Chopped pecans, pine nuts, cranberries.
- Butter. Don't be afraid to use more (or less butter) than the recipe calls for. You can also substitute, or combine, with olive oil.
- Salt and pepper. Season well with salt and pepper. Seasoning really get lots of flavor out there!
How to make ravioli Brussels sprouts dinner
Here's an overview of the steps, for the printable recipe card go to the full written recipe.
1. Cook the ravioli
Boil salted water, add ravioli, and cook according to package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Crisp the Bacon
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook sliced bacon until crisp, then remove to paper towels. Wipe out bacon grease from skillet.
3. Sauté Shallots and Brussels Sprouts
Add olive oil to skillet. Sauté chopped shallots until translucent. Add thinly sliced Brussels sprouts and cook until lightly browned on one side and tender. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan.
4. Make Maple Butter Sauce
Add butter, chopped pecans, pine nuts, cranberries and maple syrup to the skillet. Cook over medium heat until butter begins to brown and sauce is fragrant.
5. Combine everything
Reduce heat to low. Add cooked ravioli and Brussels sprouts back into skillet. Toss to coat everything evenly in sauce.
Brussels Sprouts and Ravioli with Maple Butter Sauce
Equipment
- 1 pot
- 1 Skillet 12 inch
- 1 Wooden spatula
- 1 collander or strainer
- 2 paper towels
Ingredients
- salt and pepper
- 1 lb. ravioli cheese, meat or lobster
- 4 strips bacon sliced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 shallots chopped
- 3 cups brussels sprouts sliced
- ⅓ cup butter
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ½ cup pine nuts
Instructions
- Heat up water in a pot. Once boiling, add ½ teaspoon of salt and ravioli. Cook according to the package instructions until semi soft (al dente).
- Preheat large 12 inch skillet on medium high heat. Add sliced bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon pieces into a paper towel.
- Wipe the same skillet and add the olive oil. On medium high heat add the shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Next add the Brussels sprouts. Cook until the sprouts are brownish on at least one side, about 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. The Brussels sprouts should be light green in color.
- Remove the Brussels sprouts from the skillet to a dish.
- Add butter to the same skillet, next add pecans, cranberries, pine nuts, maple syrup and cook over medium heat, cooking until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the ravioli into the sauce. Add cooked Brussels sprouts last and mix everything together. Serve immediately.
Tips and tricks for success
- Rest time. After seasoning the meat, allow it to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Salting breaks down muscle fibers so they shrink less and retain more juices as they cook.
- Cast iron skillet. Ceramic skillet, Stainless steel skillet or cast iron pan both conduct the heat very well and are perfect to use when making ravioli with Brussels Sprouts.
- Cooked Brussels Sprouts to light green color. Do not overcook the sprouts! As long as you have light browning on one side - this indicates that Brussels Sprouts are soft and ready. Overcooking will lead to Brussels sprouts diminishing in size.
- Add more butter and/or olive oil. You can add more butter as you cook if needed. Olive oil is also a good substitute for butter in this recipe.
Storage and leftovers
- Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
- Reheat gently on the stovetop or microwave to avoid overcooking the Brussels sprouts.
- Since maple butter contains butter and maple syrup, keep the sauce refrigerated to maintain freshness and prevent spoilage.
- If maple butter separates, simply stir it back together before reheating.
- For longer storage, you can freeze portions sealed tightly for up to 2 months; thaw in the fridge before reheating.
Michael says
Loved this!!! Made it last night, omitted the bacon, added extra pine nuts!
Olya Shepard says
Love it! Thank you!!
Emma says
I used garlic instead of shallots - love the idea of adding them both, how many would you recommend including?
Olya says
I would only include one garlic clove because shallots are already enough.