Sage Brown Butter Sauce
Sage brown butter sauce is an incredibly easy and delicious way to impress your guests when you don’t have a lot of time or ingredients!
Chances are you’ve never made this super simple sage brown butter sauce.
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You should really change this because this gourmet-style butter sauce takes only 3 ingredients and under 10 minutes to create. It will turn any everyday ingredient, like pasta, gnocchi or vegetables, into a dish that is heaven sent!
Stay tuned as this ricotta gnocchi recipe is coming via my newsletter next week, along with a giveaway (so be sure to sign up for my free subscription!)
In the meantime, you can make these pumpkin gnocchi, which are perfect with
a regular sage and butter sauce or a sage brown butter sauce.
What Dishes Pair Well with Sage Brown Butter Sauce?
You can use this nutty sauce on pasta, all sorts of gnocchi, filled ravioli, tortellini, and any vegetable, like green beans, that you would serve with butter. Experiment with your own ideas, and you’ll see how fantastic this sauce really is.
Skip the sage and you can make cookies with browned butter, too!
So if you think there’s “nothing for dinner” that can change in minutes because you don’t need fresh sage, you can always use dried sage, too. Did you know how easy it is to grow sage in a pot or your garden?
Three ingredients, max, are all that is needed, for this browned butter sage sauce, but be sure to use a good quality butter!
Sage Brown Butter Sauce
makes enough for over a pound of pasta (serves 5)
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
- unsalted butter (or salted)
- sage (fresh or dried)
- salt (optional)
Special equipment: a or light colored, or stainless steel pan (or you won’t see the progress of your butter browning and will risk burning it)
Directions
If using fresh sage, wash and dry the leaves and have them ready.
Cut the butter into pieces and place into the pan over medium low heat.
Allow the butter to melt slowly, then turn the heat up a little.
The butter will start to bubble and squirt. If you use a low quality butter, it will more than likely squirt a lot more, so another reason to use good quality butter for this brown butter sage sauce.
Swirl the pan and watch the bottom closely as you don’t want to burn the butter. When the butter begins to form brown particles (the milk solids), add the sage leaves to flavor the sauce.
The leaves should crisp up right away. You can leave them in the sauce or remove them to use in your dish later (I do the latter if using whole leaves.)
Once the leaves are ready, remove the pan from the heat (be sure the butter doesn’t burn before the leaves are done.
Add salt if you’ve used unsalted butter. This is a very quick sauce, so don’t be tempted to walk away for a moment as it can burn quickly. See notes in the printable recipe card on timing.
Use the sage brown butter sauce as desired. I recommend adding the pasta or gnocchi to the pan versus adding the sauce to the pasta/gnocchi.
Toss to mix well and serve with sage leaves added on top! Doesn’t this look stellar? No food styling necessary, these gnocchi woke up looking like this! 😂
Let me know if you try this brown butter sage sauce for the first time, I’d love to hear what you think of this almost magical transformation of one of our most basic dairy staples! ⬇️ Comment below.
Sage Brown Butter Sauce
Special Equipment
- 1 sauté pan stainless steel or light colored
Ingredients
- 4 oz butter unsalted
- 15 sage leaves fresh (or dried)
- 3 pinches sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- If using fresh sage, wash and dry the leaves and have them ready.
- Cut the butter into pieces and place into the pan over medium low heat. Allow the butter to melt slowly, then turn the heat up a little.
- The butter will start to bubble and squirt. If you use a low quality butter, it will more than likely squirt a lot more, so another reason to use good quality butter for this brown butter sage sauce.
- Swirl the pan occasionally and watch the bottom closely as you don’t want to burn the butter. When brown particles (the milk solids) start to form, add the sage leaves to flavor the sauce.
- The leaves should crisp up right away. You can leave them in the sauce or remove them to use in your dish later (I do the latter if using whole leaves.)
- Once the leaves are ready, remove the pan from the heat (be sure the butter doesn’t burn before the leaves are done. Add salt if you’ve used unsalted butter. This is a very quick sauce, so don’t be tempted to walk away for a moment as it can burn quickly.
- Use the sage brown butter sauce as desired. I recommend adding the pasta or gnocchi to the pan versus adding the sauce to the pasta/gnocchi.
Notes
- PLEASE NOTE: it is very difficult to give an exact time on when your butter will brown as it will depend on how low or high your heat is. Obviously, the hotter the pan, the more quickly it will brown, and vice versa.
- I recommend a medium heat so it doesn’t take too long to brown the butter, but there’s also less chance that it will burn quickly. However, it shouldn’t take longer than 8 minutes or so.
- You can use salted butter if that’s all you have, but you won’t need to add salt unless you feel it needs it.
Nutrition
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What a beautifully simple and delicious sauce. It worked so well with my gnocchi and roasted butternut squash.
Mother
Lovely to hear it, Teresa!
I had no idea it was this easy!! Thank you so much, it was perfect!
I make this on a regular basis. It’s perfect over lobster ravioli or just regular cheese ravioli. I do add a little olive oil and garlic for more flavor. Sprinkle with some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Yum
Wonderful, Susan!!
This sauce is the whole reason I grow sage in our garden. It is absolutely fantastic.
Actually I have made this. Many, many times! It’s my go to for stuffed pastas. My only variation is I add a clove of garlic, then remove it after it’s lent a bit of savor to the butter. Heavenly!