Looking for Blackstone griddle recipes to make this fall? Try this easy and delicious sausage ravioli with butternut squash, baby spinach, parmesan, and dried cranberries!
You can only eat so many cheese steaks, smash burgers, and pancakes… am I right?! So every now and then it’s nice to do a completely different recipe on the griddle. And with the crisp Fall air setting in and the winter squashes coming into season, I decided to get a little creative with this Blackstone griddle recipe.
Pumpkin spice is nice for your coffee, but when it comes to savory Fall flavors, I gravitate towards butternut squash. And when you add this popular Fall squash to a hot griddle, it cooks up similarly to roasting it. By cooking it on the griddle with a combination of techniques that we’ll talk about later, I was able to get more caramelization and the natural sugars developed a nice deep flavor… In my opinion, it was even better than cooking it in the oven.
To say the least, I was very surprised with how much I actually liked cooking the butternut squash on the griddle, and I can’t wait to make it again.
Overall, this easy Blackstone griddle sausage and squash ravioli recipe is delicious, well-rounded, hearty, and just plain comforting… What more can you ask for in your Fall cooking?
What you need for this Fall Ravioli Recipe
The Ravioli
Choose a store-bought ravioli from the refrigerator section of the grocery store to keep this Fall recipe easy to make. Can you make your own ravioli from scratch? Sure! But you can find some really nice options at the store also, so I went with a pre-made ravioli.
I used a sausage ravioli, but you can definitely use a cheese ravioli or even a butternut squash ravioli. The mushroom variety would also be a good choice in this dish.
The “Sauce”
I put sauce in quotation marks, because this is definitely not your typical sauce that comes to mind when you think of pasta. There’s not a single tomato product in this dish, and the “sauce” itself only consists of a light drizzle of browned butter, cooked down with some sage leaves.
Between the browned butter, the residual grease from cooking the sausage on the griddle, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and a little bit of pasta water, you really don’t need much else for the ravioli sauce. And actually, keeping the sauce very light like this really helps to showcase each individual ingredient.
The Meat, Veggies, and Fruit
Besides the main ingredients, sausage and butternut squash, the rest is up to you… Feel free to add some mushrooms or acorn squash as well. Diced apples would also pair nicely with the other fall flavors.
Here’s what I added to my ravioli dish:
- ground mild Italian sausage – I kept it in a larger “crumble” as I cooked it.
- butternut squash
- shallots
- baby spinach
- dried cranberries – I used Craisins for a little pop of sweetness and something unexpected.
- thinly sliced garlic
How to Make this Fall Sausage Ravioli on the Blackstone Griddle
Step 1: Boil water and make a sage brown butter.
Start off by boiling water in a medium-sized pot on your stovetop. This will be used to cook your ravioli later, and you can also use some of the pasta water to help steam your squash and loosen up the sauce towards the end of the cook. When I need boiling water for dishes on the griddle, I start heating the water inside on the stovetop to cut down on the time that it takes for the water to boil. Then, you can carefully transfer the pot to your griddle, or just cook the pasta inside.
While the water is coming up to a boil, you can start making the sage browned butter by adding the butter to a small sauce pan and melting it on the griddle.
What exactly is brown butter?
It’s basically just melted butter that has been gently cooked past the melted stage to the point that it is browned. While it is cooking, the excess water in the butter is released and you’re left with the milk solids, which get toasted and browned. This simple technique creates a nutty flavor, and it intensifies the butter taste… Think of it like reducing a liquid or sauce to release the excess water and concentrate the flavor.
In this recipe, as the butter gets hot it will sort of fry the sage leaves, adding even more flavor to your pasta dish. Just let the butter start cooking gently while you move on to the next steps.
Step 2: Prep your ingredients.
While the water begins heating, go ahead and prep your other ingredients. Peel and slice the shallot, slice the fresh garlic cloves, and peel and dice the butternut squash.
How to dice butternut squash to cook on the griddle:
Since butternut squash is such a large, dense, hard fruit (yes, it’s actually a fruit not a vegetable), it can be difficult to cut and prep. But there’s a great tutorial for how to peel and cut butternut squash here … or you can also usually purchase it already peeled and cut in the produce section of the grocery store.
Step 3: Cook the Italian sausage on the griddle.
Next, begin cooking the sausage on the griddle. I cooked it first, because I wanted the leftover sausage grease to help flavor the diced squash.
When the sausage is almost cooked through, move it to the side of the griddle to finish cooking, and direct the excess grease to the center of the griddle to start the squash.
Step 4: Add the butternut squash to the Blackstone griddle.
Next it’s time to cook the butternut squash. Just add it to the griddle and start sautéing it in the excess sausage fat. After a few minutes, you can add some of the pasta water and dome the squash to help it cook faster. This way, you get the benefit of the steaming effect which helps speed up the cooking process, and you also get the nice golden caramelization from the heat of the griddle. Win win!
As the squash cooks, don’t forget about the sausage… Continue to stir it occasionally so that it cooks evenly. When the sausage is almost done, add the sliced shallots and garlic to the meat. Then, toss everything together and continue to cook.
Once the butternut squash is almost done cooking, you can add it to the sausage and continue to sauté until the squash is tender and done to your liking. Here’s what it should look like at this point:
Step 5: Finish up the individual components and combine to make your sausage ravioli.
At this point, it’s just about cooking all of the parts of the dish until they’re done, and then mixing them together… This includes the pasta, the sage browned butter, the sausage, the squash, and the additional ingredients.
Here’s what your brown butter should look like:
See the brown bits at the bottom of the pan? That’s what you want. And the melted butter will turn a nice golden brown color.
Next, add the ravioli to the boiling water and cook per package instructions.
And when the sausage and butternut squash are done cooking, you can add the baby spinach and dried cranberries to the mixture. You only want to wilt the spinach a bit, which doesn’t take long at all, and then you can add the cooked ravioli.
Top with a generous portion of grated parmesan cheese, pour on the browned butter, mix everything together, and you’re done!
Serve this yummy dish with more freshly grated parmesan cheese on top, and enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this nice, comforting Fall recipe for the griddle!
Want another comfort food meal to try on the griddle? Check out these Easy Meatloaf Patties on the Griddle (for the Best Open-Faced Sandwich!)… Or for an Italian favorite, try these Flat Top Grilled Meatballs.
And feel free to print out the recipe card down below and save it with your Blackstone griddle recipes:
Butternut Squash Sausage Ravioli
Ingredients
- 4 tbsps unsalted butter
- 3 sage leaves
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage
- 1/2 butternut squash peeled and cut into small cubes
- 1 shallot thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 14 oz Italian sausage ravioli refrigerated package
- 4 oz baby spinach
- 1/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries
- 4 oz parmesan cheese freshly grated
Instructions
- Preheat griddle on low. While griddle is preheating, begin to heat a medium pot of water on the stovetop. Water level should be just high enough to boil the ravioli. (You should begin heating the pot of water on the stovetop and then carefully transfer it to the griddle to cut down on boiling time.)
- Add 4 tablespoons unsalted butter to a small saucepan on the griddle. Melt the butter, taking care that it does not burn. When butter is melted, add 3 sage leaves and continue to cook down to create a brown butter. Browned bits will develop on the bottom of the saucepan. You may need to move the pan on and off the griddle to prevent the butter from burning.
- While butter is melting, begin cooking the Italian sausage on the griddle. When sausage is about half way cooked through, move it over to the side of the griddle to continue to cook.
- Saute the cubed butternut squash on the griddle. Use your spatulas to direct the excess sausage grease into the squash for extra flavor. After a few minutes of sautéing, add a bit of water and place a dome over the squash. Allow the squash to steam, stirring occasionally.
- When sausage is almost cooked through, add the sliced shallot and garlic. Mix together to combine, and continue to cook the sausage until done. When sausage is done, add it to the cooked butternut squash and combine. Continue to saute butternut squash and sausage mixture until squash is tender and done to your liking. You may dome the sausage and squash mixture to help speed up the cooking time.
- While squash finishes cooking, add the ravioli to the pot of boiling water and cook per package instructions.
- When squash is done cooking, add baby spinach and cranberries to the sausage and squash mixture. Saute all ingredients until cranberries are heated and spinach is slightly wilted.
- When pasta is done, use a spider strainer to add pasta to the other ingredients on the griddle, reserving the pasta water. Remove sage leaves from the brown butter and discard. Pour the brown butter over the sausage and squash ravioli mixture. Toss to combine. You may add some of the pasta water (about ¼ – ½ cup) to loosen up the pan sauce if you wish.
- Allow the pasta to cook for about 2 more minutes with the other ingredients for all of the flavors to marry. Add about 3 oz of grated parmesan. Stir to combine. Add additional pasta water as needed to loosen sauce. Transfer sausage and squash ravioli to serving plates and top with more parmesan before serving.
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