There’s no shortage of ways to use fresh ramps, and this ramp pasta might be the most delicious and easy option! Once harvested you can sautee fresh ramps with a few simple ingredients to make an easy yet flavorful sauce in less than 20 minutes. Pair it with a long, thin pasta like spaghetti or bucatini for a pleasing and filling spin on aglio e olio.

Cooked bucatini pasta with greens in a large silver sauce pan

🌟 Why You’ll Love This Ramp Pasta

  • Delicious way to enjoy fresh ramps: Since ramps are in season for such a short period, many recipes involve preserving them such as pickling ramps or turning them into ramp butter. These recipes are delicious, but ramp pasta allows you to enjoy the ramp and its freshest form. You can also finish some of your favorite recipes with this ramp salt.
  • Mouth-watering aroma and taste: Ramps are in the allium family and have elements of garlic and onion with their own unique flavor. They’re aromatic, earthy, bold, and perfect to complement a simple pasta sauce.
  • Switch up your pasta: I like a long pasta noodle for this recipe, so you have lots of choices! You could use spaghetti, bucatini, fettuccine, or many others. I also have a recipe for a ramp pesto if you’re looking for more delicious ramp pasta.

🧾 Ingredients in This Recipe

Ramp leaves next to homemade pasta, a bottle of olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes, and a wedge of parmesan.
  • Spaghetti – You can also use bucatini or even fettuccine, though the fettuccine is arguably a bit wide for this recipe. You can use dried or fresh pasta. My preference is for slightly al dente.
  • Extra virgin olive oil – You will want high-quality olive oil. The recipe is so simple that the taste of this olive oil shines through.
  • Red pepper flakes – These add a kick of heat to the recipe.
  • Ramps – You will need roughly 10 whole ramps, or 30-40 ramp leaves, and you can also include the bulbs sliced lengthwise.
  • Salt – I use sea salt, but any salt will work.
  • Optional parmesan – For an extra creamy texture and nutty taste, I stir up to 1 cup of grated parmesan before serving. It will no longer be a spin on spaghetti aglio e olio, but will now be a spin on spaghetti alla carrettiera!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

👩‍🍳 How to Make Ramp Pasta

Water boiling in a large silver saucepan
  • Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
Green ramps cooking in oil in a large silver saucepan
  • In the meantime, add the oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Add the ramps and cook until translucent and they begin to get golden, 2-5 minutes.
Green ramps wilted in oil in a large silver saucepan
  • Add the red pepper flakes halfway through. Once the ramps are cooked, turn off the heat.
Pasta noodles in boiling hot water in a large silver saucepan
  • Cook the pasta until just under al dente. It should be tender, but not completely cooked.
Pasta noodles in a pasta strainer
  • Strain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Add that 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the cooled ramps and reduce over high heat by half. The oil should be at room temperature before adding the water.
Pasta noodles in a large silver sauce pan
  • Add the pasta and stir as it cooks. Add a little more pasta water a bit at a time until the pasta is cooked and the water is absorbed ~30 seconds.

⭐️ Pro Tip ⭐️

Pasta water is your secret to loosening your sauce to the exact consistency that you want. It is also salted, so helps season your sauce.

Pasta noodles in a silver saucepan with a large mound of Parmesan cheese in the middle
  • Season with salt, mix in the parmesan if you want to use it and serve.
Bucatini pasta with greens in a white bowl.
  • Grate a little extra parmesan and cracked black pepper over the final dish if you like!

I love to serve this with a ramp garlicky bread that I make by broiling sliced sourdough topped with ramp butter.

🏆 Tips for Finding Ramps

This recipe uses whole ramps because I was able to get a large bunch of ramps from my local farmers’ market with the bulb intact. I’d say your best bet is to try to find them at the farmers’ market, but go early because ramps are highly sought after due to their short seasonal availability.

If you’re foraging them, it’s much more sustainable to trim them at top of the bulb and only use the leaves. Try to leave at least one leaf per ramp. Removing the entire bulb means the ramps cannot regrow in that spot. If you grow your own at home, of course, you can use the entire ramp.

Cooked bucatini pasta with greens in a large silver sauce pan

🌱 More Ways to Cook with Ramps

Ramps are so versatile, and you have to make the most of this ultra-seasonal ingredient while it’s available!

I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m up to.

Cooked bucatini pasta with greens in a large silver sauce pan.

Ramp Pasta

5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Save
This 20-minute ramp pasta is a delicious and easy way to use fresh ramps. Sautee them to make a flavorful pasta inspired by aglio e olio.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian
Diet: Kosher, Vegan, Vegetarian
Servings: 4
Calories: 861kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. spaghetti or bucatini
  • 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes up to 2 teaspoons
  • 10 ramps or 30-40 leaves, bulbs sliced lengthwise
  • salt
  • 1 cup parmesan optional*

Instructions

  • Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
  • In the meantime, add the oil to a pan over medium-high heat. Add the ramps and cook until translucent and just begins to golden, 2-5 minutes, adding the red pepper flakes half way through. Turn off the heat.
  • Cook the pasta until just under al dente. It should be tender, but not completely cooked. Strain and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
  • Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the cooled ramps and reduce over high heat by half. The oil should be at room temperature before adding the water.
  • Add the pasta and stir as it cooks. Add a little more pasta water a bit at a time until the pasta is cooked and the water is absorbed, ~30 seconds. Season with salt, mix in the parmesan if you are using it, and serve.

Notes

* Want some extra creaminess? Stir up to 1 cup of grated parmesan before serving. It will no longer be a spin on spaghetti aglio e olio, and is now a spin on spaghetti alla carrettiera!

Nutrition

Calories: 861kcal | Carbohydrates: 91g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 44g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 28g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 412mg | Potassium: 281mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 907IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 343mg | Iron: 3mg
Did you try this recipe?I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a Review to let us know how it came out, if you have a successful substitution or variation, or anything else.

2 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Sorry I have not tried this recipe or even heard of ramps but I have tons of purslane growing outside my apartment bldg so I’ll try those.
    My husband was from Tabriz and we have one daughter, Mandana. Sadly he passed in 1989. I’m a fifth generation Texan but am interested in learning about Persian recipes I could surprise my daughter with, although she’s a finicky eater so they will have to be simple. She loves the crispy rice I make, we call “tadek”. This may be a Turkish word as that region also speaks Turkish. It’s the rice at the bottom of the rice pot that’s slowly browned while the rice is cooking.

5 from 1 vote

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.