This Vodka Pasta, or Penne alla Vodka, tastes like it came straight from a cosy Italian trattoria. The secret lies in the tomato-cream Vodka Sauce. It’s rich, silky, and just a little bit fancy thanks to a splash of vodka, yet dead easy. I’m completely besotted!
Late to the Vodka Pasta party!
I feel like this was the viral pasta about 5 years ago. I vaguely remember lots of cool young people and rad chefs making it.
Naturally, I missed the trend because I’m just not hip enough to keep up! 😅 So I only made it for the first time a few weekends ago and understood the hype. The sauce is rich and velvety, and tastes far more luxurious than the short ingredients list would suggest. And I imagine the use of vodka gives it extra street-cred with the younger generation.
Meanwhile, this un-hip dork is more chuffed over the convenience of using a whole packet of pasta and an entire tub of tomato paste – quite handy!
All jokes aside though, vodka is the magic. Like wine in cooking, it adds depth and complexity that takes a simple cream and tomato sauce into wow territory. But, it doesn’t taste alcoholic at all! (Unless you want it to – just keep pouring).
What goes in vodka pasta
You’ll see versions around that use both canned tomato or passata and tomato paste, and the ratios of vodka, parmesan and cream are all over the place. But there’s general consensus on the ingredients that go in, so I don’t use anything groundbreaking. Though in shocking news, I strayed from my usual trusted sources (NYT Cooking, Ina Garten, Lidia Bastianich and America’s Test Kitchen) by only using tomato paste because I prefer the flavour, with the bonus that it shaves 15 minutes off the cook time. See FAQ below for more dorky development chatter!
Ingredients in Vodka Pasta
Ironically, even though vodka is in the name, this is still absolutely worth making without vodka. 🙂 Though I’d substitute with either a slosh of wine or chicken stock, else the sauce is a little too one dimensional.
If you’re cooking for kids, add the vodka earlier so you can thoroughly cook out most of the alcohol. For grown ups, it’s nice to add it in towards the end (don’t worry, won’t taste boozy, but you get more of the floraly notes).
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Vodka – Use whatever you’ve got! And now you all know what my go-to is. 🙂 Avoid flavoured vodkas – not sure now is the time to use that Apple Vodka you were mad for last summer!
Substitute with gin (not one too herbaceous though), white wine or for non alcoholic, use chicken stock/broth instead.
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Pasta – Penne is classic, ziti is basically the same (it’s penne, but with ridges), rigatoni is also very popular. Though really, you can make this with any shape pasta – long or short – and it’s going to be fab. Oh wait – I’d avoid tiny pasta though, like risoni/orzo, ditalini, dinosaur pasta. I think there’s too much sauce.
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Tomato paste (UK: tomato purée) – I love that this recipe uses a whole standard tub of tomato paste! I use regular though “double concentrate” is fine too. Use the same amount as I find the flavour is not any stronger though it does have richer tomato flavour. However, we cook off the tomato paste in this recipe which improves the flavour so the quality difference doesn’t come into play here.
Note: US standard tubes are 133g (4.5oz), Aussie tubs and cans are 140g (this is what the recipe calls for), and tubes are 130g. That 7g or 10g difference won’t ruin your dinner, promise! 🙂
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Garlic and onion – Essential aromatics for the sauce.
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Cream – Use thickened cream (US: heavy cream, UK: double cream) as it is a little thicker than regular pouring cream. Though actually, any pourable cream should work fine in this recipe as it uses so much tomato paste which does much of the heavy lifting to thicken the sauce.
Low fat cream will work fine but it will lack the creamy mouthfeel of full fat cream. Cream alternative – evaporated milk, but again, it’s even less creamy mouthfeel than low fat cream.
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Red pepper flakes (chilli flakes) – Optional extra, I use 1/2 teaspoon which gives this a lovely background hum of warmth which I really like in this creamy sauce. Also feels a little grown up for a grown-up sauce. 🙂
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Parmesan – Adds salt into the sauce that’s more interesting than just using salt. Plus, extra for garnish!
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Pinch of parsley for sprinkle, if you’re feeling fancy.
How to make Vodka Pasta
The timing of this recipe works well so the sauce is ready once the pasta is cooked. It’s a great no stress recipe!
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Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water for the time per the packet directions until it’s al dente (just cooked, not soft and mushy).
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Save pasta water – Just before draining, give the pasta a big stir to agitate the starch (ie make the watery murky) then scoop out 1 cup of the water. We’re going to use this when tossing the pasta in the sauce.
💡This is a key step for making pasta dishes to make the sauce cling to the pasta (and therefore ending up in your mouth!) instead of pooling in the base of your bowl. The starch in pasta water emulsifies with the sauce’s fat, naturally thickening it and making it stick to the pasta. Cooking science at work!
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Sauté the onion and garlic on medium high until translucent, about 1 1/2 minutes. Then cook off the tomato paste. This isn’t a standard step in all vodka sauces but I think it really makes a difference – it takes off the sour edge and deepens the flavour. It also levels the playing field whether using a good Italian brand (like Mutti double concentrated tomato paste) or generic brands.
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Simmer – Add the cream, mix to dissolve the tomato paste in, then add the vodka, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Lower the heat to medium so it’s simmering gently and cook for 3 minutes, stirring regularly so the base doesn’t catch – important, because this cream sauce is thicker than usual because of the amount of tomato paste in it. Then stir the parmesan in until melted (literally takes seconds).
TIPS: If your pasta isn’t ready yet, turn off the stove at this point. Cooking for kids? Add the vodka before the tomato paste and cook until mostly evaporated to cook out the alcohol.
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Toss toss toss! Add the pasta and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water (see step 2 for what this does). Toss on medium heat for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until the pasta is coated in the pasta sauce.
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Serve immediately with a shower of extra parmesan and a pinch of parsley!
I warm the pasta bowls
I know this is a random place to talk rant about this, but I like to warm pasta bowls for creamy pastas – have I mentioned this before?? Creamy sauces thicken fast and by the time you’re halfway through (especially if you spent the first few minutes attacking garlic bread), it’s gone from silky to……. well, less so. By using a warm bowl, you can keep the creamy sauces silky for longer.
So I warm bowls in the microwave while the sauce is simmering – 30 seconds for one, 1 minute for four, then leave them in there until I’m ready to serve. A small thing that makes a big difference!
Anyway, enough about warm bowls 😅 Hope you give this one a go – classic Italian trattoria food, made easily at home! – Nagi x
