Penne alla vodka is a quick and easy vegetarian dinner meal.
This recipe is for you if you are looking for homemade comfort food prepared in less than 30 minutes.
Penne alla vodka is such a popular dish in Italian restaurants, that you need to have tried it.
The vodka in this creamy tomato sauce enhances the texture and the flavors.
So, let's make this pasta vodka sauce asap!
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📕 What is Penne alla Vodka?
Penne alla Vodka is a Italian pasta dinner dish.
The main ingredient is vodka, tomato and cream.
The vodka acts as an emulsifier and therefore binds the oils and other sauce ingredients, which results in a creamy sauce.
The slight taste of vodka makes this dish also a favorite in most Italian food restaurants across the globe.
Vodka alla Pasta is enhanced with Parmesan Cheese.
🍅 Ingredients
This is a quick overview, designed to help you decide to make this for dinner. The full recipe is located further below in the recipe card.
- olive oil - alternativly vegetable oil
- onion - white, yellow or purple
- garlic - fresh
- tomato sauce - plain
- italian seaosning - or oregano
- cayenne pepper - ground or paprika
- black pepper and salt
- vodka
- table cream (aka liquid cream) or heavy cream or half and half
- penne pasta
- parmesan - grated to garnish
🔪 How to make it?
You are going to love this dish if you are looking for a quick one-pot pasta dinner meal!
This is how it's roughly done.
Find the detailed instructions with ingredients in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. The how-to video will pop up (refresh the page if you closed it).
Step 1
Saute onion and garlic.
Pour in tomato sauce.
Step 2
Stir in seasonings and vodka.
Combine your sauce.
Step 3
Finish the sauce with cream or half and half. Mix.
Mix sauce into cooked pasta and top with parmesan.
📜 Variations
You can pep up your penne vodka sauce and call it your own by adding the following ingredients to the sauce during the cooking process:
- Cured meats such as pancetta, prosciutto and bacon
- Meats such as chicken, sausage and even meatballs
- Seafood including shrimp and salmon
- Mushrooms
- Vegetables such as spinach, zucchini, broccoli
- Saffron spice to make it yellow (popular in Italy)
- Red Pepper Flakes to add heat
🍴 Serving
I love this pasta dish with a salad to balance the carbs.
Light side dish salads prepared with lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, and radish make a great addition to this penne sauce.
💭 FAQs
The pasta sauce contains only small quantities of vodka. You won't get tipsy or drunk, the vodka is for flavor and it helps to bind the sauce.
Yes, you can add this dish to your meal plan or you can make it ahead of time. Just prepare the sauce as described and store it in the fridge. You can choose to cook the pasta ahead of time or to cook it just before serving time. Coat pasta with warmed up sauce and serve warm.
Yes, you can freeze your alla vodka pasta sauce. Prepare the sauce as per recipe and create batches before freezing so that you can take out a batch at a time whenever you need it. To thaw keep in the fridge overnight or place into micro or oven and use the thawing option. Warm-up enough to serve over cooked pasta.
Yes. Sometimes I just use what I have at home and it's equally tasty. Just know that some pasta varieties are recommended because of the way they are coated by the sauce.
👁️ More Pasta Sauce Recipes
- Quick Salmon Pasta
- Baked Buffalo Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Cajun Pasta with Chicken
- Chicken Fajita Pasta by momfoodie.com
Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comment section further below!
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📖 Recipe
Penne alla Vodka Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Onion sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic chopped
- 11.9 fluid ounces Tomato Sauce plain
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning or Oregano
- 1-2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper ground or Paprika
- Black Pepper pinch
- Salt pinch
- ¼ cup Vodka
- ¼ cup Liquid Cream *see Notes
Pasta
- 1 packet Penne Pasta = 8.8 ounce dried, cook pasta soft
To Garnish
- Parmesan grated
Instructions
- Heat up a pan with the olive oil and add the sliced onion and chopped garlic. Cook soft on medium heat.
- Pour in the plain tomato sauce and combine.
- Season with Italian seasoning or oregano, with cayenne pepper or paprika and combine.
- Simmer your sauce for 5 minutes, so that the flavors can develop.
- Season further with black pepper and salt. Also pour in the vodka and mix it all over medium to slow heat.
- Pour in liquid cream and combine too.
- Let the sauce simmer over a slower flame for a bit. Take from the heat when it starts to boil or else the vodka will evaporate.
- Pour sauce over cooked penne and combine.
- Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and serve hot.
Notes
- Use liquid cream or heavy cream or half and half for the desired thickness of the sauce.
- You can add other ingredients to this recipe, look up variations in the post.
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