This has been mine and Sammy’s favorite recipe this year. I tried a Penne Alle Vodka for the first time while we visited Boston and it opened my eyes. I have always loved making my own marinara’s, pasta dishes, and pizzas but they have been fairly American-ized in nature. I don’t have an Italian background so that is what I grew up with.
Moving to New England really has given us more opportunity to try “authentic” cuisine of other cultures. We have traveled to multiple Little Italy’s and have a favorite Italian grocery store that we are able to get a lot of ingredients from.
From research online, I have learned that Penne Alla Vodka was a common 80’s-90’s fad recipe in Italy, and us Americans grabbed it up and are the ones that still use it today.
Traditionally, this dish uses Penne pasta. Hence, Penne Alla Vodka. Also, you guessed it! It uses vodka. But the alcohol cooks off, unfortunately. I call it Pasta Alla Vodka because I change up the noodles I use. Having a pasta that hold sauce in the middle, like penne, is nice but I have used Fettuccine noodles too.
This recipe only take 30ish minutes!
RECIPE
Sorry for bouncing between the Metric system and the Imperial system of measurements. I have made my recipe using both American recipes and Italian recipes – and honestly I prefer metric for volume.
- A box of pasta (or 3 servings of my pasta recipe)
- 1 Onion
- 8oz Pancetta (or bacon but honestly the pancetta is worth it)
- 100ml Vodka
- 28oz Can of whole tomatoes
- 100-150mL Heavy Cream
- Olive oil
- Basil (fresh or dried)
- Salt and pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Reggiano
Instructions
- Heat a pan on medium low with olive oil
- Chop the onions and cut the pancetta into cubes
- Add the chopped pancetta to the heated pan and let the pancetta fat reduce/the outsides crisp up (5-ish minutes.) Raise or drop the heat to allow for rendering without overcooking.
- Add the onions in with the pancetta and cook the onions down until they are soft (5-ish minutes.)
- Pour the vodka into the hot pan and let it cook down for 1-2 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes now if you want them
- Add in the whole tomatoes (either use your hands to crush them, or the spatula) and let the combination cook down for (15-20 minutes). Salt and pepper to your personal preference!
- Get the water boiling for the noodles and cook them until they al dente!
- Once the tomatoes are cooked down – add in the cream. I usually add in 100mL first and see how I like that. You don’t need much to make this dish creamy. Let this cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the basil and any extra seasonings you would like (I usually add in Turmeric – if you don’t know the health benefits of turmeric you should check it out)
- Once the pasta is done, I add it all into the sauce. Saving pasta water to mix in!!
- Mix the pasta and the sauce together and incorporate for a couple minutes. Add in however much cheese you want (I usually add in 1/4 cup) and continue mixing. Add in pasta water to get the consistency you would like the sauce to be and to further melt the cheese down.
- Enjoy!
Obviously, this is my take on a Vodka Sauce recipe for pasta! This may not be 100% authentic, but I think it’s pretty damn good. I hope anyone who makes this enjoys. Let me know how you like it/what seasonings you added to add your own flare to the recipe.
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