This penne alla vodka is tender penne pasta tossed in a rich and delicious tomato, vodka and cream sauce. Add a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and you’ll have a restaurant quality meal in the comfort of your own home.
I always order penne alla vodka at my local Italian restaurant. That creamy and flavorful sauce just can’t be beat! Luckily it’s super easy to make pasta alla vodka – in 30 minutes you’ll have an amazing dinner on the table. Try this dish with some Italian meatballs, grilled chicken tenders or grilled shrimp skewers for added protein.
Penne alla vodka is one of those simple recipes that has minimal ingredients but is just so delicious and satisfying. My homemade version tastes just like the dish I get at our local Italian restaurant. The key to amazing pasta alla vodka is to get the best quality ingredients that you can afford. This is a dinner time staple at my house along with other kid friendly classics such as chicken broccoli Alfredo.
Table of Contents
Penne Alla Vodka Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need penne pasta, butter, garlic, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, vodka, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper and parsley.
How Do You Make Penne Alla Vodka?
The first step is to put your pasta up to boil in a large pot, and while the pasta is cooking it’s time to make the sauce. The vodka sauce starts with sautéed garlic, butter and tomato puree. Place those ingredients in a pan, then add in the vodka. Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, then stir in heavy cream, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Toss the cooked al dente pasta with the sauce. Garnish with more parmesan cheese, red chili flakes and parsley, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- Make sure you let the sauce simmer for long enough so that the alcohol will cook off. If you don’t cook the sauce for long enough, you may end up with a harsh aftertaste from the alcohol.
- You can make this sauce a day before you plan to use it. Simply reheat it on the stove while your pasta cooks, then toss everything together and serve.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can reheat your pasta in the microwave, or on the stove over low heat.
- Do not use the green can of parmesan cheese for this dish. Look for a high quality grated or shaved parmesan, or buy a block of it and grate it yourself.
- The parsley adds a hint of fresh flavor and color to the dish. Fresh basil is also a great choice.
Quick Tip
I use canned San Marzano tomatoes in this recipe. They’re a type of Italian plum tomato and they have the best flavor of any type of canned tomato. If you can’t find a can of San Marzano tomatoes, use Italian style whole canned tomatoes instead. It’s definitely worth the extra money for the San Marzano variety.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, vodka sauce does in fact contain vodka which is how it gets its name! The vodka adds a unique flavor to this dish, but it simmers for long enough that the alcohol boils off so there’s no danger of getting intoxicated from eating pasta.
The ridges on penne pasta help sauce to cling to it. Penne is best when paired with thick and hearty sauces such as vodka sauce, marinara sauce or a bolognese style sauce. Alfredo sauce is also a good choice.
FOLLLOW ME
Flavor Variations
This dish is great as-is, but you can add other ingredients for a heartier meal, or to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Protein: Feel free to add some garlic butter shrimp, ground beef, pancetta, Italian sausage, bacon, prosciutto or grilled chicken breast to this dish. For a vegetarian version, you can stir in a can of cannellini beans.
- Vegetables: Amp up the flavor and nutrition with veggies such as onions cooked in a little olive oil, grilled zucchini, bell peppers, roasted mushrooms or grilled eggplant.
- Pasta: No penne pasta on hand? This recipe will work with most types of short pasta including farfalle, rigatoni, fusilli and cavatappi.
- Cheese: If you’re a cheese lover, try adding another type of Italian cheese to the mix such as fresh mozzarella balls, provolone or fontina.
This vodka sauce is so good that sometimes I skip the penne altogether and use ravioli or tortellini instead. You could even use this sauce in a lasagna for a fun twist on an old classic.
When you’re in the mood for Italian food, definitely give this penne alla vodka a try. You’ll be surprised at how authentic (and delicious) it is!
More Great Pasta Recipes
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Chicken Parmesan Pasta
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Sausage and Pepper Pasta
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Penne Alla Vodka video
Quick Tip
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Penne alla Vodka
Ingredients
- 16 ounces penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes plus more for garnish if desired
- 28 ounce can Italian style or San Marzano whole tomatoes
- 1/4 cup vodka
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese plus more for serving
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to package directions.
- While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds.
- Place the tomatoes in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour the tomato puree into the pan.
- Add the vodka to the pan. Simmer the sauce for 10 minutes over medium low heat.
- Stir in the heavy cream and parmesan cheese and simmer for another 5 minutes or until thickened. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle with parsley, parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes (optional), then serve.
Notes
- Make sure you let the sauce simmer for long enough so that the alcohol will cook off. If you don’t cook the sauce for long enough, you may end up with a harsh aftertaste from the alcohol.
- You can make this sauce a day before you plan to use it. Simply reheat it on the stove while your pasta cooks, then toss everything together and serve.
- Do not use the green can of shelf stable parmesan cheese in this recipe! Fresh cheese is best.
This was amazing. I added some Italian Chicken Sausage and it was so good. Thanks for sharing.
I would like to make this ahead of a dinner party and reheat when needed. Do I need to change anything when making it, i.e. cooking time for the pasta? What is the best way to reheat?
I’d recommend making extra sauce, then stirring the extra sauce in when you reheat as the pasta will continue to absorb the sauce as it sits in the fridge and could end up dry otherwise.
Do you think this would work well with olive oil instead of the butter?
I think it would work but I haven’t tested it that way myself!
Thank you for sharing..family loved it and had ask that I make it from now on
Easy recipe to make! My family loved it! I used 28 oz can of tomato sauce and it was perfect!
This recipe worked out great for my family of 6, with a bit leftover! I also added 2 chicken breasts cubes into bite size pieces and cooked that in the sauce. It was delicious. I used plain whole plum tomatoes. This will be a staple, and as my husband said, “this is a legit sauce”.
Can I freeze the sauce?
That should be fine!
This was absolutely delicious! I’m saving it to add to my regular rotation. Thank you!!
This turned out ridiculously good. I dont think the tomatoes I used were the italian ones. I put it over gluten free pasta. Thanks! I found a new favorite.
I couldn’t find Italian style or San maranzo tomatoes. Will plain crushed tomatoes work?
Yes that’s fine!
What should I do if I made the recipe with tomato paste instead and the sauce is too bitter?
You could try adding a little sugar to offset the flavors.
This recipe was absolutely DELICIOUS! I must say I’m usually skeptical about trying recipes I find online but this one truly came out well. My family kept coming back for more! J only deviated a bit by letting the sauce simmer with the vodka for an extra 4 minutes so there wasn’t as strong of an after taste and I also added mushrooms and spinach. As soon as I was finished eating I forwarded this recipe to all my friends. Highly recommended!
Can I use whole wheat pasta?
Yes that’s fine!
This was so easy and so so delicious!!
Only thing i did different was adding chopped ham when i fried off the garlic etc (cos my husband whinges if theres no meat in a dish :/ ), and stirred through baby rocket leaves (arugula), at the end. Perfecto!
I have been craving a delicious penne a la vodka made by a local restaurant here, however everything is shut down at the moment due to the pandemic. On the bright side, this has left me with plenty of time to try my hand at cooking – and believe me I am no cook. I found this recipe and it looked simple yet promising. Though I did make quite a mess in my kitchen, it was totally worth it because this recipe was right on par with my local restaurant’s, if not better because I made it myself. I did add just a little bit of sugar to cut the acidity, but no more than maybe 1/2 teaspoon. Otherwise I followed the recipe to the T.
This recipe made a lot of sauce and since I don’t typically like a lot of sauce on my pasta, I put what I didn’t use in a container and froze it to reheat for another time. I look forward to all the leftovers I’ll be eating in the near future and will save this recipe for an easy delicious dinner to impress. Thanks!
This was a delicious, quick, easy meal! My family loved it and gave it a 9, which is good for my picky palates. I added prosciutto, but otherwise followed the recipe including freshly grating my own cheese. I will definitely make it again at the request of my son.
I went with parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated and immersion blended before adding the cream.
seemed to need a little garlic/onion powder….. Tasted delicious.
On thing that a nice touch…. a bit of freshly fried chicken breast. Seared quickly and then covered on low to make sure the center was perfectly cooked but moist!
Thanks for sharing
Doug
I used tomato sauce because I wanted a very smooth sauce. I used fresh Romano cheese. I also added some basil puree. It was amazing! Followed everything else to the T. Highly recommend! Thank you for the recipe!
Pretty good and an easy recipe. I skipped the pureeing the tomatoes and just used tomato sauce instead and it turn out great. A fast and easy lunch.
It was delicious! I added a little bit of sugar and it balanced the flavor more. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow!!!! I’m obsessed. Just made this recipe, and I added shallot before the garlic and probably more parmesean than the normal human. But I was so happy with the results! Oh, I also made it with tortellini instead of penne, and we paired it with a Sauvignon blanc. Just fabulous ❤️
I have been wanting to make this for ages! I followed all the tips to try get the smoothest sauce, however, it was still a little grainy. I think I need to invest in a food mill to get the tomatoes smoother! It still tasted great. Never had this before in a restaurant, so granted, I’m unsure what it’s supposed to taste like, but I found it fabulous! I did add a little sugar just before taking off the heat, as I couldn’t get the San Marzano tomatoes. It did the trick to balance out the acidity! Thank you for sharing Sara! 😊
get an immersion blender. puree the tomatoes first and put through a sieve after blending. Also, consider adding a little cooked bacon and a shallot. makes a difference.
this is surprisingly simple for what it gives you in taste. If your tomatoes are a bit acidic, add some sugar. If you are fat conscious, use 3.5% homogenized milk. I don’t think you’ll notice the difference.
Thanks for sharing this.
Doug
I have yet to find anything that works as well as a Vitamix. if you cook a lot its a solid investment that you will find yourself using more and more. Its also has a lifetime guarantee if you even had an issue.
Made this for Christmas and it was delicious and simple. I did have the same graininess after I added the Parmesan like one of the other comments. I ended up straining it through mesh to remove the unmelted parm and it ended up perfect, but because the above commenter didn’t respond- I used Bel Gioso parm. I guess it was more shredded than grated but I thought it was better quality than my grated Kraft. Should I have just used the grated Kraft or something like that? Thanks for this great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it! I recommend buying a wedge of parmesan cheese and grating it yourself for this recipe, kraft would not be a good choice because it’s not very flavorful!
It also helps to have the sauce at a higher temp before adding the cheese and then letting it sit at that temp until all of the cheese is melted. Otherwise, the sauce will cool as you add the cheese and leave you gritty.