Penne alla Vodka Recipe

In This Recipe

The Importance of Vodka in Penne alla Vodka
The Winning Combination of Tomatoes

Why It Works

Using a hefty dose of tomato paste gives the sauce the deeply sweet base notes it needs, while a small can of tomatoes adds a brighter layer of flavor.
Very gently cooking the onions and garlic in butter makes them very sweet and mild, without any harsh onion flavor remaining in the final sauce.
Adding the vodka to the sauce when there are only a handful of minutes left of cooking time ensures the sauce is neither overly boozy nor absent of the flavor-enhancing effects of the vodka.

A staple of Italian-American red-sauce restaurants across the United States since the 1980s, vodka sauce has a history as opaque as its densely creamy orange hue. Was it a famous Italian actor who invented it? A '70s restaurant in Bologna? A Columbia University student? Or did it come from Russia? Meh, as much as I love delving into the history of famous dishes, I can live with this mystery remaining unsolved.

The Importance of Vodka in Penne alla Vodka

What's cool about vodka sauce isn't who came up with it, but rather how delicious it is. And yes, the vodka really does matter here. We know, because we've done the tests before. Several years ago,Kenji delved into the matter of whether vodka sauce really needed the vodka, and the answer was an unequivocalyes(though the sauce is delicious without it, too).

In a series of blind tastings, Kenji found that the hit of neutral booze enhanced the fruity aroma of the sauce while bringing a background heat and sharpness that balanced out the richness of the sauce.

He also zeroed in on what he found to be the ideal amount of vodka—about one quarter cup per quart of sauce, simmered for about seven minutes before serving. My testing aligned with his, and so that's what this recipe calls for (to get the timing right, the vodka is added about a minute before the pasta is combined with the sauce, and then it's all cooked together for another few minutes; by the time cheese is stirred in and the pasta is finished, you'll be pretty close to the seven-minute mark).

That said, personal tastes vary, so if you want a boozier sauce, you can always add a little splash of vodka right before serving to bring the alcohol to the forefront.

The Winning Combination of Tomatoes

What else makes this sauce great? Well, if you look at enough vodka sauce recipes out there, you'll find that some of them use a very large volume of tomato paste as the only tomato element in the sauce, while others go for canned tomatoes (sometimes with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste added for depth).

I tested both methods and liked aspects of each. A tomato paste–heavy vodka sauce has wonderful fruity depth that, to me, gives the sauce part of its signature flavor. But even a full tube of paste combined with a whole lot of cream can't quite make enough sauce for four servings, and leaves the onion flavor too dominant. Canned tomatoes, on the other hand, provide a brighter, fruitier tomato character, but none of that tomato paste depth; a couple tablespoons of paste aren't enough to compensate for that.

My solution: Use both an entire tube (or can) or tomato paste,plusa small can of whole peeled tomatoes. Combined, they yield a sauce that's nuanced and layered, with richness, depth, and brightness. It's a winner.

As for the pasta? Most recipes call for penne, and it's an option here, but at Serious Eats we love this sauce even more with rigatoni.

7:26

Watch Now: How to Make Pasta With Vodka Sauce

Cook:65 mins

Active:40 mins

Total:65 mins

Serves:4 servings

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3 tablespoons (45g)unsalted butter
1medium(8-ounce; 225g)yellow onion, diced
3medium clovesgarlic, thinly sliced
捏red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
One 4 1/2-ounce (130g) tube concentratedtomato pasteor 6-ounce (170g) can tomato paste
One 14 1/2-ounce (411g)can whole peeled tomatoes
1cup(240毫升)heavy cream
1 pound (450g) short tubular pasta, such asrigatonior penne
1/4cup(60ml)vodka, plus more if desired
2 ounces (55g) gratedParmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving

在一个大(3 -或4-quart)分cepan or small Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes, season lightly with salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are very soft but not browned, about 15 minutes; lower heat if needed to prevent browning.

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer
Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until tomato paste is fragrant and thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in canned tomatoes with their liquid. Bring to a simmer, then cook, stirring often and crushing the whole tomatoes roughly with a spoon, until sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer
Add cream, and stir to incorporate. Transfer sauce to a blender, and blend until very smooth (you may be able to make an immersion blender work, but in our tests the sauce level was too low to safely avoid splattering). Wipe out pot, then return blended sauce to it. Season lightly with salt.

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer
In a medium pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until just shy of al dente, about 3 minutes less than the package directs. About 1 minute before you transfer pasta to sauce, add vodka to tomato sauce and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer
Using a spider skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer pasta directly to sauce pot along with 1/2 cup (120ml) pasta water (alternatively, reserve 2 cups pasta water, then drain pasta in a colander, then add to sauce with 1/2 cup of the reserved water). Increase heat to high, and cook, stirring constantly, until pasta is well coated in sauce and reaches the al dente stage, about 3 minutes. If sauce thickens too much before pasta is ready, add more pasta water in 1/4 cup (60ml) increments as needed. [Shown here with one serving size.]

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer
Remove from heat and stir in cheese until thoroughly incorporated into a smooth and creamy sauce. Taste for salt, and season with more if needed. If you can't detect the vodka at all, you can add a few drops more and stir it in before serving; exactly how boozy you want the sauce is a question of taste, but be careful because a heavy hand will ruin the dish. Spoon pasta and sauce onto warmed serving plates and top with additional grated cheese. Serve immediately.

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer

Special Equipment

3-quart saucieror saucepan or 5-quart Dutch oven, blender, spider skimmer or slotted spoon or colander

Make-Ahead and Storage

The vodka sauce can be made ahead through Step 3 (blending). Keep refrigerated in an airtight container up to 5 days. To use, reheat sauce in a pot, then resume recipe instructions with Step 4.

Nutrition Facts(per serving)
598	Calories
36g	Fat
54g	Carbs
15g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
份:4
Amount per serving
Calories	598
% Daily Value*
Total Fat36g	46%
Saturated Fat 22g	109%
Cholesterol103mg	34%
Sodium563mg	24%
Total Carbohydrate54g	20.%
Dietary Fiber 6g	22%
Total Sugars 12g
Protein15g
Vitamin C 24mg	120%
Calcium 229mg	18%
Iron 3mg	18%
Potassium 762mg	16%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

开云体育波胆

Special Equipment

Make-Ahead and Storage

More Serious Eats Recipes

Frequently served with penne, positively magical with rigatoni, this vodka sauce is a powerhouse of tomato flavor smoothed over with the silky richness of heavy cream.

Why It Works

The Importance of Vodka in Penne alla Vodka

The Winning Combination of Tomatoes

Watch Now: How to Make Pasta With Vodka Sauce

Special Equipment

Make-Ahead and Storage

More Serious Eats Recipes