If there is one thing I love outside of Mexican food (it’s my first love)… It is pasta. I love pasta, I love cream sauces, pesto sauces, marinara sauces.. Pasta in all shapes and sizes. I could eat pasta 3 times a week and be a happy gal. My hands down favorite is taking a rich, robust tomato based sauce and adding, you guessed it, heavy cream to the mix. Honestly, heavy cream is like butter, there’s no substitute. A creamy tomato sauce pasta wins in my book every time.
How do we make it even better? Add a little booze. Yep. Add some vodka. And don’t forget the red pepper!
PrintPasta with Vodka Sauce
traditional pasta with vodka sauce recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound penne pasta
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup vodka
- 14 oz. tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 3 tablespoons basil, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. When complete, drain the pasta, and reserve 1 cup of pasta water in case sauce is too thick. While pasta is cooking, start on the sauce.
- In a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil and butter. Add in garlic and onions. Stir and allow to cook for several minutes or until slightly browned.
- Pour in vodka. Stir and cook off for three minutes. Add in tomato puree and paste. Stir.
- Reduce heat to low and pour in heavy cream. Allow to simmer, careful not to burn. Add in red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Add cooked pasta to the sauce, tossing to combine. Stir in Parmesan cheese.
- Pour mixture into serving bowl. Garnish with more Parmesan cheese and sliced basil.
- Enjoy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
You had me at Vodka. 😉
Author
This is why we are friends! 😉
Hey Jenny, great post! Loved the whole dish. I just replaced tomato puree with tomato paste to add some more thickness to the sauce as I love a thick sauce with penne pasta meals.