Penne Alla Vodka Recipe (Pasta of the Month, September 2024)

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If you’re looking for a quick, easy, and delicious pasta dinner, try our penne alla vodka recipe! This recipe yields incredible flavor in just 25 minutes.

Penne alla vodka is a classic Italian pasta recipe made with pancetta, garlic, and a creamy tomato based vodka sauce. Our version uses bacon for an easy alternative and makes the perfect pasta dinner for two!

If you don’t know what vodka sauce is, it’s a creamy tomato sauce that’s made with vodka, tomatoes, and heavy cream. The vodka heightens the flavors and contributes to the silky texture of the sauce, so definitely don’t skip this ingredient!

Bonus: Penne alla vodka is a great recipe to make if you’re more of a beginner and want to learn how to cook with basic techniques. This recipe will teach you to incorporate ingredients, deglaze a pan, and balance flavors using salt and acid.

What This Recipe Entails

Penne alla vodka is a simple recipe you can make for dinner in less than 30 minutes.

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes

You’ll cook the sauce while the pasta is boiling, then combine everything and serve.

Penne Alla Vodka Ingredients

You’ll only need 10 ingredients to make our penne alla vodka pasta recipe:

• Penne pasta
• Thick cut bacon
• Minced garlic
• Yellow onion
• Crushed tomatoes
• Vodka
• Heavy cream
• Parmesan cheese
• Lemon juice
• Sea salt

Traditional Italian penne alla vodka is typically made with pancetta, but we like to make penne alla vodka with bacon since it’s easy to find at any grocery store! We like to use thick cut bacon as it yields more substantial pieces of pork when you dice it.

Yes, penne alla vodka sauce is actually made with vodka! Use a plain, unflavored vodka for this recipe.

Don’t worry about the alcohol content. Vodka sauce uses a very small amount of vodka, and most of the alcohol burns off during cooking. If you don’t drink alcohol and don’t have vodka handy to make this recipe, you can use water or lemon juice to deglaze the pan instead.

How To Make Penne Alla Vodka

It’s quite easy to make an authentic penne alla vodka for dinner in under 30 minutes. You can easily make the vodka sauce in the time it takes the pasta to boil.

Here’s how to make our penne alla vodka recipe:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the penne and cook until al dente according to package directions.
2. In the meantime, cook the bacon in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until it’s almost crispy. You don’t want to cook it quite all the way, as it will continue cooking as you build the sauce around it.
3. Next, add the onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until fragrant and the onions have begun to soften.
4. Then, turn the heat to medium-low and deglaze the pan with vodka. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, and grated parmesan cheese, then simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, just 5 minutes or so. Stir occasionally and adjust the heat as necessary so the sauce doesn’t begin to boil.
5. When the sauce has thickened, turn heat to low. Season with a light squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust as needed.
6. When the pasta is done cooking, reserve a few tablespoons of pasta water before draining. Then, add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir to coat well, adding a splash or two of pasta water to help the sauce cling.
7. Finally, serve hot topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

By cooking the bacon in the frying pan first and then building the sauce around it, all of its delicious flavor and rendered fats become incorporated into the vodka sauce. This gives the sauce a well-rounded flavor, versus if you were to cook the bacon first, remove it from the pan, and drain the grease before making the sauce.

When you add the onion and garlic to the pan, they’ll cook quickly in the hot bacon fat, so make sure to stir well and keep an eye on things. Don’t worry if things stick to the pan – that’s good! When you add the vodka, you’ll deglaze the pan, which means to loosen up any food that’s stuck to the pan after cooking.

After simmering the sauce, taste a small spoonful and you’ll notice the flavor is good but could be brighter. This is where you can take advantage of acid and salt to make the flavors in your food pop! Add a light squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a pinch of salt, then taste it again and see how things have changed. If you notice the sauce is too acidic, add more salt. If it’s too salty, add more acid. These ingredients will counteract each other to balance the flavors.

Penne Alla Vodka Serving Suggestions

We 100% recommend serving penne alla vodka with fluffy Italian bread! You’re going to want to sop up all the extra sauce on your plate with it. Mmm.

You can also serve penne alla vodka with garlic bread, breadsticks, tomato bruschetta, or a side salad.

Storing And Reheating

You can store leftover penne alla vodka in the fridge for up to 4 days. Keep it in an airtight container so it stays fresh.

Reheat single servings in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Our easy penne alla vodka with bacon is a simple yet authentic tasting Italian dinner you can make at home! This dish will remind you of the penne alla vodka from your favorite Italian restaurant, especially if you serve it with fresh bread on the side. It’s perfect for fancy date nights at home, or an easy weeknight dinner when you want to treat yourself.