Rigatoni alla Vodka
My Rigatoni alla Vodka recipe is one of my favorites, with a rich, creamy vodka tomato sauce made from tomato paste, heavy cream, and a splash of vodka. A silky smooth and delicious sauce that's perfect for an easy weeknight dinner, and yes, you can even freeze the sauce for later!
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 411kcal
Equipment
- 1 skillet
- 1 large wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 lb mezze rigatoni or penne pasta
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 shallot minced
- ½ cup vodka
- 1-4.56 oz tube of double concentrated tomato paste or use a can
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano grated (or use Grana Padano), plus more to your taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Cook the pasta making sure it's not quite al dente (so about 1 minute less than the cooking time, because you'll be combining in pan with the sauce and heating together and it will cook a little more).
- While the pasta is cooking, make the vodka sauce.
Vodka sauce:
- Melt the butter and add in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots (or onions) and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots have become translucent and have totally softened, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Add in the vodka and it's going to sizzle and bubble. Let it do it's magic and give it a stir to deglaze the pan a bit while it evaporates a little (about 1 minute).
- Add the tomato paste and stir constantly, cooking the paste until it changes from bright red to a deeper color or until the paste has caramelized and become darker, 2-3 minutes.
- Add in a scoop of the starchy pasta water to loosen the sauce a little.
- Slowly add the cream to the sauce, stirring to combine.
- Taste and check the seasoning of the sauce and add a little more salt (if needed)and some freshly ground pepper.
- Let the sauce simmer on medium-low heat while the pasta is cooking (sauce will be simmering for a total 10-12 minutes).
- Strain pasta when it's just before al dente, reserve some of the pasta water (½ cup is good), drain well and immediately add the pasta to the pan with vodka sauce. On medium heat, give it a nice stir to combine it all together. If it’s too thick, loosen it with a little bit of the reserved pasta water and stir it all together.
- Spoon pasta onto plates and serve with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Garnish with fresh basil (optional). Enjoy!
Notes
- Pasta: You could use penne, rigatoni or any short pasta you like.
- Garlic: You could use garlic alone, or use garlic and shallots. Or even use just shallots. If you don't have either on hand, you could use a Sweet or Vidalia onion.
- Vodka: You could leave out the vodka sauce, but then it's not truly a vodka sauce, but a cream sauce. Makes 4 large servings or 6 regular-sized ones.
- Tomato paste: If you don't have tomato paste on hand, you could use canned tomatoes. The tomato sauce will need probably another 10 minutes to cook, so calculate that when you're about to make the pasta.
- Cheese: I like to use Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano, or even pecorino.
- Pasta water: If you don't serve and eat right away, the sauce does dry up. Keep some extra pasta water on hand to stir in and loosen it up before serving. Just a little bit, you don't want a watery sauce.
- Spice: Add in some crushed red pepper flakes or even some amazing Calabrian chili paste.
- Leftovers: Pasta can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheated.
Nutrition
Calories: 411kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 91mg | Sodium: 219mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1148IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 197mg | Iron: 0.3mg