30 Minute Meals
Vodka Pasta Recipe (Creamy, Spicy & Ready in 20 Minutes!) 🍝
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
20 minutes
Yield
2
My spin on a classic Vodka Pasta Recipe that everyone loves. This recipe is quick, easy, and full of flavor.
We know that pasta is one of my favorite dishes to make. This Vodka Pasta Recipe is made in only one pan and in under 30 minutes. It is filled with the perfect amount of spice and it’s no surprise why it went viral when Gigi Hadid made it. Here’s my take on the famous recipe that you’re going to love.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Vodka Pasta Recipe
- Quick: A homemade pasta dish everyone will enjoy in only 30 minutes. This is a great pasta dish to whip up on those busy nights after school when you’re trying to get something on the table for your family.
- Versatile: Whether you want to add your favorite protein, make it less spicy, or use a substitute for heavy cream – Vodka Pasta is easy to customize for any dinner table.
- Comforting: Is there anything more comforting than a delicious bowl of pasta? This pasta is so damn delicious. It has some spice, some creaminess, and is perfect for the cooler weather.
🍲 Ingredients
Vodka: Why do you use vodka in pasta sauce for a Vodka Pasta recipe? The vodka helps maintain a cohesive texture, allowing the creaminess to meld with the tomato base. Don’t worry though, you cook the vodka off so you won’t have any alcohol content within the pasta. I know, for some people that may be disappointing. 😉
Parmesan Cheese: Used both in the sauce and grated on top of the pasta, parmesan cheese is a staple ingredient in this pasta dish. Parm is a hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged for a year or longer. It is produced in the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia in Italy.
Heavy Cream: You can use whipping cream, heavy cream, or half-and-half cream. Whatever works for you. I don’t find they make that much of a difference. Just cook them down until they reach your perfect consistency.
👩🍳 How to Spicy Vodka Pasta
3. Add tomato paste, and cook until the sauce is darker and a bit caramelized, 2-3 minutes. Mix often to avoid anything burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan
4. Add in vodka and cook it until evaporated. This is where you’ll cook off the alcohol content, so this recipe is completely safe for those who don’t drink, are pregnant, or children.
5. Add heavy cream and 1 tsp chili flakes. Keep stirring until combined and season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. If the pasta is not done cooking yet, remove the sauce from the heat until the noodles are ready for the action! Make sure you set aside 1/2-1 cup of reserved pasta water!
7. When pasta is done cooking, add 1/2 cup reserved pasta water to the vodka sauce and 1 tbsp butter. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted and sauce is smooth and creamy – add another ¼ cup pasta water if needed.
8. Add strained pasta and ¼ cup parmesan cheese and stir. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed.
9. Garnish with fresh basil and more parmesan cheese if desired.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Pasta Water: Be sure to reserve at least 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining your pasta.
- Sauce Consistency: If the sauce seems too thick, keep slowly adding pasta water until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Salt the Pasta Water: This is your only real chance to season the pasta itself, so don’t be shy. It should taste pleasantly salty, not bland.
- Choose the Right Pan: A larger surface area helps the sauce reduce evenly and makes it much easier to toss the pasta without splashing everywhere.
- Caramelize the Tomato Paste: Cooking it until darker deepens the flavor and adds richness — it should look brick-red, not bright.
- Cook of the Vodka: Let it bubble until most of the alcohol smell is gone; this keeps the sauce smooth and prevents a sharp bite.
🗒 Variations
There are definitely some variations you can try with this recipe. Here are my recommendations:
- Protein: Add in your favorite protein to this recipe to make it a more well-rounded meal. Try shrimp, chicken, or even adding vegetarian mince
- Vegan: You can easily make this pasta vegan by swapping the parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast or plant-based cheese, and the cream for coconut milk or an oat or plant-based creamer. Of course, taste will vary from the original version
🗒 Substitutions
Here are some easy swaps you can make in this recipe:
- Vodka: The vodka is what sets this apart from a regular rose sauce, but you can sub for gin, or boxed wine instead. If you want no alcohol at all, you can use lemon water, chicken broth, or stock.
- Cream: Use heavy cream. This can be labeled as “table cream” in the store. You can also substitute it for half and half which works just as well.
🗒 Best served with
- Homemade Caesar Dressing: Use this dressing to make a delicious, homemade Caesar salad to pair with this pasta
- No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread: A tasty, easy bread to make to soak up any extra sauce on your plate
- Easy Chopped Salad: A tasty salad that is perfectly paired with this comforting pasta dish
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Pasta is so good leftover. In fact, it’s one of my favs. Just package this up and put it into a sealed container in the fridge. It should last about 3-5 days.
🤔 Common Questions
No! As the sauce simmers, the alcohol contents of the vodka evaporate. All it does is add flavor.
Vodka helps maintain a cohesive texture, which works so well with the tomato base.
A tomato-based sauce made tangy by vodka, and creamy with a splash of heavy cream.
The vodka is what sets this apart from a regular rose sauce, but you can sub for gin, or boxed wine instead. If you want no alcohol at all, you can use lemon water, chicken broth, or stock.
Yes! Heavy cream gives it that nice thick, creamy sauce but you can sub for half and half, milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, etc.
Short and fat pasta noodles get the most amount of sauce per noodle. Think rigatoni or penne!
Vodka sauce usually separates because the heat was too high, the alcohol wasn’t cooked off fully, or the dairy was too cold or too low-fat to emulsify properly. Keep the heat gentle once the cream goes in, add warm pasta water gradually, cook off the vodka thoroughly, and finish cheese off the heat to keep everything smooth and glossy.
Vodka Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter vegan or regular
- 2 shallots chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tbsp vodka
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp chili flakes
- salt and pepper
- 225 g rigatoni measure dry
- 1 tbsp butter vegan or regular
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese More for garnish
- Fresh basil For garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining. While pasta is cooking, make the vodka sauce.
- In a large saucepan, heat the butter, garlic and shallot over medium heat. Cook until softened, 3-5 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, cook until the sauce is darker and a bit caramelized, 2-3 minutes.
- Add in vodka and cook it until evaporated.
- Then add heavy cream and 1 tsp chili flakes. Keep stirring until combined and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- If pasta is not done cooking yet, remove sauce from the heat.
- When pasta is done cooking, add 1/2 cup reserved pasta water to the vodka sauce and 1 tbsp butter. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted and sauce is smooth and creamy – add another ¼ cup pasta water if needed.
- Add strained pasta and ¼ cup parmesan cheese and stir. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed.
- Garnish with fresh basil and more parmesan cheese if desired.
One of my go-to recipes—easy to follow and absolutely delicious. I added Italian sausage, and it turned out great. Definitely going into the regular rotation.
Thank you so much, Sonia!!!
A very well laid out recipe! So easy and ridiculoussly delicious, serious crowd pleaser. I cook this for my family and its really restaurant style. Great for a dinner party too, add shrimp and a salad!
thank you so much! That’s so sweet of you!
tried this for the first time doubled the sauce for extra added chopped basil and fresh parsley and extra chili. It was delicious will make this again as a main with a protein in it
love to hear this!! thanks so much francine
This was OK but definitely no improvement over the classic Italian recipe using tomatoes rather than paste.
Ok, thanks!!!
One of my go to recipes at the moment! Simple ingredients and not incredibly time consuming, plus I absolutely love that this recipe does not dirty that many dishes! It isn’t hard to modify slightly either when I’m cooking for picky eaters
Love to hear this, Madeleine! Thank you so much for the love!!!
Very tasty and really easy to make. I put a bit extra chilli flakes and vodka when I made it, I like heat and I like vodka 🤣 Thank you for this recipe 🙏🏻
you are so welcome, I am so glad you enjoyed this!
I just made this for dinner with grilled chicken. Amazing and a new favorite. No modifications needed.
Thank you so much for the love, Carrie!
I have an electric stove that gets way too hot so my sauce cooked down a little too much after adding the vodka – nothing some extra pasta water stirred in didn’t fix. I added some mild Italian sausage and a little extra heavy cream, it turned out GREAT! Love this, definitely something you’d make for other people.
I love to hear it!!! Thank you so much!!