Pasta
Penne alla Vodka
Penne in a blush-pink sauce of tomato purée fried until brick red, a splash of vodka to sharpen it, double cream and Parmesan, with a gentle kick of chilli and fresh basil.
- Serves 4
- Ready in 30 min
- The alcohol cooks off
- Rigatoni works too
- Italian-American
Method
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil for the pasta.
Heat the oil (2 tbsp) and butter (25 g) in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the shallots (2 shallots) for 5 minutes until soft, then add the garlic (3 cloves) and chilli (pinch) for 1 minute.
Add the tomato purée (140 g) and fry, stirring all the time, for 4–5 minutes until it darkens to a deep brick red and starts to catch on the base of the pan. This is where the flavour comes from.
Take the pan off the heat, pour in the vodka (75 ml) and stir to lift the sticky bits, then return to the heat and bubble for 1–2 minutes until it no longer smells of alcohol. Stir in the cream (200 ml) and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Season.
Cook the pasta (400 g) until just al dente. Scoop out a mugful of the cooking water, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce with the Parmesan (50 g).
Toss over a low heat, adding splashes of pasta water until the sauce is smooth and coats every piece. Scatter over the basil (15 g) and serve with extra Parmesan.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- If you have no vodka, the sauce still works without it, but the vodka adds a sharpness that cuts the cream.
- Allrecipes’ most popular version adds browned Italian sausage; crumble in 2 sausages after the shallots if you like.
- For a lighter sauce use half cream and half pasta water, or swap the cream for mascarpone.
- Vegetarians: use a vegetarian hard cheese instead of Parmesan.
How this recipe was developed
We compared BBC Good Food’s pasta alla vodka with America’s Test Kitchen’s penne alla vodka and the most-rated version on Allrecipes.
- Fry the tomato purée. BBC Good Food (4.65/5 from 140 ratings) builds the sauce on a whole 100 g of tomato purée; frying it until dark gives the deep, sweet flavour.
- Vodka off the heat. America’s Test Kitchen adds the vodka away from the flame and simmers it off; we do the same for safety.
- Cream and Parmesan. All three finish with cream; we add Parmesan and pasta water to make the sauce cling.
- Sausage as an option. Allrecipes’ Best Penne alla Vodka (4.7/5 from 1,714 ratings) adds Italian sausage; we give it in the notes.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- BBC Good Food (Esther Clark): Pasta alla vodka (4.65/5, 140 ratings)
- America's Test Kitchen: Penne alla Vodka (4.3/5, 230 ratings)
- Allrecipes (Allrecipes Member): Best Penne alla Vodka (4.7/5, 1714 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.