Pasta Alla Vodka Recipe (2024)

The point of the Vodka, or any alcohol in a recipe, is to extract flavor compounds out of the ingredients that do not dissolve in water. In step 2 here, the vodka is getting lots of flavors out of the pancetta pieces, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, and all the yummy bits cooked onto the bottom of the pan.The flavors that come from foods and spices may dissolve best in water, some in alcohol, some in fats like butter or pancetta fat, and some in acidic liquid like lemon juice.

Serviceable, but Pasta Alla Vodka it is not, quite. When I worked under famed chef Stefano Formaggio near Bologna in the 1980s, he would have resigned his commission before using crushed tomatoes instead of whole. Pecorino Romano was the only cheese ever seriously considered, ideally from a ewe sequestered for seven Sundays and made to listen to to Verdi. And in game involving the whole village, the vodka was sneaked from the liquor cache of the oldest man in town. Try it, it makes a difference.

Maybe instead of using just tap water, use some of the pasta water because the starch makes it thicker, therefore actually thickening the sauce (if you want it thicker)

Hi guys! Some of you felt the dish was too watery, so we adjusted the recipe to allow a range of water added. Bon appetit!

I thought the flavor of the sauce was spot on like the vodka sauce we enjoy at our local Italian restaurant- but it was too thin. Next time I will skip the added water, and cook it a little longer so it is a thicker consistency before adding in the cream, which thinned it out. Maybe this is due to the kind of canned tomatoes I used- I used San Marzano whole tomatoes in a puree, and crushed the tomatoes myself.

Rather than using the water, how about opening the tomatoes at the beginning of cooking, pouring them into a bowl, then rinsing the can with the vodka and adding that to the onion pan? Then add the tomatoes and use a silicone spatula to scrape all the juice out of the bowl.

Made it, loved it. Served it with a pile of roasted broccoli and sliced Italian sausage on top.

@Philip vodka enhances the flavor because of the chemical reaction with the other ingredients, it has nothing to do with aromatics. Adding a stronger flavored drink with similar alcohol level (~40%), like bourbon or cognac, will add a distinctive flavor even when the alcohol cooks off. The advantage of vodka is that it doesn't add flavor of its own, it just gives the actual ingredients a boost of flavor. For the science see https://www.chowhound.com/post/vodka-sauce-point-312341

So good. Delayed on starting the pasta because sauce takes longer than total time mentioned in recipe.

I do a version of this (learned from my father) with Italian sausage instead of pancetta and adding sundried tomatoes - lots of flavor and always a hit.

I typically would add a bit of tomato paste to thicken in.

I used a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and skipped adding the water. Plenty of sauce for a pound of pasta, which is how we like it. Delicious!

For those living in more remote areas, bacon is an easy substitute for pancetta.

Adding up the steps to prepare the sauce looks like it takes 20-25 minutes, so why make cooking the pasta (@8 minutes?) the very first step? Won't that result in over cooked or limp pasta?

Making this recipe, embarrassingly, was my first time doing a pasta sauce from scratch. May it be the first of many times! As many reviewers suggested I omitted the added water entirely and I kept the sauce bubbling and thickening far longer than the 10 minutes called for in Step 3, but these were my only departures from the recipe. Fantastic result, and I have a new favorite weeknight dish.

Next time I am going to try using tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes to make it thicker. I didn't add the extra water. It taste better as it sits rather than eating immediately after cooking.

I tripled the recipe for a party and everyone loved it. The yields is generous!

My husband is pork-free, so I sauteed chicken breasts and removed, then sauteed the onion, garlic, and red peppers in the fat and later folded tender chicken pieces into the finished sauce before adding in the pasta. Doubled the amount of garlic and pepper flakes and added slight amount of pasta water instead of tap when sauce was thick. This sauce was an excellent use for my homegrown whole San Marzano tomatoes which I had canned in fresh garlic and basil. Delicious recipe.

Folks, if it's too watery, just cook it down. Pancetta is not traditional in alla vodka, but has anyone anywhere at any time ever complained about bacon?

This is just DIVINE. Using the S blade on my food processor, I combined the garlic cloves and onions and pulsed until finely chopped (I struggle with finely chopping by hand..). I accidentally poured the tomatoes in my Dutch oven before the vodka so I ended up putting them in at the same time- sauce still came out BEAUTIFULLY. Such a knockout recipe that I’ll keep in my back pocket if I want to impress but also keep it simply elegant.

Sister liked. Halved and added diced instead of crushed then blended bc she likes it smooth. Added more onion and simmered for longer and also more cream and cheese

Decent sauce. No need to add pancetta, Vic noticed it, and didn’t like it

No water was needed, I used a heaping half teaspoon of salt, and I used coconut milk instead of cream due to dairy intolerance. It was amazing!

This is fantastic! (On my stovetop, it took a bit longer to boil off enough vodka, but that’s my only remark.) Made this several times - so good.

I have often seen critique about the “meanwhile” when cooking pasta. My experience is, it takes at least 15 minutes for my water to boil. I think the author is starting the time when the water starts, not when the 8 minutes to al dente begins

I made this pasta years ago and forgot about it. That recipe included minced shrimps and no cheese. I tried this recipe and it was delicious, but I also tried the shrimp version and it was even more luscious.

Picky husband approved... with some tweaks. No pancetta in the fridge, so I used some leftover cooked bacon, chopped. Used Pastene Kitchen ready tomato sauce because I had no crushed tomatoes in the pantry. Did not use the water other than a small amount of pasta water to swirl in the can. Also, at the very end, I added cooked shrimp that needed to be used. And because it's just the 2 of us I used just 8oz of pasta, which made a very saucy dish. Absolutely delicious!

I really have no idea how this has so many 5 star ratings. This is one of the worst Vodka pastas I've ever made. It ends up being way too tomato-y and acidic. To make it a bit better, I added a bit more cream + cheese. I'd consider blending the onion in the future or using a bit less, too. There are much better Vodka recipes out there.

Kids loved it. Substituted bacon.. added 2 tablespoons of tomatoes paste and added Trader Joe’s Italian Saffritto seasoning to the tomato sauce and let the tomatoes, bacon, garlic, onions red peeper cook down a little longer than suggested. Also put it the tomatoes and other ingredients in food processor to pulse a few times to get a smoother texture in the sauce… once kid doesn’t like the texture of onions- the boys asked for it again! They ate it all in one sitting.

I had some cream to use up, so instead of my own quick tomato - bacon - garlic toss, I made this, never having chosen this dish out or at home. I think this one may have too much cream. However, I'm not a good judge. Despite good pancetta, tomatoes, and cheese, the flavor was far too reminiscent of those lucky childhood days when we got to mix our Campbell's tomato soup with milk instead of water. Just mentioning in case that happens to you too.