Vodka sauce is something I NEVER order if I'm at a restaurant. It can be hit or miss and is often just a bland tomato sauce with added cream. My spicy vodka sauce is one of my favorite comfort foods. It's quick and easy and always makes my wife happy.
Okay, maybe every restaurant's vodka sauce isn't bad, but it is so simple to make at home. You need a couple of fresh ingredients and you'll have the perfect sauce in less than an hour. I personally like it a little spicier which is why I make spicy vodka pasta.
Choosing the Right Ingredients
- 2 Cans San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Slices Pancetta sliced ¼ inch thick (about ½ pound). Chopped to ¼ inch pieces
- 2 Shallots, Chopped
- 6 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- 8 Basil Leaves, Julienned
- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
- ½ Cup Vodka
- 2-3 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2-3 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream
- 1.5 lbs Penne or Rigatoni
Cooking Italian food always comes down to using simple, but fresh, ingredients. The key to any vodka sauce is the pancetta. Some recipes will say you can substitute bacon or prosciutto, but it's not the same. It's a completely different flavor and texture. When cooked in the sauce it doesn't become spongey or soggy the way bacon does.
Pancetta doesn't have the smoky flavor that bacon does and won't overpower the dish. Penne alla vodka without pancetta is simply not penne alla vodka. But, a lot of people would argue that putting garlic and basil in this dish is not traditional and forget about it when they hear I added crushed red peppers.
Pancetta
Make sure when you pick up your pancetta, you have them cut it ¼-1/2 inch thick. It's easier to cut when it's very cold so I like to throw it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before I cube the pancetta. Cube it into ¼-inch pieces.
Bring a large saucepan to medium-high heat. Add extra virgin olive oil to the pan. Once the oil is hot, drop in the cubed pancetta, and fry until the fat is translucent and the meat is golden brown. Stir often to make sure all sides of the meat are golden brown and crispy. You want your pancetta to look like this before you pull it out!
The fat is translucent and the meat is becoming golden brown and crispy. It is about ready to pull off the heat. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta and set it aside. We'll save it for later.
Making the Spicy Vodka Sauce
Leave all of the oil in the pan from the pancetta. Lower the heat to medium. Stir in chopped shallots and saute for about 5 minutes. You don't want the shallots to burn, so if they start to get brown around the edges pull the pan off the heat for a minute and keep stirring. This will prevent them from burning.
Once they've softened, add in your garlic, crushed red pepper, and tomato paste. Add the tomato paste to the edge of the pan and keep it separate from the shallots, garlic, and crushed red pepper. Cook the garlic for 1-2 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Then stir the tomato paste in.
Pour in ½ cup of vodka and bring to a simmer. Allow the vodka to simmer until it reduces by about half. When you drag your wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan you should see it part and then slowly come back together.
When you reach the desired consistency, pour in the 2 cans of tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Mash up the tomatoes after you bring the sauce to a boil. This will make it a lot easier to break apart the tomatoes. Add the pancetta back in and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering get a pot of water boiling. Add some salt to it and once there are about 10 minutes left on your simmer, get your pasta in the boiling water. Penne is usually the go-to with vodka sauce, but I do it with rigatoni or farfalle sometimes. Really, I'll do it with whatever happens to be in the pantry at that time.
Pour in the heavy cream once your sauce is finished simmering. Stir in the ½ cup and adjust to achieve the pink shade of sauce we recognize as vodka sauce. I like to go a little light on the heavy cream, still getting that beautiful pink vodka sauce but not making it a cream sauce.
The sauce recipe makes a little extra for 1 pound of pasta. I suggest taking out a cup of sauce and putting it aside. Add your penne into the saucepan and stir until combined. The rest of the sauce can be frozen for 3 months or used on top of your pasta.
Stirring the pasta into the hot saucepan allows the pasta to absorb the spicy vodka sauce. I like to do this when the pasta and the sauce are still hot.
Penne alla vodka is a dish that should be in your repertoire. That's all I want to do with this blog. Always From Scratch is about helping you find easy recipes from scratch that taste great to add to your rotation. I eat some kind of pasta every week. I'm always experimenting with different pasta sauces. I like to think that this sauce is complete and I'll never change it, but there are always new ideas. So, if you don't like it spicy, just adjust the amount of crushed red pepper to make the sauce work for you.
I always serve penne alla vodka with parmesan. Seems like a no-brainer to me. The spicy sauce gets leveled out really well with the cream and parmesan. This sauce is definitely a little spicy, but not unbearable. My 1-year-old son did fine with it so don't expect it to blow your taste buds up.
Can I Substitute Vodka?
Yes and no. You can do whatever you like. I don't recommend omitting vodka with this sauce because, well, it's vodka sauce. If you don't want vodka in it, it might be better to make something different, like our Sage and Sausage Carbonara, which has no alcohol in it. You could replace the vodka with chicken stock if you were in a pinch. Just substitute 1-to-1.
Can I Substitute Bacon for Pancetta?
My answer to this one is a hard no. I just don't like the way this tastes with bacon. I've done this recipe with bacon and I've done carbonara with bacon. Bacon always seems to overpower the dish for me. It's not that I don't enjoy bacon but it doesn't work for this recipe.
Take your time with recipes that involve making sauce. Mistakes are always made. Sometimes you forget to add the vodka in because your son is holding your leg, the TV is on, and Christmas music is playing but hey, you just pull the tomatoes back out and add in the vodka. Point is, even with practice you sometimes forget your own steps. Learning what the sauce should look like takes more than one shot at making a recipe.
I used to just post a recipe the first time I made it. I like to perfect them now to make sure what I'm providing you with is really, REALLY, worth making. The spicy vodka sauce is no exception. I love this sauce. Let me know what you think and feel free to comment below! You can find me on Instagram @vindelgiudice or Tiktok @alwaysfromscratch to see more recipes there!
If you love this recipe, check out some of our other sauce recipes!
The Not-So-Secret Sunday Sauce
📖 Recipe
Spicy Vodka Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Pot
Ingredients
- 2 Cans San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Slices Pancetta sliced ¼ inch thick (about ½ pound). Chopped to ¼ inch pieces
- 2 Shallots, Chopped
- 6 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- 8 Basil Leaves, Julliened
- 2 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- ½ Cup Vodka
- 2-3 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2-3 tsp Salt
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream
- 1.5 lbs Penne or Rigatoni
Instructions
- Bring your saucepan to medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon EVOO. Once hot, add pancetta. Fry the pancetta stirring often, for about 5 minutes. The fat should be translucent while the rest becomes browned. Once it reaches the desired texture, remove the pancetta from the pan but let the oil remain.
- Add the shallots into the pan and saute for 5-8 minutes, until translucent. Then add your garlic, crushed red pepper, and tomato paste and saute for 1 minute. Let the tomato paste sit on the pan by itself carmelizing, while you stir the rest of the ingredients together. after about a minute stir the tomato paste in with the rest of the ingredients and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in your vodka, and allow it to come to a simmer. Stir often and allow the vodka to reduce by half. Mix in the 2 cans of tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Return the pancetta to the pan and stir in basil, salt, and pepper. Break apart the tomatoes after about 5 minutes of simmering. Allow the sauce to continue simmering for 25 minutes, stirring often. Turn the heat off and add the heavy cream. and stir.
- While the sauce is simmering, you can boil your pasta of choice. Stir the pasta into the sauce. Serve with fresh black pepper and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
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