Penne alla Vodka
A smooth, blush-orange sauce of slowly softened onion, a whole tube of tomato paste, canned tomatoes and heavy cream, blended silky, spiked with a quarter cup of vodka and finished with Parmigiano on penne or rigatoni.
Penne alla vodka is everywhere on Italian-American menus, and no one agrees where it came from. Wikipedia says it became popular in Italy and the United States around the 1980s "as a late-night dish following evenings at the disco". The first attested recipe is from 1974, in the Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi's cookbook L'Abbuffone, where he called it pasta all'infuriata, "enraged" pasta, with tomatoes, a shot of vodka and chile. After that the claims pile up: a restaurant in Bologna called Dante; a Roman chef working for a vodka company in the 1980s; Luigi Franzese of Orsini's in New York, who says he improvised "Penne à la Russia" in the 1970s; and a 1979 Italian novel with a "sugo alla russa."
Daniel Gritzer, whose Serious Eats recipe this is, runs through the same list (an actor, a Bologna restaurant, a Columbia University student, Russia) and decides he can live with the mystery. What he cares about is the vodka, and Serious Eats has tested it: in blind tastings, J. Kenji López-Alt found the vodka really does matter, bringing out fruity aroma and a background heat that cuts the cream. In 2016, Wikipedia adds, Italy's pasta makers chose the dish as the symbol of World Pasta Day in Moscow.
Why it works the kitchen science
Paste plus canned tomatoes
Gritzer found a whole tube of tomato paste gives the deep, fruity flavor vodka sauce is known for, while a can of whole tomatoes adds brightness; either alone fell short.
Vodka for about 7 minutes
Serious Eats' blind tests landed on about 1/4 cup vodka per quart of sauce simmered about seven minutes, enough to sharpen the flavor without tasting boozy; adding it a minute before the pasta gets close to that by the time you serve.
Step by step
- Step 1
Melt the butter in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and pepper flakes, season lightly with salt and cook, stirring often, about 15 minutes, until the onion is very soft but not browned. Lower the heat if it starts to color.
- Step 2
Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, about 3 minutes, until thick and fragrant. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, bring to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes, stirring and crushing the tomatoes, until slightly thickened.
- Step 3
Stir in the cream. Carefully blend the sauce in a countertop blender until very smooth, return it to the wiped-out pot and season lightly with salt.
- Step 4
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until 3 minutes short of the package time. About 1 minute before it is ready, stir the vodka into the sauce and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
- Step 5
Move the pasta into the sauce with a spider or slotted spoon, with 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Turn the heat to high and stir constantly about 3 minutes, until the pasta is al dente and well coated; add more pasta water 1/4 cup at a time if the sauce gets too thick.
- Step 6
Off the heat, stir in the Parmigiano until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Taste for salt, add a few drops more vodka only if you cannot taste it at all, and serve on warm plates with more cheese.
Penne alla Vodka
Serves 4 · 4 plates · 1 hr total
Sauce
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion (8 oz), diced
- 3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- One 4 1/2-oz tube concentrated tomato paste (or one 6-oz can)
- One 14 1/2-oz can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup vodka, plus a few drops more if you like
Pasta and finish
- 1 lb short tubular pasta, such as penne or rigatoni
- 2 oz grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
Method
- Melt the butter in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and pepper flakes, season lightly with salt and cook, stirring often, about 15 minutes, until the onion is very soft but not browned. Lower the heat if it starts to color.
- Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, about 3 minutes, until thick and fragrant. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, bring to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes, stirring and crushing the tomatoes, until slightly thickened.
- Stir in the cream. Carefully blend the sauce in a countertop blender until very smooth, return it to the wiped-out pot and season lightly with salt.
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until 3 minutes short of the package time. About 1 minute before it is ready, stir the vodka into the sauce and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
- Move the pasta into the sauce with a spider or slotted spoon, with 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Turn the heat to high and stir constantly about 3 minutes, until the pasta is al dente and well coated; add more pasta water 1/4 cup at a time if the sauce gets too thick.
- Off the heat, stir in the Parmigiano until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Taste for salt, add a few drops more vodka only if you cannot taste it at all, and serve on warm plates with more cheese.
Adapted from Daniel Gritzer, "Penne alla Vodka," Serious Eats (published April 10, 2020, updated September 21, 2025), serves 4. We follow it as written: 3 tbsp butter with a diced onion, 3 garlic cloves and pepper flakes cooked about 15 minutes; a 4 1/2-oz tube of concentrated tomato paste cooked about 3 minutes; a 14 1/2-oz can of whole tomatoes simmered about 10 minutes; 1 cup heavy cream; the sauce blended smooth; 1 lb penne or rigatoni cooked 3 minutes short of the package; 1/4 cup vodka added 1 minute before the pasta; about 3 minutes in the sauce with 1/2 cup pasta water; and 2 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano off the heat. Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Gritzer likes the sauce even more with rigatoni than penne.
- The blended sauce keeps up to 5 days in the fridge; reheat it and pick up at step 4.
- An immersion blender may splatter in a sauce this shallow, Gritzer warns; a countertop blender is safer. Vent the lid and blend in short bursts when the sauce is hot.
- Wikipedia notes many American versions add pancetta, bacon or guanciale.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Who invented penne alla vodka. Disputed: Tognazzi's 1974 recipe is the first attested; claims also go to Dante in Bologna, a Roman chef working for a vodka company, Luigi Franzese of Orsini's in New York and a Columbia student (Wikipedia; Gritzer).
- It's Italian, not Italian-American. Disputed: Wikipedia says it may have been common in Italy before it was popular in America in the early 1980s, and calls it a lasting Italian-American favorite.
- The vodka cooks off, so it doesn't matter. Disputed: Serious Eats' blind tastings found it noticeably changes flavor; Wikipedia says about half or more of the alcohol evaporates, so some remains.
- Vodka sauce has pork in it. Folklore as a rule: Wikipedia lists pancetta as usual; Gritzer's has none.
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