Penne Pasta in Creamy Vodka Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms – make your own vodka sauce from scratch! Easy, delicious, and so Italian! Perfect weeknight dinner!
Want to make an easy Italian dish at home and impress your family, your friends, or your date? Then, this creamy vodka tomato sauce pasta is the right recipe for you!
This pasta dish is packed with flavors (tomatoes, mushrooms, spices, and don’t forget vodka!), it’s very creamy, with just the right amount of “kick” (spiciness), topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese! The creamy vodka and tomato pasta sauce will please everyone!
Because the sauce is made completely from scratch (no packaged sauces), you can easily convert this recipe to a gluten free one, just by using gluten-free brown-rice penne pasta (I used Tinkyada brand).
Step-by-step photos to illustrate the cooking process:
In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat, until onion softens. Add tomatoes, vodka, crushed red pepper, basil, oregano – break tomatoes if necessary. Bring the mixture to boil. Reduce to simmer and simmer, covered, occasionally stirring, for about 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. During the last 10 minutes, add mushrooms, and continue to simmer.
At the end of 20 minutes of simmering, mushrooms should be cooked through, and sauce will thicken:
While on low heat, add heavy cream and half & half to the sauce:
Stir everything to ensure even consistency. Add 3/4 teaspoon of salt or more to season the sauce. At this point, your sauce will acquire a nice color just like that:
In the mean time, cook pasta according to package instructions – add cooked and rinsed pasta to the sauce. Reheat the sauce on low heat to heat everything through:
Mushroom Pasta in Creamy Vodka Tomato Sauce - make your own vodka sauce from scratch! Easy, delicious, and so Italian! Perfect weeknight dinner!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 onion , medium, diced
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 14 oz canned tomatoes
- 3/4 cup vodka
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon basil , if you have fresh basil - use more
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 cup mushrooms , sliced
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Half and Half
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz penne pasta (for gluten free version, use gluten-free brown-rice penne)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese , freshly shredded
-
In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat, until onion softens.
-
Off heat, add tomatoes, vodka, crushed red pepper, basil, oregano - break tomatoes if necessary, and mix everything.
-
Bring the mixture gently to medium heat. Reduce to simmer and simmer, on low heat, covered, occasionally stirring, for about 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens. During the last 10 minutes, add mushrooms, and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
-
While on low heat, add heavy cream and half & half to the sauce and stir everything to ensure even consistency. Add 3/4 teaspoon of salt or more to season the sauce.
-
In the mean time, cook pasta according to package instructions. Rinse cooked pasta with cold water and drain (this stops pasta from cooking and prevents it from being too mushy). Add cooked and rinsed pasta to the sauce. Reheat the sauce on low heat to heat everything through.
-
Serve each plate topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Too much vodka!! The sauce was runny and very strong vodka taste. I’m going to try to add tomato paste to salvage the rest of the dish.