Baked Penne Alla Vodka
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Tieghan Gerard, author of the Half Baked Harvest cookbook and the eponymous blog, has a new book out: Half Baked Harvest Super Simple. It’s filled with more than “125 recipes for instant, overnight, meal-prepped, and easy comfort foods.”
Naturally, I’m finding myself very drawn to the “pizza & pasta” chapter, a number of which are speaking to me: butternut squash and apple pizza, made with a smear of apple butter, sautéed shallots, and ribbons of raw butternut squash (created with a vegetable peeler), “grown-up” SpaghettiOs, made with mostly tomato paste and water but which is astonishingly delicious*, and this BAKED penne alla vodka.
I love penne alla vodka and have been a devotee of Ina’s recipe for years, which takes hours to cook. Tieghan’s vodka sauce takes a fraction of the time and relies on garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and, most importantly, a half cup of slivered sun-dried tomatoes, whose flavor in the end is so subtle — it will have any recipients of your baked-pasta labors guessing.
You can serve the sauce traditionally with al dente pasta and a shaving of parmesan over top or you can take it one step further and bake it. I opted for the latter and have zero regrets.
It’s simple: after you toss the pasta with the vodka sauce, you layer half of it into a 9×13-inch baking pan, top this layer with a mix of ricotta and heavy cream, top with the remaining pasta, and finally a layer of fresh mozzarella. After 35 minutes in the oven, when the cheese is beginning to blister and the pasta tips are beginning to char, it’s done.
Serve it with a simple green salad — that’s all it needs.
5 Other Favorite Baked Pastas
- Sheet Pan Mac n’ Cheese
- Baked Pasta Gratin with Kale
- Baked Penne with Butternut Squash Sauce
- No-Boil Mac n’ Cheese
- Baked Ziti with Kale & Créme Fraîche
*I loved this one and after making it with wagon wheels, I ordered the traditional anelli pasta, which is very hard to find in a traditional grocery store. I love the “little rings.”
Here’s the play by play: Gather your ingredients.
Sauté garlic and crushed red pepper flakes in butter.
Add vodka and reduce by a third.
Add crushed tomatoes (or plum) along with sun-dried tomatoes, and bring to a simmer.
Simmer for 15 minutes, then …
… purée it.
Toss very al dente pasta with the sauce and parmesan.
Layer half of the pasta into a 9×13-inch baking pan.
Top with a layer of ricotta mixed with heavy cream.
Top with the remaining pasta.
Top with fresh mozzarella and transfer to the oven for 30-40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool briefly.
Serve with a simple green salad (and simple vinaigrette… this is my favorite).
Tieghan Gerard’s Half Baked Harvest Super Simple
Baked Penne Alla Vodka
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 to 10
Description
From Tieghan Gerard’s Half Baked Harvest Super Simple
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup vodka
- 1 28-oz can crushed (or whole peeled) tomatoes
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, drained and chopped
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1 pound penne
- 1 cup parmesan
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 16-oz whole milk ricotta
- 8-oz fresh mozzarella
- fresh basil, for serving, optional
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, combine the butter, garlic, and red pepper flakes over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring often, until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the vodka and bring to a simmer. Cook until reduced by one-third, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the crushed tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and a large pinch each salt and pepper. Simmer the sauce over medium heat until reduced slightly, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons kosher salt. Add the penne and cook for about 6 minutes (or about 4 minutes under suggested al dente cooking time.) Reserve one cup of pasta cooking liquid. Drain pasta and run under cold water.
- When the pasta sauce has finished cooking transfer it to a blender or use an immersion blender to purée until smooth — you may need to add some of the reserved pasta cooking liquid to thin. I’ve been adding about a cup of pasta cooking liquid.
- Transfer the pasta to a large bowl. Add the sauce and parmesan and stir to combine.
- Heat the oven to 425ºF. In a medium bowl stir together the heavy cream and ricotta.
- Transfer half of the pasta mixture to a 9×13-inch baking pan. Top with the ricotta mixture, spreading to cover evenly. Top with the remaining pasta. Tear the mozzarella into pieces and scatter evenly over top. Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Garnish with basil, if using, and more parmesan, if you wish.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, Italian
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18 Comments on “Baked Penne Alla Vodka”
We make Smitten Kitchen’s version of grown-up Spaghetti-O’s almost weekly and I use ditalini, which I find at Wegmans! (https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/)
Ohhhh that looks amazing!!
Hi Alex,
This looks delish! Any substitutions for vodka and cream? Thanks!
Hi! Are you avoiding alcohol? If so, use a splash of vinegar (a tablespoon or so). If not, white wine is fine. The cream helps the ricotta from getting gritty when baked. You could use an egg in its place or whole milk if you just want something less rich.
This looks so good! All I want to eat right now is pasta!
Right?! Me, too 🙂
What kind of sun dried tomatoes do you use?
Packed in oil — they’re often in the produce section of grocery stores. I don’t have a specific brand to recommend, but oil packed is what you are looking for.
AAAHhhh the tasted of that sauce is amazing! But I’ve sneaked in a big zucchini. Chopped it really fine and put is in the pan with the garlic. A bit more vege for the kids 🙂
Smart! Love it!
I made this last night, chopped the sundried tomatoes very finely and used crushed tomatoes. I skipped the puree step, never added cooking liquid, and it turned out incredible.
So happy to hear this, Devin! And how nice to eliminate a step?! Totally trying that next time.
Delicious and so easy and adaptable!! Love this recipe – true comfort.
So nice to hear this, Meryl! Hope all is well xoxo
Want to make this for my husband. There are only two of us. How do I cut this down for us? Love all your recipes Thank you Mary
Thank you Mary 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think this recipe would halve really easily: simply halve the ingredients but keep the cooking time the same. Alternatively it freezes beautifully, so you could make the full recipe and freeze half of it.
Question about freezing: would you recommend freezing before baking? If so, should I thaw before cooking or cook from frozen? Thanks for all of your great recipes!
Hi! I would freeze before baking. I think you’ll get the best results from thawing before baking. You can do this overnight in the fridge or at room temperature for 6 hours or so.