isithalal.food · Recipes

Penne 'alla vodka', no vodka

Creamy tomato penne built on fried tomato paste, cream, cheese and pasta water, with lemon in place of the vodka and no pancetta.

Italian · Main · Easy · 4 bowls · 30 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

Penne alla vodka is made with vodka, a spirit, and often pancetta; cooking does not remove all the alcohol, and Halal certifiers accept no spirit in a product.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Vodka: A distilled spirit. Cooking drives off only part of it, and ISA, a US Halal certifier, accepts no level of spirits in a certified product. None in this method. See Vodka.
• Pancetta: Many vodka-sauce recipes start with pancetta or bacon, which are pork. Left out here. For a meaty version use Halal beef bacon.
• Cheese: Parmigiano Reggiano and many Parmesan-style cheeses use animal rennet. A hard cheese naming microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet. See Cheese.
• Jarred vodka sauce: Shop-bought vodka sauce is made with vodka. Make it here, or read the label. See Vodka.

Ingredients

Sauce

• 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
• 15 g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter
• 1 (about 80 g) (1) shallot or small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves (2 cloves) garlic, finely chopped
• ½ tsp (½ tsp) dried chilli flakes (optional)
• 70 g (4 tbsp) tomato paste (purée)
• 150 ml (⅔ cup) double cream
• 5 ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
• 40 g (½ cup) Parmesan-style hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, finely grated

Pasta

• 400 g (14 oz) dried penne
• 12 g (2 tsp) fine salt, for the pasta water
• a small handful (a small handful) basil leaves, to serve

Method

1. Start the pasta. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil and cook the penne until just short of al dente. Before draining, keep 250 ml of the starchy water: it is what binds the sauce once the vodka is gone.
2. Soften the base. While the pasta cooks, warm the oil and butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Cook the shallot for 4–5 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and chilli for 1 minute. There is no pancetta in this version.
3. Fry the tomato paste. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until it darkens to a brick red and starts to catch. This concentrated, slightly caramelised tomato is where most of the sauce's depth comes from. Do not deglaze with vodka or wine; use a splash of pasta water instead.
4. Cream, lemon and cheese. Lower the heat, stir in the cream until smooth, then the lemon juice. Add the drained penne, the cheese and a ladle of pasta water, and toss over low heat for 1–2 minutes until the sauce is glossy and clings. Add more water if it tightens.
5. Serve. Season, tear over basil and serve at once. Jarred and restaurant vodka sauce still contains vodka unless the label or kitchen says otherwise; see Vodka.

Allergens

gluten, milk

How this recipe was researched

Method specified editorially from the standard penne alla vodka structure (tomato, cream, cheese, pasta water) described on Wikipedia, ISA's guidance on vodka sauce, and this site's Vodka, Pasta, Cream and Cheese pages. Timings follow published technique rather than a kitchen test. Without vodka this is a creamy tomato pasta in the vodka-sauce style, not a claim that it tastes identical.

Photograph from our ingredient library, not the finished dish.