How To Make A Shortcut Vodka Sauce With Jarred Pasta Sauce

Like nearly any made-from-scratch pasta sauce, vodka sauce can be a little laborious to get just right. It requires slow simmering and careful seasoning to produce the bright, tangy, rich, and creamy dish that has satisfied many a comfort food craving. But not everyone has the time (or patience) to stand over a sizzling pan while crushing whole tomatoes or to let them break down gradually in the oven. Luckily, there's an easy way to simplify the recipe — and still maintain vodka sauce's delicious integrity. Food Republic spoke to Matt Harding, Chief Concept Officer for Piada Italian Street Food, and he said the shortcut starts with a jar of cooked tomato sauce from off the grocery store shelf.

No, really. Try to quell your inner dissenting voice that says that fresh and homemade is always absolutely necessary. Although you could make your own basic tomato sauce, jarred tomato sauce in place of whole tomatoes doesn't sacrifice vodka sauce's signature luscious flavor. "One of the best ways to simplify a traditional vodka sauce recipe," Harding told us, "is by using a cooked jarred tomato sauce and a touch of tomato paste." The simple swap cuts down on lots of simmering — and produces homemade flavor in much less time. By the time you toss the sauce with a generous portion of penne, you'll hardly remember that this vodka sauce recipe started with a store-bought base.

Like most traditional vodka sauce recipes, Matt Harding's abbreviated version begins with an aromatic. "You can start with shallots (fancy) or some fine-chopped onions," Harding explained, "saute, add in garlic and slightly toast [it], add chili flakes, [and] add in tomato paste." Once all these ingredients are in place, lower the heat just a bit and let the mixture cook out for about three to five minutes. Then it's time for the title character: vodka.

Harding noted that you should use the alcohol to deglaze, which is a technique where you add liquid to a hot pan to loosen the deliciously browned pieces that are stuck to the bottom. At this point, if you want to get a little flamboyant with your sauce cooking, Harding suggested that you flambé. Flambé starts with adding alcohol to a hot pan — which, if you were following along closely, you already did — then setting it on fire. It's certainly showy (consider the drama of bananas foster or a Christmas pudding), but it also adds a caramelized flavor to the sauce as the alcohol cooks off.

Whether you flambé or not, the next step is where the trusty tomato sauce jar comes in. Harding said to add your tomato sauce into the mixture, along with a basil leaf and a little bit of heavy cream. Once you've got that simmering away, finish off with parmesan cheese and butter — then you're dining on penne alla vodka in a fraction of the time.