Broke Gourmet: This Italian classic looks expensive but is easy to make
Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 8, 2026
There are certain dishes that just sound expensive.
Rigatoni alla vodka is one of them. Put it on a restaurant menu, add some Italian sausage and freshly grated Parmesan, and suddenly you’re looking at a plate of pasta that can easily cost twenty dollars or more for one person.
But making it at home is a completely different story.
This week in my tiny little kitchen, I wanted to see if I could make a restaurant-style rigatoni alla vodka with Italian sausage that would feed four people for under $20. And it turns out, you absolutely can.
What I like about this recipe is that there really isn’t much to it. Italian sausage gives the sauce plenty of flavor right from the start, while onion, garlic and tomato paste build the base. A little vodka helps bring everything together, heavy cream gives the sauce that rich texture, and freshly grated Parmesan finishes it off.
And yes, there is actually vodka in vodka sauce. It isn’t there to make the pasta taste like vodka. As it cooks, the harsh alcohol flavor cooks away while helping bring out flavors in the tomatoes and creating a sauce that tastes a lot more complicated than it actually is.
That’s really what this dish is about. It looks like something you’d order at a restaurant, but there are no fancy techniques and no long list of expensive ingredients.
Just a big bowl of creamy, tomatoey rigatoni with Italian sausage and Parmesan – enough to feed four people without spending restaurant money.
Restaurant taste. Home kitchen price.
Rigatoni alla Vodka with Italian Sausage
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 1 lb rigatoni
• Italian sausage
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3–4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 2 airplane bottles vodka (about 3.4 oz total)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Freshly grated Parmesan
• Red pepper flakes
• Salt and black pepper
• Reserved pasta water, as needed
• Fresh basil, for garnish
Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the rigatoni until al dente. Before draining, reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.
2. While the pasta cooks, brown the Italian sausage in a large skillet, breaking it into bite-sized pieces as it cooks. Once browned and cooked through, remove the sausage from the skillet and set it aside.
3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter to the same skillet. Add the diced onion and sauté until softened. 4. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook briefly, just until the garlic becomes fragrant. 5. Add the tomato paste and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until it darkens and begins to caramelize. 6. Pour in the vodka and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Let the vodka cook down until the strong alcohol smell has mostly disappeared.
7. Lower the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Stir until the tomato paste and cream have completely combined into a smooth sauce.
8. Add the cooked rigatoni directly to the sauce and toss until the pasta is completely coated. Add a little reserved pasta water if needed to loosen the sauce.
9. Add the freshly grated Parmesan and toss again until the cheese melts into the sauce and coats the pasta. 10. Add the cooked Italian sausage last and fold it into the pasta until everything is evenly combined and heated through. 11. Taste and adjust with salt, black pepper and additional red pepper flakes if needed.
12. Serve topped with additional freshly grated Parmesan and fresh basil.
Feeds 4 for under $20.
Roy Mosby is a Marysville resident and the creator of the YouTube channel Broke Gourmet.
