Vegan Penne Alla Vodka is a delicious recipe made with a cashew cream sauce. You won’t even realize it’s vegan!

For more ideas, check out all of our pasta recipes.

Our friend was throwing a surprise party for his vegan wife, so I offered to help and make a tray of food. I immediately thought of making baked ziti because it’s easy (and my free time is limited these days). But I quickly realized how much cheese is in baked ziti, and that’s so not vegan-friendly. So I decided to make Vegan Penne alla Vodka instead.

In traditional Penne alla Vodka, you mix cream into the sauce. So, to make it vegan, you need to make a cashew cream. That sounds a lot more difficult than it is.

You also can’t make this with our fresh pasta recipe. Our fresh pasta recipe is just flour and eggs, and eggs aren’t allowed in a vegan lifestyle. So look for a boxed pasta that is free from eggs (which is most of them).

Other than that, this is basically the same as the traditional recipe.

Vegan Penne Alla Vodka Recipe

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Vegan Penne Alla Vodka Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1/2 cup water
• 16 oz. penne pasta
• 1 onion
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons vodka
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 tablespoons dried basil

How To Make Vegan Penne Alla Vodka:

Soak the cashews overnight, covered in plastic wrap. They’ll be very soft when they’re ready to use.

Put them in a blender with a 1/2 cup of fresh water. Blend until completely smooth.

Set aside.

Boil the pasta according to the package.

Chop the onions and garlic, and cook them down in a pan.

To keep it vegan, you can’t cook them down and caramelize them in butter. You can add a little bit of olive oil or water to steam them to cook them a little quicker.

Add the vodka and half the seasoning to the pan. Cook about two minutes.

Add the crushed tomatoes and cook about five minutes.

Stir in the cream. Cook about ten minutes.

Add the basil and the rest of the seasoning. Turn off the heat.

Add in the pasta and stir until it is coated completely.

It’s really good, and you don’t actually have a cashew taste to the cream. My best advice is to taste the entire time you’re making it. The recipe can come out bland if you don’t season all the way through, so make sure to season as recommended.

Have you made this Vegan Penne Alla Vodka recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments.