We made this delicious Vegan Spicy Italian Vodka Rigatoni in partnership with Red Gold Tomatoes and The Feedfeed. We love Red Gold because their tomatoes are unmatched when it comes to flavor and freshness.

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🍅 RED GOLD TOMATOES
🍸 WHAT IS VODKA SAUCE?
🍝 WHY WE CHOSE THIS RECIPE
💡RECIPE TIPS
👩🏽‍🍳 RECIPE

🍅 RED GOLD TOMATOES

Thanks to Red Gold Tomatoes and The Feedfeed, we have a new favorite pasta recipe! Red Gold’s award-winning quality tomatoes were hands-down the star of our pasta. Their tomatoes are picked from the vine at the peak of ripeness and Steam Packed Fresh, so no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives are necessary. Red Gold’s flavor-packed tomatoes provided irresistible sweetness and acidity to our creamy sauce, while the vodka added a welcome kick.

🍸 WHAT IS VODKA SAUCE?

Vodka sauce is a spicy, creamy tomato sauce that is usually served over rigatoni or penne pasta. Dating back to the 1970s, the origins of vodka sauce are a bit mysterious. There are chefs in both Rome and New York City claiming to have invented it. But let’s be honest. It doesn’t matter who created it. What matters is that when it’s served over the right pasta, it makes for one of the great Italian dishes.

The vodka sauce has a rich, luxurious flavor. The bitterness of vodka balances the sweetness of the tomatoes and cream, while adding a spicy kick. All in all, this dish has quickly become one of our favorite Italian recipes. We’re certain you’ll feel the same way when you give it a shot.

🍝 WHY WE CHOSE THIS RECIPE

We veganized Red Gold Tomatoes’s Spicy Italian Vodka Rigatoni recipe by replacing the half and half with vegan milk, the Parmesan with vegan Parmesan, and the hot ground sausage with a spicy vegan Italian sausage. This recipe was selected by our Instagram followers. Make sure to vote in our upcoming Story Polls to choose the next recipe we make!

💡RECIPE TIPS

While you can use penne, we prefer rigatoni. It works with meatier, heavier sauces like this. The grooves help the sauce stick to the pasta and the holes capture all the spicy, creamy goodness of the sauce.
Do as the Italians do and cook your pasta al dente. No matter where you eat in Italy, you’ll find the pasta is always perfectly cooked with that delightful al dente bite. Here in America, we overcook our pastas until they’re gelatinous, mushy blobs. We suggest reading the instructions on the box and undercooking the pasta by a few minutes; 6-8 minutes tends to be our pasta-cooking sweet spot.
Add pasta to the sauce. This allows you to thoroughly incorporate the pasta into the sauce. The sauce will fully coat and get absorbed into the pasta. If you simply top the pasta with the sauce, the pasta will become cold, clumpy and unevenly coated in sauce.

DID YOU MAKE OUR VEGAN SPICY ITALIAN VODKA RIGATONI?

Did you make this recipe? We’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. Share your dish with us on Instagram and tag us @plantbased.passport. We would love to seeing your delicious creations! Still hungry? Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest for more global vegan recipes and travel tips!🍴✈️