The Dish
If you’re a pasta fanatic like us, you’re going to love this healthier version of penne alla vodka. Our vodka sauce substitutes the traditional heavy cream with lighter dairy ingredients: low fat milk and plain Greek yogurt. Thanks to the Greek yogurt, we still achieve that ‘creamy’ mouthfeel and rich flavor. We also add a little sriracha to our vodka sauce, giving it a little piquant punch (feel free to remove the sriracha if you are not a fan). Also, if cooking with vodka is not favorable, feel free to use balsamic vinegar instead! The turkey sausage adds a protein boost while the fresh cherry tomatoes help us achieve our veggie goals. If you’re looking for even more veggies, add one of our many side salads to your dinner menu.
Hacking this Recipe
Feel free to make the sauce ahead of time, pureeing the simmered tomato sauce with the milk, yogurt, and sriracha, and refrigerating until ready to assemble the pasta dish. The trick with creamy tomato sauces is to not overheat or aggressively simmer, this will cause the sauce to break. Just barely heat the sauce enough so that it, as well as the other ingredients (pasta noodles, sausage, tomatoes, etc…) are just hot or warm enough to serve. When shopping for sausage, we love the precooked Italian turkey or chicken sausages. The fact that they’re already cooked (just needs to be reheated) is a big time saver.