Pink Sauce Recipe
Pink pasta sauce is a decadent, meatless sauce. Made with crushed tomatoes, Italian cheeses and heavy cream, this beautiful pink sauce is thick and luscious. Toss it with your favorite pasta for a flavorful meal that’s ready in 15 minutes!
What we love about pink pasta sauce
Don’t we all get bored of making marinara or meat sauce for pasta? This pretty pink sauce recipe is an excellent alternative! It doesn’t take too much time to make this recipe, yet it’s still bursting with flavor.
Using butter, rather than olive oil, and shallots as the base makes all the difference. It lends an extra creaminess that pairs well with the heavy cream and cheeses in the sauce. Though you could substitute onion if you don’t have any shallots on hand, shallots are slightly sweeter and lighter than onion, allowing the creaminess of the sauce to shine through.
The shallots also provide a sharpness that is perfect with the flavors of the tomatoes. Using whole crushed tomatoes delivers a hearty, thick texture, which is made even thicker once the cheeses are melted into the sauce.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it
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- Crushed tomatoes
- Lemons
- Heavy cream
- Mozzarella cheese
- Pecorino romano cheese
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
How to make pink pasta sauce
Sautè garlic and shallots in butter. Melt the butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Then, add the minced garlic and sautè until fragrant, usually about 30 seconds to a minute. Add minced shallots, dried herbs and salt and continue to cook.
Incorporate the heavy cream and melt cheeses. Pour the heavy cream into the pan and bring it to a simmer. You want the cream to be nice and hot when you add the cheeses so they melt nicely.
Stir in tomatoes and simmer. Once the cheeses have melted completely into the cream add the crushed tomatoes. Stir until fully incorporated and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes so the flavors meld together.
Serve over pasta.
FAQs and tips on making pink pasta sauce
It is simply named based on the color of the sauce. This sauce is also called rose sauce, vodka sauce (which should have vodka in it), parma rosa sauce, or just creamy tomato sauce. No matter what you call it, it is typically somewhere in between an alfredo and a marinara sauce.
Yes, the key here is to make sure the cream and cheeses have been thoroughly warmed and melted, then slowly adding the tomatoes allowing them to come up to temperature before adding more.
If your sauce is not as thick as you would like, you can continue to simmer it, uncovered, until it reaches your desired thickness. The longer you simmer to more liquid can evaporate, allowing the sauce to thicken. This sauce will also thicken a bit when it cools down.
More delicious pasta sauce recipes you will love
- Red wine pasta sauce
- Sweet potato pasta with cilantro tahini sauce
- Roasted tomato pasta sauce
- Cauliflower alfredo sauce
- Spicy sausage ground turkey pasta sauce
- Blackened chicken alfredo
Pink Sauce Recipe
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Pink pasta sauce is a decadent, meatless sauce. Made with crushed tomatoes, Italian cheeses and heavy cream, this beautiful pink sauce recipe is thick and luscious. Toss it with your favorite pasta for a flavorful meal that’s ready in 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp crushed red peppers
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup grated pecorino romano cheese
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- ½ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- In a large skillet, melt butter on medium heat.
- Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, or about 30 seconds.
- Add minced shallot, basil, oregano, crushed red peppers and salt, sauté for another minute.
- Add heavy cream and sauté until warmed through.
- Add mozzarella and pecorino romano cheeses, simmer until cheese is fully melted into cream.
- Slowly stir in crushed tomatoes until well incorporated.
- Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve over pasta.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Rigatoni
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 114
- Sugar: 1.9 g
- Sodium: 291.8 mg
- Fat: 8.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.7 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
- Cholesterol: 29 mg
