Gigi Hadid Pasta Recipe (Stovetop)

Gigi Hadid pasta is the spicy vodka pasta that went viral after the model cooked it on her Instagram stories in 2020, and the reason it stuck around is that it deserves to. Tomato paste is cooked in olive oil until it turns brick red, heavy cream turns it into a pale orange sauce, red pepper flakes give it a slow burn, and butter and Parmesan finish it into something that clings to every piece of pasta. It takes one skillet and about thirty minutes.

The version here uses medium pasta shells, which is what is on the plates in the photographs. The cupped shape traps the sauce better than penne, and a spoonful of shells carries far more of the good stuff than a tube does. Rigatoni or penne work just as well if that is what is in the cupboard, and the recipe card allows any short pasta.

Pictured: the recipe made with medium pasta shells, finished with torn basil and grated Parmesan. Rigatoni or penne can replace the shells without any other change.

What Is Gigi Hadid Pasta?

In its original form it was a pan of penne in a spicy vodka sauce, filmed step by step on a phone and copied by millions of people within the week. The sauce belongs to a much older family. Penne alla vodka was a restaurant standard in the 1980s, and Gigi Hadid pasta is that dish stripped back to the essentials: olive oil, a little onion and garlic, tomato paste, heavy cream, red pepper flakes, butter and Parmesan, with a splash of vodka that many people leave out.

What made it travel so far is the tomato paste. Instead of a can of crushed tomatoes simmered for an hour, a quarter cup of paste is fried in the oil until it darkens and smells sweet. That five minutes does the work of a long simmer, which is why the whole dish fits inside the time it takes to boil the pasta.

The result is a sauce that is creamy without being heavy, spicy without being hot, and a shade of orange that looks like it came from a restaurant kitchen. On shells, as it is pictured here, it is one of the most satisfying pastas you can make in half an hour.

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Ingredient Notes

• Pasta shells. Eight ounces of medium shells, the size pictured. Rigatoni or penne are the classic choices and work the same way. Cook them a minute shy of the package time, because they finish in the sauce.
• Olive oil. Two tablespoons. It carries the flavor of the tomato paste, so use one you like the taste of.
• Onion. One small onion, finely chopped. A red onion is in the photographs, and a yellow one works just as well; either softens into the sauce and disappears.
• Garlic. Two cloves, minced, added after the onion so it does not burn.
• Tomato paste. A quarter cup, and it is the whole backbone of the sauce. Cook it until it goes from bright red to a deep brick color.
• Heavy cream. A half cup. Half-and-half will split with the acid from the tomato, so stay with cream.
• Butter. Two tablespoons, unsalted, stirred in at the end for gloss and richness.
• Red pepper flakes. A half teaspoon gives a gentle warmth. Go to a full teaspoon if you like the spicy in spicy vodka pasta.
• Vodka. One tablespoon, optional. It sharpens the tomato and helps the cream and oil hold together, but the sauce is very good without it.
• Parmesan. A half cup, freshly grated, plus more for the table. Pre-grated cheese in a tub will not melt smoothly.
• Salt, black pepper and basil. Season at the end, once the Parmesan has gone in, and finish with torn fresh basil.

Which Pasta Shape Works Best

The original was penne, and rigatoni has become the popular choice because the wide tubes fill with sauce. Shells are the quiet winner for Gigi Hadid pasta. Each one is a small cup, and when you toss them through the sauce, every cup fills, so the ratio of sauce to pasta in a forkful is higher than with any tube. They also hold the little flecks of onion and pepper flake that slide off smoother shapes.

The National Pasta Association’s shape guide pairs shells with thick, chunky and creamy sauces for exactly that reason. Whatever shape you use, keep it short and ridged or cupped, and cook it a minute under so it can finish in the skillet.

How To Make Gigi Hadid Pasta on the Stovetop

Put a large pot of salted water on before you start the sauce. The sauce takes about as long as the pasta, so the two finish together.

First, cook the shells until they are a minute short of al dente, then scoop out a cup of the cooking water before you drain them. That starchy water is what turns the sauce silky at the end, so do not skip it.

Next, warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onion for three to four minutes until it is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and stir for thirty seconds, until you can smell it.

Then add the tomato paste. Stir it constantly for a minute or two as it darkens from bright red to a deep brick color and starts to smell sweet rather than raw. This is the step that makes Gigi Hadid pasta taste the way it does, so do not rush it.

Bringing It Together

After that, turn the heat down to low and pour in the cream. Stir until the sauce is smooth and a uniform pale orange, then let it bubble gently for a minute. Add the butter, red pepper flakes, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and the vodka if you are using it, and simmer for another minute or two so the alcohol cooks off.

Finally, tip the drained shells into the skillet and toss them through the sauce. Add the pasta water a splash at a time until the sauce coats every shell and looks glossy rather than thick. Take the pan off the heat, add the Parmesan and toss again until it melts in. Taste for salt, then serve with more Parmesan and torn basil.

How To Tell When Gigi Hadid Pasta Is Done

The tomato paste is the first tell. Raw paste is bright red and smells sharp; cooked paste is the color of a brick and smells sweet and roasty. If the sauce tastes tinny or sour at the end, the paste came off the heat too early.

The second tell is the way the sauce moves. Before the pasta water goes in it will look thick and cling to the spoon. After a few splashes it should flow like heavy cream and coat each shell in a thin, even layer with a little pooling at the bottom of the pan. If it looks dry and the shells are clumping, add more water. If it looks soupy, keep tossing over low heat for a minute and it will tighten.

The pasta itself should be fully tender by the time it comes off the heat, since the minute in the sauce finishes what the pot started. Bite a shell before you plate it.

Make It Ahead

The sauce can be made through the vodka step up to three days ahead and kept in the fridge. Reheat it gently in the skillet with a splash of water or cream, then cook the pasta fresh and finish the dish as written. It takes ten minutes that way, which makes Gigi Hadid pasta a realistic option on the nights when thirty minutes feels like too many.

Do not cook the shells ahead. Shells sitting in sauce for hours go soft and soak up all the liquid, and there is no bringing them back.

Storing Gigi Hadid Pasta

Leftover Gigi Hadid pasta keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. The sauce sets as it cools and the pasta absorbs some of it, so reheat with a good splash of water or milk over medium-low heat, stirring until it loosens and turns glossy again. A microwave works too, in short bursts with a stir in between.

On its own, the sauce freezes well for up to two months and may look separated when it thaws; a minute of stirring over low heat brings it back together. The finished dish, pasta and all, does not freeze well, because the shells turn mealy.

Variations and Substitutions

Without the Vodka

Leave it out and change nothing else. A teaspoon of lemon juice stirred in with the cream gives back a little of the sharpness, and so does a splash of dry white wine simmered for a minute. Most people who make Gigi Hadid pasta on a weeknight never miss it.

Other Ways to Change It

Add protein. Pan-seared shrimp, sliced grilled chicken, or crumbled Italian sausage browned in the skillet before the onion all turn it into a fuller meal. The shrimp route is close to the marry me shrimp pasta on this site.

Add greens. Two big handfuls of baby spinach wilted into the sauce just before the pasta goes in, or a cup of frozen peas warmed through at the end.

Dairy-free. Full-fat coconut cream or a thick oat cream in place of the heavy cream, olive oil instead of butter, and a dairy-free Parmesan or a spoonful of nutritional yeast. The flavor shifts, but the texture holds.

Spicier. A full teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or a tablespoon of Calabrian chili paste stirred in with the tomato paste.

Double it. A pound of pasta and double the sauce fits in a large skillet or a Dutch oven and serves four generously.

What to Serve with Gigi Hadid Pasta

Gigi Hadid pasta is rich, so it wants something sharp or green alongside. A simple arugula salad with lemon and olive oil is the classic pairing, and garlic bread is the indulgent one. Roasted broccoli or green beans with a squeeze of lemon also cut through the cream.

If you are cooking for a crowd and want a second dish in the same spirit, the Pasta Da Vinci copycat is another creamy, restaurant-style pasta that comes together on the stovetop. For something with more tomato and less cream, the Italian drunken noodles skillet sits at the other end of the same family.

It is also worth knowing that this sauce, made without the pasta, is very good spooned over braised chicken thighs or a piece of grilled fish.

Gigi Hadid Pasta FAQ

More Questions About Vodka Sauce

Once you have made Gigi Hadid pasta once, the tomato paste trick will find its way into other dinners too. Keep a tub of paste and a carton of cream in the fridge, and a plate of creamy, spicy shells is never more than half an hour away. If you want another viral dinner that earns the hype, the TikTok chicken cobbler is the one to try next.