Description
This pasta alla carbonara recipe is an authentic Italian dish that is so creamy without feeling heavy, and it’s a little smokey from the perfectly cooked pancetta. It’s altogether one of our favorite pasta dishes (and we eat a lot of pasta)! You don’t have to go to Rome to enjoy this post-WWII American-inspired dish (although if you can get there, I’d recommend it!).
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 5 1/2 ounces spaghetti (160g)
- 3 ounces guanciale (rind removed), pancetta affumicata, or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2″ (1cm) strips (85g)
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/4–1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (25-50g)
- 3–4 tablespoons starchy pasta water (45-60g)
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the egg + cheese mixture. Add the egg yolks to a medium-sized mixing bowl and add approximately 2/3 of the grated cheese and freshly cracked black pepper. Whisk the mixture vigorously for approximately one minute until it’s somewhat smooth and creamy and set aside.
- Cook the guanciale (or pancetta affumicata). Heat a skillet to medium heat, add the pork and cook it until it’s nicely browned. Turn off the heat while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Boil the pasta. Place the spaghetti in boiling (lightly salted) water and cook to “al dente” according to the package directions.
- Temper the egg mixture. When there are about three minutes left for the pasta to be finished cooking, using a spoon or ladle, remove 3-4 tablespoons (45-60g) of starchy pasta cooking water and add it directly to the egg mixture whisking constantly for about one minute until it becomes smooth and creamy. *This dilutes the sauce mixture only slightly and also helps temper and cook the eggs creating an extremely creamy pasta sauce.
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Assemble the pasta. Just before the pasta finishes cooking, turn the heat back on to get the pancetta nice and hot and add the strained pasta directly to the pan. Use tongs to stir and coat the pasta noodles well. Remove the pasta from the heat and immediately pour the egg mixture over the noodles tossing quickly with the tongs until everything is well combined, serve immediately with remaining Pecorino Romano cheese and freshly cracked black pepper on top, and Enjoy!
Notes
- If you need to thin out the mixture add a little more pasta cooking water until you reach the desired consistency. Be sure to adjust for seasoning.
- This is an original Italian recipe but feel free to change it up to suit your tastes. Just know that if you change it drastically by adding heavy cream or milk, or omitting the egg yolks, it may taste great, but Italians won’t let you call it carbonara❤️.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2
