Just a few simple ingredients - pasta, eggs, bacon, cheese & pepper - come together to make this rich & flavorful classic Roman pasta alla carbonara!
Guys - I am a woman obsessed. Somehow I got my brain on this, "I want to make pasta alla carbonara" kick and I just couldn't get off.
But come on...that silky sauce, the smoky/salty bacon pieces, the tangy cheese, and the pungent black pepper all twirled up around tender noodles, what's not to love?
I was on a mission. I looked up & meticulously compared a bunch of recipes, watched just about every video I could find about carbonara, and got to trying them out!
The recipes varied slightly, but the common cast of characters are: pasta, eggs, guanciale (Italian cured pork jowl), Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, and sometimes garlic, cream, and parsley. Apparently the last 3 ingredients can be quite controversial, and I wanted to get a real sense for what the traditional ingredients are, so I watched a video of Italian chefs' reactions to the most popular carbonara videos.
The first time I watched it I was using the YouTube app on TV and there were no subtitles, and I thought, "man, I really wish it had subtitles so I could understand everything they were saying!" Then I pulled it up on the computer and realized that if you watch it on a computer...it DOES have subtitles!
In either case, I definitely got the sense from their reactions (and confirmed by watching with subtitles) that: 1) carbonara does NOT have garlic, 2) if you combine the sauce properly, there is no need for cream, 3) you do NOT garnish with parsley, and 4) you definitely do NOT cook the pepper! (Seriously, their reactions cracked me up - Italians are expressive, that's for sure.)
So here I am talking about how I wanted the traditional ingredients, and then I use bacon instead of guanciale or pancetta.
But here is why: I went to my regular grocery store - no guanciale or pancetta. I went to the fancy grocery store - also no guanciale or pancetta. And as much as I would love to stay true to the traditional recipe, I also want you to be able to easily make this at home without going seriously out of your way to get hard to find ingredients. So bacon it is!
If you have a local store that sells guanciale or pancetta - by all means, get some for this recipe! And know that I am quite jelly.
Pasta alla carbonara is sometimes made with rigatoni, but I personally prefer it with long noodles. Spaghetti works great, but my favorite is bucatini. Bucatini is thicker than spaghetti and has a tiny hole running through it, and in my humble opinion - it is the best noodle shape for carbonara. It has a great chew to it, and because it's a little thicker, it holds its noodley shape really well without being undercooked. And - I found it at my regular grocery store!
This recipe is pretty rich (read: bad for you) so it's not something you'd want to have for dinner 4 times a week (like we did when I was recipe testing), at least not if you want to continue to fit in your clothes.
But MAN is it freaking good. Cheesy, salty, and velvety with just a little hint of sharpness. So simple and so very tasty.
For more incredibly delicious recipes, check out my collection of entrees!
Yummy noises await you!
Pasta alla Carbonara
Ingredients
- 2.5 oz thick cut bacon (about 2 slices), cut into half-inch pieces
- kosher salt
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- ½ lb bucatini pasta (or spaghetti)
- ½ oz Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated (about 2 tightly packed tablespoons)
- ½ oz Pecorino Romano, finely grated (about 2 tightly packed tablespoons)
Instructions
- In a skillet, cook the bacon pieces over medium low heat until the fat is rendered out, so the bacon pieces are golden but not darkened & crisp - about 4-5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and season generously with kosher salt (about 1 tablespoon for about 2.5 quarts of water).
- In a large bowl, add 3 egg yolks, 1 full egg, and ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Add the pasta to the boiling salted water and cook according to package instructions/your desired doneness. Save about ½ cup of pasta water before draining.
- When the bacon is done, use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon pieces from the pan, letting excess fat drip back into the pan, and transfer to the bowl with the egg mixture. Add 1 teaspoon rendered bacon fat from the pan to the egg mixture.
- When the pasta is done, immediately add the hot pasta to the egg & bacon mixture and stir well with tongs to coat. Sprinkle on about half the cheese and 1 tablespoon pasta water and continue tossing until the cheese is well distributed. Add the remainder of the cheese and continue to toss to thicken. The sauce should be velvety, glossy and cling to the noodles. If it seems too dry, add a little more pasta water. Divide among serving bowls and garnish with a little more cheese and fresh ground pepper.
Never had those noodles before. Sounds great.
Looks seriously decadent and delicious!!! I will savor every rich
and bacon-y bite!
Adding a bit of water to the pan when cooking the bacon will give it a more guanciale-like texture.