As Iconically Roman as the Trevi Fountain or the Colosseum itself, our pasta carbonara recipe is quite possibly our very favorite pasta sauce of all time. Carbonara is creamy but made without cream. No cream! The core of carbonara sauce’s creamy magic is a sneaky combo of cheese, cured pig (ideally guanciale, but it can be pancetta or bacon) and silky egg yolks. Spaghetti carbonara — it’s classically made with spaghetti, though Pappardelle is terrific, too — is the thing late-night cravings are made of. The 1986 Nora Ephron classic “Heartburn” has a whole delightful scene dedicated to the perfection that is; midnight carbonara. Let’s get decadent, as only the Italians can! If you crave vegetarian pasta decadence, check out our classic Cacio E Pepe, our Creamy Cavatappi or Pasta Primavera, or our creamy 4-Ingredient Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese.
3 Key Ingredients For Real Carbonara
Cheese: Pecorino Romano is the classic Roman cheese and it’s the most traditional cheese to use to make carbonara. If you prefer Parmesan (or that’s what you can find) it will work just fine. Whichever you use, DO NOT buy pre-shredded cheese. You’ll need to grate it freshly & finely with a microplane grater or with the finest holes of your box grater.
Cured pig: Guanciale (cured pork cheek) is very fatty and very salty and is the classic meat for carbonara. If you can find it, spring for it! You only need 4 ounces and boy, will you taste the difference. If you can’t find guanciale, pancetta is a great second option and — in a total pinch — thick-cut bacon will work.
Eggs. We use just the yolks for richness and silkiness. Yes, the eggs in carbonara are raw-ish. They shouldn’t scramble (we’ll talk more about that later). Instead, the eggs swirl together with cheese and starchy pasta cooking water and lots of rendered pork fat to make a super rich and creamy carbonara sauce. Use the very best eggs you can! Gorgeously bright orange yolks, please. And if you need to avoid eggs that are not cooked all the way through, you might love our Cacio e Pepe pasta recipe, which is similarly creamy but without eggs.
Tips for The Best Carbonara Sauce
Our very traditional pasta carbonara recipe has only a few ingredients, so it’s all about technique. To create a truly creamy sauce without any cream means paying close attention to the way that you’re combining ingredients. You’ll use heat and timing and kitchen tools in very precise ways to achieve carbonara perfection. There is nothing inherently HARD about making carbonara, though. Here are the keys to carbonara success:
On rendering the fat from the guanciale (or pancetta or bacon): Particularly if you’re using guanciale, LOTS of fat will come out. Unlike cooking bacon, you’re not going for crispness here so browning it over medium heat instead of high is very important. Working at that slightly lower heat will allow more fat to render out, and that’s a good thing! Fat = flavor. The cooked cured pork will be a bit chewy rather than crisp, and that’s what you want.
A few notes on NOT scrambling the egg yolks: This is the scariest thing about making carbonara. Everyone is scared that they’re going to scramble the eggs and ruin everything. First of all, just relax. EVEN if you scramble the eggs—and you won’t—scrambled eggs and bacon and cheese with noodles wouldn’t be the worst dinner ever. But, there are various techniques for keeping the eggs from scrambling and they all involve using gentle heat. Our carbonara trick: temper the egg yolks with some warm pasta cooking water before combining them with the noodles and guanciale. Also, keep the eggs moving constantly once you begin to introduce them to heat—in our carbonara recipe, when we say “pour slowly” or “stir constantly”, you better believe we mean it.
Pay attention to your spaghetti. Start by salting the water. Then, don’t over cook it! Cook it TWO MINUTES less than however long the pasta box or package tells you to. If they say it’ll be al dente after 9 minutes, cook that pasta for 7 minutes and not a second longer! Why? Because you’re going to simmer the noodles again later for a couple of minutes, and you don’t want the pasta to be mushy.
How To Make Perfect Spaghetti Carbonara
Boil the pasta (for 2 minutes less than the package says to).
Brown the guanciale. BTW, whether you’ve got guanciale, pancetta or thick-cut bacon, cutting it into little cubes is the most traditional way to prep it.
Whisk the egg yolks and cheese together and let it come to room temperature while you prep the rest of the stuff.
Add some of the starchy pasta water to the rendered pork fat in the pan where you browned the guanciale. Simmer the pasta in that fat-water situation for two minutes.
Temper the egg yolk-cheese mixture by slowly whisking in 1/4 cup of pasta water.
Start stirring the pasta—tongs are great for this job—really move it around in the pan!
Slooooooooooooowly start pouring in the egg yolk-cheese mixture as you move the pasta constantly. It’s happening! It’s happening! You’re making carbonara!
It should look a lot like creamy carbonara now! Quickly toss the browned guanciale into the pasta and dig in immediately! And if you love this carbonara recipe, try our decadent Vodka Sauce Carbonara next.
More Easy Pasta Ideas
You’ve Mastered Carbonara — What Now?
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