Super Quick Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the golden rule of cooking a carbonara? ›

The golden rule of cooking carbonara is to never cook the sauce over direct heat once the eggs are added. Instead, remove the pasta from the heat and toss it with the egg and cheese mixture off the heat, allowing the residual heat from the pasta to gently cook the eggs into a creamy sauce.

Carbonara is made with guanciale (cured pork), eggs, Pecorino Romano cheese, spaghetti pasta, and lots of black pepper. Italians don't add extra ingredients like cream, milk, garlic, or onions.

What not to put in Spaghetti Carbonara? Don't put garlic, cream, milk or butter. It is not needed. It is fine if you want to make a dish with those ingredients, but if you want to learn how to make this dish correctly, use only pecorino, eggs/egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pasta water.

And indeed, there's plenty of recipes that cheat by adding in cream. But today, we're making spaghetti carbonara properly, the authentic, traditional way. No cream. Just egg, cheese and a splash of starchy pasta cooking water.

What distinguishes carbonara from other pasta dishes is its technique of combining eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and black pepper into a rich, silky sauce. This recipe calls for raw eggs that are gently cooked by the hot sauce. If you prefer, you can use pasteurized eggs instead.

Must-have ingredients

that there are only five ingredients: pasta, pork cheek, eggs, cheese and pepper. That's it. A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

The addition to guanciale in carbonara sauce is the main reason the flavor of Alfredo and carbonara sauce differs to such a degree. Guanciale gives carbonara an earthy, funkier edge whereas Alfredo sauce relies solely upon its buttery virtues to seduce its way into your mouth.

Pecorino Romano: This aged sheep's cheese is always traditionally used in the Roman pastas, and its salty, grassy, earthy flavor is absolutely delicious in carbonara. That said, if Pecorino is unavailable at your local grocery store, you can use Parmesan as a non-traditional substitute.

Why is spaghetti carbonara so good? ›

“I think it's immensely satisfying,” says cookbook author Giuliano Hazan, the source of the recipe I've adapted, as well as the son of legendary Italian food authority Marcella Hazan. The richness of the eggs, the substance of the meat and, of course, the flavor and texture of the cheese are a perfect pasta storm.

It's higher in fat, which gives a velvety texture and richer flavor to the carbonara. I'd rather not go overboard on the richness, so I'll use whole eggs, and typically I'll add an extra yolk to the pan. If guanciale is not available, I'll use pancetta.

Italians have reacted with fury after being told they have been cooking spaghetti carbonara wrong for the last 70 years. Luca Cesari, a leading food historian, found what he believes is the first recipe for the dish, published in an Italian cookery magazine called La Cucina Italiana in 1954.

Guanciale is the most commonly used meat for the dish in Italy, but pancetta and pancetta affumicata are also used and, in English-speaking countries, bacon is often used as a substitute. The usual cheese is pecorino romano; occasionally Parmesan, Grana Padano, or a combination of hard cheeses are used.

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

Traditional carbonara sauce is made with whole eggs, not just the yolks. However, some recipes do call for just yolks. In the traditional recipe, the eggs are beaten together with grated Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, and sometimes a bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Take the pan of spaghetti and pancetta off the heat. Now quickly pour in the eggs and cheese. Using the tongs or a long fork, lift up the spaghetti so it mixes easily with the egg mixture, which thickens but doesn't scramble, and everything is coated.