You only need a handful of ingredients and less than half an hour of your time to make this creamy spaghetti carbonara. It's packed with pancetta and smothered in a mouth-watering, cheesy cream and egg sauce. This is one of my favourite pasta dishes. I hope it becomes one of yours too!
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Creamy spaghetti carbonara
This creamy spaghetti carbonara is truly one of the quickest and easiest pasta dishes I know. And yet, for all its simplicity, it is one of the tastiest pasta recipes out there.
Carbonara is made with pieces of crispy pancetta, mixed into perfectly cooked spaghetti, and smothered in a creamy sauce of eggs, parmesan cheese, and cream.
It's so easy, even a child could make it. All you need are the 4 main ingredients, which you probably already have in your pantry or fridge, and you can make this creamy carbonara dish in minutes. There's no need to spend time stirring a sauce. The eggs and cheese are just stirred into the hot pasta, and the heat from the pasta cooks the eggs and forms a silky sauce that coats every strand of pasta with creamy deliciousness.
The fifth ingredient, which isn't included in a traditional carbonara recipe, is cream. I make no apologies for the fact that I've included it in this recipe (I've called it creamy spaghetti carbonara for a reason). I like the extra creaminess that you get from using fresh cream, and you can substitute this with a little of the pasta cooking liquid if you prefer.
Ingredients for spaghetti carbonara
This recipe serves 4 people, but you can easily scale it up to cater for more. I've given guidelines for increasing the quantities below.
To make this dish you will need:
- Pasta - you can use any long pasta such as fettuccine, linguine, or spaghetti. I like to use linguine. The choice is yours. Depending on appetite, for this recipe, you should allow about 1 cup of cooked pasta per person. 8 ounces of dry long pasta equals 4 cups of cooked pasta. I always add a little extra in case anyone wants seconds.
- Pancetta - classic carbonara calls for guanciale or pancetta. For this recipe, I have used pancetta. You can use bacon if you prefer, but bear in mind that it may be quite salty, so take this into consideration when seasoning the dish.
- Eggs - You should allow 1 whole egg per person, plus one extra egg. In case you are worried about the eggs not cooking sufficiently in this dish, I recommend using pasteurised eggs.
- Grated Parmesan cheese - if you can get it, you could use pecorino cheese, but parmesan is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
- Cream - you can use single cream or double cream. If you prefer you could substitute this with half and half, or even milk. If you don't want to use any cream at all you can use some of the water that the pasta was cooked in.
- Ground black pepper - this dish benefits from lots of ground black pepper. Add this according to your own taste.
- Salt - this is optional. I always cook my pasta in salted water, but that is to my own taste. There should be sufficient saltiness from the pancetta and cheese so that you won't need to add any additional salt to the rest of the dish.
- Chopped parsley - for garnishing
How to make spaghetti carbonara
**You can find the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe for creamy spaghetti carbonara on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for the length of time indicated on the packet.
Cut the pancetta into 1cm dice. Place it in a cold pan and then increase the heat to medium and fry the pancetta gently until the oil has been released and the pancetta is crispy. Don't drain the oil off - the oil will emulsify with the eggs, cream, and cheese in the next step to form the beautifully creamy sauce.
While the pancetta is frying, mix the eggs, cream, pepper, and parmesan cheese in a bowl.
Once the pasta has cooked, use a pair of tongs and transfer the pasta directly out of the cooking water hot frying pan with the pancetta. This will take a small amount of the pasta cooking water into the pan along with the pasta. Reserve an extra cup of pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce down.
Mix the pasta and pancetta to combine (image 2 below).
Mix in the eggs, cream and cheese
Remove the pan from the heat, and once it has stopped sizzling, pour the egg and cheese mixture over the hot pasta and mix it through. The heat from the pasta should cook the eggs, and thicken the sauce. Work quickly, and keep stirring - you don't want the eggs to scramble!
If you need to thin the sauce down, stir in approximately ¼ cup of pasta water.
Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.
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Variations
You can add other ingredients to this recipe to suit your own taste. Here are a few suggestions:
- Fry 1 cup of chopped mushrooms with the pancetta before adding the pasta.
- Add frozen peas.
- Chop some cherry tomatoes in half and add to the pancetta about halfway through the cooking time.
- Crush a clove of garlic, until it is just broken, then fry with the pancetta. Remove the garlic clove once the pancetta is cooked.
- Stir 1 or 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil through when you add the eggs, and omit the parsley.
Can I freeze spaghetti carbonara?
The unfortunate answer is 'no'. This dish will not reheat well as the sauce will split and become runny when defrosted.
Can I make this dish in advance?
Fry the pancetta ahead of time, and also cook the pasta. Store the pancetta (with its oil) and pasta separately in covered containers in the fridge. Also, store some of the pasta water in a screw-top jar.
When you are ready to assemble the dish, place the pancetta and spaghetti in a frying pan (or large saucepan) and heat gently until piping hot. Then mix up the eggs, cheese and cream follow the recipe instructions for adding these to the dish.
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Related recipes
You can find many similar recipes on my pasta recipes page. Here are a few you might like:
📋The recipe
Creamy spaghetti carbonara
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Frying Pan
- Small mixing bowl
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 8 ounce / 450 grams uncooked spaghetti or linguine
- 4 ounce / 225grams pancetta diced
- 5 large eggs
- ½ cup parmesan cheese grated
- ½ cup single cream or half and half
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
- chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, for the time indicated on the packet.8 ounce / 450 grams uncooked spaghetti or linguine
- Cut the pancetta into 1cm dice. Place it in a cold pan and then increase the heat to medium and fry the pancetta gently until the oil has been released and the pancetta is crispy. Don’t drain the oil off – the oil will emulsify with the eggs, cream, and cheese in the next step to form the beautifully creamy sauce.4 ounce / 225grams pancetta
- While the pancetta is frying, mix the eggs, cream, pepper, and parmesan cheese in a bowl.5 large eggs, ½ cup parmesan cheese, ½ cup single cream, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Once the pasta has cooked, use a pair of tongs and transfer the pasta directly out of the cooking water hot frying pan with the pancetta. This will take a small amount of the pasta cooking water into the pan along with the pasta. Reserve an extra cup of pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce down.
- Mix the pasta and pancetta to combine.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and once it has stopped sizzling, pour the egg and cheese mixture over the hot pasta and mix it through. The heat from the pasta should cook the eggs, and thicken the sauce. Work quickly, and keep stirring – you don’t want the eggs to scramble!
- Stir approximately ¼ cup of pasta water into the spaghetti mixture to create more sauce - only if needed.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and extra parmesan cheese (optional) and serve.chopped parsley
Notes
- Add one cup of raw chopped mushrooms and fry with the pancetta before adding the pasta.
- Add approximately ½ cup frozen peas to the pancetta before adding the pasta, and heat to allow them to defrost.
- Add halved cherry tomatoes to the pancetta halfway through the cooking time.
- Crush a clove of garlic, until it is just broken, then fry with the pancetta. Remove the garlic clove once the pancetta is cooked.
- Stir 1 or 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil through when you add the eggs, and omit the parsley.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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