What is Pasta Carbonara
Spaghetti alla Carbonara is a relatively modern Roman dish made by tossing hot pasta with Guanciale, and a mixture of eggs, cheese, and black pepper. Adding the hot pasta to the mixture melts the cheese and starts to set the egg, creating a thick creamy sauce that lacquers each strand of spaghetti. The fried guanciale batons add texture and an immense amount of flavor, making Spaghetti Carbonara a dish with an incredibly good effort to taste ratio.
Although there are many origin stories, Pasta Carbonara is most likely a descendant of Pasta alla Gricia, which is made similarly, minus the eggs. Since the name is derived from the Italian word for “charcoal burner” one theory posits that the dish was first created for blue-collar workers working with charcoal. Whatever its origin, the name Carbonara didn’t appear in print until about 70 years ago, which makes this a relatively modern dish by Italian standards.
Ingredients for Carbonara
While many American interpretations of this Roman classic include all sorts of ingredients like cream, garlic, and onions, the original dish only contains five ingredients.
Pasta
The most common pasta for this Carbonara is Spaghetti, but did you know that this lanky pasta comes in various thicknesses? The thickest variety is called Spaghettoni, and this is what I recommend for making Carbonara as the additional surface area gives the sauce something to cling to. Other suitable alternatives include Bucatini and Linguine.
Eggs
In a traditional Carbonara recipe, the creamy sauce is made from eggs, not cream. The place where opinions differ is on the ratio of whole eggs to egg yolks. Personally, I like using 1 whole egg to 3 egg yolks. This produces a sauce that’s a stunning golden yellow hue that’s rich, without being cloying. If you want a lighter sauce, you can use 2 whole eggs and no additional yolks. At the opposite end of the spectrum, using 6 egg yolks, and no egg whites creates an ultra decadent sauce, that’s a bit too rich for my tastes.
Although you add hot pasta to the eggs, the residual heat does not fully cook the eggs, so it’s essential to use fresh eggs that you are comfortable eating raw. If you live in an area where the safety of eggs is questionable, I’d recommend looking for pasteurized eggs.
Finally, I like to top my plates of Carbonara with a slow cooked egg. These delights are made by slowly cooking eggs in their shells at 145.5 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. The result is a custardy egg with a molten yolk that’s the consistency of cold honey.
Guanciale
I’ve gone on about the wonders of Guanciale in my Bucatini all’Amatriciana recipe, so I’ll save you from that here, but it’s a funky flavorful cured meat made from pork jowls. It can be a bit hard to find, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
Otherwise, you can use pancetta, unsmoked speck, or some other fatty cured pork product, but you should be aware that it’s not going to taste quite the same without the Guanciale.
Because guanciale doesn’t render a ton of fat, I add a bit of olive oil to get the browning going. If you’re using pancetta or non-Italian guanciale, you may need to drain off some of the excess fat that your pork product releases before tossing in the pasta.
Cheese
Pecorino Romano is the traditional choice of cheese for Carbonara, and it’s a hard cheese made of sheep’s milk that’s saltier and more intense than Parmigiano Reggiano. I love the nutty flavor and concentrated umami that Pecorino delivers, but if you can’t find it, Parmigiano will work too. If you do end up substituting a more subtle hard cheese, I recommend adding a bit more of it to make up for the milder flavor.
Black Pepper
Because all the other ingredients in this pasta are quite rich and earthy, the black pepper acts as a counterpoint, providing both a refreshing fragrance and peppery bite that helps keep the creaminess in check. How much you add is up to you, but I like to add quite a lot into the sauce and then some more on top of each serving. You want to use freshly cracked black pepper as this will give you the best fragrance.
How to make Pasta Carbonara
With only a handful of simple ingredients, there’s not much to making this Roman classic, but there are a few things you need to get right to make this work. The first thing is that the water you boil the spaghetti in needs to be well salted. I usually add about a tablespoon of salt for every five cups of water.
Once it comes to a boil, add the pasta and stir it for the first thirty seconds or so to ensure the strands don’t stick together. You can make the sauce while the spaghetti is boiling.
For the Guanciale, I like to chop it into relatively large pieces as this allows me to fry them until they’re browned and crisp on the outside, while leaving some of the fat on the inside intact.
The sauce is simply eggs, cheese, and black pepper whisked together. The ratio of whole eggs to egg yolks will determine the richness of the sauce, so you can adjust this to suit your tastes.
When the pasta is done boiling, it’s important to drain it and toss it with the Guanciale first. This lowers the temperature of both the spaghetti and the meat so that you don’t end up with a bowl of spaghetti coated in scrambled eggs. Now you just have to toss the pasta and Guanciale together with the eggs and cheese until each strand of noodle is coated in the heavenly sauce.
Ingredients
- 220 grams spaghetti
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 120 grams guanciale (cut into 3/16-inch batons)
- 1 large egg
- 3 large egg yolks
- 30 grams Pecorino Romano (grated)
- black pepper (to taste)
- 3 slow cooked eggs (optional)
Steps
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil (you want about 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 cups of water).
- Boil the spaghetti according to the package directions (usually 8-9 minutes).
- While the pasta is boiling, saute the guanciale in the olive oil until it’s browned on the outside. Remove the pan from the heat.
- To make the sauce, whisk together 1 whole egg, 3 egg yolks, the grated Pecorino Romano, and black pepper in a large bowl.
- When the pasta is done, drain it and toss it together with the guanciale.
- Dump the pasta and guanciale into the egg sauce, and quickly toss the spaghetti together with the sauce.
- Plate the pasta, and top with a slow cooked egg along with some extra Pecorino and black pepper.
Good question, I used to do it all in one pan (I’m all about having less dishes to wash), but found that the egg got a little over cooked and tended to curdle. Dumping the hot pasta, oil and onions into the mix cooks the egg just enough to get thick and coat the noodles.
Just make sure the noodles are nice and hot when you add them.
I only rarely have the egg curdle in the pan. The trick is to first turn the flame off, then put in the hot pasta all at once. Crack the egg into the center of the pasta. Use your utensil (chopsticks work surprisingly well) to fold everything together gently but thoroughly. I add the cheese a little later, after a few stirs. Keep it moving and the egg should thicken slowly. Of course, this technique’s success depends on the pan – I don’t ever use a thick-bottomed pan for this one!
I don’t usually list the amount of pepper because different people have different tolerances to spice. Just taste as you go and stop adding pepper when you think there’s enough. As for servings, this makes 2 servings.
You lost me with the nearly raw egg.
hi i would like to this pasta recipes and i hope you have any recipes
That looks so good!! The addition of a slow cooked egg on top definitely does it for me.
Hi nice to see an authentic carbonara recipe without cream or other weird ingredients…I am from Rome and we cook it with Guanciale a kind of bacon taken from the cheek and neck of a pig at least 9 month old and in the region where I come from (Lazio) this is matured with salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic and sometimes sage. Anyway bacon or streaky bacon is more than ok to cook carbonara!
That’s the best looking Spaghetti Carbonara I’ve ever seen! So sexy!
That looks so good!! The addition of a slow cooked egg on top definitely does it for me.
Absolutely perfect – and, being Italian, I have high standards on this dish. Wonderful addition of the slow-cooked egg – what a great way to add a twist without changing the concept of the dish!
What a lovely carbonara! The colours are so vibrant!
I love Carbonara on it’s own but the slow cooked egg really sets it off.
I’m with you I see too many people making this with a cheese and cream based bechamel.
Marc, didn’t you have an older post on here using pancetta instead of guanciale? I’ve also found that using just the egg yolk makes for a richer and more dry (told “traditional”) end product. Just a thought. 🙂
Yep, I posted about the Japanese version of carbonara once. As for the yolks it sounds delicious, but for me, this pasta is all about no-fuss, and separating whites and yolks is probably more trouble than I’d go through. If you put the noodles in when they’re hot, the egg sticks to the pasta and shouldn’t be wet.
In my experience, Carbonara is made with whole eggs. I also confirm that guanciale is the most traditional, though pancetta is a decent replacement.
Hi Marc: Do you real mean to slow cook the egg in 146F water bath for 45 minutes?
The water needs to be 146 F (63.5 C). You can do this a number of ways. One way is to put a pot on the stove and heat it 146 degrees, add the eggs, wait for the temperature to come back up to 146 again, then cover the pot and stick it in a warm oven. You can also do it all on the stove, adjusting the temperature down with ice water.
tks, Marc: I will try this method this weekend.
Great idea with the poached eggs! here is my version of the recipe http://serenapalumbo.com/blog/?p=2219
Wow this was delicious and took exactly the amount of time it took to boil the pasta. I’m surprised how much flavor the cheese imparts to the dish. I used Vintage Van Gogh aged gouda because it’s what I had available, and it imparted almost a fruity aroma to the whole dish. I’m interested to try it again with the recommended romano.
My husband makes something like this but its never had a name. Usually he uses bacon (though its also good without) Parmesan cheese, a little seasoning (usually whatever he’s in the mood for) egg and angel hair spaghetti noodles. I have found in learning to make this that the trick is to mix really fast!! because the noodles heat actually cooks (though I use this term loosely) the egg until its nice an creamy as you described but is in NO way a raw egg. Of course the cheese and meat really bring it home and its so fast and… Read more »
Hi Anita, thanks for your nice note! I have my take on sweet and sour pork (minus the MSG and food coloring) that will be showing up on PBS Food on 2/19, so keep an eye out for it:-)
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano would work.
Much respect for this, Marc! I’m really impressed to see how close you are to the authentic Italian Carbonara, closer than a lot of other Italian people really! The only difference with mine – http://nerodiseppiablog.com/2013/01/20/spaghetti-alla-carbonara/ – is that instead of the full eggs, I use 1 egg yolk x person + 1 full egg “for the pot” (x4 servings of 100grams of spaghetti each). And if I may, the one ingredient that should not be missing is freshly ground black pepper on top 😉
We really should spread the word as much as we can: cream, bechamel and such are absolutely forbidden in the Carbonara! 🙂
I support the idea 🙂
that looks so yummy. I love you for all the wonderful ideas on this blog. I want to try every single thing.
Should I drain the fat of the pancetta before adding it to the pasta?
Should I drain the fat of the pancetta before adding it to the pasta?
You can if you want to reduce the calories, but you’ll lose some flavor.
You can use tongs to twirl it and get a spiraling tower.
Love carbonara! Yours looks absolutely incredible with that slow cooked egg on top and the guanciale. Can’t wait to try this.
Thanks Tara, I hope you enjoy it! This is probably one of my favorite meals ever.
I love Carbonara! Looks so delicious and comforting ♥
Thanks Natalie! It is😊
I love carbonara in general, but the addition of the slow-cooked egg takes this to the next level!
Thanks Jori! My thoughts exactly😉
Love all of the nice process shots. This has really helped and the spaghetti carbonara looks so good and easy to make. Thanks!
Thanks Ginny, I’m glad to hear the process shots where helpful! I think this has to be one of the best bang for buck dishes around.
Perfect carbonara recipe, normally I use whole eggs but I’ll try with only yolks next time I make it! And by the way, I appreciate that you did not add heavy cream as so many do!
Hi Patty, thanks for stopping by! I used to use whole eggs too, but since trying it with more yolks I can’t go back😉