Pasta Carbonara is an easy, luscious pasta dish. It comes together quickly and it only has five ingredients; bacon, spaghetti, eggs, Romano cheese and pepper. I always have these things on hand in my kitchen. Doesn’t everyone have a pound of bacon sitting in their refrigerator?
The key to making great pasta carbonara is to have everything ready. All the instructions are below. Follow them, and I promise you will have a dinner everyone will love tonight. This dish is an easy and quick dinner. All the people in my family love pasta carbonara. Everyone loves it and it is easy and quick, what else can you ask for?
How to Make Pasta Carbonara
1. Get a large pot of water boiling on the stove. Water will boil faster if you put the lid on. When you see steam escaping from underneath the lid, you know the water is ready. While you are waiting for the water to boil, cook the bacon and get the eggs ready.
2. Cook the bacon. For pasta carbonara, you want little pieces of bacon. There are several ways to do this. For this dish, my favorite way is to cut across the strips of bacon so you have very small pieces. I put all these pieces in a hot frying pan. It takes about 15 minutes to cook the bacon, stirring occasionally. Cooking bacon this way renders a lot of fat, which I like. I can drain off the grease and control how much of it I use on my pasta.
Be careful you have purchased a pound of bacon. So many manufacturers are only putting 8 or 12 ounces in a package. I love bacon, so I always want a full pound when making pasta carbonara.
3. Salt the boiling water and put the pasta in the water. Use a spoon to stir the pasta until it sinks in the water. You want it to fall below the water line. Set the timer so you do not forget the pasta. I actually like my pasta a little softer then what the package suggests. I always add 2 minutes to what the instructions say. Often I turn off the heat and leave the pasta in the hot water while I am getting everything else ready.
4. While the pasta and bacon are cooking beat the eggs and add the grated Romano cheese in a small bowl.
5. At this point, fill a larger bowl with very hot water. This bowl will be used to mix everything together. The hot water is heating up the bowl. You will dump the water out before mixing all the ingredients together in it. Having a hot bowl allows everything to be at the right temperature to cook the eggs.
6. When the pasta is done and the bacon is brown and crispy you are ready to put everything together. The eggs will cook and make a wonderful, creamy sauce from the heat from the pasta and the bacon. It is very important the pasta and bacon are hot when you start putting this dish together.
7. Before draining the pasta, mix a little of the hot water with the eggs and parmesan cheese. The water will temper the eggs and keep them from cooking too fast and turning into scrambled eggs when you add them to the bacon and pasta.
8. Dump the hot water out of the large bowl. Drain the pasta and pour into the warm bowl. Add the hot bacon and then pour the warm eggs and cheese over everything. Working quickly use tongs to mix everything together. At this point, add some hot bacon grease to the pasta if you feel it is too dry. Keep tossing until the eggs are creamy and cooked.
It is traditional to serve pasta carbonara with fresh ground pepper. I do not like the pepper on mine. Please try it without the pepper and then add it to a bite or two. I would love to hear your thoughts after you make this.
Let me know on Instagram or Pinterest if you make this.
Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner. I want to know how it turns out.
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Spaghetti
- 1 lb. Bacon
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 Cup Romano Cheese
- Fresh Ground Pepper
Instructions
- Boil 4 quarts of water. Once boiling, add pasta and cook for 10 minutes.
- Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook in a frying pan until brown and crispy.
- Beat eggs and add grated Romano cheese.
- Get a large bowl and fill it with very hot water. You will dump out the water before using this bowl. You need it to be warm when you mix everything together.
- Pour 1/2 cup of pasta water in the bowl with the eggs and cheese to temper them.
- Drain the hot water from the large bowl. Add drained, hot pasta, hot bacon and pour warm eggs and parmesan on top.
- Use tongs to mix everything together. If you feel the pasta is too dry, add 1/2 cup of hot bacon grease to bring it all together.
- Garnish with fresh ground pepper and more cheese.Pasta carbonara is traditionally served with ground pepper. Personally, I do not like it with pepper. I would suggest trying it without the pepper and then adding it to a bite or two before adding it to the whole dish.
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