This easy Pasta Carbonara comes together in about 30 minutes and is the perfect weeknight dinner! Packed with crispy bacon and mixed with the creamiest carbonara sauce. If you like cooking a one-pot meal. Stop looking for any other pasta Carbonara recipe. You will love this one. It is also perfect for those nights, when we have kid’s activities and having no time to cook a five-course meal.
If you are a fan of quick meals, check my Garlic Butter Pasta. It is very tasteful.
What is Carbonara?
You never had homemade Pasta Carbonara before? You should try it! Pasta carbonara is a creamy sauce made with just a couple of ingredients. I like to add bacon to this dish as it brings a bit more flavor. Even In Italy, they do not use bacon. Sometimes I even make chicken breast on the skillet and toss it on top of my pasta.
Let’s start cooking:
I am not an Italian chef, this is my way how I like to cook it and I hope you will like it as well. Gather all the ingredients, which is not many.
Cook pasta according to your direction on the package. I do use Gluten Free pasta and Like to use Penne, as the creamy sauce gets inside of each pasta and tastes delicious. I use already finished bacon crumbles, that way I don’t have to make bacon and add time to cooking.
Add eggs into a bowl with pepper and salt. I enjoy nutmeg in my creamy sauces. That is why, I add a bit of nutmeg as well. Whisk together.
Add your cream. You can choose half and half or heavy cream. You can also mix those two as well.
Add bacon to your finished pasta. That way it gets warm if you are using already cooked crumbles.
Now the most important part: Pour your egg mixture into your pot with pasta and bacon. True Carbonara sauce is made with the egg not fully cooked and the only warmth it gets is from hot pasta. It is not recommended to serve partially cooked eggs to the elderly and children. The food-safe temperature for eggs is 160 degrees and in Pasta Carbonara the eggs won’t reach that temperature or they’d be scrambled.
This is what do: Let it heat on very low for about 1 minute to make sure to not OVERCOOK the eggs but still feel safe for not eating raw egg. Sometimes I do add an additional 1/2 cup of half and a half if the sauce seems to be too thick.
Many times I add freshly cut chives to this dish to bring the additional flavor.
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan or any aged Italian cheese you like.
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
- 1 package of gluten-free pasta I use Penne
- 1 cup/package of bacon
- 3-4 eggs
- 2 cups half and half
- 1 tsp of salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp of pepper or to taste
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 cup of fresh chives or herb of your liking
- 1/4 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese to garnish
Instructions
- if you are using fresh bacon, Add bacon to a large non-stick skillet and make it crispy. You can use already crumbled bacon as well.
- Bring about 8 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add pasta and salt to boiling water and cook until al dente. While pasta is boiling, set a colander in a large bowl.
- While pasta is cooking, whisk eggs, cream and spices together. Set aside
- Carefully drain al dente pasta and keep the hot pasta in the pot. Add bacon and stir in to warm it up. Keep your heat on low heat and pour the egg mixture over pasta.
- Make sure to not OVERCOOK the egg. Just warm up on very low heat for about a minute. The very hot pasta will warm up the egg as well. Carbonara is known for creamy sauce and the egg is never cooked but I know it's not safe to eat raw egg so this is my compromise.
- Add your Herbs and stir well
- Serve with finely grated parmesan cheese or any aged Italian cheese you like
