Classic Carbonara Recipe

Classic Carbonara Recipe

Craving creamy, cheesy pasta? Whip up this INSANELY delicious Classic Carbonara Recipe in under 30 minutes! This decadent pasta is Italian comfort food at its best! Plus, it’s surprisingly easy – you can ditch the takeout menus for good!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Improve your home cooking skills by learning how to create a creamy, spaghetti carbonara recipe with a few simple ingredients.

Key Take-Aways

• Technique matters. It can make all the difference between a creamy sauce and a curdled one. Make sure you take that pan off the heat and stir it fast.
• Emulsification makes a creamy sauce that won’t separate or curdle. For a successful emulsification, it is essential that ingredients be combined by vigorous mixing, or a repeated pan tossing action. (See video demonstration, How To Flip Pasta In A Pan, below. Use our handy TOC!) So movements must be quick and timely.
• Troubleshooting Carbonara. Learn what can go wrong and how to fix it if it does. Sometimes a sauce can be fixed with a little hot pasta water or some extra cheese.

Here’s What You Need

Make this classic carbonara recipe at home with a few simple ingredients.

Pro Tip: There is NO CREAM in carbonara. Ever. Trust me, you don’t need heavy cream to make a creamy carbonara sauce.

If you love cream, try our Creamy Alfredo Sauce recipe, which uses cream as a main ingredient.

• guanciale – diced. Authentic Italian Carbonara is made with guanciale, which is pork jowl (pig cheek). May substitute thick-cut bacon (closest in flavor) or pancetta (pork belly).
  Note to home cooks: Although traditional carbonara is made with guanciale, it is perfectly fine to substitute bacon. Guanciale isn’t always readily available in local a grocery store, but you can always find bacon. And who doesn’t love bacon?
• eggs – Use room temperature eggs.
• pecorino romano – freshly grated. Pecorino Romano is hard, salty Italian cheese with a mild flavor.
• grana padano – freshly grated. Grana Padano is similar to Parmigiano Reggiano, but less expensive and suitable for everyday use. Grana Padano is a hard Italian cheese that is less salty than Pecorino Romano. It is used in this recipe to bring down the saltiness of the finished dish. May substitute parmesan cheese.
• cracked black pepper – Use a pepper mill at a medium setting to crack the pepper. If substituting ground black pepper, be sure to reduce the amount to approximately ¼ teaspoon, or the pepper flavor will be over-powering.
• water – Be sure the water is salty like the sea so that the cooked pasta is flavorful.
• spaghetti – Spaghetti is the traditional shape used to make carbonara. Bucatini would be a nice substitute.

Variation

Chicken Carbonara is a popular variation of this delicious dish. Simply toss in some sliced grilled chicken, baked or rotisserie chicken. And enjoy!

How to Make Classic Carbonara

Prep your ingredients and let’s get cooking! Just follow the step-by-step instructions below to make a delicious carbonara you’re gonna love. And remember, you can reach out to me anytime with questions. I’m here to help!

1. Boil Water. Bring a large pot of cold water to a boil (approximately 5 quarts).
   
   While the water is heating up, start frying the guanciale.

2. Fry Guanciale. In a frying pan or large skillet over medium-high heat, fry diced guanciale until they are golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and set the guanciale aside on some paper towel to drain.
   
   Drain some of the rendered fat from the pan into a measuring cup, reserve it for use when making the carbonara sauce, and discard the rest.

3. Set Pan Aside To Cool. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down while you start the pasta.

4. Cook Pasta. Add ¼ cup of salt to the boiling water. Cook over medium heat until just past al denté and is soft.
   
   Pro Tip: Al dente´ is too firm to absorb the creamy sauce properly.
   
   Reserve a cup of hot pasta water.
   
   Drain the cooked pasta into a colandar and transfer it to the pan right on top of the remaining rendered guanciale fat.

5. Make The Sauce. Whisk together grated cheese, egg yolks, and cracked black pepper, in a small bowl or bain marie.
   
   Add a little of the reserved guanciale fat to the egg mixture and beat vigorously until emulsified.
   
   Pro Tip: It is important to mix vigorously. The quick motions are necessary for the sauce to emulsify into a smooth and creamy carbonara.
   
   And the residual heat of the pan will be enough to cook it without curdling the raw eggs.

6. Put The Carbonara Together. Pour the carbonara sauce over the top of the hot pasta and toss or mix vigorously until the carbonara sauce is silky smooth. Garnish with or mix in the guanciale.
   
   Troubleshooting Carbonara.
   Too thick? Add a little hot pasta water if necessary to loosen the sauce and improve the emulsification of the sauce. Too loose? Add a little more cheese.

7. Serve Immediately. Plate the hot carbonara in warm bowls or plates and serve immediately. Buon Appetito!

Expert Tips For Classic Carbonara

1. Prep Ahead. Prep ingredients ahead of time, so you’re not in a rush.
2. Room Temperature Ingredients. Use room-temperature eggs and cheese.
3. Grate the cheese. Pre-grated cheese contains ingredients that prevent it from melting as well as cheese you have grated yourself.
4. Rule of Thumb. The general rule of thumb is to use 1 egg yolk per person.
5. Cheese Ratio. We use a 2:1 ratio for pecorino romano:grana padano. Chef Monosillio’s Carbonara recipe uses a 2:3 ratio.
6. Pasta water needs to be salty for the flavor it imparts. So make sure it tastes salty like the sea.
7. Temperature. The cooked spaghetti must be hot when it is added so that the sauce emulsifies.
8. Cool Pan. Let the pan cool so that the residual heat does not curdle the eggs.
9. Texture. Cook the pasta until it’s soft, not al denté, so that it absorbs the sauce better.
10. How to Thicken Sauce. Thicken sauce with more cheese if necessary.
11. How to Loosen Sauce. Loosen up a thick sauce by adding a little more pasta water.