Spaghetti carbonara is creamy, delicious, and incredibly easy! Spaghetti alla carbonara combines crispy pancetta, parmesan cheese, and a creamy sauce made from simple ingredients you likely have on hand.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Creamy and cheesy with crispy, savory pancetta in every bite.
- Budget Tip: To keep costs down, swap pancetta for bacon or try Pecorino Romano in place of Parmesan.
- Swaps: Fettuccine, linguine, or angel hair pasta can be used instead of spaghetti.
- Serving Suggestions: Top with fresh parsley and extra cheese, and serve with a Caesar salad and garlic bread for an easy weeknight meal.
Pantry Staple Ingredients
- Meat: In Italy, carbonara is made with guanciale (cured pork cheek), but since it’s hard to find, I use pancetta for that smoky, salty flavor. Swap it for bacon if that’s what you have.
- Cheese: Classic carbonara uses Pecorino Romano, but I use Parmesan since I always have it on hand.
- Eggs: Eggs make the sauce rich and creamy (without cream!). Make sure they are at room temperature to combine smoothly.
- Pasta: Any long pasta, like bucatina or linguine, works well in this recipe; I use spaghetti for a classic carbonara.
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 6 slices pancetta or guanciale or bacon, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese or pecarino ramano
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, cook pancetta over medium heat until crisp. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add garlic to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Drain well but do not rinse.
- Add the hot drained pasta to the skillet with the garlic, and toss to coat.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and pour in the egg mixture, mixing well with tongs. If needed, add reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce.
- Add the pancetta and toss to combine. Season with additional salt to taste.
- Serve hot, garnished with parsley or additional parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
- This dish comes together fast. Prepare all ingredients before beginning.
- Cook the pasta until it is ‘al dente’ or firm.
- Do not rinse the pasta, the starch helps the sauce cling.
- Add a bit of pasta water if needed to create a creamy consistency.
- Carbonara will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Because of the creamy sauce it is not recommended to freeze.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 441 | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 400mg | Potassium: 250mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 270IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 230mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This was a simple but amazingly creamy and tasty recipe! My girls all asked for the recipe!
I have made this several times, but this was by far the best recipe I have tried.
This is a simple yet delicious dinner. I topped it with red pepper flakes for an extra pop.
I substituted 8 strips of turkey bacon and added an extra clove of garlic. Used some pasta water to get the desired consistency and it was amazing!!! Thank you.
Lacks flavor, tried adding salt; underwhelmed. maybe I didn’t have enough panchetta ( difficult to find in grocery store) it was like an ingredient was missing? How many oz would 6 slices of panchetta = in cubed form be?
Next time, going to try tweaking recipe with another egg & pasta water & maybe try to use guanciale for the meat ( if I can find it) instead.
It would have helped me IF listing “pasta water” would have been listed in “ingredients “. By the time I read, reserve some pasta water to add, I had drained my spaghetti!
Hi Patricia, 6 slices of pancetta is approximately 3 ounces. Reserved pasta water is not listed in the ingredients but it does mention it in step 3, ‘Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.’ I hope that helps!
Looks delicious, all I could find is a 3 oz package of diced Pancetta. How much do you recommend I use?
Hi Mandi, for this recipe we use 6 slices of pancetta which would be around 4 ounces so I would add the entire package.
Good but would be better with a New Orleans kick like adding Tony Chachere’s seasoning and maybe sauté some peppers in separate skillet or steam broccoli and add on top also quadruple the garlic so it’s not so bland
That sounds delicious, Amanda! Those would be great additions.
Love Spaghetti Carbonara! Rachel Rays husbands favorite!
Very good, very fast. think only thing I would add is
a bit of onion with the garlic
This was a good quick tasty recipe for the family! Tastes like you spent a lot not time on it, but it’s a quick fix! The only piece I’m unsure about is that the egg whites aren’t really cooked by adding them to the cheese and hot pasta. I’m not picky about that kind of stuff, but I know some do. Thanks for this one, it’s a keeper!
The author writes that a traditional carbonara doesn’t use cream, which is true. It also, traditionally, does not include garlic either. She also calls for spaghetti; in Rome you are more likely to be served rigatoni. Adding peas, frequently seen in the USA, is an abomination.
Peas? For real? At least with cream, mushroom, and onion, that can be forgiven – those are more of a boscaiola sauce, which is similar enough as a pasta topping.
The word association I always have with carbonara is “fettuccine”. In recent years, I have tended more towards penne, but more as a catch-all with pasta recipes.
I made this last night. I made it with bacon. I put 3 cloves of garlic, I should have added 6-8 (we love garlic). I made a mistake and dump all of the pasta water. I added some half and half to get some liquid in it. It was a little dry but otherwise, it was a thumbs up from my family. None was left over. Thank you.
delicious, this is my goto dinner when I want easy and quick
Awesome taste!!!@
what do I do with the bacon!!!
Hi Rita, the pancetta or bacon is cooked in step 2 and added to pasta in step 5. I hope this helps!
1st time making this dish so easy as we don’t eat bacon, I substituted it with turkey style bacon. Simple easy dinner severed with a ceaser salad. So delicious my daughter took some for lunch. It will be made again for sure. Thank you
I made this for dinner last night and we all thought it was great. I will most definitely be making it again.
I don’t have bacon or pancetta right now. Can I make this recipe with chicken? I know it’s not the same great flavor but I have bacon grease in the fridge that I could add. —Linda
I have only tried the recipe as written so I can’t say for sure. It will definitely change the flavor but I am sure will still be delicious. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I made it as instructed aside from extra garlic. If I didn’t have bacon and wanted it. I would use the bacon grease to cook the garlic and go from there. My husband always orders chicken carbonara so it is probably a thing. I meant to thaw some shrimp to go with ours but I spaced it. Good Luck
Delicious and soooo easy
It was so easy to make. Since Dontceat meat or dairy, I used vegan bacon and Parmesan. I will definitely make it again.
My one problem was that I wasn’t organized properly. Every thing moves fast, so organization is key.
Minimal prep and delucious. Thanknyou.
I also don’t eat meat or dairy! I used smoky tempeh (it’s meant to taste like bacon) and shredded Chao cheese. it was pretty darn good, but I’m sure it was not nearly as complex and flavorful as the original version. To make up for this, I also added some sauteed mushrooms and a little extra garlic. I’d add more garlic next time, maybe 5-6 cloves.