Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe

This spaghetti carbonara recipe makes a thick, creamy pasta loaded with crispy bacon, garlic, and green onions in a sauce made from beaten eggs, heavy whipping cream, and grated parmesan cheese. The sauce coats the spaghetti without pooling at the bottom of the plate, and the bacon stays crisp even after tossing. I make this spaghetti carbonara at least twice a month because the ingredient list is short and the whole thing takes about 30 minutes. It is not the traditional Italian version. That one uses only eggs and cheese. This one has cream, which makes the sauce more forgiving and harder to mess up.

 

I did not include salt and pepper in the ingredients because the bacon and parmesan between them carry more than enough. If you want a Filipino version with all-purpose cream, beef cube, and nutmeg, I have that here: carbonara Filipino style. My Filipino spaghetti goes in a completely different direction with a sweet tomato sauce.

The Story Behind This Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe

The first time I tried making carbonara at home, I went with the Italian method. Eggs, cheese, hot pasta, tossing it quickly. When it worked, it tasted great. When it did not, I had scrambled eggs on noodles. Perfect for breakfast, isn’t it? LOL! The pan was too hot, or I was too slow getting the sauce in, or both.

I was able to perfect the authentic version though, but I also fell in love with the idea of mixing cream into the eggs before adding them. The sauce came out thicker, the eggs stopped scrambling, and I had another personal version of carbonara.

I know that you are familiar with carbonara. I mean, who isn’t? But let me just give you a a quick description about the dish so that we can have solid context of it. Carbonara is a Roman pasta dish. Most food historians trace it to sometime around the mid-20th century. The name comes from “carbone” (charcoal in Italian) and the common story is that charcoal workers in the Apennine Mountains needed a meal they could make fast from shelf-stable ingredients: cured pork, hard cheese, eggs. The original Roman version calls for guanciale (cured pork cheek), Pecorino Romano, egg yolks, and black pepper. No cream. No garlic. No butter. I have a separate post on authentic carbonara if you want to try that version. The cream-based versions most Filipinos and Americans know came later, as the recipe spread and people adapted it. In the Philippines, carbonara almost always means a cream-based sauce with all-purpose cream, a beef cube dissolved in for flavor, and a pinch of nutmeg.

This recipe does not go that far. Cream and eggs, but no beef cube or nutmeg. Bacon instead of hotdogs. Somewhere in between.

Ingredients

• Spaghetti noodles – Cook until al dente. Save about half a cup of the pasta water before you drain it. You will need it later.
• Eggs – Beaten and mixed with the cream and cheese. This becomes the sauce.
• Heavy whipping cream – This is what makes the sauce thick.
• Bacon – Chopped and fried crisp.
• Parmesan cheese – Grate it from a block if you can. The pre-grated kind from a shaker does not melt the same way. I learned this the hard way.
• Green onion – Minced. Goes in with the garlic.
• Garlic – Minced. Cook it just until you smell it, then stop.
• Butter – For cooking the bacon.

The important thing with spaghetti carbonara is having the sauce mixture ready before the pasta finishes cooking. Once the noodles come out of the water, you need to move fast. If the sauce is not mixed and waiting, you will be scrambling – and I do not mean the eggs.

1. Combine the beaten eggs, heavy whipping cream, and grated parmesan cheese in a bowl. Whisk until you cannot see any streaks of plain egg. If you skip this and just stir loosely, you will end up with pockets of cooked egg white in the finished sauce.
2. Set the bowl aside at room temperature while you handle everything else.

1. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chopped bacon.
2. Fry until crisp and golden. Pull the pieces out and set them aside on a plate. Leave about two tablespoons of the rendered fat in the pan – do not pour it all out. That fat carries most of the bacon flavor into the finished dish.

1. Pour off the excess fat from the pan, keeping just enough to coat the bottom.
2. Add the garlic and green onions. About a minute is all you need. When the garlic smells right, move on. If it starts turning dark, you have gone too far and it will taste bitter.

1. Drop the heat to low. Add the spaghetti noodles to the pan, then pour the egg and cream mixture over the top. Toss constantly for 1 to 2 minutes. You will see the sauce thicken and start clinging to the noodles.
2. Toss the bacon back in. If the sauce looks too thick and tight, splash in a little of that pasta water you saved earlier. It loosens the sauce without thinning the flavor. Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

What Makes This Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe Different

Italian carbonara depends on the heat of the pasta alone to set the raw eggs into a sauce. That technique rewards patience. If your pan is too hot or you stop tossing for a few seconds, you get curds instead of a coating. This recipe avoids that by mixing cream into the eggs first. The cream takes on some of the heat before the eggs do, so they set gradually instead of seizing up all at once.

I also cook the sauce in the pan over low heat for a minute rather than tossing everything off the burner. It gives the coating more body. The finished result is heavier than the Roman version. More like an fettuccine alfredo consistency than the thin, silky sauce you get from eggs alone. For a weeknight dinner, I would rather have a sauce that holds up on the plate than one that slides to the bottom of the bowl before I pick up my fork.

Serving and Pairing Ideas

Most of the time I serve this on its own. It is heavy enough. But for a bigger spread or when I have guests:

• Garlic bread – Good for getting the last of the sauce off the plate.
• A simple salad – Something with vinaigrette. The acid cuts through the richness. Caesar works well.
• Pinoy carbonara with ham and bacon – If you are doing two pastas for a party, this Filipino version sits well next to the classic.
• Baked spaghetti – Another option for larger groups.
• Creamy pasta carbonara – A fettuccine version with mushrooms and Cream of Mushroom soup.

Substitutions

• Bacon – Pancetta is milder. Guanciale has a deeper, fattier pork flavor and renders more fat. I have tried all three and I keep going back to bacon for this particular recipe. The smokiness goes well with cream. If you want both bacon and mushrooms, my bacon mushroom carbonara covers that.
• Heavy whipping cream – All-purpose cream, table cream, or Nestle cream all work. The sauce will be thinner with lighter creams, but the flavor is still good. Quite a few of you have asked about Nestle cream specifically and yes, I have used it. It works.
• Parmesan – Pecorino Romano is sharper and saltier. Use less of it or you will overshoot on salt. Cheddar in a pinch, especially for kids.
• Spaghetti – Fettuccine holds the most sauce because of the width. Linguine and bucatini also work. Avoid angel hair for this – too thin, the sauce overwhelms it.
• Green onion – White onion, diced fine. Or leave it out. The dish does fine without it.

My chicken carbonara uses baked chicken breast with pancetta if you want to add more protein. For something completely different, the Filipino spaghetti sauce goes the tomato route.

Storage and Leftovers

Eat it right away if you can. The sauce tightens around the noodles as it cools and it never comes back to the same texture.

Refrigerator: Airtight container, up to 3 days. It will be thick and stiff when cold.

Freezer: Do not bother. The sauce separates and goes grainy.

Reheating: Pan over low heat with a splash of cream or water. Stir gently. The microwave dries it out fast – I avoid it for this dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

This spaghetti carbonara recipe takes 30 minutes and the ingredient list is short. Try it and let me know what you think. For another creamy pasta, my creamy baked spaghetti comes out of the oven bubbly and golden.