Easy Bacon Carbonara (VIDEO)
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This classic pasta dish, Bacon Carbonara is delicious, comforting and a great excuse to get everyone around the table!
If you love easy pasta dishes like we do, be sure to check out our family favorite Three Cheese Baked Mostaccioli, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Easy One-Pot Spaghetti.
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Table of Contents
CLASSIC SPAGHETTI BACON CARBONARA
Way back in the early 90’s I worked with an older woman with a very strong Italian heritage. Oh did she bring the best food into the office! She would occasionally share some of her recipes with me, one of which has always been one of my favorite meals. Not only is Bacon Carbonara a creamy pasta that is based on eggs, cheese, pork, but it comes together in 20 minutes! I love fast and easy dinner dishes .
Sounds more like breakfast, doesn’t it? The key to Carbonara is that it relies on the heat of the pasta to cook the eggs until they make a creamy sauce coating the pasta. There’s also a little cream, lots of Parmesan, and lots of bacon. And it’s a whole lot of crazy good.
WHAT IS CARBONARA
Like many recipes with so few ingredients, try to buy the best ingredients you can, that’s what really helps to make this dish amazing. For such a simple dish with just a few ingredients, carbonara varies from cook to cook,…….”true” carbonara has guanciale, and no cream, but in the U.S. it’s often made with bacon and just a little heavy cream.
The technique is the second part of the magic. Read the directions carefully and be ready to work quickly with this dish. You want a steaming bowl of al dente pasta bound by a creamy seductive coat of eggs, not scrambled eggs and spaghetti.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST BACON CARBONARA
(full printable recipe at the end of this post)
Like I said before, this is not a complicated recipe, it’s actually one of the easiest dinners you can make, you just need to move quickly. So, even if you’re a novice in the kitchen, you can still whip up this spaghetti bacon carbonara with ease when you follow these simple instructions.
Grab a small bowl and cream a little butter with a wooden spoon until it is soft and fluffy.
Next, use another small bowl to beat a few eggs and egg yolks with a whisk until they are well blended, and stir in some grated cheese. Set both bowls aside.
Now you want to heat a large ovenproof serving bowl or casserole in a 200° F oven. At the same time bring 6-8 quarts water and salt to a boil in a large pot. Drop the spaghetti into the boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon to be sure the strands don’t stick to one another. Cook stirring occasionally, about 7-12 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry some bacon in a large skillet over moderate heat until crisp. Pour off about half the bacon fat and stir in a little red pepper and cream to bacon. Bring the cream to a simmer and keep it warm until the spaghetti is done.
Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain it thoroughly in a large colander. Transfer the spaghetti to the heated serving bowl and stir in the creamed butter, tossing and turning the spaghetti with tongs to coat every strand. Then stir in the hot bacon and cream mixture and finally the beaten eggs and cheese, mixing everything together thoroughly. The heat of the pasta and other ingredients should cook the raw egg on contact. Taste and season with garlic salt and a few grindings of pepper.
Serve the carbonara at once with grated cheese at the table.
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Bacon Carbonara
This classic pasta dish is delicious, comforting and a great excuse to get everyone around the table!
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons soft butter
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup Parmesan, freshly grated
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces
- 1 teaspoon dried pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- garlic salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, cream the soft butter by beating it against the side of the bowl with a wooden spoon until it is soft and fluffy.
- In another small bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks with a whisk until they are well blended, then stir in 1/2 cup grated cheese. Set both bowls aside.
- Heat a large ovenproof serving bowl or casserole in a 200-degree F oven. At the same time bring 6-8 quarts water and salt to a boil in a large pot. Drop the spaghetti into the boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon to be sure the strands don't stick to one another. Cook stirring occasionally, about 7-12 minutes.
- Meanwhile, fry bacon in a large skillet over moderate heat until crisp. Pour off about half the bacon fat and stir in red pepper and cream to bacon. Bring the cream to a simmer and keep it warm until the spaghetti is done.
- When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it thoroughly in a large colander. Transfer the spaghetti to the heated serving bowl and stir in the creamed butter, tossing and turning the spaghetti with tongs to coat every strand. The stir in the hot bacon and cream mixture and finally the beaten eggs and cheese, mixing everything together thoroughly. The heat of the pasta and other ingredients should cook the raw egg on contact. Taste and season with garlic salt and a few grindings of pepper.
- Serve the carbonara at once with remaining 1/2 cup grated cheese at the table.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 810Total Fat: 54gSaturated Fat: 27gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 24gCholesterol: 327mgSodium: 2178mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 38g
Nutrition information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin, and freshness of ingredients used.
Hi there, I'm Cheryl!
As a wife, mom, and caffeine enthusiast, my journey has taken me from bustling mornings with my family to sharing delicious recipes, home care tips, and heartfelt decorating insights with wonderful readers like you. My love for baking, photography, and tidiness shines through every post I craft. Dive into my world and discover the art of homemaking, one tidy moment at a time. Read more...
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Yum! This looks so good Cheryl! Is it weird that I want it at 6:30am? 🙂
We love love carbonara! My Hubby is from Kansas and it’s his favorite dish. I always make it a little jazzed up for his birthday. Pinning this!
This looks great! I can’t wait to make it.
It looks completely amazing. Your photos always blow me away.
xoxo
mmm I love Carbonara! It’s so easy to make too! Yours looking so, good!
Yes, yes and yes. My Italian Hubs will love this – we love Carbonara. Pinning now!
My husband makes this for our family and it is delicious!! It’s not very healthy, but oh is it good!!
This is my favourite guilty pleasure.
It’s been years since I’ve had it.
Tonight, we’ve got dinner planned!
Carbonara is preeeee much my most favorite pasta dish in the world. I mean, carbs, bacon, eggs, cheese….it doesn’t get much better. Yours like fantastic!
Can this be made in advance and served later. Or do leftovers heat ok. Never made it before but sounds great!!
In my experience, it looks and the consistency cream is better when served right away. It still taste delicious reheated.
Hello deliciousness! I can’t wait to have this sitting in front of me for dinner!
Oh wow!! This is stunning! Perfect family dinner!
Carbonara is one of my all time favorites! LOVE this! YUM!
I love a good carbonara. I can’t eat the pasta anymore but it’s pretty great on spaghetti squash!
my kids would devour this!
One of my favorites. I don’t make it near enough. I’ll have to try your version.
LOVE this recipe! Made it last night for the fam and there’s not a noodle one left 😉 I added sweet peas to the bacon/cream mix and it just gave the dish a pop of color and flavor. Thanks for sharing!
I love good carbonara. I only make it maybe once a year cause it’s so sinful! This is pretty close to my recipe minus the garlic salt and pepper flakes but I will try it next time. Thanks for sharing.
I would like a bowl, please. I adore carbonara.
This is one of my favourite dishes. I like to add a few drops of tabasco sauce for a little zing. When I order this at restaurants in France, they bring it with the raw egg yolk sitting in the middle of the bowl of spaghetti.
It has been a really long time since I’ve had carbonara. What an absolutely indulgent dish and one that I should treat myself to more often!
such an amazing looking dish! i’m making it this weekend.
I like this recipe! I made it as instructed. However I did not put garlic salt in there. I would make this again. Great and simple recipe!
I made this for dinner for the first time last night. My wife or I neither one ever tried carbonara before, and she was honestly skeptical. However, it turned out being one of her favorite dishes. I have only been a home cook for the past year, so I appreciate the subtle techniques in this recipe that really separate it from so many other (more complicated) recipes online.
yay! glad you enjoyed it as much as we do! It’s such an easy but delicious dish to prepare!!
I’ve made this a few times now. It’s soooo good! Even a terrible cook like me can make it. It reheats well on the stove-just add some butter, a little more cream, and a pinch more cheese. Thanks for the recipe!