This is a classic and the best spaghetti alla carbonara you’ve ever made. The simplicity and the richness of the ingredients make it incredibly fulfilling, creamy. Bring the real taste of Italy to your table in less than 20 minutes.
Ah, carbonara. Who doesn’t know it? And, who doesn’t like it? Wink. Carbonara, especially spaghetti carbonara is another classic Italian dish known all over the world. In fact, you can find it on almost every menu of every single Italian restaurant. However, most of the times you’ll find a “false” carbonara. How to recognise it? A quick tip; a real pasta carbonara will never ever have cream or butter in it.
In fact, carbonara is made only with pasta, eggs (in our case egg yolks), pancetta or guanciale and pecorino. Now tell me, do you really need cream along with all these delicious ingredients? I don’t think so.
Moreover, even though making pasta alla carbonara sounds like a really really really simple dish, there is a step where something can go wrong. I’m talking about the eggs. Firstly, make sure to remove the pan from the heat when mixing the pasta with the eggs. Secondly, the pasta must be hot when mixing the eggs in (but adding the hot pasta water will also help). The eggs are raw and will cook in a short moment, making the pasta creamy. Thirdly, combine the egg yolks with a splash of pasta water and quickly stir into the pasta or else you might end with scrambled eggs.
I used only egg yolks because they make a rich, thick and creamy sauce. Also, the original spaghetti alla carbonara calls for guanciale. Well, it’s almost impossible to find it outside Italy. But, just like I did, you can still use fatty pancetta, too.
They are both delicious parts of pork. Pancetta is cured pork belly and guanciale is cured pork jowl or cheek. They are almost the same yet guanciale comes with a stronger flavour, which a real Italian will recognise. Wink.
Another important thing, carbonara must be served as soon as it’s ready. Steamy and creamy. Wink. If you like this recipe, you might also like this cacio e pepe recipe, parmigiana di melanzane or tagliatelle con mortadella.
Ingredients for two portions of spaghetti alla carbonara:
- 200 g spaghetti
- 125 g pancetta or guanciale (1 cm thick chunks)
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tsp pecorino cheese (plus for garnish)
- black pepper
- fresh thyme (optional)
To begin, put some salted water to boil. In the meantime, cut the pancetta into 1 cm thick chunks and mix the pecorino cheese with some black pepper. Then, separate the eggs, slightly beat the egg yolks with a fork and keep the egg white for later (maybe for an omelette).
In a larger, non-sticking frying pan, add the pancetta (without any additional oil) and cook it for 15 minutes on medium heat. Be careful not to burn it. Furthermore, throw the spaghetti in the boiling water and cook until al dente (follow the instructions on the package).
Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks, parmesan cheese and black pepper and mix them with a whisk. Only at the end, in order to loosen it, add a spoon of pasta water and give it a stir. At this point, remove the pan from the heat, transfer the pasta directly to pancetta and toss to combine the flavours.
Then, pour in the egg yolk mixture and quickly stir to combine. To make it really creamy simply add one or two spoons of pasta water and mix.
Finally, divide the creamy spaghetti alla carbonara between the plates and serve immediately with some more cheese. I sprinkled some fresh thyme on top, too (even though it doesn’t belong to the original recipe). A superb quick dish yet incredibly flavourful and rich.
Enjoy!
