Spaghetti alla Carbonara Recipe: If you like Italian food like me and you would like to learn how to make a proper Spaghetti alla Carbonara, this is the post for you. This is a guest post written by Melissa from Recipe Barn. If you would like to know more about Melissa and her blog, please scroll down to the bottom of this post where you can find her details, under “About the Author“.
Source from HERE
If you’re tired of the same spaghetti with tomato sauce every week, try this quick and easy spaghetti alla carbonara recipe to mix things up a bit! Carbonara is, by definition, simply Italian pasta with eggs, hard cheese, guanciale or pancetta, and pepper. This short ingredient list and a brief cooking time make spaghetti alla carbonara perfect for a weeknight supper.
Although spaghetti is the featured pasta in this recipe, bucatini, fettuccini, linguini, penne, and rigatoni are also common pasta types in carbonara recipes. If you cannot find guanciale, or cured pig’s cheek, pancetta (Italian bacon) can also be used for spaghetti ala carbonara. Prosciutto—or even bacon—is a less authentic but potentially easier-to-find substitute.
Surprisingly, there is no cream in this deceptively creamy pasta dish. Many modern recipes for carbonara include heavy cream as well as garlic and onions, but traditional carbonara gets its creaminess from eggs and cheese. In fact, carbonara is a rustic though flavorful dish created by and for common people.
The exact origin of pasta carbonara is difficult to pinpoint, though there are several theories on how and where the dish was first created and named. Alla carbonara means “coal workers style,” suggesting that the dish was popular among coal workers. Another theory is that the word carbonara comes from a secret society called the Carbonari that pushed for Italian reform in the early 1800s. A famous restaurant in Rome, La Carbonara, claims that they created the dish.
Regardless of its origins, spaghetti alla carbonara has become a widely known and well-loved Italian pasta dish. If you’ve never tried it, now is the time to add this simple, satisfying meal to your recipe collection.
Spaghetti alla Carbonara Recipe – Serves 4–6
Ingredients
- 400–500g spaghetti
- 5 medium eggs
- 250g grated pecorino Romano cheese
- 250g guanciale
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti until al dente.
- While the spaghetti cooks, whisk the eggs, cheese, and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the guanciale until it just begins to brown. Do not overcook, or it will harden.
- Once the spaghetti is done, drain it, reserving one cup of the cooking liquid. Pour the pasta into the skillet over very low heat. If no water is transferred to the pan with the pasta, add a bit of the reserved cooking liquid as needed to make the sauce creamy.
- Mix well, add the egg mixture, and toss until the eggs just begin to thicken into a creamy sauce that clings to the pasta. If you prefer, you can also continue cooking until the eggs fully set.
- Remove from the heat when it is a little less done that you want—the eggs will continue to cook from the heat of the pasta.
- Serve hot with extra cheese grated on top.
Do you like Italian food? Have you cooked Italian before? Have you tried Spaghetti alla Carbonara? What do you think of this Spaghetti alla Carbonara recipe? You can find Melissa at Recipe Barn.
Thanks for stopping by,
Love you all ❤️
Franca 💋
MANDY DOHERTY says
I will be trying out this authentic recipe it’s made me rather hungry
amomentwithfranca says
Fantastic! 🙂
Lynn Neal says
This recipe looks delicious, we love pasta!
amomentwithfranca says
I love pasta too! 🙂
Gerri Tennant says
Great to see the history of this great recipe, thanks.
amomentwithfranca says
Glad to hear that! 🙂
Kim Styles says
Its amazing how different the authentic dish actually is from the poor substitutions we buy in the shops. I will certainly make this as we love pasta .
amomentwithfranca says
I know! It is a big difference!
Iris Tilley says
Aww but seriously though I’m now going to have to make some lol
amomentwithfranca says
Lol x
Susan Smith says
We do enjoy pasta in this house, and this is one recipe i will defo be trying out, looks and sounds delicious
Suzanne gaulton says
The best italian pastas I find are the simplest – doesn’t need to be anything fancy to make a good sauce. Nothing nicer than a tasty carbonara!
Libby Alexander says
I love pasta! I probably eat it too often, to be honest. I do love the more authentic and rustic recipes too ……. you can taste all the flavours better, I think.
amomentwithfranca says
Yes I agree! I love pasta too and eat it a lot as well! 🙂 x
Rachael Sexey says
Ooohhh we love carbonara
Susan Smith says
Will certainly be trying this out, looks delicious