My bucatini carbonara recipe is pretty traditional pasta carbonara (no cream, no peas–sorry peas. Not today!), but it is Americanized in that I use bacon since it is very easy to find here and is delicious. If you have access to guanciale (cured pork jowl), that’s the strictly traditional cured meat to use.
Carbonara can be fussy to make, but I have some tips that will make it almost foolproof for you, so stick around and let’s make some together.
For dairy-based, decadent pasta, try my creamy pasta sauce. For ease of browsing, you can find all my pasta recipes in one place. Now let’s make some pasta carbonara with my favorite pasta shape: bucatini.
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Pasta Carbonara, At a Glance
✅Skill Level: Intermediate
✅Skills: Cooking Bacon, Cooking Pasta, Tempering Eggs to Thicken without Curdling
✅Type: Pasta Meal
✅Number of Ingredients: 7
✅Prep Time: 15 minutes
✅Cook Time: 15 + 8 + 3-4 minutes (bacon plus pasta plus finishing)
✅Yield: 4 servings
Jump Straight to the Recipe
A Little Carbonara History
As far as culinary inventions go, pasta carbonara is a recent one. In fact, there is no written mention of carbonara at all prior to 1950. (source)
This dish was created in Italy right after World War II when all the American soldiers had access to daily rations of–and a love for–bacon and eggs.
An enterprising Italian restaurant cook whipped this dish up, marrying Italian technique with the rations of bacon and eggs. NOTE: In Italy, the most commonly used porky product in carbonara is guanciale, which is cured pork jowl. Please use what you can readily find and enjoy, whether that be pancetta, bacon, guanciale, or some other cured pork that you like.
Apocryphally called “carbonara” because all the black pepper is reminiscent of coal dust, this dish boasts incredibly creamy flavor without cream. Much like its cousin, cacio e pepe, the sauce is an emulsion stabilized with starchy pasta water to create a luxuriously rich sauce that coats the pasta all with a minimal amount of ingredients.
Tips on Making Carbonara without Scrambling Your Eggs
Here are a few tips I want you to keep in mind before we get started:
- Try to get your eggs out early so they can come to room temperature.
- If you forget, put them in a bowl of hot water for about 10 minutes to take the chill off
- Grate your cheese while it’s cold and then let it warm up to room temperature.
- Cook your pasta in less water than you’d usually use to make pasta. This is to ensure your water has a ton of starch in it, because it’s the starch that helps hold the sauce together.
- If you are a carbonara pro, you can add your sauce straight to your hot pasta in the pan and Have At It. You can even just jump straight to the recipe now. If you are not a pro, follow my instructions for warming up the sauce slowly so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
Okay, now let’s look at the ingredient list. Then we’ll talk proportions of ingredients so you can scale up or down.
Note that the video uses 3 yolks and the recipe calls for 3 yolks and an egg. That’s because I made 6 oz of bucatini for the video and the recipe is written for 8 ounces of pasta.
How to Make Bucatini Carbonara
Proportions of ingredients
These proportions are just a guideline. You can use more or less of any of these ingredients to make this dish to your own specifications. These proportions are just a good place to start. Make it “by the book” the first time, and then tweak until it is perfect for you.
For each 2 oz dry pasta, you need:
- 1 oz bacon
- 1 oz grated cheese
- 1 egg yolk OR no more than a 50/50 ratio of whole eggs to yolks
- 10-12 grindings fresh black pepper
- 1 1/2-2 oz pasta cooking water
You’ll see that these proportions hold true both in the video for 6 oz pasta and the written recipe, which is for 8 oz pasta
Ingredients and Substitutions
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- bucatini: or other long pasta shape of your choice. Carbonara is a slurpy dish, so long shapes are best, and bucatini happens to be my favorite. Use your favorite
- bacon: Many folks will tell you that the traditional pork product used to make pasta carbonara is guanciale. If you have access to that and love it, by all means use it.
- pasta cooking water: the cooking water is necessary to help to emulsify the sauce. Plain hot water won’t do it, so be sure to whisk the starchy water into your eggs and cheese before the pasta finishes cooking but after there’s plenty of starch in the water (the water is cloudy)
- eggs/egg yolks: Eggs lend their thickening power, their flavor, their emulsifiers, and their subtle, rich flavor to the sauce. When I make carbonara for 4, I use 3 yolks and a whole egg. You can also use 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks. For three, I just go with straight yolks, but you can also use 1 whole egg with 2 yolks. I would not recommend making carbonara with all whole eggs, because the sauce can become gloppy and a little slimy. No fun. Don’t go more than a 50/50 split between whole eggs and yolks
- kosher salt: Used to liberally season the pasta water (which, in turn, seasons the sauce). You may find you do not need additional salt, but taste as the sauce is coming together and decide if it could use a pinch more or not. Mine generally does not, but it also depends on the saltiness of your bacon/cured pork
- black pepper: Use freshly ground pepper, and grind some finely and some a bit more coarsely so you end up with different sized bits of pepper. I use a lot–at least 10 “grinds” of pepper per serving plus extra for serving
- cheese: The first carbonara was most likely made with Pecorino Romano, whose sharp flavor cuts nicely through the rich yolks. Parmesan yields a nuttier, slightly more mellow flavor. I use a combination of 50% Romano and 50% Parmesan, but don’t discount other hard, aged cheeses such as asiago. Carbonara made with “random” cheese is better than not having any carbonara at all!
Procedure
Traditionally, to make pasta carbonara, you’d cook your bacon, cook the pasta, add some of the hot pasta water to your egg yolk/cheese/pepper mixture and then add the bacon and sauce right back into the hot pan to cook the sauce.
The problem with that, especially if you are using a heavy pan that retains heat well, is that as soon as your sauce hit the pans, it can start to coagulate, and if you don’t make carbonara frequently and aren’t on top of moderating your heat, you will end up with cheesy scrambled eggs half-heartedly clinging to your pasta. Not awesome.
I’ve developed a procedure for people who have never made carbonara before, have not had success making it in the past, and/or who are afraid they’ll scramble their eggs. This method all but ensures your success.
- Use a fairly lightweight pan like a nonstick skillet or a carbon steel pan (which is what I use). Cook bacon and chop finely. Leave a little bacon fat in the pan.
- Whisk together egg yolks, egg (if using), finely grated cheese, and pepper.
- Cook pasta in a minimal amount of water. When pasta has about 2 minutes left to cook, ladle 4-6 oz pasta water into the egg/cheese mixture and whisk it together really well Reserve a little bit more pasta cooking water just in case.
- When the pasta is done, cook it in the skillet with the remaining bacon fat so it soaks up all that flavor. Remove the pan from the heat so it cools down some. Pour the hot pasta into the bowl of egg/cheese/pasta water, add about 3/4 of the bacon, and toss well to combine.
- Add that whole lot back into the cooled pan, toss well, and then return to the burner over medium low heat, tossing the pasta continuously with the sauce and moving the pan off and on the burner so the sauce slowly thickens and coats the pasta. If it seems too stodgy once thickened, toss in a little more of the reserved pasta cooking water.
- Plate and garnish with reserved bacon and more cracked black pepper.
Jenni Says: No sauce should pool in your serving plate or bowl. If it does, it hasn’t thickened enough, so you’ll need to scoop it all back into the pan so the sauce can thicken and get nice and silky. As a bonus, you’ll know that your eggs are thoroughly cooked before you serve.
Carbonara Q & A
This step adds smoky flavor in every bite, but no, you do not need to cook the pasta in bacon fat. If you choose not to, simply drain all the bacon fat and wipe out the pan before adding the pasta/cheese/egg mixture back to the pan.
If you have vegan diners or diners with an egg or milk allergy, I found this excellent vegan variation over on It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken. Try her vegan carbonara. It sounds excellent!
While carbonara is best served immediately upon making, you can successfully reheat leftovers that are almost as creamy as they were when you made them. Add a tablespoon or two of water to each portion, and heat in the microwave on medium power for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir/toss to help marry the water to the rest of the sauce. Repeat 2-3 more times, always on medium power, until the sauce is silky and thick and the dish is heated through.
More Creamy Comfort Food to Enjoy
Think of bucatini carbonara as a minimalist mac and cheese. With that in mind, it is a very short leap to considering creamy and comforting shells and cheese or a baked mac and cheese that contains some egg as well.
For a lighter, brighter bucatini dish, try my lemon garlic pasta. And for a delicious, sliceable bucatini extravaganza, try my bucatini pie with marinara sauce.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
Did You Love This Bucatini Carbonara? Please Rate and Review!
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Bucatini Carbonara Recipe
Video
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Ingredients
- 8 oz bucatini or your favorite long pasta shape
- 4 oz bacon or other cured pork product of your choice
- kosher salt for adding to your pasta cooking water
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg For super rich carbonara, go with 4 yolks and omit the whole egg
- 4 oz Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese or use a mixture of the two
- a ridiculously generous amount of freshly ground black pepper
- 6-8 oz pasta cooking water plus an ounce or two more held in reserve if necessary
Instructions
- Dice the bacon, or if it is already sliced, cut it into small pieces. Heat over medium low heat so the fat renders, and cook until crisp-chewy. Drain on paper towels, reserving 2 Tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan. Remove the pan from the burner to cool slightly. Chop the bacon into smaller pieces, and set aside.
- Put the 3 yolks and 1 egg in a large bowl and grind over a very generous amount of black pepper.
- Grate your cheese using the small grating side of a box grater, a conical grater, or a food processor using the smallest shredding die.
- Add the cheese to the bowl as well and whisk together until you have a uniform paste.
- Heat maybe 3 quarts of water in a wide pan. I use a 12" saute pan so my bucatini will fit without having the bend it. Bring the water to a boil, salt it well, and cook the bucatini according to package directions or until you like the doneness.
- When the pasta still has a couple more minutes to cook, add 6-8 oz hot water to the cheese and egg mixture and whisk well to heat the eggs and melt the cheese. Reserve another 2 ounces or so of the cooking water in case you need it.
- Place the pan with the bacon fat in it over high heat, and use tongs or a skimmer to move the cooked pasta directly to the pan of bacon fat. Cook, tossing well, so the pasta absorbs the fat and the flavor.
- Slide the hot, bacony pasta into the bowl of tempered egg and cheese, and add in about 3/4 of the bacon. Toss well to coat.
- Dump the eggy, cheesy pasta back into the skillet that you cooked the bacon in. Heat over medium-low heat, moving the pan on and off the burner and constantly tossing the pasta and sauce together until the sauce thickens and evenly coats all the pasta in luxurious sauce. Doing it slowly ensures a creamy sauce that doesn't curdle, because you do not want to scramble your eggs.
- If the sauce seems a little stodgy, add a bit of the extra reserved pasta water and toss to combine and thin the sauce just enough so it is creamy but not stodgy.
- Immediately plate the pasta, garnishing each serving with a bit of the reserved bacon and a few more gratings of black pepper.
- Enjoy every bite!
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Notes
Advanced Instructions
Cook the bacon in a heavy pan. Make sure your egg/cheese mixture is at room temperature before adding the hot pasta water. When it’s time to marry the sauce to the pasta, tip the bowl of egg/cheese/pasta water over the pasta in the still-very-hot skillet you cooked the bacon in and toss well. The sauce will thicken more quickly since the heavier pan will hold onto the heat.Tips for Success, Regardless of Method
- room temperature ingredients work better for making carbonara
- cook your pasta in much less water than you’d usually use to ensure adequate starch concentration for emulsifying the sauce
- if your sauce is too stodgy once thickened, add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water until it is thick and silky
Reheating Instructions
Although carbonara is best served fresh, you can bring it back to an almost-freshly made texture by adding 1-2 Tablespoons of water to the cold pasta and heating in the microwave on medium power in 30 second bursts, stirring well after every 30 seconds. Three or four rounds of heating/stirring should be sufficient to reheat a serving and restore the creamy texture of the sauce.Nutrition
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And there you have it, my pasta carbonara of my dreams: bucatini carbonara. I hope you like the method. Consider it training wheels, so when you get proficient, you can make it like the pros.
This way, it’s almost foolproof and it tastes like a pro made it, so everyone wins!
Thanks for spending some time with me today, everyone.
Take care, y’all.
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Brilliant! Love the details!
I hope you loved it! I think using the bowl is the only real way to make it foolproof.
I love carbonara! I can feel my mouth watering already with this recipe! A need to make one from me!
It’s a good one! Enjoy!