Bucatini Carbonara Recipe

A close-up of bucatini topped with crisp bacon and black pepper in a bowl.

Bucatini carbonara is creamy, rich, cheesy, just salty enough, and redolent with bacony goodness. Make it the traditional way or use my modified method for an (almost) foolproof way of cooking it to ensure your eggs don't scramble. Perfect comfort food you will want to make whenever a little comfort is in order.

Course Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 27

Servings

Calories 497kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

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!

Video

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