Pasta Carbonara
February 15, 2021 | By Jeremy Scheck | 21 Comments
Spaghetti carbonara, bucatini carbonara – whatever shape you prefer, is a dish that gets a lot of people heated. There’s a lot of orthodoxy and tradition around this dish. Traditionally, the dish uses a meat called guanciale which comes from the pork jowl. It’s fine to use bacon or pancetta if you can’t find it, but if possible, try to get some that isn’t pre-cut, so you can still get the traditional shape.
Video Recipe
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
- pinch of salt for the water
- 4.5 oz (125g) guanciale, pancetta, or bacon (cut into thin batons)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 3 oz (80g) freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 pound (225g) bucatini or spaghetti
Instructions
- Lightly season pasta water in a large pot and begin heating.
- Meanwhile, in a nearby pan (do not preheat), add the guanciale pieces. Let the guanciale cook on low heat 10-15 minutes (moving around if needed), or until it's red and crispy, and the fat has rendered out.
- While waiting for the water to boil and the guanciale to cook, whisk together the egg, 2 egg yolks, and pecorino romano cheese in a large bowl. Add a bit of black pepper.
- When the guanciale is crispy, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, but leave the grease in there. Turn off the heat on the pan.
- When the water is boiling, cook until the pasta is al dente. Make sure to reserve about a cup of pasta water right before draining (or use tongs to remove the pasta without draining).
- When the pasta is done, add it to the pan with the guanciale grease and turn the heat back on. Mix it up 30 second to a min with a dash of pasta water.
- Add a trickle of pasta water to the egg and cheese mixture, mix quickly, then add the hot pasta to the bowl. Mix it all up, and add more pasta water if the consistency is not loose enough. If the sauce feels too wet, you can add a bit more cheese, but it will also thicken a bit as it sits.
- Add the guanciale in, and serve immediately with a bit of black pepper.
Jeremy Scheck spent high school perfecting his signature cupcakes, making quiches and coffee cake by the dozen at a local bakery, and teaching cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma. As a 10th grader in 2016, he began documenting his favorite recipes on a blog called The After School Bakery. In college, Jeremy learned to make 50 gallons of ice cream in the food science lab, how to prune grape vines in the teaching vineyard, the best way to milk a cow in Northern Italy, and why film photography is an art worth saving. As a sophomore in 2020, he traded blog photos for video and became a TikTok culinary sensation. Jeremy has been featured on the Today show, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, BBC Radio, People, and Access Hollywood, among others. Jeremy is a graduate of Cornell University with a double major in Spanish and Italian, and significant coursework in food science. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Jeremy.
Your recipes are absolutely amazing. I love how you describe everything so detailed and on your tiktok you can just see how much fun you have in what you’re doing!
You are incredible!
<3
It was perfect. I’d had the ingredients ready to go but did not have a confirmed recipe. Saw the instructions on IG while my children watched over my shoulder, and that sealed the deal. Thank you for a simple and delicious recipe.
Es España estamos acostumbrados a una Carbonara con nata, bacon, champiñón y cebolla. Todo el mundo sabe que no es la receta original, pero tampoco nos molestamos en probarla. Y la verdad, ¡EXCELENTE! Muy rápida y mucho más fina al paladar. De limpiar el plato con la lengua.
Awesome! Very easy and quick to make and much better than fake Carbonaras that we see all around.
Can’t wait to make this!
This recipe was so simple and yet the end result is so elegant. I made mine with spaghetti and a mix of parmesan and bellavitano (since I’m not a big pecorino fan) and it came out beautifully. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
Such a good recipe! Super easy and didn’t take too much time. I added some peas too which I really liked. Thanks!
This was so easy and so delicious! Definitely one of my new faves 🙂
I made this dish for my family and they loved it. We liked the fact it didn’t have cream and you didn’t miss it. The ingredients were perfectly measured as I quadrupled it so I could share some with my neighbor, an older Italian man who also loved it! Keep up the amazing work!
I’m impressed. I’m Italian American and have been making carbonara since I was a child. I mix pecorino Romano with Parmesiano reggiano but other than that your recipe is pretty much my grandmother’s.
This was incredible and so easy to make! I was blown away by the flavors!
Was so delish whole family loved it!! Had to make gluten free pasta along with it so was a stress, but otherwise very simple recipe!!
This was so delicious and easy to make!
For someone who doesn’t eat pork, can I replace the bacon with something else with just as strong flavour?
So good!!! I can’t wait to try another recipe of yours. Keep up the good work, good luck with everything!
This is 100% beginner and time friendly, tastes amazing! One of my favorite pasta recipes of all time for sure.
I cant wait to make it!
So good! Absolutely delicious!!
This is one of my go to recipes! I live it, it’s so quick and easy and delicious!!
And by live I mean live 🙈
Omg!! Love!!!!
Love this recipe!! super simple highly recommend