A vibrant summer meal is bell peppers, onions, and grilled Italian sausage. Additionally, you can serve the grilled sausages in hot dog buns and, after the vegetables are finished grilling, chop them very finely to serve as a “relish.” When I serve them this way, I like to add a squeeze of mustard.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 ounces guanciale, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- 6 ounces spaghetti
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Instructions
- Cook guanciale with olive oil and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat until almost crisp, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
- Whisk eggs, 3 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, 3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano cheese, and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper in a bowl. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.
- Pour reserved pasta water and drained spaghetti into the bacon-pepper mixture; stir to combine.
- Slowly pour egg mixture into the pasta mixture; cook, stirring constantly until the egg mixture forms a thick sauce, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir remaining 3 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and 3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano cheese into the pasta mixture and serve.
- You can substitute pancetta for the guanciale. Or in a pinch, use bacon.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 688 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 66 g |
| Cholesterol | 220 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 984 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 30 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made it according to the recipe with the exception of a small, diced scallion added with the pancetta. It was loved by all. First Italian dish I made without garlic. Kudos to Chef John.
This is an exceptional bowl of pasta. The creaminess that is created from the pasta water and egg is outstanding. It is hard to believe the there is no cream in this recipe. I think I should have tempered the eggs a little as they scrambled a bit but it didn’t really matter after adding in the cheese. I don’t think I “kept it moving” enough. I also used diced prosciutto which was very nice. I will definitely be making this again at the husband’s assistance. Thanks Chef John!
Use guanciale or pancetta. Look for an Italian grocery store. Smoked bacon is too strong. Can use unsmoked. Agree with others that there’s too much pasta. He calls for 3 oz dry but package directions are for 2 oz, a much more reasonable size. The pasta water helps the sauce to stick to the pasta, and in this case to make a creamy sauce. Use this tip for all pasta with sauce. It may be counterintuitive, but it works. If I put tomato sauce on pasta without the pasta water, I end up with water on the plate and that’s not cool. Heat control is critical in step 5.
Very good to eat and easy to make. Just my style.
Next time, I would cut the amount of black pepper in half. Otherwise, it was a great recipe!
Warning: I did not make it exactly as written the first time (which annoys me). I was trying to get creative with some leftover pot roast that I had and was incredible the first time around; didn’t want it to go to waste. Pasta Carbonara popped into my head so I started browsing the internet for ideas and recipes. Once a recipe from Allrecipes came up, I immediately started searching for one from Chef John. I’ve never made a bad dish using one of Chef John’s recipes. This one didn’t fail either. It was incredible. Had about 3/4 of a pound of beef so I doubled the recipe. I first browned up the pot roast to somewhat mimic the texture of guanciale. Didn’t have spaghetti, but I did have some Italian-made Farfalle. Cooked it in a light chicken stock for extra flavor (a big spoonful of Maggi’s chicken bouillon in the water). Tempered the egg/cheese mixture with about 1/3 cup of the pasta water. I didn’t have anything other than parmesan, so that’s what I used. For this amount of pasta, I just re-used the pasta pot so I didn’t make a mess. Put the pasta back into the pot, added the meat, put in most of the water and slowly mixed in the egg/cheese mixture. Turned out so much better than I hoped it would. Made this for my sister and she said it was the best leftover meal she’s ever eaten. Then she told me to put it in my Recipe/Cooking Notebook so I don’t forget to do this next time I make pot roast. Thank you Chef John for another recipe that is forgiving and delicious.
I can’t count how many times we have made this with some modifications depending on if we can find ingredients. In one month we actually made if 4 weekends in a row when we had guests and they all loved it!
So first of all, the butcher sold me uncured pork belly, not pancetta. I had never bought it before and didn’t know the difference until I actually cooked it: It just looks and tastes like cooked pork, not pancetta. Bummer! The recipe itself was easy to follow and the end result tasty. I used regular Barilla pasta. The dish might’ve benefitted from just a little salt. It was extremely peppery, though I’m not complaining!
Kids loved it and they love the tight wound ball presentation.
I normally love all Chef John’s recipes, but didn’t care at all for this one. May have been the cheese?
so easy and so delicious
When I decided I was going to make this I bought enough cheese and pancetta to do it twice. my first attempt was without a food scale. I pretty evenly split the pancetta but had to guess on the spaghetti. I also eyeballed the pepper and when I finished realized I didn’t do nearly enough. Everything else turned out pretty good t hth ough! I got the sauce just right, thought it felt like a bit too much and my pancetta was a bit underdone. My first rating would have been 4 stars. my second time around I made sure to cook the pancetta more, measured out the spaghetti(after weighingnitni discovered I liekly did less than 5 ounces the first time! I also made sure to measure out my black pepper. With the more cooked pancetta, and the correct amounts of pasta and pepper it was a million times better! Easy 5 stars!
Neither hubby nor I were a big fan. We didn’t hate it, but it’s not something we’d eat again.
Pretty good. I meant to add some sweet onions when cooking the bacon like another reviewer suggested but forgot as I made the bacon ahead of time. Doh! I also used chicken broth – using the pasta water but then adding some bullion to it. Since I forgot to sauté my onions, I added some chopped green just before serving but they were a bit strong and almost conflicted with the dish? Would have preferred the cooked, yellow better. Overall, we love Chef John recipes. While not my favorite, it was pretty good. Thank you CJ!!
I’ve been making this since 1970 when I went back to Italy. They made this dish at the Hotel we were staying at. Its a bit different. Using Pancetta is ideal. What’s different is you whip 4 eggs with the Parmesan/ Reggiano cheese/salt & pepper. Place some pasta water with the pancetta, add drained pasta leaving on low heat. Keeping the low heat on, you place the egg mixture in and keep stirring until you see that the mixture is sticking to pasta and leaving in pot until you see it sticking and forming little curds of egg & cheese goodness on pasta. Viola………
I used leftover Easter ham (included some of the fat) instead of guanciale, and it was wonderful! Very easy to make, and very delicious!
Chef John recipes always easy and as always enjoyable
I love this recipe Chef John! I found authentic Guanciale a while back and chopped it and froze several 8 ounce bags of it just for using with this meal! I use 8 ounces per meal and 1/2 a diced small/medium sweet onion.
Simple and authentic
Please people don’t tell me how you changed the recipe and still call it carbonara.
A family favorite.