How to Make: Perfect Pasta Carbonara Every Time

This how-to guide + recipe for easy Pasta Carbonara will have you becoming a carbonara-master in no time! An easy straight forward recipe, along with useful tips and tricks, makes this once semi-daunting pasta dish your new best friend.

My Love-Hate Relationship with Pasta Carbonara

My relationship with pasta carbonara has been a love-hate one for years. The first time I ever tried it was at a restaurant when I was on vacation with my family. Pasta, eggs, Italian bacon, parmesan – what’s not to like right? Well what I was served was scrambled eggs, pasta, and bacon. It was horrendous! I was too afraid to send it back as I had never had the dish before and thought maybe the eggs were supposed to be scrambled – because what reputable Italian restaurant would allow a dish to go so wrong and still serve it to someone? I sat there trying not to look overly grossed out, and picked through my eggs and pasta, trying to find something I could eat in there.

It is then safe to say, I kept a very healthy distance from anything-carbonara for years. It was not until a few years later at a restaurant that a friend ordered it, and she received the most beautiful, appetizing, and decadent looking plate of pasta. That can’t be pasta carbonara I thought, so I pulled out my handy little google device in my pocket and went searching. Low-and-behold, I learned that this yummy dish, in front of my friend, was correct, and that monstrosity of dish I received years back was, in fact, carbonara gone horribly wrong!

My First Time Making Pasta Carbonara

Soon after, I went about trying to make pasta carbonara myself. I watched videos on the Food Network, and read so many recipes and directions, ingraining them in my head, for fear that I would scramble the eggs as well. When it finally came down to adding the eggs to the pasta, my stress levels were nearing 100. I poured the yolks in, and vigorously mixed the whole dish together, biting my lip the entire time in my anxious state, and it turned out…. Perfect.

My anxiety and stress about this dish was for nothing. Yes, there is a chance you can scramble the eggs. But to avoid this does not require some special skill only an executive chef would hold, it just requires one to follow the recipe steps properly, and have patience. By adding the pasta into the hot oil and pancetta, and tossing it until coated, you are cooling off the mixture enough to add in the yolks without overcooking them. Patience also plays a huge role in this dish, as we do not want to rush any of the steps, or turn the heat up too high when trying to thicken the sauce. With patience and these few tips, anyone can be a pasta carbonara master.

I thought I would just go over a few basics to ensure perfect and easy pasta carbonara, as well as some minor variations that can be used:

Tips, Tricks, and Must-Do’s

1. Ensure your pasta is cooking at the same time as your sauce (butter/oil and pancetta). The reason this is essential is because you want the pasta to be pretty hot when you pour the eggs over it, to ensure the eggs thicken and turn sauce-like. Also, by ensuring the pasta is already hot, you will not get any hot and cold areas in the dish, ensuring even cooking. If the pasta is not hot enough, the eggs will not cook and thicken. You will then need to heat all of it up in a pan, increasing the risk of ending up with scrambled eggs. However, it is important to note that heating the pasta up ≠ scrambled eggs, all the time. If the sauce is too loose after continuous tossing, you can heat the dish up, very slowly over low-medium heat, and it will thicken relatively quickly. Just resist the urge to turn your stove on too high.

2. Have patience.As explained previously, do not get over-zealous and impatient, and try to make this dish on a higher heat – it won’t turn out well!

3. Do not salt until the end. I know sometimes that its just natural to add salt and pepper to a dish without even tasting it first, but the pancetta in this dish is already pretty salty, and sometimes the salt in it is enough to flavor the dish. Furthermore, this recipe also has pecorino in it, which is even saltier than parmesan. At the very end, after the all the components have been mixed together, add in pepper, taste, and then salt if needed.

4. Use quality ingredients. This dish has so few ingredients, that it is very hard to mask low quality ingredients using technique or other ingredients. While it is important to use high quality pasta in this dish, I find that the cheeses, pancetta, and yolks is where you will notice a huge difference. Invest in these three, and you will not be disappointed.

5. Use long pasta. Long varieties of pasta are the easiest to use in pasta carbonara. While you could use any type of pasta, shorter varieties tend to expose more of the bottom of the hot frying pan beneath, leading to a higher risk of the eggs scrambling. If you choose to use a shorter variety, simply toss the pasta with the rendered fat and pancetta in the pan, then transfer to a separate bowl to mix the eggs and cream in.

6. Ensure the yolks and heavy cream are at room temperature. This is because you want them to heat evenly and easier. The colder the egg, the more it will have to heat up, leading to a greater risk in either under-cooked eggs, curdled eggs, or uneven cooking.  

7. Add cream. Some people prefer to make pasta carbonara with no cream, and it is actually the right way to make it, however I have made it every way imaginable – just yolks, just whole eggs, just a little cream, etc. I have found that the way I, along with my family and friends, like it best is just yolks and cream. The results in a rich and creamy sauce. Furthermore, I find the addition of cream also helps in reducing the likelihood of scrambling the eggs!

Variations

8. If you do not have pancetta, you can use bacon. Pancetta is cured and unsmoked, while bacon is cured and smoked. That being said,bacon will result in a much smokier and dominant flavor in your dish. If you don’t mind this and are in a pinch, and love bacon, have at it! However, the taste of pancetta in carbonara is much more authentic, and blends well with the dish, not overpowering anything, but instead complimenting all of the other ingredients. Bacon will, however, be very distinctive in the dish.

9. Feel free to add a few other ingredients, if they are to your liking. Some will add onions and garlic to the frying meat. Some will also add peas to the dish as well, or some chicken for added protein, making it chicken carbonara! I find it quite tasty to finish the dish off with a little bit of lemon zest. While some may not like this, I find that it can add an unexpected brightness to the otherwise very rich dish. While not traditional, feel free to make it your own!