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Easy pasta carbonara with only 5 main ingredients and it takes 20 minutes to make. Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner.
Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty quiet.
Since it is the beginning of the week, I have the perfect easy pasta carbonara recipe for you to incorporate into your weekly meal plan.
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes, that I love to make, because it is very straight forward and always works great!
Carbonara is a pasta dish based on bacon, eggs, Parmesan and black pepper.
I almost always use spaghetti for this dish, but any pasta like fettuccine, rigatoni or linguine could be substituted.
You can also use pancetta instead of bacon, if you’d like.
What I like about this pasta is the crunchy bacon, light sauce and I also like it topped with lots of cheese.
I’ve seen recipes using cream for the sauce, but there isn’t a single drop of cream in this recipe.
The eggs and cheese make this spaghetti carbonara perfectly creamy!
Just make sure you work quickly and lowed the heat (even remove the pan from the heat), when adding the sauce to the cooked pasta, so the sauce sticks to the spaghetti and you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
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20 Minute Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
- 5 ounces spaghetti
- 4 slices bacon, , cooked and chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 medium eggs
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt. Cook pasta according to the instructions on the package. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain.
- Meanwhile - whisk eggs and combine with Parmesan cheese. Set a side.
- Heat 1 tsp olive oil and add garlic, cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until fragrant. Add cooked bacon and pasta. Remove from heat and working quickly, stir in pasta and egg/Parmesan mixture. Add some if the reserved pasta water and stir to combine.
- Season with salt and black pepper. Top with chopped parsley and additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Pasta Dishes:
Fettuccine With Homemade Red Pasta Sauce
Quinoa Pasta With Tomato Mushroom Sauce
Mira – I love how easy this dish is. My boyfriend would go crazy for this dish. 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
thanks Erin!
Looks great, Mira! I’ve always been afraid to make carbonara because it seems easy to mess up, but you’ve clearly mastered it!
You’ve just given me a challenge Mira. If I can find a way to make this vegan I’ll let you know. Beautiful pictures!
I’m sure you’ll get it right! Can’t wait to see it! Thanks Linda!
One of my all-time favorite pasta dishes! Love how quickly it comes together with just a handful of pantry staples. Well done Mira!
This is one of my all-time favorites! Thanks for sharing your awesome recipe! Pinned!
With a massive head cold, I’m thrilled with the garlic in here! Just seems to clear you out. And the fresh basil, I’m going to pick from my garden, yay! Best of all, this is easy and yes, crunchy bacon is the best =) That and the Parm cheese.
I hope you feel better Laura!This is the easiest pasta I know 🙂
You are killing me! This looks fabulous! I love pasta so very much…and your delicate twirls just make me want to slurp up! Delish!
I could dive right into this dish! I want this every day that ends in “y”! So good!
Mmm! My hubs and I both love carbonara and I did just end up with a pack of bacon, fresh eggs, and Parmesan.. I think it’s meant to be! Nice tip on the working quickly, too.. I remember trying to teach him how to make this for himself when I was feeling super gnarly during the first trimester and left the kitchen when he decided to make all the magic happened.. he ended up with a huge plate of pasta with scrambled eggs! Ha!
No cream and bacon?! This is one heck of an awesome pasta carbonara! And – Mira – wow – your pictures are stunning!