One Pan Carbonara

One Pan Carbonara is rich, decadent, and made easy in one pan!  This traditional pasta dish is made with an amazing sauce of egg, cheese, and bacon or pancetta!

Carbonara:

One of our favorite comfort food pasta dishes, and I know we are all ready for more one pan dinners this week!  Our pasta carbonara is made the traditional way using absolutely no heavy cream at all like a lot of Americanized versions.  Our sauce is simple and the rich and creaminess of it comes from the eggs alone!  While more traditionally this pasta calls for pancetta, feel free to use bacon as well.  It is just as good and sometimes just easier for all of us to find at our grocery store!  To make this a one pot dish, we basically cooked our pasta first in a soup pot or a deep skillet.  Then, set the spaghetti aside and continued the rest of the recipe in the same pot!  There really is no reason to dirty more than one dish for this 30 minute dinner, guys!  If you are here looking for more Italian, pasta, or comfort food try out our Best Homemade Alfredo Sauce and our Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta too!

Carbonara Recipe Notes:

• For this recipe, we cook 8 ounces of pasta at a time which is good for 4 servings when cooked.  Feel free to double this recipe if you have more than 4 people, or just a hungrier crowd.
• Don’t forget to set aside 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining your spaghetti!  You need this starchy water at the end to bring the whole dish and sauce together.
• Traditionally this pasta calls for pancetta, but bacon works fine as well.  I prefer to use a nice thick cut bacon, but use what you have on hand.
• Don’t be worried about the raw eggs in this recipe!  Carbonara is perfectly safe to eat.  The eggs become cooked when being tossed together with the pasta.  They are cooked just to the point of making a thick sauce, but not long enough to scramble them.
• Don’t be tempted to use bagged pre-shredded cheese here!  While it has its place, it will clump and ruin this pasta, so it’s a no-go for this recipe.  Take the time to shred your own, you won’t be sorry!

Enjoy!

~Nichole

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5 from 8 votes

One Pan Carbonara

By Nichole

One Pan Carbonara is rich, decadent, and made easy in one pan!  This traditional pasta dish is made with an amazing sauce of egg, cheese, and bacon or pancetta!

Prep 10 minutes mins

Cook 20 minutes mins

Total 30 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 Ounces Spaghetti Noodles Uncooked
• ▢ 1 Pound Pancetta or Bacon chopped into bite size pieces
• ▢ 3 Cloves Garlic Minced
• ▢ 1 Cup Parmesan freshly grated
• ▢ 1 Cup Romano Cheese freshly grated
• ▢ 2 Large Eggs + 2 Egg Yolks whisked
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
• ▢ Optional garnish: fresh basil or parsley

Instructions 

• Cook the pasta in a medium size soup pot or a deep skillet according the instructions on the package. Once cooked, set aside ½ cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and set it aside.
• Place the pan back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chopped bacon and cook until slightly crispy. Add the minced garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant.
• While the bacon is cooking, add the parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, whisked eggs, salt and pepper to a medium bowl, stir and set aside.
• Once the bacon has cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add the drained pasta and stir to mix with the bacon.
• Pour in the cheese mixture and stir for 3-4 minutes so that the pasta will start to become creamy and the eggs can cook from the residual heat from the pan. (Don’t let the pasta sit or the eggs will start to scramble.)
• If the pasta is too thick, pour in two tablespoons of the reserved pasta water at a time until it reaches your desired creaminess.
• Once the pasta is ready, garnish with fresh basil or parsley leaves and serve.

Additional Info

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

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