Spaghettoni Carbonara Recipe

Classic Italian cuisine.

Today we’re sharing with you a traditional spaghettoni carbonara. We’ve tweaked this classic recipe a touch with our own quantities, but the basic ingredients are common to most carbonara recipes we compared.

This pasta dish is typically flavoured with some sort of seared smoked meat, such as pancetta, bacon, or guanciale (smoked pork cheek). The creaminess comes from egg yolks. A few of the newer recipes we read used cream, but the classic versions use only eggs to create the creamy consistency, so that’s what we used.

Freeing up time with quick meals.

I’m always on the lookout for new recipes that are quick to prepare and delicious for our weeknight meals. As we approach the Christmas season, this becomes even more important, because we have some extra events and tasks on our to-do list.

One of these tasks is Christmas shopping. Fortunately for us, Christmas shopping has taken a whole new twist. Thanks to technology, we can now do quite a lot of our shopping from the comfort of our home.

We’ve been shopping online for a few years now, but last year was the first year we really took advantage of free and fast shipping from Amazon and a few other online retailers. Liz is usually the one choosing the gifts… maybe it’s because she’s much better at it than me 😂. I think the people receiving our gifts will probably be happy it wasn’t me doing the choosing.

There’s still a place for Brick and Mortar stores.

We love online shopping because it frees up a lot of time, but we still like to shop in some stores; in particular for clothing, furniture, and housewares. We find it easier to try on clothes or see and feel the texture of a fabric or piece of furniture. And around the holidays, the malls look really festive so it’s a nice time to take a walk in the mall and even visit Santa (Liz will never get too old for that… even when our kids are too old).

But I have to say, visiting brick and mortar stores around the holidays is made a lot more pleasant now because we don’t feel the pressure of having to do all our shopping in just a few short hours. We’ve always got online shopping… so we actually get to enjoy the Christmas vibes.

All that shopping is making me hungry. How quickly can you make carbonara?

Once the water’s boiling and the pasta’s in the pot, the meal takes roughly 15 minutes to complete. How cool is that? Now we can eat, shop, watch some tube and most importantly spend quality family time. Seriously, it’s like having your cake and eating it too. Hmm…now I want dessert.

It’s time to start prepping for the holidays. We wish you a stress-free festive season. At least we know you’ll be in good shape with this carbonara recipe. Yes, you can cook deliciousness in a hurry, and you can eat well, friends!

Print Recipe

Spaghettoni Carbonara Recipe

This is a simple classic Italian dish made with pancetta, parmesan, eggs and black pepper. The result is a creamy delicious pasta!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time18 minutes mins

Total Time28 minutes mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Carbonara, Spaghetti carbonara, Spaghettoni carbonara

Servings: 4 large servings

Ingredients

• 450 g (15.9 oz) spaghettoni or spaghetti (we used spaghettoni)
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 200 g (7oz) pancetta, sliced into thin pieces
• 100 g (3.5 oz) grated Parmesan, plus extra to add over the finished dishes
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large egg yolks and 1 full large egg beaten
• Salt for the pasta water and extra optional salt for seasoning.

Instructions

• Fill a large pot to about 3/4 with water and heat on medium high until it boils.
• Add salt to the water. It should taste like ocean water. Do not add oil!
• Place the spaghettoni in the pot. Once it starts boiling again, cook uncovered for about 10 minutes or until al dente.
• While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan between medium and medium high.
• Once the olive oil is hot, add the pancetta.
• Stir the pancetta pieces until they start to become crisp.
• Shut the heat.
• Once the pasta is cooked, scoop out about 2 cups of the pasta water and set aside.
• Drain the remaining water and add the pasta to the pan with the pancetta.
• Stir the pasta to coat it with the pancetta oil.
• Stir in the cheese, eggs and black pepper quickly to avoid the eggs turning into scrambled eggs.
• Continue to stir until the pasta is completely coated and creamy.
• If the pasta is too dry, add a little pasta water and continue stirring.
• Taste the pasta to check the salt. Add salt if needed and stir again.
• Serve hot and make sure to offer a side heaping bowl of parmesan as a topping.

Notes

• Spaghettoni is like thicker spaghetti.
• If you have left-overs, save the pasta water for when you reheat the pasta, in case it’s too dry.