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Authentic Italian Carbonara

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Authentic Italian Carbonara is one of the most famous pasta dishes of all time as it combines pasta, eggs, Italian hard cheese, and bacon lardons to create a high-quality dish that everyone will love!

Authentic-Italian-Carbonara-On-a-Black-dish

I love real authentic recipes! They make me feel like I am right there where they were originally created. This authentic Italian Carbonara recipe is just that. It is made of very simple ingredients that you will find right in the heart of Italy.Although this recipe might look challenging it is actually very simple to make. The hardest part is getting the egg mixture cooked just right.
If you love Italian dishes you want to be sure to try Summer Lemon Spaghetti as well as our new favorite Easy Zoodles with homemade Alfredo Sauce.

What is real Carbonara made of?
Carbonara is traditionally made up of 5 ingredients, spaghetti, guanciale (hard to find outside Italy) so we are using bacon lardons, black pepper, eggs, and an Italian hard cheese. How many eggs do you put in Carbonara? You will use 4 egg yolks to make Carbonara.

Ingredients

Authentic-Italian-Carbonara-Ingredients
  • 1 lb dry pasta (spaghetti)
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 oz grated pecorino cheese
  • 10 oz bacon lardons

How to Make Authentic Italian Carbonara

● Start with the most important part of this recipe, the sauce. Start separating the yolks from the egg whites. Remember you will use only the yolks.
● In a medium bowl, mix the yolks with the grated pecorino or parmesan cheese until well homogenized. The better grated your pecorino, the better will be the sauce. This mixture should be thick and well combined. Set aside.

● To follow with the recipe, fill a large saucepan with water and bring to boil. Add a pinch of salt and cook the pasta 2 minutes less than the packet instructions.


● Before you drain the pasta, scoop out 1 cup of cooking water and set it aside.
● While you cook the pasta, fry the bacon lardons in a large-size frying pan over low heat. It will take no more than 10 minutes. Remove the bacon lardons from the pan and set them aside. The excess fat from the bacon must remain in the pan.

● Fry the pasta over medium heat for 2 minutes in the pan where you fried the bacon. Add the mixture of yolks and pecorino and the cup of the cooking water. After 2 or 3 minutes, as the cooking water emulsifies the sauce, your pasta is finally ready. The final aspect of the sauce should be creamy and without any cooking water left.
● Mix the pasta with the fried bacon and it is ready to serve. You can optionally sprinkle grated hard cheese over the pasta. Enjoy!

Tips Tricks and FAQS

Authentic-Italian-Carbonara--Linguini-Pasta


● I used linguini pasta for this recipe but, it works perfectly with any of your favorite pasta.
●This recipe calls for bacon lardon even though traditional carbonara uses guanciale. The reason for this is because it is hard to kind outside of Italy. If you choose to use bacon strips, you will want to cut them into lardons after cooking.
● It might be tempting to want to add something extra like cream, onion, or garlic, but this dish will have plenty of flavors just how it is.
● The hardest part of this recipe is making sure you don’t turn your eggs into scrambled eggs or not cooking them enough.

Storage

This dish is best served right away. Storing it in the fridge will change the texture and consistency of the dish. If you do choose to save it, you will want to reheat it on the stove only. Cook it for about 5 minutes as you stir it to heat it up entirely. If it looks too dry add 1 teaspoon of oil to
rejuvenate it.
Can you use any cheese in Authentic Italian Carbonara?
Traditionally Italian Carbonara is made with pecorino cheese. Any hard Italian cheese will work, especially parmesan. You will want to avoid softer cheeses like mozzarella, because, it will completely change the consistency and flavor of the dish.

authentic-italian-caronara-1

More Recipes:

Yield: 4 servings

Authentic Italian Carbonara

Authentic-Italian-Carbonara-with-fork

Authentic Italian Carbonara is one of the most famous pasta dishes of all time as it combines pasta, eggs, Italian hard cheese, and bacon lardons to create a high-quality dish that everyone will love!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • - 1 lb dry pasta (spaghetti)
  • - 4 eggs
  • - 4 oz grated pecorino cheese
  • - 10 oz bacon lardons

Instructions

- First of all, a little explanation about the ingredients. 

1) About the pasta: I used linguini in the recipe, but it works perfectly with any other pasta if it fits better to your liking. 

2) About the cheese: The original recipe is made with pecorino cheese. You can also use other Italian hard cheeses, especially parmesan would be perfect as well. Remember to avoid mozzarella or any soft cheese because it will change the taste completely. 

3) About the bacon lardons: In the authentic carbonara recipe, Italians use guanciale, an Italian type of bacon. As it is quite hard to find outside Italy, I recommend using bacon lardons because you will get the same excess of fat, which is one of the keys to a perfect carbonara. If you use bacon strips, just cut them into lardons afterward. You will get the same result. 

- Start with the most important part of this recipe, the sauce. Start separating the yolks from the egg whites. Remember you will use only the yolks. 

- In a medium bowl, mix the yolks with the grated pecorino or parmesan cheese until well homogenized. The better grated your pecorino, the better will be the sauce. This mixture should be thick and well combined. Set aside. 

- To follow with the recipe, fill a large saucepan with water and bring to boil. Add a pinch of salt and cook the pasta 2 minutes less than the packet instructions. 

- Before you drain the pasta, scoop out 1 cup of cooking water and set it aside. 

- While you cook the pasta, fry the bacon lardons in a large-size frying pan over low heat. It will take no more than 10 minutes. Remove the bacon lardons from the pan and set them aside. The excess fat from the bacon must remain in the pan. 

- Fry the pasta over medium heat for 2 minutes in the pan where you fried the bacon. Add the mixture of yolks and pecorino and the cup of the cooking water. After 2 or 3 minutes, as the cooking water emulsifies the sauce, your pasta is finally ready. The final aspect of the sauce should be creamy and without any cooking water left. 

- Mix the pasta with the fried bacon and it is ready to serve. You can optionally sprinkle grated hard cheese over the pasta. Enjoy! 

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 934Total Fat 39gSaturated Fat 15gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 21gCholesterol 286mgSodium 1678mgCarbohydrates 87gFiber 4gSugar 3gProtein 54g

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