Easy spaghetti carbonara
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
- Dietary
- Nut-freePregnancy-friendly
Spaghetti carbonara is a super quick and easy pasta dish that's perfect for weeknight meals or special occasions. Ellis Barrie shows you how to make a silky, rich carbonara in 10 minutes with just a handful of ingredients.
By Ellis Barrie
Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until crisp, slightly browned and the fat has rendered off. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook for 8–10 minutes, until firm but slightly chewy (al dente).
While the spaghetti is cooking, beat together the eggs and Parmesan with a fork. If it's a little thick, add a little milk. Season with a little salt (the cheese and pancetta are already salty) and a generous amount of pepper.
Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain over a bowl, reserving some of the cooking water.
Place the frying pan with the pancetta in back over a medium–low heat. Add the drained spaghetti and egg mixture and immediately stir thoroughly so all the spaghetti is coated in the sauce. Add 1–2 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to loosen, if necessary.
Serve immediately on hot plates with grated Parmesan on top.
Recipe tips
If you don't have pancetta, you can use smoked bacon lardons instead.
The steaming hot spaghetti will cook the carbonara sauce as you mix it together in the frying pan, so take care not to overcook it at this stage as the eggs will scramble and the texture of the sauce won't be quite as smooth.
It helps to use room temperature eggs, if they are fridge cold it's harder for the hot pasta to cook them through when making the sauce.
