🤤 Creamy Bacon Carbonara

2-Serving Bacon Carbonara

Notes

The Bacon Carbonara that Sam and I made is a simple, budget-friendly version of the traditional Italian Carbonara. We replaced guanciale with bacon, used whole eggs instead of just egg yolks (since leftover egg whites can be a hassle), and swapped freshly grated parmigiano reggiano for store-bought parmesan powder. The ingredients are easy to find, affordable, and the dish still tastes amazing.

While many recipes add the cheese-egg mixture into the hot pan (after removing it from heat) with the pasta and toppings, the pan often remains hot enough to scramble the eggs. Sam decided to reverse the process — mixing the pasta and toppings into the cheese-egg mixture instead. This way, the eggs don’t curdle, and each strand of pasta gets evenly coated with the creamy sauce. The result was incredibly delicious!

Ingredients

1. Spaghetti (Rummo) — 220 g
2. Salt — a pinch
3. Thick-cut bacon — 3 strips
4. Mushrooms — 3 pieces
5. Minced garlic — as needed
6. Eggs — 3
7. Parmesan cheese powder — a generous amount

Cooking Steps

1. Preparation

   • Slice the bacon into thin strips, cut mushrooms into slices, and mince the garlic.
   • Add a pinch of salt to a large pot of water.
   • In another (preferably large) bowl or pot — large enough to mix in the pasta and toppings later — crack the eggs and add plenty of parmesan cheese powder. Mix lightly.

2. Cooking

   • Bring the salted water to a boil, then add the spaghetti. Set a timer according to the cooking time on the package.
   • While the pasta cooks, have one person continuously whisk the cheese-egg mixture over the steam from the boiling pasta pot to help the cheese powder blend smoothly.
   • Meanwhile, heat a pan with a little oil and add the bacon.
   • Once the bacon turns golden, add the mushrooms.
   • Stir-fry briefly, then add some black pepper.
   • When the aroma comes out, add the minced garlic.
   • Sauté until the garlic turns golden, then turn off the heat.
   • When the pasta is ready, transfer it into the cheese-egg mixture and stir quickly.
   • After mixing halfway, add the cooked bacon, mushrooms, and garlic.
   • Add a little pasta water if the sauce becomes too thick.
   • Adjust the consistency to your liking, then plate and serve.

If cooking alone, you can slightly adjust the order of steps:

• When the pasta water boils, don’t add the pasta yet — first, whisk the cheese-egg mixture over the steam to combine it smoothly.
• Then add the pasta and cook while stir-frying the other ingredients.

NB: This article was first published in Chinese. It was later translated with assistance from ChatGPT, edited by me, and published in English.