Creamy Pasta Carbonara Recipe

Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making a quick and easy pasta carbonara. So let's get started. First off, grab a big pot. We're gonna fill it with water and bring it to a boil. We're gonna place this over a medium-high heat, but always salt your pasta water well. It should taste like the ocean. While the water warms up, we're gonna grate one cup of cheese, specifically Parm or Pecorino Romano. That's about 84 grams. I'm using the finer grater here so it melts more easily. I'd also recommend using freshly grated cheese. It just melts nicer, and you know there's nothing else in there. A lot of times, pre-grated cheeses have basically wood pulp so the cheese doesn't stick. By the way, if you like my videos, hit that subscribe button. There's two new recipes every week. One cup, there we go. Plop that into a medium bowl. To the cheese, we're gonna add one whole egg and three egg yolks. This recipe seems like an Italian classic, and it is, but a recent one. It really comes from the 1940s, and really, this is U.S. Army rations in the form of eggs and bacon being used by Italian chefs to make something delicious. And three yolks. Renato Gualandi is often given credit for this dish, so I would like to thank him. It's delicious. To my eggs and cheese, I'm adding two cloves of garlic, and you can mince them or use a garlic press if you're feeling lazy like I am. I think as long as the garlic is fresh, it's totally fine, but some people have very specific thoughts on how you cut garlic and how it affects the recipe. To an extent, it's true, but I really can't tell the difference here. To season this, we're using a quarter teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper. Grab a whisk. Now we're gonna mix this up and then set it aside. This will be delicious. A big kick of flavor is gonna come from thick-cut bacon here, specifically 12 ounces or 340 grams. If you'd like, you could use guanciale or pancetta instead. Those are both lovely options. Grab your bacon, and we're gonna give this a nice dice. Nice small pieces for our bacon, and all this fat will render off and make a beautiful, rich, silky sauce for our pasta, along with the cheese and egg yolks. I'm grabbing a large pan. I'm gonna plop my bacon in right now, and we're gonna heat this over medium heat. All that fat will render out. There's no need to use oil here, but you can if you want. Up to you. My bacon's heating up, and my pasta water's come to a boil, so it's time to add about 12 ounces of spaghetti into our salted water. We're gonna cook this for about 10 minutes until it's al dente. I don't want it too soft. My bacon is nice and crispy, so let's remove it. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. My pasta is just about ready. We want it nice and al dente. When that happens, we're gonna grab one cup of the pasta water, which has all that luscious starch in there. It's the perfect base for a sauce. My pasta is nice and al dente, so let's take it off heat and transfer the pasta to a big bowl. Don't get rid of the water yet. It's time to whisk away while we pour that water in. A quarter of a cup. To our steaming hot pasta, we're gonna add our egg mixture along with the bacon now. It's time to give it a toss and let it all come together. Your pasta carbonara's cheese should be fully melted and look lovely and creamy. I can see that all the cheese is melting away. If this isn't looking creamy and silky and luscious, add an additional quarter of a cup of pasta water in, a tablespoon at a time while mixing. You don't want it to be watery, but you don't want it to be dry. It should be just right. And this looks perfect. Serve your pasta carbonara immediately and garnish with a little bit of parsley and flaked sea salt if desired. And just like that, your pasta carbonara is ready to enjoy. Hmm. Creamy, cheesy, and all that crispy bacon just makes it perfect. I hope you had a chance to make this easy recipe, and if you like my videos, hit that subscribe button and check out my Italian playlist.