Recipe for Pasta Carbonara

Name: Recipe for Pasta Carbonara
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 500 gm Spaghetti Pasta; 5 Eggs; 200 gm Parmesan Cheese; 1 tsp Crushed Black Peppercorns; 300 gm Smoked Bacon; Salt; if needed

Pasta is one of the most loved dishes in my home. We make it in many ways, sometimes using a fresh homemade sauce or shop-bought pesto/sauce. Either way, it is loved and relished. Recently I shared the recipe for Pasta with Readymade Pesto Rosso and Prawn and Dill Pesto Pasta. Do check them out of you too, are a pasta lover.

Today’s recipe is Pasta Carbonara. It is a quick and easy recipe, and one that my teenage kids have perfected with time. It can be prepared in under 30 minutes, tastes delicious and is a great weekend lunch/dinner recipe.

So, let’s start:

Kitchen Equipment needed:

Cooking Pot/Sauce Pan: https://amzn.to/3Yiqsrq
Pan: https://amzn.to/45aU2Bl
Knives: https://amzn.to/3Lg64Bj
Chopping board: https://amzn.to/3K0dh8L
Mixing Bowl: https://amzn.to/3K14XFH

Ingredients to make Pasta Carbonara:

500 gm Spaghetti Pasta
5 Eggs
200 gm Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Crushed Black Peppercorns
300 gm Smoked Bacon
Salt; if needed

Method to make Pasta Carbonara:

Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack.
While the pasta cooks, transfer the chopped bacon to a pan. Fry it till it comes light brown and crispy. As it cooks, it will release oil. Keep it aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine 5 Egg yellows and 3 Egg whites.
Whisk them together.
Add coarsely ground black peppercorns and parmesan cheese, Mix well. Keep this aside.
When the pasta is cooked, remove the pasta and transfer it to a pan. Don’t discard the pasta water yet.
On to the pasta, add the egg mix and fried bacon ( along with the oil that it released).
On medium heat, cook it for 2-3 minutes. Add a few ladles of pasta water. Taste and check the salt. Add if necessary. Pasta Carbonara is ready.

Some Notes:

This pasta usually doesn’t require any additional salt since both parmesan and bacon have sufficient salt. Therefore, in the end, taste and check. Only if you feel that the salt is less, add some.
While frying bacon, don’t add any extra oil. As the bacon cooks, it will start releasing oil. It will fry in that oil.
After adding the egg mix to the cooked pasta, cook for a few minutes. Cooking and adding hot pasta water helps in fast cooking. So, a few minutes should be sufficient. If you cook longer, the ‘sauce’ will be lost entirely, and the pasta will become dry.

Some notes about Ingredient Sourcing in Germany:

Varieties of pasta are available in German supermarkets. I used Vollkorn Spaghetti ( whole wheat Spaghetti) in my recipe. You can use any variety you like.
For Bacon, I used Bauchspeck geräuchert ( Smoked Bacon) from Hoffmaier. I like its taste and recommend it.
For parmesan cheese, I used cheese labelled Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is easily available in most supermarkets in Germany.
For eggs, I always buy Bio Eggs from Netto. They are organic and reasonably priced. You can read more about eggs in German Supermarkets in my article.

Here is the recipe in printable format: