This Creamy Carbonara recipe is a plate of heavenly, creamy pasta. Silky spaghetti with crispy pancetta in a super creamy and cheesy sauce. Simply delicious and so easy to make at home.
Crispy pancetta is my absolute favorite member of the vegetable food group. Wait…you mean it’s not a vegetable? Well this is Jo Cooks world, and in this world – we get 3 – 4 servings of pancetta a day. This delectable pork topper adds the perfect texture and flavor to our creamy dreamy oh so silky carbonara.
What Is Carbonara?
At its core, this Italian dish is from Rome and is super super simple. It’s made from egg, hard sharp cheese, pepper, and guanciale – a cured pork. If guanciale is a little too hard to find pancetta or bacon works in a snap.
My carbonara recipe uses some cream to thicken it all up and ensure it really sticks to your ribs. Yes, I know the traditional dish doesn’t have cream in it, but that’s why this is creamy carbonara!
Ingredient Notes
- Pasta – I used spaghetti for that fork twirling goodness, feel free to use any pasta you have on hand.
- Pancetta – Our key pork treat, feel free to substitute bacon if that’s what is on hand.
- Cream – I used half and half but if you’d like to cut back on calories feel free to use a lighter cream or whole milk.
- Eggs – Just the yolks! Save those whites for breakfast tomorrow morning.
- Cheese – You need a sharp hard cheese like Parmesan or Pecorino, today I opted for parm!
- Pepper – Just fresh ground pepper today, no need for salt!
- Basil – Fresh and chopped up fine for some fragrant garnish.
How To Make Creamy Carbonara
- Prepare the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Crisp the pancetta: Add the pancetta to a large skillet and saute over medium-low heat until crisp. Transfer the pancetta to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
- Get saucey: Add the half and half to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Whisk the egg yolks into the sauce followed by the Parmesan cheese. Stir in the black pepper. Taste for salt and season if needed.
- Finish the carbonara: Add the cooked spaghetti, bacon and basil to the skillet and toss well to combine. Garnish with more cheese and serve hot!
If you want to go as authentic as possible, nix the cream and hunt down some guanciale, which is available is most specialty Italian supermarkets. Just keep in mind that axing the cream will result in a dish that is a bit drier, hence not quite a creamy carbonara. For pasta you can also use fettuccine, rigatoni, or bucatini.
Leftovers
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 – 4 days. This creamy carbonara recipe does not freeze well as the pasta can become mushy and the egg based sauce may separate upon reheating so try to make it day or week of if you’re planning on feasting!
More Pasta Recipes To Try:
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Avocado and Spinach Pasta
- Pesto Shrimp Asparagus Pasta
- Baked Mac and Cheese
- Easy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
- One Pot Creamy Parmesan Pasta
- Easy Pasta Alfredo
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Creamy Carbonara
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti uncooked
- 6 ounce pancetta chopped
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 ½ cups Parmesan cheese freshly grated, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon pepper freshly ground
- 4 tablespoon basil chopped
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Add the pancetta to a large skillet and saute over medium-low heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer the pancetta to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
- Add the half and half to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Whisk the egg yolks into the sauce. Whisk in the Parmesan cheese. Stir in the black pepper. Taste for salt and season if needed. I find no salt is needed since the cheese adds plenty of saltiness.
- Add the cooked spaghetti, bacon and basil to the skillet and toss well to combine.
- Garnish with more Parmesan cheese if desired and serve immediately.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Half and Half:Â Half and half has 12 percent fat content. Heavy cream can also be used. It is also called heavy whipping cream because it’s whipping cream with a milk fat content between 36 and 40 percent.Â
- Leftovers:Â Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Make sure to refrigerate within two hours of cooking.
- Nutrition: Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
True Carbonara NEVER has cream or milk in it!
True which is why this is my creamy version!
Easy and delicious!
Great flavor! The sauce did not thicken.
Hi there! Do you think I could use almond milk instead of cream, and just increase the parmesan cheese for creaminess? Not really concerned about the amount of dairy/lactose in the recipe, we just don’t use half & half at home.
Hi Gee, I haven’t really tried it with almond milk so I’m not sure how it would really work. As a matter of fact I don’t use almond milk much, but technically it should be ok with maybe more parmesan. Again, I can’t be 100% sure though without testing it myself. If you do try it, I’d love to know how it turns out for you.
This was absolutely delicious! Only change I made was to add sautéed mushrooms that needed to be eaten up… another winning recipe from Jo!
So happy you liked it!
Hi Jo,
My daughter is lactose intolerant, what can I substitute for the cream?
There are actually lactose free products including cream.
Delicious! I used chickpea pasta for my gluten free sister and was dreading it. But dousing it in this easy cream and bacon sauce was one heck of a way to enjoy it!
Great recipe, all of the family loved it. Added in a red bell pepper and some sweetcorn, to assist with their 5 a day intake
I would love to make this but how does a mere 8 oz of pasta feed 4 people?
I guess it depends how hungry you are, also you can easily double the recipe. 🙂
My family loves this recipe! We have made it several times and my grandson is learning to cook using it! Thank you
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious. I used heart of palm instead of pasta. Was perfect.
Hi Jo,
Made this for the first time!! We will be making this again. My husband and I loved it. Next time I will add more pancetta. But we had Raviolis with mushrooms and tortellini with chicken and roasted garlic..
i loved this recipe so much
We are so happy you enjoyed it!
It was so good, the kids were vying for leftovers. Definitely will make this again.
We are so glad you enjoyed it!!!
Hi Jo! I’m planning to make this for our potluck at work. Do you think it will be okay if I dont mix in the creamy sauce to the noodles till the day of? I’m just scared that the noodles would get soggy the following day. So, im planning to make the sauce the day before and add it to the noodles the day of. Pls let me know. Thank you! Im excited to try it!!
Hi Kristen,
Yes, it’s definitely a great idea to leave out the noodles until the day of the potluck so the whole recipe tastes fresh and the noodles still have that nice texture to them.
Let us know how the potluck turns out!