Stirring the egg mixture quickly into the pasta which should be warm enough to cook the yolks perfectly makes this special sauce stick to the pasta and not make it a scrambled mess.
Getting carbonara just right can take a little practice but it's very easy once you read the tips and easy steps we have provided.
Grandma made this simple dish with ease and it was always perfect, she always said it originated in her Region of Rome, Italy although to date there is no proof of that.
This very vintage recipe was documented as long ago as 1839 on the net, the dish was even written down by coal workers that sat watching burning coals all day and cooked this for their lunch.
They would make this peasant dish directly over the coal fire (they carried in their ingredients of eggs, guanciale, sheep's milk cheese, and pasta) since this was the only meal they had all day while working very long hours.
For our Carbonara American/Italian spaghetti with no tomato sauce style recipe just scroll to our step-by-step recipe card below.
Step By Step on making Roman-Style Spaghetti Alla Carbonara
- cut and fry the pork until crispy leaving it in the pan and shutting off the stove
- beat the yolks with cheese and pepper in a bowl and set aside
- boil the pasta al dente with salt water(save some pasta water
- add the drained pasta in with the pork
- quickly beat in the yolks stirring rapidly until a creamy glossy coating is achieved
- serve immediately
Ingredients You Will Need
- spaghetti
- reserved pasta water
- pecorino romano cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- egg yolks
More Recipes To Try
Cacio e Pepe
Tomato Basil Pasta
Amatriciana
Rigatoni alla Zozzona
Suggestions and Tips:
- use pancetta if you can't find guanciale
- Pecorino Romano cheese should be freshly grated not pre-grated in a bottled
- save some pasta water and keep it warm
- get all the ingredients prepared before adding and follow the steps
- cook the pasta al dente
- Grandma always made Homemade Pasta and cut it very thin by hand;
- serve with more cheese and freshly cracked black pepper
- Tips to keep eggs from scrambling:
- The skillet should be warm and the water still warm from the pasta water that you will add
- The pasta always goes in the same pan with the fried pork pieces water and cheese
- Cook the pasta al denti do not forget to save some pasta water
- Add the egg and keep tossing quickly and with steady strokes
- The motion when stirring the pasta with eggs should be constant and fast
- Your results should be a creamy-looking gloss to your eggs cooked and not scrambling in bits and pieces
Pasta to Use
Carbonara is one of the four classic Roman kinds of pasta alongside gricia, amatriciana, and cacio e pepe so the best pasta to use is spaghetti or anything for the sauce to cling to the pasta.All four recipes are deliciously coated with pecorino romano, a sharp sheep's milk cheese that gives a creamy compliment to the egg yolks.
Pasta that has ridges like rigatoni, penne, and fettuccine or fusilli can be another nice addition, however, the traditional pasta to use is tonnarelli, spaghetti.
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Adapted Recipe
If you're looking for a recipe with sauce and lots of ingredients this isn't made with tomato sauce not one drop of it and this is adapted to what we have to work with for ingredients here in America with some substitutions.
Until you can get an authentic dish from Italy and this Regional dish in Rome, this will be a nice addition to your pasta recipe collection for Italian peasant foods made easy.
A dish I was brought up on and our family used very simple ingredients to make it as close to authentic as possible.
Yield: 4
Roman-Style Spaghetti Alla Carbonara
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min
This Italian Rome, Italy style Spaghetti Alla Carbonara is one many shy away from because it can be a bit tricky getting the creamy egg yolks to coat the pasta perfectly but we have easy steps to make it perfectly here
Ingredients
- 12 ounces tonnarelli, spaghetti
- 1/4 pound of pork. guanciale prepared from pork jowl or cheeks ( more American Italian cured meat product pancetta) or rindless bacon
- 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano Reggiano)
- 4 fresh large egg yolks
- salt to taste
- pinch of black pepper
- around 1 1/2 cups of reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Cut the pancetta or rindless bacon into small pieces.
- Fry the meat in a pan until crisp then set aside to cool.
- Mix the egg yolks cheese in a bowl with the black pepper and set aside.
- Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente and remember to save some of the hot pasta water as stated above.
- Place drained pasta in the pan with the cooled pork meat and keep this warm but not overheat.
- Add the yolks stirring rapidly and add the hot pasta water and keep stirring quickly to get to that creamy not scrambled coating.
- Season with freshly cracked black pepper and grated pecorino romano (sheep's milk grated cheese)
Notes
Tips to keep eggs from scrambling:
The skillet should be warm and the water still warm from the pasta water that you will add.
The pasta always goes in the same pan with the fried pork pieces water and cheese.
Cook the pasta al dente do not forget to save some pasta water
Add the egg and keep tossing quickly and with steady strokes.
The motion when stirring the pasta with eggs should be constant and fast.
Your results should be a creamy-looking gloss to your eggs cooked and not scrambling in bits and pieces
Nutrition Facts
Calories
512.74Fat (grams)
18.71Sat. Fat (grams)
6.69Carbs (grams)
64.72Fiber (grams)
2.73Net carbs
61.99Sugar (grams)
2.41Protein (grams)
19.36Sodium (milligrams)
328.81Cholesterol (grams)
208.81
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More Recipes To Try
Scampi or Alfredo Sauce
Seafood Lemon Pasta
Lemon Chicken Pasta
Mushroom Ricotta Penne
Disclosure: This recipe was originally shared in 2013. It was edited and re-published in 2022.
