Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Peas
When I think of simple comfort food, I think of pasta carbonara with bacon and peas. This recipe is from one I saw on America’s Test Kitchen and it takes less than 15 minutes to cook and tastes wonderful. My husband and I love this pasta carbonara with bacon and peas and really like extra black pepper on top when serving. My son thought it was tasty but my daughter wasn’t a big fan. This pasta paired nicely with our house salad topped with Fran’s Vinaigrette and a loaf of freshly baked bread.
Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Peas
Ingredients:
- ½ lb spaghetti, cooked per instructions
- 5-6 slices of bacon, I used pre-cooked so there is less grease
- 1 tsp olive oil, if needed
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 egg, well beaten
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- ½ cup of frozen peas, thawed
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
How to Make Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Peas
Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking. It is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg and Parmesan mixture so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw egg in the sauce.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and cook, per instructions. Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/3 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce.
While the pasta is cooking, cook the bacon slices until crispy, about 3-5 minutes. Remove the bacon and place it on paper towels to drain. Chop into bits. Toss the garlic into the pan with bacon grease. Side Note: My pan only had a teaspoon of grease since my bacon was pre-cooked so I added another teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Sauté garlic for 45 seconds, stirring constantly.
Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon grease/olive oil/garlic. Beat the egg and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, stirring quickly until the egg thickens, but does not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.)
Thin out the sauce with some of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Add the peas and bacon bits then season with a lot of freshly cracked black pepper. Season with sea salt if needed, then add fresh parsley, and mix well. Place into a serving bowl and serve immediately. Enjoy.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ lb spaghetti, cooked per instructions
- 5-6 slices of bacon, I used pre-cooked so there is less grease
- 1 tsp olive oil, if needed
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 egg, well beaten
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- ½ cup of frozen peas, thawed
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking. It is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg and Parmesan mixture so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw egg in the sauce.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and cook, per instructions. Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/3 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce.
- While the pasta is cooking, cook the bacon slices until crispy, about 3-5 minutes. Remove the bacon and place it on paper towels to drain. Chop into bits.
- Toss the garlic into the pan with bacon grease. Side Note: My pan only had a teaspoon of grease since my bacon was pre-cooked so I added another teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Sauté garlic for 45 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon grease/olive oil/garlic.
- Beat the egg and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, stirring quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.)
- Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency.
- Add the peas and bacon bits then season with lots of freshly cracked black pepper. Season with sea salt if needed then add fresh parsley, and mix well.
- Place into a serving bowl and serve immediately. Enjoy
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Look delicious Pam!
I’ve always liked this dish but have been leery of making it. I always think that I will end up with scrambled eggs and pasta. You make it seem easy!
Yes, this is so comforting! I honestly don’t think there are many dishes better than carbonara 🙂
Yum! I absolutely love pasta carbonara!
One of my favourite pastas! Love the add of green peas.
Looks perfect Pam
Pam, I made this last night too! You make it exactly as I do – except I had so much spinach on hand, I threw that in! I use TJ’s bacon – it renders a very clear fat that makes for a beautiful carbonara.
Try throwing a can of lump crabmeat in it. That pushes Pasta Carbonara right over the top, even for non-fans of pasta, like your daughter and me.
I love a dish like this. You get the yummy taste of bacon without feeling guilty about a million calories. I am also a pasta kick the last couple of months. So I’m not exactly impartial. I pinned it.
Carbonara is to die for – I agree the ultimate comfort food. Great recipe above.
I’ve never made this dish before and I’m not sure why. Thanks so much for the recipe. Your timing is perfect as I just cooked up a batch of bacon today. Pinning it now!
I’ve actually never made pasta carbonara, but I’ve been craving pasta of all kinds lately so I think I need to! Love how simple it is 🙂
I love carbonara, but for the eggy sauce and not really for the bacon. Even without the bacon it is total comfort food, though!
Someone once bashed me for putting peas in mine as being “unauthentic”. They can kiss my bootay because I like peas in mine and that’s how I’ll eat it! You do yours almost exactly like we do, so I know I’d love yours. We used to eat carbonara as our go to pasta for carbo-loading the night before 100+ mile bicycle rides.
We made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! Thanks for a great recipe. I love your blog, and your daily emails. ALL of your recipes have been a hit! I’ve recommended this site to so many people.
Thanks for a great recipe. We had it for dinner last night and couldn’t have enjoyed it more!
Next time I want to try making it with asparagus when its at the top of its season. Can hardly wait!
This is almost exactly my recipe for carbonara ingredient wise. I mix the eggs, parmesan and spices together first and let this sit however. Once the bacon is cooked I remove most of the fat add the onion and garlic and saute adding the wine at the end. The bacon mixture is then poured into the hot pasta and mixed quickly followed by the egg mixture. It is absolutely delicious and my friends say its the best they have ever had. I have made this hundreds of times and NEVER had a problem with the egggs not cooking so the previous reviewer can rest easy. The pasta needs to be hot, right from the colander. Enjoy this one. Its a winner.
I was looking for something my kids (3 year old and 15 months) could eat too and this was a hit.
I doubled the egg and parmesan and added mushrooms so i know it’s not a true carbonara.
everyone enjoyed it!
Sarina,
Your additions sound wonderful. I’m so glad your little ones enjoyed it.
-Pam
Just finished making and enjoying with a salad and bread, so easy and tasty. Thank you for a very easy and delicious recipe.
Helene,
Thank you for taking the time to let me know. I’m so happy you enjoyed the pasta carbonara.
-Pam
Followed the recipe to a T, but the sauce did not stay creamy. Ingredients list 1 beaten egg with a 1/2 cup of grated cheese. It was like a paste. In the directions though eggs was plural so not sure if the recipe was supposed to have used more than one egg?
Lisa,
This is an America’s Test Kitchen recipe, and I used one egg–as pictured, the added (s) was a spelling error which has been corrected (thank you!).
The egg/parmesan mixture is thick but I’m wondering if your egg was on the smaller side? The main key is to thin everything out with some of the reserved pasta cooking water when whisking it all together at the end, which then helps make everything creamy. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out as you expected, but I hope it was still tasty.
-Pam
Love this! Much less fatty/heavy than most carbonara recipes. And the freshly ground pepper was a game changer! Used lots! Delicious. Thank you!
Anne,
I’m so happy you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to let me know.
-Pam