Italian Christmas Cookbook Discover the Joy of Festive Cooking: "The Italian Christmas Cookbook" is Now Available on Amazon!
Buy on Amazon

Spaghetti Carbonara, the Authentic Italian Recipe

Spaghetti Carbonara is a traditional Italian recipe, of Roman origin, which is prepared with eggs, guanciale, pepper and grated Parmesan and Pecorino Cheese!
×
Jump To Recipe
Spaghetti Carbonara, the Authentic Italian Recipe
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Prep 5 minutes
  • Cook 15 minutes
  • Servings 4 people

The Spaghetti Carbonara is a very tasty traditional Italian dish known all over the world. The’origin of Carbonara is uncertain, although it seems that the following two versions are the most plausible.

According to some, Pasta alla Carbonara was invented in Rome by coal miners in the Apennines who needed a dish that was made with simple, readily available ingredients and provided enough energy to work every day in the mines. While others claim that Carbonara is not Roman, but rather from Emilia-Romagna and that it was chef Renato Gualandi who invented it during World War II. Inspiring him were the American bacon and the egg yolk powder of the Allies.

In the Authentic Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe, the pasta format par excellence is precisely Spaghetti, but know that to make a tasty Pasta alla Carbonara you can also use linguine and penne or, if you prefer, rigatoni.

We have many variations of the traditional Carbonara: there are those who use guanciale and those who use bacon, those who put cream in it and those who despise it, those who use only yolks and those who use whole eggs. In short, the variants are many and more than ever “colorful” but the one you find below is the real authentic recipe: Italian approved!

If you are looking for other tasty Roman Recipes also try the Saltimbocca alla Romana, the Homemade Roman Style Pizza (Pinsa), the Trippa alla Romana and the very tasty Roman-Jewish Fried Artichokes.

Ingredients

Copy Ingredients

Instructions

  1. To prepare Spaghetti Carbonara start by cutting the guanciale into cubes and brown it in a pan. As soon as it is cooked, save the fat in a bowl and let the guanciale brown again until it becomes crispy.

  2. Cook the spaghetti in boiling water, and meanwhile in a medium-sized bowl vigorously beat the egg yolks with the Parmesan and Pecorino Cheese and ground pepper. When well blended, add two ladles of the guanciale fat and stir to make a creamy and velvety sauce.

  3. When the spaghetti are ready, drain them al dente in the pan where you cooked the guanciale, add the cream of egg yolks and pecorino cheese, a ladle of the pasta cooking water and stir to mix everything together, keeping the heat off. Finally add the crispy guanciale and serve your creamy Spaghetti Carbonara!”

Alternatives

If you cannot find guanciale you can also use cubes ofsmoked pancetta, available in all supermarkets. The pecorino can also be substituted at will with Parmigiano to make the flavor of the Spaghetti alla Carbonara more delicate.

Tips

The fat from the guanciale will serve to pasteurize the yolks of the eggs and make the cream for the Spaghetti Carbonara creamy, glossy and fragrant. If you want to avoid adding the fat this can also be done with 1-2 ladles of cooking water, being careful not to make the sauce too runny.

Storage

TheSpaghetti Carbonara should be consumed as soon as they are ready to best enjoy their creaminess. Should you have leftovers, you can store them in the refrigerator, inside an airtight container, for up to 1 day and reheat them in a pan by adding a dash of water or a drizzle of EVO oil.