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Spaghetti Carbonara

Name: Spaghetti Carbonara
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian (Roman)
Ingredients: 400 g spaghetti; 150 g guanciale, diced (pancetta if you can't find guanciale); 3 whole eggs; 2 egg yolks; 80 g pecorino romano, finely grated, plus extra to serve; plenty of black pepper; salt for the pasta water

Pasta tossed in a silky egg and pecorino sauce with crisp guanciale.

Nut-Free

Spaghetti carbonara twisted on a fork with black pepper and pecorino — Serve the moment the sauce comes together -- it tightens as it cools.

Prep10 min

Cook15 min

Total25 min

Servings 4 servings

DifficultyMedium

Just five ingredients -- eggs, pecorino, guanciale, pepper, and pasta -- combined off the heat so the eggs turn into a glossy sauce instead of scrambling. No garlic and no cream: real Roman carbonara doesn't use either.

Ingredients

400 g spaghetti
150 g guanciale, diced (pancetta if you can't find guanciale)
3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
80 g pecorino romano, finely grated, plus extra to serve
plenty of black pepper
salt for the pasta water

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti until al dente.
While the pasta cooks, fry the guanciale in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp and golden, rendering out its fat. 6 min
Whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks, pecorino, and a generous amount of black pepper together in a bowl.
Reserve a mug of pasta water, then drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the guanciale, off the heat.
Pour in the egg mixture, tossing constantly and adding splashes of the reserved pasta water until the sauce turns glossy and coats the pasta.
The pan must be off the heat when the eggs go in -- direct heat scrambles them instead of turning them into sauce.
Serve immediately with extra pecorino and black pepper.

Notes

Guanciale (cured pork jowl) is what real Roman carbonara is made with -- it renders a more delicate, distinctly porky fat than pancetta, which is a widely available but secondary substitute.
Heavy cream is not part of a traditional carbonara -- the emulsified eggs are what make the sauce silky.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (1 bowl) -- estimated, not lab-tested.
Nutrient	Amount
Calories	610 kcal
Total Fat	24 g
Saturated Fat	10 g
Carbohydrates	68 g
Fiber	3 g
Sugar	3 g
Protein	28 g
Sodium	680 mg
Cholesterol	245 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredient data, not laboratory analysis.

Photo: Unknown, CC0 1.0. Cropped to 3:2 and re-encoded as WebP/JPEG for web delivery.