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Spaghetti Carbonara is an Italian pasta dish with creamy egg, diced bacon, grated cheese, and copious amounts of black pepper–a Roman dish reminiscent of an American breakfast.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Carbonara is typically made with a raw egg that cooks when it hits the hot pasta, which often makes it pasty. My spaghetti carbonara recipe is topped with a poached egg so the yolk is already warm when it tops the spaghetti. This creates a velvety sauce that blends easier — giving it richness without binding. Rather than using Pancetta here, I used leaner center-cut bacon and also added some greens to the mix – it’s beyond delicious!
I recently went on the trip of a lifetime to Rome and the Amalfi Coast near Naples, Italy—the center of authentic Italian pasta manufacturing. It was an incredible experience and gave me a whole new appreciation for Italian pasta and their cuisine. While there we toured the oldest pasta factory in Italy, located in southern city of Gragnano in the Campania region of Italy. It’s located between the coast and the mountains—the ideal location for making and drying pasta, which also happens to be where they manufacture Dellalo Pasta. The experience was as dreamy as it gets, sharing great food with amazing friends while enjoying the stunning coastal views. On the tour, we visited the mill where Dellalo’s wheat is ground (grain has been milled since the 1200’s) and even took an Italian cooking class where we learned how to cook three authentic pasta dishes all using ingredients from Dellalo. To be honest, I never wanted the trip to end.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know how much I love DeLallo Foods, a brand I’ve worked with for years. Why do I love Dellalo so much? For starters, they import only the best ingredients direct from Italy to the U.S. Here’s a few more reasons why DeLallo pasta is better than other brands you may find in the grocery store:
DeLallo Pasta vs Grocery Store Pasta:
- Made in Italy. DeLallo Pasta comes from the town where pasta was born, a region near Naples, at the beginning of the Amalfi Coast.
- Made with just 2 ingredients –wheat and water. The wheat is a locally milled, exclusive blend of the highest quality durum wheat with a high gluten content. It’s mixed with water from the local aquifer in the Lattari Mountains. The pure water contains less calcium so it makes a more supple pasta.
- Dried slowly at low temperatures to preserve pasta’s color, texture and flavor throughout the cooking process. DeLallo pasta has a natural drying time of 18 hours compared to some other commercial brands who bake their pasta for just four hours, and use cheaper, lower protein flour.
- Extruded with bronze dies. Delallo pasta has over 200 bronze dies in different shapes to create a rougher surface that absorbs and captures the sauces. Other manufactures use Teflon and plastic dies to mass produce pasta faster, but definitely not better.
- Cooks perfectly al dente. DeLallo’s pasta is golden in color and cooks up for that signature al dente texture: a tender but firm bite with a fleck of white at its center—what we call the pasta’s soul.
- DeLallo pasta is is made following the strict guidelines of Pasta di Gragnano PGI and is produced in a legally defined territory defined by the king of Napoli two centuries ago. Only pasta in this area can note this distinction, which protects the quality of the product.
What is Spaghetti Carbonara?
Spaghetti Carbonara is an Italian pasta dish made from Rome made with egg, a combination of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano, guanciale or bacon, and black pepper. Sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite simple to make. Although it’s creamy, it’s actually made without cream.
Traditional spaghetti alla carbonara, the egg yolk is added raw to the hot pasta and starts to cook on contact. The downside to this, unless you’re eating it immediately, the carbonara becomes dried out if you don’t eat it immediately. With the method of poaching the egg instead, is inspired by Crispo, my favorite Italian restaurant in NYC there’s no need to worry if the egg is still raw and the whole bowl of pasta doesn’t get all clumped together when you are ready to eat it.
How To Make Spaghetti Carbonara
More Pasta Recipes You Will Love
- Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups
- Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
- Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
- Pasta and Broccoli
- Angel Hair Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes
Spaghetti Carbonara
4.85 from 57 votes
11
Cals:422
Protein:23
Carbs:52
Fat:12
Spaghetti Carbonara is an Italian pasta dish with creamy egg, diced bacon, grated cheese, and copious amounts of black pepper–a Roman dish reminiscent of an American breakfast.
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Print Rate Pin SaveWW Points
Yield: 4 servings
Serving Size: 1 generous cup pasta with 1 egg
Ingredients
- 10 ounces dried Delallo spaghetti, or gluten-free spaghetti
- 6 slices center cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dices
- 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups baby arugula or frisée lettuce , chopped
- 3 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano, preferably Locatelli
- 4 extra large eggs
Poaching liquid:
- 4 cups cold water
- 6 tbsp white vinegar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil.
In a deep skillet or medium pot, egg-poaching liquid to a boil over high heat, then leave on low heat.
Heat a large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until fat renders and meat is slightly crisp, about 10 minutes. Set aside with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate, leaving the fat in the skillet.
At the same time, add the pasta to the salted water, and add the broth to the bacon fat and simmer the broth to reduce by 1/3, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Cook the pasta until al dente, under-cooking by 2 minutes, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta but do not rinse.
To the broth add the arugula, parsley and 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper.
Add drained pasta, raise heat to high, and toss to coat with sauce.
Finish cooking the pasta in the broth for 2 minutes, then remove from heat, stir in cheese, and toss. The spaghetti will soak up any liquid. Chop bacon and add to pasta.
Working one at a time, carefully crack each egg into a small bowl and very gently slide into barely boiling poaching liquid. Cook until whites set but yolks are still runny, about 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, lift each egg out of the water.
Evenly divide pasta between 4 warm bowls. Place each egg atop each bowl of pasta. Top generously with black pepper.
Serve immediately, mixing up the pasta to spread the egg and yolk throughout the bowl.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 generous cup pasta with 1 egg, Calories: 422 kcal, Carbohydrates: 52 g, Protein: 23 g, Fat: 12 g, Saturated Fat: 5 g, Cholesterol: 227 mg, Sodium: 546 mg, Fiber: 3 g, Sugar: 3 g
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Categories:
- Dinner Ideas
- Fall
- Gluten Free
- Italian Inspired Recipes
- Kid Friendly
- Pasta Recipes
- Recipes
- Under 30 Minutes
- Weight Watchers – WW Recipes
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