Pasta Carbonara with Peas
Pasta with a bacon, egg, and cheese sauce, tossed with peas. This recipe comes together quickly once you get all the ingredients prepped. The hot pasta cooks the eggs in the final step. We like to add lots of peas if it's our only vegetable. Feel free to adjust the amount of peas, or leave them out altogether if you prefer!
Ingredients
- ½-¾ lb dry or fresh pasta (spaghetti is traditional, but other long pastas will also work)
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 ounces pancetta or bacon, cubed or sliced into small pieces
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup grated Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, or Asiago cheese (I like to combination or Pecorino Romano and Asiago, but any of these strong grated cheeses work.)
- 3/4 cup frozen peas (Optional) Adjust amount to your preference.
- Freshly ground black pepper
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped (Optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook according to package directions or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente"). Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.
- If using peas, cook according to package directions. I usually microwave my peas while the pasta is cooking.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta/bacon and sauté for about 3-5 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. If you haven't already done so, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the diced onion to the bacon and sauté until soft. Toss the garlic into the onion and bacon mixture and sauté for approximately 1 minute to soften. Be careful not to to burn the garlic.
- Whisk the eggs in mixing bowl or extra large measuring cup. Add the cheese to the eggs, stirring well to prevent lumps.
- Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. I like to use tongs to toss the pasta. Remember to save some pasta water aside if you drain the pasta with a colander. I usually just pull the pasta out with my hand strainer and plop it straight into the pan, skipping the colander step. This brings along some pasta water with it, so I often don't need to add more later to thin out the sauce.
- Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, tossing and mixing quickly until the eggs thicken. This is done off the heat to ensure you don't scramble the eggs. Tongs, once again, help to ensure everything is tossed evenly and quickly.
- Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water until it reaches desired consistency, if needed.
- If using cooked peas, add them now and toss.
- Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. If you had especially salty bacon or used salty cheeses, you may not need to salt any further.
- Plate the carbonara in serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Top with additional cheese.