Can I leave the white wine out of this recipe?

You can! Simply swap in an equal amount of chicken broth.

What is so special about the pasta water?

When pasta cooks, it releases starch into the water (that is what makes it a little cloudy. And since hopefully you have thoroughly salted your water, at the end of the pasta cooking time you have a starchy, salty water that is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for making or loosening up a light pasta sauce. It's truly magical).

Can this recipe be made ahead of time?

I wish I could say yes...but nope. You need to cook this up right before you serve it so that the egg sauce stays light and tender. You CAN do the prep ahead of time (chopping the bacon, grating the cheese, etc) which will save you some time.

Have a question that I didn't cover?

Pop your question in the comments section below and I promise to get right back to you!

The Best Easy Pasta Carbonara

Print Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

Sometimes you just need a recipe for the best easy pasta carbonara to go to when you want – no, need! – this classic bacon egg and cheese pasta supper. Here’s that recipe!

Author: Kate Morgan Jackson
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Dinner
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale

4 eggs, beaten to blend
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
8 ounces linguine
1 pound bacon, chopped (see note)
1 cup white wine
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon black pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Put the eggs in a bowl with all but 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, and most of the parsley. Whisk it all up together and set aside.
Cook linguine in heavily salted water according to package directions until done, scooping out a cup of pasta water at the end.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large deep skillet until crispy. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels, leaving the drippings in the skillet.
Pour in the white wine and cook over medium high heat for for a couple of minutes, scraping all the delightful stuck-on bits of bacon off the bottom of the pan.
Add the hot cooked pasta to the skillet with the bacon drippings, followed by the butter, the egg mixture and the bacon and toss to coat – the heat of the pasta is going to cook that egg mixture just the right amount. Sprinkle in some pepper, and if you think the sauce needs a little loosening up, drizzle in some of that pasta water that you saved. Sometimes I do this and sometimes I don’t.
Divide among warmed plates, sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley and serve!

Notes

Bacon: So, I deliberately overdid it on the bacon, because we like a lotta bacon in our carbonara. If you want a lighter version, you can cut the amount of bacon in half. (I can’t believe I just said that!)
Parmesan Cheese: Wondering how to get fresh grated Parmesan? Ask at your supermarket’s fancy cheese counter – you can either get a block and grate it yourself with your handy cheese grater, or have them grate it for you.
Parsley: If you live with folks who object to having the parsley stirred into the sauce ??‍♀️ you can opt to use this just as a garnish.

Find it online: https://www.framedcooks.com/the-best-easy-pasta-carbonara/